Fabricating Jada

by Marie, Vanessa

  Everyone raised their hand except me. Everything I knew was self-taught from YouTube so I didn't want to claim I was a welder when I really wasn't.

  My non-reply seemed to make Jesse's eyes dance with delight. Like he'd caught me in a lie or something, and he was going to expose me for a fraud he seemed to think I was.

  He clapped his hands as a smug grin overtook his devilish face. "Great. Let's see what kind of beads you can put down. I believe it all starts with the basics when it comes to fabrication. You are going to use ARC welders to show me your skill level."

  Groans filled the room as I silently cheered with joy. That was the only thing I knew how to weld with. Well, if you could call it that.

  "I'm a MIG-welder man. I don't stick weld," some guy from behind me called out.

  "Then you better figure it out. By the end of this class you all should be able to TIG weld aluminum without burning through it."

  That was a tall order, and I wasn't the only one who thought that as the whispers started again.

  Jesse and Miguel left the room for what I assumed was the welders. I wondered how many they had.

  "Listen, princess, I don't know what your deal is but you don't have to throw me under the bus to make yourself look better. You're getting enough attention as it is," the kid next to me sneered.

  I had two choices. Harbor a grudge and act like Carter would in this situation and bite his head off or apologize. I chose the latter.

  "Look, I'm really sorry. I wasn't trying to screw you over. He has it out for me, but I wasn't trying to draw attention to you intentionally. I have a serious eye roll problem."

  His eyes softened. "He does seem to have it out for you. I'm Caleb. Your name is Jane?"

  "Hi, Caleb and no—my name is Jada. He just calls me Jane to make me mad."

  Caleb narrowed his gaze. "Do you two have some kind of history or something?"

  I scoffed. "Um no. I met him yesterday and he seemed to hate me from the second he laid his eyes on me."

  "He seems pretty hardcore." Caleb glanced over to the anvil in the corner where the cell phone murder had happened.

  "I think that's an understatement."

  Our conversation was interrupted when Jesse and Miguel came back with a cart full of welders.

  Jesse slammed one welder down per table, and Miguel followed behind handing out the welding rods, wire brushes, and slag hammers. Everything we'd need to weld minus gloves and a welding helmet.

  Thank God I brought mine.

  "Who was smart enough to bring their own lid and gloves?" Jesse demanded from the back of the room. I raised my hand slowly and peered behind me to see only a couple of other hands.

  "Three people out of twelve? How the fuck do you expect to work if you show up unprepared?" he bellowed.

  Miguel chuckled and left the room again. Caleb leaned in and whispered, "I can't believe I didn't think of bringing a helmet—or anything."

  "Do you have one at home?" Something about his demeanor told me he didn't.

  He shook his head. "No. I've only welded a few times and it was always a borrowed helmet."

  "We can share mine," I offered.

  Caleb gave me a grateful smile. "Thanks."

  The clang of metal pipes being dropped in front of us stopped our conversation. Jesse's honey eyes could have burned a hole through Caleb. He must not like anyone, and for a strange reason it made me feel a little better. Miguel came back with an arm full of goggles and a few helmets and passed them out to everyone who hadn't raised their hands. Stopping back at our table, he winked at me. "You have a lid and safety glasses?"

  I nodded with flushed cheeks, uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

  "Each of you has two pieces of pipe. Weld them together. You have a half hour." Jesse stalked to the front of the room and sat down on a stool with his arms folded over the wide expanse of his chest. The tattoos on his forearms wrapped around the muscle in colorful corded coils.

  I bent down to look for an outlet to plug in the welder. There were extension cords hanging on a peg board against the far wall with outlets below them. Getting out of my seat, I plugged in to an outlet and made sure the cord would reach our bench. Caleb made sure it was stable. "Good eye."

  "Do you want to go first or second?" I asked.

  He puffed out his chest a bit. "I'll go first."

  After a beat of picking things up and setting them back down, it was pretty obvious he didn't have any idea what he was doing. I reached over him and clamped the welding stick into the electrode holder.

  Handing him the different clamps, I pointed. "Here, clamp this to one of your pieces of pipe and then clamp this one to the bench for a ground."

  He nodded and followed my instruction without any hesitation. "Have you really done this before?" I asked, searching his face for the truth I already knew.

  "No. I just didn't want to look stupid."

  I wasn't sure how he thought he'd be able to back up his lie when it came time to perform, but under Jesse's constant glares I could see why he did it.

  Caleb put on the pair of goggles that Miguel had given him. "How are you supposed to see what you're doing in these things?"

  I laughed. "Once you strike up your arc, you'll be able to see. Take them off for a second, they aren't auto tint."

  He slid them up on his forehead and smiled. "Okay, teach, what's next?"

  Picking up the electrode holder, I let it rest naturally in my hand. "This is how I've found is the best way to hold it. Once you strike your arc, you need to pull it away and start your puddle before it has a chance to stick. For pipe you need to tack them together in a few places before you start the actual weld." I pulled my eyes from the material up to his face which was shrouded in confusion.

  "Uhh—"

  "Do you want me to show you?"

  Caleb nodded with a grateful smile. "Yeah."

  I quickly grabbed my helmet and gloves out of my bag and shrugged on the black flannel I always weld in and put them on. Adjusting the clamps to where I needed them, I hit the on button, and a low buzz filled the room. Sparks were already filling the room behind us. I glanced at Caleb. "Put your goggles on and watch my hands. Whatever you do, don't take off your goggles and try to look unless you know for sure we're done. You'll get welder's flash and hate life. Do you have a long sleeve shirt to wear?"

  "No. Why do I need a long sleeve shirt?" He watched me with apprehension.

  Was this dude serious?

  I did my best to keep sarcasm out of my tone. "Well, you can basically get a sunburn from the light, plus you're working with hot metal. You should probably bring one tomorrow."

  I adjusted my settings a little on the low side.

  "What's that for?" he asked.

  "It's the amperage. Depending on the type of metal and rod you're working with you'll have to make adjustments for the heat so you have enough to make a nice weld but not so hot you burn through."

  He shook his head in awe. "I thought you didn't know how to weld?"

  "I don't. Not really. Put your goggles on. We're running out of time."

  With one nod of my head, my helmet fell down into place as I struck the rod against the pipe and tacked it in three places. As I welded, I told Caleb what to do. "Basically you want to chase your puddle and keep it moving. If you stay still too long, it will burn a hole through your metal. Some people just move forward and some people do a back and forth motion like this. When you're done you want it to look like a roll of nickels laid on top of each other."

  I could feel him hovering over my shoulder and hoped by showing him he'd be able to get the basic idea. Quickly working my way around the pipe, I leaned over to adjust the amperage a little higher and completed my bead. When I was finished I lifted my helmet to find Caleb wasn't the only one standing over my shoulder.

  Jesse moved his helmet away from his face with a brow arched at me. "Looks like you think you should be the one to lead the class, Jane."

  What the hell was his
problem?

  "What? No. I … I was just trying to help." I slid the materials over to Caleb so he could take his turn.

  After a few beats of silently staring each other down, I turned my attention back to my project and knocked off all the excess slag and cleaned it with the wire brush. Jesse ripped the pipe out of my hand and stormed off.

  "What is his problem?" Caleb whisper-hissed.

  My shoulders raised and fell in the same confusion that swirled in my mind. I had no idea. "Who knows? I think I make him mad because I'm breathing."

  Caleb went to work on his tubing, and I wasn't really sure what to do with myself with nothing to do. After a few moments of fiddling my thumbs, I pulled off my gloves and shirt, tossing them on the bench and settled for watching Caleb attempt to weld. A few things seemed to happen all at once.

  The second I noticed his welding rod was stuck against the tubing I yelled, "Caleb wait!"

  He decided to ignore my plea and fling everything in my direction. My eyes grew wide with panic at his second poor choice to slam his haphazard project against our workbench. It all happened too fast, and before I had time to react properly or protect myself, all I felt was an intense crunch, followed by heat. A lot of freaking heat on top of my left forearm.

  Caleb watched me with horror written all over his face. "Oh, shit. I'm so sorry, Jada. I didn't mean to do that." It was as if time seemed to stand still for a moment or two, because I didn't jerk my arm away immediately. Call it shock, or maybe just stupidity, but I couldn't seem to move. Suddenly, nerve endings came alive with a furious scream of agony dancing across the surface of my skin.

  "Son of a gun!" I hissed and pulled my hand into my chest to cradle it with the other. By the time my arm was a safe distance away from the metal, the damage was done and the aroma of burnt flesh and hair hung in the air.

  "I'm okay. It's okay," I muttered to myself.

  "No, it's not," Jesse boomed from behind me causing me to jump in my seat.

  Where the heck did he come from?

  "Let me see your hand," he demanded.

  "It's my arm."

  He glared at me expectantly.

  There was no point in arguing with him and telling him I was fine again when I clearly wasn't. Slowly I held it out to him.

  "Fuck. It's already blistering," he growled and pulled me toward the door.

  We weaved through doorways and long hallways I hadn't seen before until he dragged me into a locker room of sorts and over to a sink. Jesse turned on the water and checked it with his hand a few times before plunging my arm under the frigid stream.

  I hissed through my teeth and jerked my hand back to my chest.

  "Keep it under there," he demanded and pulled it away from me, placing it back under the water.

  Shivers racked my body from a combination of pain and my nerves going haywire. "It's too cold."

  "No, it's not. It's warm water. Don't be a pussy."

  With a pointed glare, I raked my teeth over my lip from the increasing pain. "Do you have to be so crass?"

  "I hate to break this to you, but if you're going to do this … you need to man up and get some thick skin. And I'm not talking about what happened to your arm." He crossed back to me and shut the water off. Leading me over to a long bench near a row of lockers, he sat down and dropped his beautiful honey gaze to the spot in front of him where I promptly plopped.

  "I'm not a fragile doll."

  He snorted. "Says the girl with the second-degree burn fifteen minutes after the first class."

  "It wasn't my fault. I wasn't the moron waving hot metal in the air." My nostrils flared along with my growing irritation.

  Jesse pulled my hand onto his thick, muscular thigh and splayed it flat. I sucked in a sharp breath at the contact as he went to work cleaning my wicked-looking and ever-growing blister. It was the width of my hand and looked like it could pop at any moment.

  Neither of us said a word for a while despite the closeness and almost intimacy of our proximity. I chewed my bottom lip furiously to keep from crying out as he gently covered my burn with some kind of ointment with his black glove-covered hand.

  "Those look like tattoo artist gloves," I said, trying to distract myself from what was going on.

  He ignored me and started wrapping my arm with gauze. I frowned when he didn't answer until his eyes met mine in a heated stare, and his hands stopped moving. "Why'd you lie to me and say you couldn't weld?"

  "I didn't lie to you."

  His brows pulled low, and his permanent frown deepened. "I asked who knew how to weld and you didn't raise your hand."

  That was true. He had me there. All I could do was shrug. "Because I don't really know what I'm doing and I didn't want to act like I'm some kind of big shot welder and then get ripped apart for not knowing anything—but I guess you did that to me anyway, so it doesn't really matter now, does it?" My annoyance with his reaction to me helping Caleb flared again, and my cheeks flushed red out of annoyance.

  The way his eyes searched mine for some kind of answer made me feel uneasy and forced me to look away. Silently, he finished wrapping my arm until he was done, but he didn't let go of it. "Do you think I was pissed because you were helping that idiot?"

  Duh. Here's your sign, Captain Obvious.

  My facial expression must have matched my internal monologue because he let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his long, dark hair—messing up his perfectly quaffed style. Maybe I got under his skin more than I thought.

  "For the record, you can obviously weld."

  My grip tightened on his thigh unintentionally. "Then why did you yell at me for trying to help Caleb and storm out of the room and take my pipe with you?"

  Jesse growled at me. "Because you lied and there's nothing I detest more than dishonest people. Their motives can never be trusted."

  "No, I didn't! And I'm not a dishonest person."

  His eyes narrowed at me. "Who taught you how to lay a bead like that?"

  The intensity in his gaze forced me to laugh. I couldn't help it. "You really want to know?"

  "Now who's asking dumb questions?"

  Rolling my eyes, I braced myself for the backlash of what I was about to reveal to him. I took a deep breath and held his stare. "YouTube."

  He guffawed and when I didn't crack a smile and he realized I was serious, his eyes grew wider with what looked like astonishment. "You learned that by watching YouTube? You're not busting my balls?"

  "If I was busting your balls you'd know it."

  Oh man, that sounded way dirtier than it should have.

  A sexy smirk tugged at the corner of his pouty lips, and he glanced down at my hand still on his thigh. I jerked it away quickly and scooted back about a foot. This conversation needed to get back on track and fast. "Where did you take my tubing to when you stormed out?"

  "To show my master welder."

  I could feel all of the blood slowly drain from my face. Beck Addams was like the best known welder in this industry apart from Jesse, and the fact he'd seen my work made me want to disappear into the wall. Like a chameleon. A chameleon named Carlos. I now wanted to be Carlos the chameleon and disappear from this situation.

  "You okay? You look like you saw a ghost," he asked and reached for me.

  With my good hand, I grabbed his to steady myself on the bench. I wasn't sure if it was from hearing Beck had seen my shoddy attempt at welding, or from the constant throb in my arm that was growing stronger every moment and it hadn't hit me until just then. Couldn't you go into shock from a bad burn? That was it. I was in shock.

  "Uh, I'm not sure. I'm not usually this much of a wuss, then again all the other burns I've gotten haven't been this bad."

  The fierceness in his gaze softened, and concern etched across his strong features. "Do you need to lie down?"

  I shook my head as he scooted close enough that I could inhale the mixture of distinct garage, what I could swear was coconut and a hint of some kind of woodsy sc
ent on him.

  The door flung open smacking the wall, and DeAnna marched through with the click of her heels on the concrete. "What the hell happened? Jada, are you all right? Jesse, how could you let this happen? Especially on the first day?" The accusation in her tone made his gaze turn sinister in her direction.

  "I didn't let anything happen. It's not my fault you let some dick-weed in here with zero experience who put other people at risk because of his carelessness." He stood from the bench and left the room in a huff, slamming the door against the wall even harder than DeAnna had when she came in.

  She rushed to my side, her heels clicking every step. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

  A mess of emotions ran through me, and I grasped at any of the ones that made sense. Fear. Worry. Pain. But the craziest part was that the worry and the fear weren't for me. I shook my head. "No, I'm okay. He took care of it. Um, DeAnna?" I chewed on my inner cheek afraid of the answer to my next question.

  Her perfectly winged eyes appraised me with apprehension. "Yeah?"

  "This isn't going to make the class shut down or anything is it? I mean, it was an accident, and I don't want to be the reason this is over before it started."

  The long pause made my leg bounce even more with nervousness. "No. I don't think so. You signed a waiver in your packet about injury. Everyone did. It's just not the best way for us to start," she said on a sigh.

  "Can I go back to the class then?"

  The look of shock on her face was priceless. I wish I had a Polaroid to capture the utter shock she had plastered across her perfect features. "Are you crazy? You need to go home at the very least."

  "Seriously, I'm good. I want to go back."

  I wasn't good. Not even a little bit, but I needed to fake it and push through the pain.

  She shook her head and waved for me to follow her. "I was right about one thing at least."

  I raised a brow at her comment. "About what?"

  "You are as stubborn as my brother."

  The room went silent when we walked in. I doubted anyone expected to see me again—period—let alone that day. Miguel sauntered over to us in the doorway with a sexy yet smug grin on his face. "Did you come to get your stuff, Valley Girl?"