Downshift (Skid Row Kings #1)

by Winter Travers

  “How did Frankie get home?” Kurt asked.

  “The librarian gave her a ride home.”

  “No shit. Was she, at least, one of those sexy librarians? The ones who make you want to stay after school and work on extra credit?” Kurt winked.

  “Uh, not sure. She was soaking wet and being a bitch to me about not picking up Frankie. She definitely looked like a librarian. All buttoned up and prissy.”

  “Damn, I’m more into the naughty librarians, not actual librarians.” Kurt winced and walked over to the lever to raise the car in the air. “You need to check this out. When you blew up the engine last time, you fried the linkage to the tranny. This is going to be a hell of a lot more work than we thought.”

  Mitch and I backed away and watched the car slowly rise into the air. “It wasn’t my fault the fucking motor blew. The damn gauges went out in the car, and I was driving blind.”

  “Yeah, well, now you know next time that winning the race isn’t fucking worth all the work we need to get done before Street Wars in three weeks.”

  We all crowded under the car and looked up. “Jesus fucking Christ. You mean to tell me you didn’t feel the engine about to blow?” Kurt asked, whistling through his teeth.

  “Yeah, well, apparently not.” Kurt and Mitch had been giving me shit for the past week since I fucking blew up the engine. It was getting real old, and I was ready to just get the fucking thing fixed and get over it. “You boys ready to be up all night?”

  “Good thing I canceled my plans for tonight.” Mitch grabbed the air ratchet, hooking it up to the air hose while Kurt rolled the tool cart under the car.

  “What other plans did you have other than some quality time with your hand and PornHub?” Kurt asked, pulling his gloves on.

  Mitch raised his hand, shooting him the bird. “I get ten times the action you do.

  “Yeah, how about some names? You always say you get all the action, but we never see these girls you talk about.” This was typical between Kurt and Mitch. They were only eleven months apart in age and always in competition with each other.

  I’m thirty-two, Mitch is twenty-nine, and Kurt is twenty-eight. Frankie had been a huge surprise to Mom and Dad. Hell, she was a huge surprise to all of us. I was seventeen when Mom and Dad came home with a baby. I was only around for two years of Frankie’s life before I got a place of my own.

  So, you can only imagine how much of an adjustment it was to the both of us when I became her guardian. I had owned Skid Row Kings garage for the past five years with an ever growing clientele base every year.

  Growing up, we had lived on the wrong side of the tracks, also known as Skid Row around here. Where it was a fifty/fifty chance of getting out alive or in a body bag. Mom and Dad worked their asses off, but there was always only so much money to go around.

  Now, SRK Garage was on the right side of the tracks and all four us had made it out. When I was searching for a name to the garage, I couldn’t think of a name until one night after a drag race Kurt had won, and someone in passing had called us the Skid Row Kings. The name stuck and the garage was built.

  “Alright, fuckers. Let’s get to work. This is going to take a hell of a lot more time than one night.”

  Kurt, Mitch and I worked till two o’clock in the morning, and we barely put a dent into all the work that needed to be done.

  By the time we dragged our asses up the stairs, Frankie was fast asleep, and the food she had left on the stove for us was dried out and crusty. Kurt popped two pizzas into the oven while I took a quick shower, washing off the grit and dirt from the day. I pulled on a pair of sleep pants and dropped my dirty towel in the hamper. I grabbed my toothbrush and slathered some toothpaste on.

  My thoughts kept going back to Violet and the way she had looked at me today. Almost as if she thought she was better than me. I hadn’t had someone look at me like that since I had lived with Mom and Dad. Back then, everyone thought they were better than us.

  No one was better than me, and the next time I ran into Violet, I would let her know exactly that.

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  Chapter 3

  Violet

  Ugh. I was dragging ass today, and I really didn’t see things getting any better.

  I had woken up after a restless night sleep thanks to the pounding rain on my roof and the never-ending drip of water that was next to my bed. I had put a pot under it, but I was afraid the whole night it would overflow so I woke up every couple of hours to check on it.

  After I had showered, realizing halfway through I was out of conditioner, I realized this day was going to suck.

  I had broken the zipper on my favorite black skirt and couldn’t find another skirt to match the shirt I had on. I ended up grabbing a tight black pencil skirt I hated wearing because it hugged my hips too much, making me self-conscious.

  After I had slipped on my kitten heel pumps, I walked down the short hallway to the kitchen, tugging on my skirt the whole way. I walked straight to the Keurig, knowing this was the only thing that was going to make my day bearable.

  I grabbed a pod of coffee, popped it into the machine, filled it up with water and hit the start button. I waited to hear the quiet little hum it always did, but nothing happened. The light lit up, but the little coffee nymphs inside were dead. I banged on it, unplugged, plugged, prayed to the coffee Gods, but nothing helped. My Keurig had bit the dust.

  After I had banged my head against the cabinet, I knew I needed to find coffee and try to get to the store before work. I scoured my cabinets, finding a container of instant coffee, and down two cups. My Keurig had spoiled me for instant coffee. It just wasn’t the same.

  I grabbed my purse, slinging it over my shoulder and glanced at the clock, realizing I was going to have to wait till after work to run to the store.

  Now it is three o’clock, and I am counting down the hours until I could clock out and get to the store. My two cups of crap coffee had worn off two hours into the day, and I had been doing everything to stay awake since. I should have skipped looking for the instant coffee and used that time to head to the coffee shop this morning.

  I was leaning against the front desk, counting the lines on a sheet of paper when Frankie walked in, headed to the far table. She waved shyly at me, her cheeks blushing but didn’t stop to talk. There goes my idea of talking to her when she came in. I figured she would have at least come over and said hi.

  I grabbed the piece of paper in front of me, crumpling it up and tossed it into the garbage. I needed to talk to someone, or I was going to fall asleep. It looked like Frankie was going to talk to me even if she didn’t want to.

  It was Friday afternoon, and it was normally dead at this time. Most kids didn’t come to the library Friday nights because they had other things to do and could work on their homework at home over the weekend.

  “Hey, fancy meeting you here,” I said, pulling the chair out from across the table from her. I sounded like an idiot, but I was running on fumes at this point.

  Frankie laughed and shook her head at my lame attempt at humor. I was definitely dorkier than funny. “I wanted to get some reading done, and it’s much quieter here than at the shop. Plus, if I come home early, I normally get stuck answering the phones while Luke, Kurt, and Mitch take care of everything in the back.”

  “Ah, that’s why you’re here almost every day. Trying to avoid your brothers.”

  “Not really avoid so much as try to get my homework done without dirt and grease smudges all over it.”

  “Hmm, I hear you on that, although when I was growing up, it was cake batter and icing rather than dirt and grease.” Frankie looked at me like I was crazy. “My mom and dad owned a bakery. We lived in the apartment overtop, but I always did my homework down in the bakery.”

  “That’s pretty cool. At least, you can eat what they make. At the shop, all I see is cars coming and going all day.”

  “Yeah, it was pretty fun.”

  “So how come you
work here if your parents own a bakery?”

  “My mom and dad both passed away four years ago. First, my dad had a heart attack, and I swear my mom died of a broken heart four months later. I have never met two people who were more in love than they were.” I still remember it like yesterday. I knew my mom missed my dad something fierce, but I never realized how much until she died. One day she was fine and the next she was gone.

  “So you’re just like my brothers and me. Although my parents died in a car accident a little over a year ago.”

  “I’m sorry, Frankie,” I said, reaching across the table and squeezing her hand.

  “It’s OK,” she shrugged. “I still miss them, but it seems to hurt a little bit less every day.” Such strong words for a girl who was only fourteen.

  “So you live with all of your brothers over the shop, then?” I don’t know why I was asking about her brothers. The one I had managed to meet yesterday was a total tool, and I’m sure the other two weren’t any better.

  “Yeah, there’s four bedrooms, huge kitchen and living room above the shop. It’s nicer than anything I’ve ever lived in before. Luke always said he was going to have a nice house when he grew up. He definitely got it.”

  Wow, there was that much space above the shop? That was impressive. When we had lived above the bakery, there was only one bedroom, and I slept on the pull out sofa. “At least, you have your own room.”

  “Yeah, Luke was nice and gave me the master bedroom, although all the rooms are basically the same size.”

  Master bedroom at fourteen. This girl was going to have a rude awakening when she moved out and saw how tiny some apartments could be. I swear I could stand in the middle of my bedroom and touch all four walls. Well, not really, but you get how small my room was.

  “Well, I need to finish up some filing I’ve been putting off all day in fear it will put me to sleep, but I can’t avoid it anymore. I’ll see ya Monday.” I stood, giving a little wave to Frankie and headed back to the front desk. I only had two and a half hours until the end of the day, and I was not about to fall asleep now.

  By the time I looked up at the clock it was already five to seven, and I had just gotten all the paperwork and filing done that I need to today.

  “Bye,” Frankie waved, walking out the front door.

  “See ya,” I replied, walking over to the stacks of books, ready to shut down.

  After walking up and down all the aisles and turning all the lights off, I was ready to get the hell out of here.

  I was surprised to see Frankie sitting on the front steps, waiting.

  “Hey, you need a ride?” I asked, sitting down next to her.

  “No, surprisingly not. Luke just called and said he’ll be here any minute.”

  Well, score one point for Luke. He had remembered his sister today. “Ok,” I stood up, brushing off my butt and made my way down the stairs. “Bye.”

  I walked over to my car, unlocking the doors and throwing my purse in the back. I needed to run to the store to get a new Keurig and then I was heading home to more than likely pass out.

  As I slid in, I saw a jacked up truck pull up to the library with the Skid Row Kings logo on it. All the windows were rolled down, music pouring out of it and Luke in the passenger seat. What an ass monkey.

  I put my key in the ignition, turning the key and it made a horrible grating noise. Shit. I let go of the key, hoping no one had heard that. I tried it again, and the noise sounded more horrible than the last. Double shit.

  I looked up just in time to see Luke hop down from his truck and head over my way. No. No, no, no. I did not want King Douche coming over here. I tried the key one last time, hoping that it would miraculously start, but it just made the horrible noise again.

  “Stop,” Luke yelled, waving his arms in the air.

  I slammed my hand on the steering wheel and cursed the man for actually being on time to pick up his sister.

  “Pop the hood,” he yelled, standing in front of the car.

  I shook my head no, not wanting this jackass anywhere near my car. He propped his hands on his hips and stared me down. I wasn’t going to budge.

  He shook his head and walked back over to his truck. Thank god I didn’t need to fight him off. I grabbed my phone out of my purse, realizing I wasn’t going to be able to get home tonight and needed to call for a tow. Except I had no idea who the hell to call for a tow. I looked up and saw Luke walking back over to my car, a huge screwdriver in his hand. What the hell was he doing? He stuck the screwdriver into the front of my car and the next thing I knew he was raising the hood of my car.

  “Hey!” I yelled, jumping out of the car. “You can’t do that. I didn’t ask you to help me.” I rounded the front of the car to see him leaning into the engine looking at Lord knows what, because when it came to cars, I was less than educated.

  “I’m just trying to help. It sounds like your alternator is shot.”

  “Well, thank you very much, but I think I’ll take it to the mechanics, and they can tell me what’s wrong with it.” I held my phone in his face, shaking it.

  “No one is going to answer. Kurt and Mitch both went out for the night.”

  “I’m not calling Skid Row Kings.”

  “Well, whoever else you call is going to charge you an arm and a leg just for the tow.”

  Shit. He was probably right. I knew the big chain store I regularly took my car to for an oil change wasn’t going to be able to help with whatever was wrong with my car. “Well, whatever. I’m just going to walk home, and I’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

  “On a Saturday? Are you looking to get robbed?”

  Ugh, shit, it was Saturday tomorrow. Shit, shit, shit. “Whatever, it’s not your problem.” I grabbed my purse out of the back seat and pulled my cardigan tight around me, feeling a slight chill in the air and knew the over two-mile walk to my apartment was going to be a cold one. “Shit.” It looked like tomorrow was going to be another instant coffee morning because there was no way in hell I was going to be able to make the five-mile walk to the store. When you had a car, it didn’t seem too far, but now that I had to potentially walk everywhere, the store might as well be in Timbuktu.

  “Hop in the truck, I’ll give you a ride home.” He shut the hood and stuck the screwdriver in the back pocket of his jeans.

  “No thanks. I’ll just walk home, and I could use the exercise when I walk to the store tomorrow. I’ll be okay. Have a nice night,” I said, turning my back on him, dismissing him.

  “You’re going to walk to the store tomorrow? You do know a thunderstorm is rolling in tonight, and it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow?” Double damn. There goes my plan of walking to the store.

  “I guess I’ll just have to wait another day to go to the store.”

  “Or, you could get in the truck, we could drop Frankie off at home and then I can take you to the store and then back to your apartment.”

  Dammit, that sounded like a good plan. All except for dropping Frankie off at home. “Why can’t Frankie come with us?”

  “Because my Aunt is at the shop and she had plans to go to the movies with Frankie tonight.”

  I ran my fingers through my hair and looked at the man who was standing in front of me. He annoyed the hell out of me, but he was offering me the opportunity to get my beloved Keurig and not have to walk ten miles to get it. “How much is it going to cost me?” He was going to be my personal taxi for the next hour. I had to pay him for gas at least.

  “For the ride, nothing seeing as you brought Frankie home last night. For fixing your car, I’ll get back to you on that. Mitch will have to pick it up with the flatbed in the morning.”

  “You don’t need to fix my car.”

  “Then who else is going to do it? Sure as hell not where you got your damn oil changed.”

  How the hell did he know where I got my oil changed? Could he tell just by looking under the hood? “How do you-” I started but was cut off when he pointed at the st
icker on my windshield. Oh, that.

  “I’m leaving now. Get in the truck or start walking.” Luke turned back to the truck, not giving me a second glance.

  Shit. What the hell was I supposed to do? I didn’t want to owe this man any favors, but I really didn’t have another choice. I looked down the road in the direction of my apartment and sighed. I really didn’t want to walk.

  I heard Luke start his truck and knew I had to make up my mind.

  “Shit.” I headed towards his truck, hoping I had made the right decision.

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  Chapter 4

  Luke

  “Stop being such a jerk to her. I wouldn’t want to get in the truck either if I was her.”

  Frankie was sitting in the back, both of us looking at Violet trying to decide if she was walking or coming with up. “I'm not a jerk. I offered to help her, and she told me no. I was nice, and she was a bitch.”

  “If you would have an actual conversation with Violet, you would see that she is anything but a bitch.”

  I cranked up the truck, ready to get the hell out of here. I was honestly just trying to help when her car wouldn’t start. I knew her alternator was the problem, and it would only take a couple of hours at the shop to fix it. Little did I know I was going to have to fucking bargain with her to agree to let me work on it. Normally it was people begging me to get their car in the shop, not the other way around.

  “Look, she’s coming. Try not to be a complete ass.”

  “Hey,” I said, turning around to look at her, “One, stop the fucking cussing.”

  “You do know what you just said, right?” Frankie smirked at me and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “I’m thirty-two years old, I’ll say whatever the hell I want.” She glared at me but didn’t say anything more. “Two, I'm not an ass. She's not really Miss Heart and Roses, either.”

  “That’s because you're a dick,” she hissed at me as Violet opened the door.

  “I can sit in the back.”