“Well, you look like shit, Bomber.” Ferdinand commented as Eden entered the garage.

“Why, thank you, sir. As do you.” Eden replied, walking past his boss into the back room to get his uniform coat he’d left in his locker. The room was damp and dreary, a single dull light bulb swaying back and forth in the middle of the ceiling. Bull leaned against a locker in the corner, snoring away. Eden had a bit of a soft side for the kid. He was only sixteen (albeit he seemed in his twenties) and he’d already gone through what some adults never have. Still, it didn’t excuse sleeping on the job.

Snapping his fingers, Eden said, “Get your ass up, you worthless slacker.” It was all in good faith, of course.

Bull snapped awake with that deer-caught-in-headlights expression plastered on his face. “Huh? What- where...?”

“You looking to be homeless?” He questioned him as the boy stretched.

“What do you mean?” Bull asked all too innocently while he yawned and opened his locker.

Sighing like older people tend to do around helpless younglings, Eden patted the boy’s shoulder and said, “Don’t fuck around, Bull. Get it together.”

Face grim, Bull nodded and went back to digging through his locker for his uniform. But when Eden began to walk away, the kid added, “It was you, wasn’t it?”

“What was me?”

“Last night, at the liquor st-”

Eden hushed him, looking through the door to make sure Ferdinand hadn’t heard him. Then he pointed at Bull warningly. “Zip it, cousin.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled as Eden left the room.

“Lookee here, gals,” Ferdinand announced to his other employees, Keke and Leslie. “A rare sighting of Eden Oakes out of his natural habitat.” While Eden pulled on his gloves, Ferdi slapped the back of his head. “So what stars had to align to get you out of bed today?”

“All of them,” Keke chortled like a pig, sliding out from under a car.

“Yeah, yeah, screw all of you and your grandmas,” Eden told them.

“My grandma’s dead.” Leslie deadpanned from her perch on the workbench.

Keke threw her towel at her and said, “I’d know if your ol’ ma was dead, for sure. She’s at my door every weekend offering me pecan pie.”

“Aren’t you allergic to pecan?” Eden asked.

“Yeah, because of her!”

Ferdinand slapped a hand against a truck’s hood. “Alright, ya’ll. Quick yappin’ or I start snappin’.”

“Why’s he so proud of that line?” Keke whispered while she slid back under her car, wrench in hand.

“Where’s that damn kid?” Ferdinand murmured, turning to walk into the back room and colliding with said kid.

As the boss chewed Bull out, featuring Bull’s repeated apologies, Eden went to the SUV he’d been working on for the past week. Despite Ferdinand’s jokes, Eden almost always made it to work on time, albeit not always in the best condition, and he always got the job done. While he got to work replacing the taillight on the SUV, Leslie skipped her way over to him. She was twenty-two, older than him, but had the humor of a five-year-old. She wore her strawberry blonde hair in pigtails and tied her uniform shirt into a crop-top. She was probably one of the reasons a lot of men kept coming in.

She hopped behind the wheel of the SUV and made whirling noises as if she were in a race. “Watch out!” She shouted, followed by an exaggerated thump and far-off wailing. “Oh God. My Herald! You killed my Herald!” Leslie screamed distantly like an old lady. When that didn’t get his attention, she blew a raspberry and shifted into the passenger seat, closer to him. “Hey.” She whispered conspiratorially, setting her elbow against the dashboard and leaning her chin against her hand. “Someone’s been naughty.”

Eden sighed. “Leave it be, Les.”

She reached her hand out the passenger window and patted his head affectionately. “My little Bomber, all grown-up and making terrible life decisions. I raised you well.”

Eden was about to bite her like the dog he apparently was when Ferdinand stopped screaming at Bull and called over, “Leslie, if I don’t see your hands in some vehicle’s guts within the next five minutes, you’re fired.”

Her head was turned on him, so Eden was the only one to see her roll her eyes before she climbed out of the SUV and headed to her workstation.

Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be the last person to pester Eden. Ferdinand’s constant shrieking made his head pound, and Keke liked to hit her toolbox with her wrench to the beat of whatever music she was playing. He had never realized how loud the garage was. But the main pain in his ass was Bull. He followed him around the garage as they did their daily tasks, muttering about how his sister had relapsed once, that he understood, that he was here if Eden needed him. The boy meant well, but Eden wasn’t having any of it today.

“Bull, I swear to the high and mighty….” Eden began.

“Right, right, sorry.” He backed off after that.

At least he could take a hint. Eden thought in gratitude.

That is, until five minutes later, when he returned with a timid, “Uh, Eden?”

“Jesus fucking Chr-” Eden stopped when he looked in Bull’s direction, toward the garage door, and saw who was standing there. “Go to the backroom.” He said without looking at Bull.

“What? It’s just-”

“Go, Keith.”

Knowing it must be serious for Eden to call him by his first name, Bull scurried to the back room like a giant squirrel.

Eden wiped his hands on a nearby cloth and faced his visitor. “Benjamin.”

“My name’s-”

“What are you doing here?”

The shorter man crossed his arms and shook his head. “Don’t play dumb with me, Bomber.”

“I told you- I don’t want anything to do with you anymore.”

“Who the fuck said I wanted anything to do with you, neither? Asshole.” Benjamin had seen better days, dark circles under his eyes and a shirt ten times too big for him. He looked like he was living on the street. He probably was. He scoffed. He’d lost weight since Eden had last seen him, five months ago. Eden recalled police tape and rain. “Listen, I’m just here for a pickup.”

Eden started as if he had been shocked. “You know I don’t do that anymore.”

Benjamin waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, fuckface. Now, where’s the money?”

“Shit.” What has he done? Surely he hadn’t…? No. He was just drinking. Wasn’t he?

“Sooner rather than later, thanks,” the other man said as Eden leaned against a truck and put his head in his hands.

“I… dammit.” Eden came towards him, making Benjamin take a step back. He put his hands on the man’s shoulders and looked him square in the face. “What the hell did I do last night?”

Benjamin didn’t take pity on him. He gave a crooked smirk and muttered, “You really wanna know?”

“Just fucking tell me.”

Benjamin's grin grew wider as he said, “You owe the boss two grand in coke.”