Chapter 3: True Home

I did like I would any other day. I got on the city bus outside the campus and took it to the business district. From there, I would hop on another bus and take that one over to the edge of the residential neighborhoods. That was where my favorite place on Earth was.

My dad owned a small garage that was close to where most of the normal people in town lived. By normal I mean it's where the average people that actually work for a living resided. Unlike the uppity, snooty, holier than thou, better than all the rest rich people lived.

Alright, I might be unfairly judging some of them, but not all of them. I have personally been on the receiving end of some of those people my whole life. So many people told me that I wasn't good enough because I didn't have the best clothes or the amazing new sneakers, and the best makeup and heels that money could buy. I had dealt with them since middle school and I am still dealing with it now. Thankfully, I ignored most of them and didn't even give them the time of day, but that didn't mean that it didn't annoy the hell out of me.

Now, as for my dad, he was a good man. He had raised me on his own after my mom left. He ran his business, which was right next door to our house, and he had kept it running for over twenty years now. He was successful and perfect in my eyes.

The shop, with its crew of half a dozen sweaty, greasy, pervy men, was my favorite place in the world. I had literally grown up inside this place. My dad taught me the parts of the engine before he taught me the alphabet. I was fixing carburetors before I could fix my own hair. I loved cars and I loved my dad's garage. This place was small and personable, so much so that everyone loved bringing their cars here.

The moment that I finished walking the couple of blocks from the bus stop to the shop, I felt the stress start to melt away from me. Just seeing this place was like the perfect healing medicine for my soul.

I went in through the roll up door like I usually did and went straight to my dad's office. He was working on reports for the budget while his crew worked on the six cars that were waiting.

"Hey there, Alex." Dad called out to me when he heard the door. He hadn't even looked up, but he had heard the way that I shuffled my feet when I was walking. Which was something that I only did when I was annoyed.

"Hey dad." I answered him and sat down in the chair across from him.

"What's bugging you today, honey?" He set down the papers that he was holding and looked at me. "It sounds and looks like you've had a bad day."

"You could say that." I sighed and let my head flop back against the chair that I was sitting in.

"Well, come on, out with it." He grinned at me then, we've been through this routine before.

"UGH!" I grunted in frustration. "My professor is so cruel!"

"Oh, you poor thing." He could barely keep the laughter out of his voice when he responded, again this was part of the same old schtick that we usually had.

"I'm serious this time. The end of the year assignment was changed. I now have to read a damn fairy tale and rewrite it as if I was in the story. That is total crap." I explained to him why I was so mad, and I heard him let his laughter go. He couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Damn, that is pretty bad, isn't it?" He was still laughing but I could see that he was taking me seriously nonetheless. "Look, I know the way that you feel about fairy tales, but you can't help it now. This is a required class. If you want to graduate, then just buckle down and do what I know that you can. The Alex I know wouldn't let this get to her."

I loved my dad, he was always so grounded and straight to the point. And the way that he looked at me with his amber eyes crinkling made everything better. Dad's eyes were just like mine, but not his hair. His hair was brown, a true brown. Unlike my hair which was tan. And on top of that, Dad's face was lined from years of work and smiling. He never stopped smiling after Mom left. He said that he was happier this way and it definitely showed.

"Go on, help Everett with what he's doing. You might find it interesting." He winked at me. He knew that the offer of working would be one that I couldn't resist.

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, dad." I smiled and stood to leave his office.

"Leave the sweatshirt, Alex. I don't think you want to ruin it."

"Good idea." I took the thick shirt off and threw it on the chair I had been sitting in. "See you later Dad." With that, I left to get to work. This would help to calm me down somewhat.

I hadn't made it more than three feet before I heard a man call out to me. Only this wasn't a man that I had ever heard in here before. It must be a customer.

The door to my dad's office was right beside the counter where customers paid and picked up their keys. So, when leaving dad's office, I was in full view of almost everyone that was in the shop, working or otherwise.

"Hey there, beautiful!" The man had called out to me. "What's a pretty thing like you doing in a dirty place like this?" Blech! Quick, someone get me a barf bag! I think I am going to vomit.

"And where else should I be?" I turned toward him and crossed my arms while I gave him a look that said, 'please Mr. Big Strong Man, help me'. I was totally playing up the damsel role that he clearly wanted to see me in.

"You should be with me, letting me take you out to dinner." He was talking to me, but he wasn't looking at me. Well, not the parts that mattered. His eyes were glued to my chest. That's exactly what most men did. This man probably hadn't even seen my face. He didn't know if I was pretty or not. He just saw boobs. And the fact that I was wearing nothing but a spaghetti strapped tank top over my bra didn't help either. After having taken off my sweatshirt, I was nothing more than eye candy to him.

"Really? You would want to take me out?" I played along with him but I could hear Tony behind the counter whispering to him.

"Don't do it man. I'm warning you." That's right, Tony, tell him. But I guarantee you he won't listen at all.

"Yeah, let's go out to dinner. Come on, I just picked up my car so it's good to go." The man was walking toward me now, his eyes still glued to my chest.

"I don't know. I have a lot of work to do here." I subtly let him know that I was busy and also that I wasn't the type of girl that he thought I was.

"A woman like you has no need to work in a garage like this. You should let a man spoil you. He should take care of things so that you don't have to."

"Really? So, a woman shouldn't be working here?" I glared at him, angrier at him than at my damn assignment.

"No, you should let me spoil you, take care of you. I want to see you all dolled up and looking like a lady should."

With that last misogynistic statement, the asshole had the nerve to put his hand on my waist, slide it up until he could grip my elbow, then pulled me toward him. Up until that point, I heard Tony's repeated warning to stop and leave but he didn't listen.

It all happened so fast. I know that the asshole didn't see it coming at all. One moment he was smiling down at me and trying to seduce me with his barbaric and misogynistic attitude, and the next he was staring at the floor as I had his arm twisted around his back. He hadn't expected that in the least.

"What the hell?!" He exclaimed as I pushed him over, making him hunch a lot further than he was used to.

"Don't ever fucking touch a woman without permission, asshole!" Tony snapped at him. "What the hell were you thinking!?" He was practically screaming at him, so loud that everyone in the shop had come walking over, including Dad.

"Alex? Again?" He called out when he saw me holding the man in the position that he was in.

"He touched me, Dad." I glared at the back of the asshole's head.

"Come on, let him go. I will handle this. Just go back to work." I did as I was told and ignored the asshat completely.

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