One week later

Katori

Uhm. What the fuck? Seriously... what the fuck?

I stood in front of the shop with my mouth on the ground and my hands on my hips. Planted in the ground, in front of the building that housed my shop was an enormous sign that read SOLD in bold black letters. Screaming at me. SOLD.

Chee sold the building. And now... what the fuck?

I pulled out my phone and scrolled to Kaya's number. As soon as she picked up with her traditional greeting of ‘What?', I exploded. "That goddamn piece of shit motherfucker sold the building!"

"What? Who? What are you talking about?"

"Mitchell Chee. Motherfucker!"

"Chee? What about him?"

"Are you... can you not hear me? He sold the building. The one my shop is in? The one that I'm probably going to be evicted from now and I still have no place to put this shit?"

"Oh. I mean... he said he was going to, right?"

I huffed. "Yes, Kaya. But he told me he'd help me find a spot to move to."

"Maybe he still plans to do that. I mean... you couldn't have bought the building, Tori. You knew this was happening. Right?"

"Yes. Right. I just... I feel like I'm up against a wall right now. I didn't know he was going to sell the week after we talked."

"Did you talk to him?"

"No. You were the first person I thought to call."

Well, that was a lie, one that I was telling her and myself. JC was the first person I thought of, actually. But I'd decided not to burden him with my problems anymore. He was under no obligation to be the fixer in my life. And, right now too much needed to be fixed.

"Well... you should maybe call Mitch. He has to tell you when you have to be out, right?"

"I guess. I... I kind of don't want to know." Lots of problems got solved by sticking your head in the sand, right? Right.

"But you have to know, Tori."

I sighed, digging my toe into the newly uncovered grass. The temperatures had been uncharacteristically mild and much of the snow that had been on the ground a week ago had melted into a slushy, muddy mess.

"I... I guess I'll call him."

"K. I gotta run; the charge nurse is out and that means I'm Head Bitch today." She cackled in that evil way that sort of made me jealous, because I knew Kaya enjoyed her job, what with all that stability and fast paced action. I wished I looked forward to reactivating my employment at Presby.

I looked up at the shop, a low slung, forlorn looking building with peeling, slate grey paint and two wide bay doors that had seen better days. All I really wanted was to work in my little shop, fixing motorcycles.

Kaya had hung up, so I scrolled to another number in my address book and, after a second, pressed the name to dial. It was Chee's personal cell, and I dialed it so infrequently that if I called, he picked up right away.

"What's up, Tori?"

I seethed, barely able to speak. "You know what the fuck is up, Mitch," I managed to spit out.

"Do I, now?"

"Damn right, you do. You sold the building? Then let me know by putting this sign here? For the whole town to see? You couldn't give me some heads up, not even a text to tell me?"

The low rumble of his laughter crackled over the line and ran just under my nerves. My nose flared and I opened my mouth to unleash a torrent of expletives aimed in his direction, but then thought better of it. He might still be willing to help me find a place.

So shut it. And play nice. Even if you don't want to.

"I gave you so many warnings, Tori. Written letters, three of them.  I even came by a couple of weeks ago. Maybe you don't remember, because you'd been playing with your boy toy from LA."

"You came by and said you'd be willing to help me find a place. You said nothing about the place being sold."

"Well, I hadn't really planned on selling so soon. But then..." He paused, giving a gravelly chuckle in my ear. "I got a phone call  about someone all hot in the ass to buy the building. At whatever price I named. And that seemed... suspicious. So I checked it out. Traced the number back. Guess what I found out?"

I huffed an exasperated breath. "Uh... I have no idea. What?"

"Yeah, play dumb. You and your boyfriend think you're smart, but I win in the end."

"My... what? What are you talking about?"

"You thought I didn't notice the dust all over your clothes and your hair every which way and that freshly fucked look you both had goin' on?"

My heart stopped... literally stopped beating. And then started up again, double-time, thumping hard out of my chest. Mother of all fucks. Chee knew about JC and me. I didn't know what else he was talking about, but he knew about us.

"Mitch-"

"Then you have him rope some guy from a big deal holding company in LA into calling me and trying to weasel a cheap payday out of me." He laughed a slow, derisive chuckle.  "Well it don't work that way, honey. I ain't hardly stupid. I hope the dick was good, because I took him for every penny he was willing to pay."

"Mitch... I don't... I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't have anyone call you about the building- "

"Better talk to your boyfriend. My deal is with him. As of today, the title has transferred and he owns the building. Gotta run."

The line went dead in my ear. I pulled the phone away and stared  at the home screen photo, a shot of Nasaan on his motorbike, the wind whipping through his curls.  In my mind, the words and the meaning of the words swam and swirled. I was trying to process, but the synapses weren't firing.

So. JC. Bought the building.

JC bought the building.

"Motherfucker bought the building!" I yelled.  Out loud. To no one.

I felt like I was losing my mind. My vision went blurry, so I hurried toward the shop entrance, fumbling with my keys. I burst inside and headed toward the rolling chair that I kept at the counter and fell into it, then tucked my head between my knees and tried to regulate my breathing.

Fifteen minutes later, by my count, I was sweaty and clammy and flustered, but okay. Sort of. I needed to make a phone call but didn't want to make that call when I was angry. Or couldn't think. Because I would just scream expletives at him until I was hoarse and blue in the face.

One thing I knew for sure: there was no way he did this on his own. No wonder Kaya was so calm and unconcerned! Everyone in my life was officially on my shit list, because how they could let JC just waltz in and... buy the fucking building was beyond me.

Now I owed him. A lot, if I went by what Mitch said. And I didn't want to owe him.

...

JC

"Why don't we take the chord up one step and see how it sounds? If you don't like it, we can drop it back."

"Okay," answered my protege, with a good natured shrug. I'd met Matthew a year ago at a songwriting workshop in Nashville. Before I knew it, we were working together, writing songs and banging out chords on the guitar, which he was just learning to play. "Worth a shot."

I heard my phone buzzing on the table behind me, but I had a rule about phones and other devices in the studio. They were distracting and a waste of my time, especially if my time was being paid for.

It had been a busy week, working with Chee's lawyer and signing paperwork for the building sale. I knew the transaction was officially going through today though, and I was nervously checking it every five minutes anyway, so I grabbed it up and told Matthew to try the song he'd written an octave higher and see how he liked it.

"I'll be right with you, sorry. I'm in the middle of a real estate thing right now."

"No problem," he said, then dipped his head to concentrate on the chords.

Heads up,  Kaya's text read. Chee put a big ass SOLD sign in front of the building.

I groaned, audibly. Matthew paused, perking his head up. I shook my head and gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm gonna need to step out for a few. Feel free to take a break. The fridge is full; there's some snacks or whatever. You have the WIFI code."

After he assured me he'd be fine, I ducked out of the room we'd been using in the basement of my house and bounded up the steps, two at a time. When I reached the landing I hung a right and headed into the kitchen, taking a seat at one of the bar stools lining the counter.

100% guarantee she's talking to Chee right now.

Shit, I texted back. I thought I'd get more warning than that.

Well the deal closed today right? You were planning on telling her today?

Yeah,  I answered.  I wasn't expecting Chee to steal my thunder.

A long pause followed before the reply dots started bouncing again. Uhm. She just called me. She knows it's you.

Fuck! How?

Chee!  

What?

Chee knows it was you that bought the building and told her. She figured out that I knew what was happening. I have a whole new asshole.

Groaning and absolutely dreading my conversation with Tori, I ran the fingers of both hands through my hair. This... this was not at all what I had in mind when I thought about how to tell her that I was taking over the building. So she could make her dream happen.

Fuck. I'm sorry. Didn't mean for it to happen this way.

Don't be. You're doing a good thing, and she'll come around. Just letting you know, you're getting a phone call soon.

I figured.

She couldn't even talk, she was so mad when she called me. Fair warning.

You okay? You need a place to hide out?

Haha, Pretty Boy. Don't even play, I will be visiting your Hollywood mansion. But I'm not running from my sister. I've known her my whole life. Her bark is worse than her bite.

Doesn't mean I wanna be on the receiving end of it. Hang in there.

Kaya didn't answer back, but she wasn't good at that sort of thing. We'd had a few short bouts of texting and she usually just... stopped replying. Nasaan was only slightly better, but I needed a teenager and emoji translator to read his texts.

The faint strains of guitar chords wafted up from downstairs. Matthew seemed occupied for the moment. Instead of waiting out, I could just... bite the bullet and call her. And hope she picked up.

I thumbed through screens until I got to Tori's entry in my address book. Then took the plunge and dialed. It rang. And then went straight to voicemail.

Fuuuuuuck, she was pissed.

I waited a few seconds, then dialed her again. This time the line rang and rang, and then rolled to voicemail.

Okay, I thought. Fine. I'll let her be mad.  Eventually, she had to talk to me. I owned her building.

I headed back downstairs but left the phone on the kitchen counter. I had another hour or two with Matthew and I didn't want to be distracted. Besides, I figured Tori would call back while I was down there and it would serve her right to not be able to reach me.

A few hours later, I walked Matthew out of the front door and watched his bright yellow Mini Cooper back out of my driveway. I closed the door and headed to the kitchen, fully expecting what I was greeted with- an explosion of texts and back to back phone calls. I wasn't really laughing, because I knew why she was upset. But I was amused at how upset she was.

Answer the phone, asshole.

Fucker. How do you call me and then I can't reach you? PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE.

Ok Pretty Boy. I get it. You're busy doing whatever the fuck it is you do.

So when you're done with all your super important celebrity bullshit, call me.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and opened it, slid onto the bar stool and dialed her number.  She picked up right away.

"You son of a bitch!" She said, by way of a greeting. "I could just strangle you! I can't believe you!"

"Good thing I left before the transaction went through, or I'm sure you'd try."

"This is not funny, JC. How could you do this?"

"It was something I felt like I needed to do-"

"Messing with my life was something you felt you needed to do?"

"The intent wasn't to mess with your life. It was to give you a little breathing room and a new start. None of this was evil or nefarious-"

"Stop using big words to make yourself sound smart and important!  You stuck your nose into my business and I...I'm... so fucking pissed off!"

Tori was practically screaming by the last word of that sentence. Which was good. I wanted her to get her anger out so we could start moving past it.

"I didn't actually stick my nose in anything, Tori. I bought a building. That's it. It has a tenant in it. I'm not in a hurry to kick that tenant out. But I have heard that the tenant would like to renovate and when she is ready, I'd like to talk about those plans."

"Oh my God, JC..." I could hear her pacing, probably in the kitchen. I pictured her, in my mind, walking from one end to the other, then turning on a heel and walking to the other end. "I... I feel like you're mocking me. Like you can't hear me. Like you don't understand what this is about. You don't get why I'm angry."

"I do get it. I had plenty of talks with people around you-"

"People around me?" She screeched.  "So you talked to everyone but me about me?"

"Which I knew would piss you off. I knew this whole deal would be bad, from your perspective, but really... what choice did I have, Tori? I told you that I care about you, about your family. You really thought I'd let you crawl into Mitch's hands? You really thought I was about to watch you lose everything and walk away like thanks for the sex, bye now? You think I'm that guy, Tori?"

"It's not that I think you're that guy, JC. I just thought you would go back to LA and mind your own goddamn business. I didn't think you were the guy to jump in and swim around in waters you don't belong in. This was my problem to solve-"

"You know what? And now it's solved. You don't have to worry about moving unless and until you want to. And at that point if you want to move forward with those plans I saw, I'm ready to fund the project and have you manage it. I've got some guys I'm already talking to about custom bikes for a charity ride next spring. If you want to build them, we have to get to work. All you have to do is stop being mad."

Tori's breathing was coming in light pants across the line. "You're talking to who? About what?"

"Some guys I know, we do an annual motorcycle ride benefiting a men's health charity. It's just one for right now, but it could grow. Plus I know guys that ride bikes regularly;  guys that would love to spend money with you. Then there's me..."

"Then there's you... what?"

I grinned, hoping she could hear the smile in my voice. "Well, I've gotta get my orders in first. If you think anybody's bike is getting built before mine, you're outta your mind, honey."

"JC... I- I don't... I don't even...what the fuck is going on?" At the edge of her voice, I felt and heard panic. Exasperation. Frustration.

I guess it stopped being amusing, then. It was never my plan to completely overwhelm her.

"Listen, I know this is a lot to take in. Why don't you take the night, a couple of days even to think about this? Get used to the idea. Think about the positives. Look at those drawings. Pull out all your plans and your dreams, because if you want it, we're building that shit. And call me if and when you're ready. Doesn't matter how long it takes, but like I said... we have work to do so hurry up."

I pressed the red button to disconnect the call. Hanging up without saying goodbye was a Nez thing. I kind of liked it.