Page 70 of Their Wicked Ways

Jett was by far the best carpenter I’d ever worked with. His attention to detail was second to none, and his designs were timeless and beautiful, on top of being functional.

“I started apprenticing for a carpenter when I was sixteen.” He took another sip of his drink. “I worked with him until a few months before I moved here.”

“Sounds like a great opportunity. Did you like it?”

Jett didn’t talk about himself often, and he was tight-lipped about his past. He let little anecdotes slip here and there, but I was having trouble piecing his life before he moved here together.

I knew he’d grown up in a religious community, which was probably why he’d gotten married so young, and that he’d left home over a year ago and moved in with his aunts.

I assumed things hadn’t been great at home and that’s why he’d left, but I didn’t know many details beyond what I’d heard from the other guys who knew him from the club.

“It was fine.” He studied the lid of his cup, his eyes clouding over. “Until his daughter cheated on me, and everyone decided it was my fault.”

My brain skipped like the CD player in my family’s old minivan when we went over a speed bump.

He took a long swallow of his drink while my brain tried to play catch-up.

He’d apprenticed under his father-in-law, and his ex had cheated on him? That was more personal information in two sentences than he’d let slip in all the time we’d worked together.

“Hey.”

Quinn and Ez came into the room, their expressions grim.

“Hey,” we answered in unison.

“Looks like you’re getting the rest of the day off.” Quinn shot us a wry grin.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I need to go to Seattle to get a replacement generator.” He pointed at the sky, which was dark and gloomy and had been all day. “And it’s only a matter of time before the skies open up. Might as well shut down and start fresh tomorrow.”

“Roger that.” I climbed to my feet. “Do you need us to do anything?”

“Just the normal shutdown.” He pulled his keys out of his pocket and twirled them around his finger. “I’ll let the other guys know. See ya in the morning.”

We said our goodbyes, then kind of stood around staring at each other after Quinn left the room.

“I guess we should start shutting down.” Jett gulped down the rest of his drink.

I did the same as Ez started cleaning up.

“What are you going to do with your afternoon of freedom?” Ez asked Jett when we were finishing up.

Jett brushed his hands off on his thighs. “Same thing I was going to do after work. Go home and try not to get sucked into doomscrolling until it’s time to crash.”

“Doomscrolling?” Ez asked.

“That’s what I call it when I zone out and spend hours scrolling through Insta or TikTok. I swear I can lose hours doing that and not even realize how much time has passed.”

“Is it the escape you need?” I asked. “Like a brain break from reality?”

He nodded.

“Do you game at all? It’s not exactly mindless, but it helps me when I need a distraction.”

“Not really. I’m not the most patient person when I’m learning something new, and games make me rage out.”

“Competitive?” Ez smirked.