ROMANCE: THE SHEIKH'S GAMES: A Sheikh Romance (24 page)

Over the years, she’d helped him where she could and had seen some real progress. He was getting there, but there were still days where it seemed like trouble followed him wherever he went.

When she arrived home, she found him sitting on the couch with the TV on, but his eyes locked on the corner of the room. It’d been a bad day. Saundra sucked in a breath through her nose and prepared herself mentally for what would come.

“Hi sweetie,” she said when he didn’t respond to her closing the door and setting her things down.

“This is such crap,” he said.

First thing first, a time out. He needed to calm down before he would talk to her. She went to the kitchen, got him a fresh beer and brought it out to him. He thanked her quietly, and she left him there to sit and think while she went and changed into more comfy clothes.

When she came back out, he seemed more relaxed. It was flattering to know that her presence always seemed to calm him down, even if he never said it outright. She wasn’t even sure he knew it himself, but she could see it in him. He could be upset all day, but the moment they started hanging around one another, he would just relax.

“So what’s going on?” she asked him and sat on the couch beside him.

“I’m gonna get fired. I just know I am.”

“Why’s that?”

“This guy, Blake, big guy, he keeps coming at me at work. I know what you’re going to ask, and no, I’m not doing anything to provoke the guy. I’m trying to just get through my day, but he comes at me. You know I don’t handle bullies well.”

“I know, sweetie,” she said and played with some stray bits of his hair.

“We get busy, and he suddenly things all the jobs are his. I’m not going to sit there and not work, ya know? We need the money too.”

“Well if there’s enough to go around, can you just wait for him to take what he wants and then do whatever is left?”

“That’s just it, he doesn’t leave anything. He’ll take it all and then stuff won’t get done in time, and cars will have to hold over until tomorrow. Some of the other guys will take work, but it’s when I come up and challenge him for the work that he suddenly gets in a huff about it.”

Saundra sighed, conflicted. “I’m sorry. There’s no one you can talk to?”

Miles pursed his lips into a smirk and shook his head.

How did this always happen with him? She couldn’t understand it. To hear him tell it, he just kept to himself all the time, and trouble just found him. But every job? Every time? This was his fourth job in six months. She wanted to help, to give him some advice, but what could she possibly say to him? She knew he was trying his best, but it just made it so damn hard to defend him when her family started in on her to leave him already. They’d gotten through worse times. They’d make it through this.

It was selfish, but Saundra’s tired mind was ready to be done with all this stress and have life get boring for a little while.

Miles checked the small piece of paper he’d written the tire size on, then looked back up to the rack of new tires. In the storage area under the shop they used to store all of the tires, the air was filled with the smell of rubber. Rubber dust coated the floor, despite multiple sweeps every day.

Personally he enjoyed the smell. It was interesting, and reminded him of his childhood when he and his dad would work on cars together. Of course, that wasn’t why Miles worked in this shop. This was just another job, but at least he had a bit of experience to leverage in order to get it.

His work history looked so terrible. So many jobs over such a short period of time made him look like a bad investment. He knew how this worked. Employers had to weight the money lost during the training of a new employee and expect that employee to not only become functional and efficient, but to also work up the money lost, plus turn a profit for the company. It was basic economics.

The fact that Miles could rarely stay employed long enough to make up that money again made him as unattractive as the one-eyed girl at the prom.

He grumbled to himself as he searched for the damn set of tires that were supposed to be down there. If he had to go up and ask about them, he knew the attitude he’d get for it. What else was he supposed to do? The system said they were down here. He marked them for the order, and came down to get them. No one should’ve touched them. If they’re not there, it’s not like he can just magically conjure four damn tires out of thin air!

He’d have to speak to the supervisor about it. There was no way around it. Of course the supervisor would blame him for not being able to find the tires, or just tell him to put on another set. Of course, that wasn’t what the customer asked for and he—

Miles growled and punched one of the tires as his mind spun in circles. How did people do this? How could they go to work every day and just… deal with it? He couldn’t fathom it. Every place he worked was full of people treating him like a moron, treating him like he was less than them.

It was this way ever since he was a child, all through school, and now he had to deal with it as an adult. His father had been a criminal, a pretty infamous one, too. That wasn’t his fault any more than these missing damn tires! The customer ordered these four, the inventory said they had them, and he wasn’t going to give the customer something they didn’t order without informing them first. It wasn’t right. Such a small, stupid thing, but he knew it would bring a world of drama down on his head.

Miles ran up the stairs back to the shop. Pneumatic tools whizzed as the other techs loosened nuts and performed maintenance. Out of the corner of his eye, Miles just happened to notice four tires beside a car Blake was working on. The blue and yellow label on the tires was the same as the ones he was looking for. Blake had already given him grief over taking the four-tire job. If they could be done fast enough, they were pretty lucrative in the commissions. They’d almost come to blows over it, but now, had Blake taken the four tires Miles needed?

A white hot indignant rage broiled inside of Miles as he marched over to the stack of tires and checked the size against the paper. A match.

“Get away from my car,” Blake said, coming around the side.

“These are my tires.”

Blake opened his arms. “Doesn’t look like it. I need them for this order.”

Miles looked at the red sedan. It was clearly a family car, the basic steel rims were nowhere near large enough for those tires. “Bull,” Miles spat. “Let me see the order. Where is it?”

“Don’t worry about it, little man. Get back to work.”

“I am working!”

Miles scanned the immediate area, spinning in a small circle as he looked for the order sheet for the red sedan. He spotted it hanging against the toolbox. Blake tried to stop him, but Miles leapt over and snatched up the order form. It only took a second for him to find the tire model and size. It wasn’t even the right brand.

“Hah!” Miles threw the order form back at Blake. “I knew it. These are my tires and I’m taking them.”

Blake took up a socket wrench with an extended handle as he passed the toolbox. “No you’re not.”

The fact that Blake meant to intimidate him, that he thought so little of Miles made him so furious he could barely see straight. Struggling to stay in control of his anger, the adrenaline had nowhere to go, and just simmered in his muscles, making him shudder in his rage.

“You’re shaking,” Blake pointed out, a petulant little smile on his face. “Do I scare you?”

“Not even a little,” Miles said, and cursed his treacherous tongue for stuttering on the words, making him sound like a frightful liar.

“Huh, little boy? Do I scare you? Get back to your work and mind your own business.” Blake held the socket wrench ready, as though he meant to swing it.

It wasn’t so much that Miles thought about every man that thought he could beat him into submission. That would’ve taken too much time and too much brain power. Instead, it was instinctual. It was reflex. It was the culmination of every experience of attempted bullying that anyone had ever tried with him.

When Miles screamed, grabbed Blake by the coveralls, and spun him into his own tall, red, toolbox, Miles was simply responding how he knew he needed to respond to get men like Blake to understand.

They never understood. They could never be reasoned with. All of the stories about bullies leaving you alone when you stand up to them, that was fairytales. In real life, they came back. Their power had been compromised, and they needed to make that which had defied them cow before them. If not, then they knew they were nothing. That could not be allowed. No, to deal with bullies, they needed to be beaten. They needed to be beaten so badly, that the thought of returning, of trying anything ever again made them shudder in fear.

Miles was no victim, he was not someone to be bullied. He was an intelligent, rational man that would much rather talk his way out of any situation. Yet, all of that was gone as he sat straddled over Blake’s chest, beating him senseless. There were hands on Mile’s arms and shoulders, but he brushed them off with shrugs of his shoulders. Men shouted, but he couldn’t hear them.

“Do I scare you?” Miles shouted at Blake even as the man’s eyes rolled back into his head. “Huh? Answer me! Do I scare you!”

Suddenly Blake dropped out from under him, the world shifting and spinning around, and Miles face was pressed against the asphalt. When his mind returned to him, he was aware of three men with knees in his back, two others holding each of his arms down. Another stood at his head, holding him down.

Upon realizing what he’d done, hearing the other men speak with raised voices to the unconscious Blake, all Miles could think about was how he was going to explain this to Saundra.

Saundra came home to find Miles sitting on the couch, his face in his hands, the TV off. His knuckles were scraped, bruised, and still trickling blood. He hadn’t even changed out of his work clothes, which was the first thing he did normally.

“Sweetie, are you okay?” She dropped her bag and came to sit on the couch. Now was not the time for time outs. She needed answers.

Miles shook his head and hugged himself. “I got fired. Again. I’m so sorry.”

She took up his hands to look at them more closely. The back of his hands were bruised. He could’ve broken the bones in his hands, but he’d never say anything. She loved how strong he was, but it could be really damn obnoxious when he put himself in such jeopardy for the sake of his pride.

“What happened?”

“Short version? Blake and I got into a fight. I got fired.”

“Longer version?”

Miles looked away, his jaw swinging from side to side as he struggled to maintain control over his emotions. It hurt her to see him so upset, but deep inside, she couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. Now they were going to be under a huge financial strain while he tried to find another job. “I stood up to Blake and took on an order. He stole my tires to get back at me. When I went to take the tires back, he came at me with a socket wrench.”

“What?” She couldn’t believe to hear this sort of thing happened in the work place. “Are you kidding me?”

Miles shook his head. “I told you. This guy, he just hoarded everything for himself. He’s a bully. Was a bully. I just…” Miles shook his head violently and pressed his palms against the side of his head. “What are we going to do? I’m so sorry. I know we can’t afford for me to keep losing jobs like this. I’m so sorry.”

“No, shhh, stop.” She reached out and pulled him to her, holding him.

She knew he tried his best. He didn’t mean for this to happen. Unfortunately, it seemed like he was a magnet for this sort of thing. How one man could keep running into trouble at work, she just couldn’t understand. But what were her choices? She could either believe he was a screw-up, or she could believe in him, stand by him, and help him work through it all.

She knew he wanted to do better, was trying to be better. To stop supporting him now would be to remove all of the pillars they’d build together to make him a better man. Miles didn’t cry, but she felt his body shudder against her. Saundra kissed the side of his head and held him close.

“I’ll start looking for another job tomorrow. I swear to God, I’m not going to be unemployed for long. I can’t put this on you. I can’t keep putting this on you.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I know you’re trying.”

Miles shook his head again and pulled away from her. “No, that’s not good enough. Trying isn’t good enough. You don’t deserve this, to have to carry me. I’ll do better.”

She took his hands in hers again, making sure to be gentle with them. “I know you will.”

The next day Saundra sat at lunch with a friend and fellow teacher Jared. “I just don’t know what else I can do for him,” she said before taking another bite of her sandwich.

Jared sighed softly and gave a shrug. “It sounds like you’re doing the best you can for him.”

Saundra shoved the food into her cheek with her tongue. “But am I, though? Why does this keep happening? This isn’t an isolated incident. He’s been fired for fighting before.”

“My brother went to school with Miles, did I ever tell you that?”

Saundra shook her head.

“Yeah, they weren’t friends or anything. Went in different circles.” Jared gave a smirk at himself. “Well, sort of. Miles didn’t really have a circle.”

“What do you mean?”

Jared tilted his head. “You don’t know?”

She shook her head. “Miles doesn’t tell me much of anything about his past, just that it was terrible and he’s trying to get past it.”

“Oh, well I don’t want to say something if he doesn’t want… well, I guess it doesn’t really matter, since it’s kind of public knowledge anyway.”

“What is?”

“Miles was pretty much the loner. To hear my brother tell it, he got into fights constantly. He was smart about it though, and almost never got in trouble for it. The whole school was terrified of him. If anyone tried to talk to any of the teachers or faculty, he’d follow them home and put them in the hospital.”

Saundra furrowed her brows. “What? No, I can’t believe that.”

Jared shrugged again. “That’s what my brother told me. All I’m saying is, maybe you’re doing everything you can for him. And maybe that’s not enough.”