The Mechanic.

Chapter 22

Hey guys! I'm sorry I've been MIA for a while. I've been so busy. But I'm back now. Oh and I have a new short story up titled "The Tequila Effect", please help me by checking it out.

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Meanwhile, at home...

The soundtrack to Tom & Jerry playing on the television made the perfect background music for the energy between the two males sitting on the couch and eyeballing each other. One, a six-year-old boy who had been abandoned by his mother and her boyfriend, with a strange man who looked a whole lot like his mother's boyfriend.

The other, a thirty-five year-old brooding male with a two degrees in Business and Psychology. He had no idea how he had landed himself in this situation. He had made one mistake in college and now his baby brother was holding it over his head and making him babysit his girlfriend's son. He looked around the darkly colored apartment for some clue as to what he was supposed to do with the boy. The books, pencils and crayons on the coffee table caught his eye.

"Are you finished with your homework?" he asked the little tyke. Instead of replying, Josh just looked up at Jude and narrowed his eyes at him.

"What's your name?" he asked in his childish voice. Jude could clearly remember Ella hurriedly introducing them.

"Jude."

"Cool," he decided. Then he looked back up at him with narrowed eyes. "Are you Jon's friend?"

Jude smiled. He didn't know why, but he did. "I'm his brother."

"Oh," Josh said. "He told me about his brother one time. Do you have a baby and a pool in your backyard?"

"No, that's my brother, Mark," Jude replied. "He's the only one that has children."

"Oh." The little boy nodded. "Why don't you have children?"

Jude sighed. How was he supposed to get him to do his homework when all the little boy wanted to do was get to know him? "Because I'm not married yet," he said, and patted himself on the back for that smart answer. Only he didn't see what was coming next.

"But mommy isn't married, and she has me."

Jude's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't the slightest idea what to say in response to that. The only way he could think of was to change the subject. "Are you finished with your homework?" But Josh didn't reply, he just sat and stared at Jude.

Jude forced a smile and got up. He needed to reach someone who knew how to get Josh to stop asking questions and actually listen to him. He walked to the kitchen and pulled the phone out of his pocket. His first instinct was to call Jon. Then he reconsidered, Jon would probably mock the hell out of him and tell him to figure it out. He couldn't call Ella too because he wasn't entirely sure that she liked him. Not that he could blame her, he hadn't exactly been the best to her. He mostly just ignored her and when he didn't, he said no more than four words to her. He had a mind to call his mother, but she didn't even know the little boy.

Jasmine.

He opened his contacts and found her number and dialed it. Then he held the phone up to his ear and waited to hear her voice.

"Jude?" she answered, breathing heavily.

"Jasmine?" he asked. "What's going on? Why are you breathing so heavily?"

"I was just doing some cardio," she replied.

Jude groaned internally. He had seen her do cardio before, and immediately, the image popped into his head as if it had been waiting patiently to be summoned. He could see her in the open space that was the gym they had both been registered with, with the wooden floors and the floor to ceiling glass windows overlooking the busy streets. He could see her in her tight pink workout clothes standing with a bunch of women. Then they would all get in formation and start to stretch. He shook his head to get rid of the image. It wasn't a helpful one, especially as he hadn't had sex in quite a while.