He Kept My $11,200 as a Gift, So a Biker's Dog Took My Side novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Friday

Joni records Brent calling her money a gift in front of his boss while Bear wrecks the showroom, and Brent whispers that he's engaged.

Lakeshore Truck & Auto had balloons tied to every bumper that Friday.

A banner over the showroom said FALL TRUCK RALLY, SATURDAY OF THANKSGIVING WEEK, and a man in a headset was giving away hot dogs.

I stood in the lot with my brace on and my phone in my fist, and my hands would not stop shaking.

"You don't have to come in," I said.

Holt shut off the truck.

"I know."

"I told you I'd do this alone."

"You did." He opened his door. "I'm going to buy a hot dog."

Bear jumped down after him without being asked, and trotted straight to my side.

I looked at the two of them, big man and bigger dog, and I stopped arguing.

Brent was in the glass office at the back of the showroom, laughing into a phone with his feet on the desk.

He saw me through the glass.

His feet came down.

By the time I reached the door, he was already coming out with a white envelope in his hand and his customer smile turned all the way up.

"Joni. Babe. You came."

"You said Friday."

"I did. I have your thing right here." He held the envelope out. "A thousand. For your trouble, and so we can put this behind us."

I took out my phone and turned it so he could see the red dot.

"Say it again," I said. "Out loud."

His smile held.

"Joni, don't make this weird. It's a gift. You gave me money as a gift, and I'm being generous."

"Eleven thousand two hundred."

"Fine, whatever it was. I'm giving you back a thousand for free."

"For free," I said. "Out of my money."

A few salesmen had stopped talking by the hot dog table.

An older man in a gray suit, who I guessed was the owner, had stopped with his coffee halfway to his mouth.

"Brent," the owner said. "What's this?"

"Nothing, boss. An ex. She's confused about some gifts."

"I'm not confused," I said.

I said it louder than I meant to, and my voice carried across the whole showroom.

"I gave him my savings for a house. He had me label every payment 'gift' on the app so the lender wouldn't ask. There is no house."

The owner set his coffee down on a truck hood.

Brent took one step toward me and lowered his voice.

"You're embarrassing yourself."

"No," Holt said.

It was the first thing he had said since the lot.

He had come up behind me with a hot dog in one hand, and he said it quietly.

Brent looked at him.

I watched his face change.

It wasn't anger, and it wasn't the customer smile either.

It was fear, and it was gone as fast as it came.

"You," Brent said.

"Me," Holt said.

I didn't understand it, because as far as I knew, they had never met.

I didn't have time to wonder, because Bear knocked the whole brochure display off its stand.

Glossy trifolds slid across the floor.

Bear pushed his face into the pile and came up chewing a financing guide.

"Bear," Holt said, not loud.

Bear dropped it, then walked to the nearest truck, a red one lifted so high it had a ladder, and lifted his leg on the front tire.

Somebody by the hot dog table made a sound.

Then the whole showroom was laughing.

The owner was laughing too, a short bark, and then he put his hand over his mouth and looked at Brent with a different face.

"Brent," he said. "My office. Now. Bring the paperwork on whatever this is."

"Boss, she's lying."

"Then it'll be short."

Brent turned to me with the envelope still in his hand.

He took my elbow, and I felt Holt shift behind me.

"Don't," I said, and pulled free.

Brent leaned in close, his mouth almost on my ear, and kept smiling for the room.

"I'm engaged, Joni," he said. "You've made a mistake coming here."

I felt my face go cold.

"Engaged to who?"

"Someone you don't want to meet."

He walked into the glass office and shut the door.

Holt put his hot dog in my hand.

"Eat," he said. "You haven't eaten."

I looked at the phone in my other hand.

The recording was still running, and it had caught every word, including "engaged."

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