Not many people knew the full story of Silas’ criminal past, but if they did, they probably would’ve called him a hypocrite for the conditions he’d placed on the teenage girl who wanted to help him out in the garage. Somehow, the whole ‘benefit of the doubt’ thing never registered in his head; not when he knew exactly who Nick was friends with. It was hard to trust someone who associated with a known thief. Silas had been on the opposite side of the fence once. He’d been the known thief once… And that, in his opinion, was enough to justify his opinion of Nick.
For all he knew, this was just a ruse to get one of the teens on his side of the garage in order to get him back for the paint prank he’d pulled on a few members of that group. Nick’s expressed interest in welding only screamed of suspicion, because girls, especially ones as young as her, simply couldn’t have a genuine interest or any talent with welding. There were a couple people around Sing Sing who believed him to be a decent guy, but deep down, Silas was a bit sexist, as well as a ageist. That wasn’t to say he wouldn’t try to stop a woman from doing something; in fact, quite the opposite: If Nick could prove she really had skill with a welding torch, Silas would be of the impressed.
When he heard footsteps enter the garage, Silas glanced habitually in the direction of the marked off area that was reserved for the teen band. They were usually louder when they entered, though, so he dismissed his annoyance before it had time to spark. Hands busy removing the back seats from the golf cart he was working on, he peered over the roof of the vehicle when the voice called out.
“Over here.” He freed one hand briefly to toss up a lazy wave, then immediately returned his attention to his work. Getting the seats out was the easy part. Silas was still going through design plans in his head, trying to work out the best way to secure the cage on the back so that supplies could be stored safely.
He glanced up again, noticing the paper in Nick’s hand. He nodded to it. “What the hell’s that?” Spoken in an almost conversational tone, as opposed to unfriendly. He said he’d give her a chance, after all.