Page 94 of Without You

I follow right behind her, coming hard and groaning her name.

Breathing heavily, I release her legs and lean over, pressing my forehead into her chest.

“Okay. What is it you wanted to talk about?” I ask and she bursts out laughing.

“I was offered a job today.”

“A job? You already have a job.”

“I know. And I love it, but this one is kind of once-in-a-lifetime and, I don’t know. I want to talk to you about it because I need your opinion and I have a feeling you know the person who offered me the job.”

“Once-in-a-lifetime, huh? That sounds exciting. Let’s get cleaned up then talk, sound good?”

“Yeah.”

We take turns using the restroom and cleaning up, then we take a seat at the table.

“Not that I’m not thrilled with the detour we took there, I do want to hear about this new job thing.”

She wiggles her eyebrows. “It was definitely a great detour.”

“Always is.”

“Okay, honestly? I don’t even know that I want it. Sure, it’d be fun, but it’s also not really anything I had ever seen myself doing.”

“It isn’t for a massage therapist?” I ask, taking a drink of my Coke that’s now a little warmer than it was when I first opened it. Definitely worth drinking warm pop, though.

She fidgets with the can in front of her, twisting it side to side before popping the top and taking a long swig. “It actually is. But it would be more of an exclusive job. Only working for one person in particular, including his crew, I suppose.”

“For who?”

“You’ve actually met him. It’s Chase Stanton.”

My eyebrows furrow together. “Chase Stanton? Chase as in, the guy who I custom built a truck for?”

“The one and only.”

“How do you know that’s who the build was for?”

She taps her temple. “Because I’m brilliant and have the powers of deduction.”

She notices the look on my face so she pulls out her phone, swiping a few times before turning the screen to face me. A picture of Chase on one of his social media accounts greets me. “This your Chase?”

“Well, he’s far from mine, but yes, that’s the Chase I did a custom build for.”

“Thought so. When he told me he had been here in Benton to pick something up, told me to call him Chase, and then asked if I’d basically go on tour with him, I figured it out.”

“Definitely brilliant.” I chuckle. “Still, I think I need a little more backstory here.”

“Chase is the guy who changed my tire.”

“What? I thought his name was Elijah.”

She chuckles. “So did I. Shows you how much I pay attention to celebrities, huh? He told me his name was Elijah and I didn’t question it. I thought he looked vaguely familiar but yeah, I had no idea.”

“So Chase and Elijah are one and the same?”

“Appears so. I didn’t believe him today when he told me, so after he got dressed, I made him show me his ID.”

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