Page 7 of Cocky Jerk

Her big brown eyes bounce from Antonia to me as my gaze zooms in on the ends of her hair, noting they’re blue—a sign that all is well in the land of Soraya. If they were red or even purple, I would’ve turned the fuck around and got the hell out of dodge. One crazy Italian broad is enough for today, no need to be an overachiever.

“What’s going on here?” Soraya questions.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Antonia hisses. “This asshole is the reason I was late this morning and now he’s stalking me.”

Suppressing a smirk, Soraya looks at me.

“On top of that, he stole my license!”

And there’s the giant red flag. A total no-fly zone.

“For fuck’s sake,” I growl. “I didn’t steal your goddamn license and quit accusing me of stalking you. I’m not here for you, something you’d know if you let me get a word in edgewise.”

She crosses her arms and rolls her eyes, keeping them pinned on Soraya.

“Right, and I’m an astronaut.”

“God, I hope not,” I mumble. “You can’t drive a motorcycle; I’d hate to imagine you manning the controls of a rocket ship.”

“Marco, stop,” Soraya chastises, but there’s a hint of humor in her tone.

“Wait.Marco?You know this clown?”

Soraya chuckles.

“I do,” she confirms. “He’s my twelve o’clock.” She glances back at me. “Did you really pull her over and give her three tickets?”

“I could’ve given her four.”

She cocks her head and tosses me an exasperated look before focusing back on Antonia. With a sigh, she says, “Listen, today hasn’t been the best and we can’t put you in the system without your license, so why don’t you go home, and we’ll try this again tomorrow.”

The anger fades from Antonia’s face as she stares at Soraya apprehensively. It’s a different look for the wild woman and dare I say, a little endearing.

“Is that your polite way of firing me?”

Soraya laughs.

“If I was firing you, you’d know it.” She points both thumbs toward her chest. “Queen of second chances, remember?”

Antonia doesn’t look all that convinced and for some reason I feel compelled to intervene.

“Yeah, this one doesn’t hold back. If she wanted you gone, she’d have me escort your ass out of the building.”

As soon as the words leave my lips, I realize I should’ve kept my mouth shut because this crazy girl hates me and when she turns to glare at me, she proves just that.

“I’d like to see you try.”

Suppressing a grin, I shrug my shoulders.

I’m game if she is.

“Might be fun.”

“Marco, leave her alone,” Soraya reprimands, but it’s hard to take her seriously when she’s trying not to chuckle. Turning back to Antonia, she assures her that her job will still be there tomorrow and tells her to take the rest of the day to figure out her license situation. Antonia reluctantly disappears toward her cubical to grab her belongings as I toy with the idea of going back to where I pulled her over to see if her license is still in the street.

Feeling Soraya’s gaze on me, I push the wayward idea to the back of my head and focus on my longtime friend.

“What?” I question.

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