Page 36 of When We Met

“Morgan said she slept on your couch.”

I grunt but don’t offer any response. I know where it leads. Conversations I don’t want to have.

Jace grins, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. “You fuck her?”

“No.” I fight the urge to shove him. I don’t, because he hands me a much-needed coffee. I take it, but still don’t like him this morning. “Don’t be nasty.”

“That’s not nasty.” He laughs out a breath, eyebrows raised, sipping his steaming coffee. I fight the urge to knock it out of his hand and hope it burns. He does this thing where he bites his lip and then drags it out slowly. Women probably find it sexy; I find it revolting and annoying. Why are we even talking about this? “I saw the chick. I wouldn’t blame you.”

My body flushes, and I can’t be sure, but it feels like my heart flips over in my chest. Part of me is pissed off that he checked her out. Let’s say 98 percent of me is angry. The other 2 percent can’t blame him one bit. “You got your own issues,” I remind him. “Like Abbi marrying another man in two months.”

Jace glances over his shoulder at Rhett, Abbi’s brother, who also works here. Did I mention they’re best friends? Yeah, how he doesn’t know Jace had been fucking his sister all through high school might have something to do with why Jace never stood up when she begged him to “choose me” after high school. But he didn’t, and now he’s here, obsessing over the girl who went away to college without him and met a doctor in the process.

But that’s his problem, not mine.

Mine has her car lodged in the side of my shop and an ass I can’t stop thinking about.

Sev, who’s been standing at my feet staring at the blood smeared on the hood, tugs on Jace’s hand. “Who you marrying,boyfren?”

If you haven’t guessed, Sev has a bit of a thing for Jace. He shouldn’t put much weight on this because she also likes Rob Zombie and wants to cast a spell to get herself a mom.

Jace pulls Sev’s hair lightly. “I’m not marrying anyone, girly,” he tells her, winking. Shifting his weight, his gaze finds mine again. “And neither is she if I have something to say about it.”

Groaning, I kneel and check out the frame, yanking off the bumper that’s barely attached. I’m annoyed, for reasons even I don’t understand. I don’t like that she’s here, and I can’t ignore her the way I want. “Then go say something and leave me alone.”

“Nah.” He kicks snow from the fender. It falls to the concrete with a slap, spraying water all over the floor. “I wanna see how this plays out. I think it’s going to be awesome.”

“Of course you do.” Eyeing the car, I take note of the damage. Cooling fan. Radiator. Tire pressure sensor. Windshield. Bumper. Airbag. It’s pretty evident I have my work cut out for me because there’s no way I’m letting anyone else touch this car. I work on tractors, but it doesn’t mean I can’t fix it. All it means is that I get to spend more time with Kacy, right?

“You just want to find my hand cuffed to a chair again for blackmail.”

He nods, as if my assessment is spot on. “I got all the gravy jobs for a year.” Jace grins, pausing, and then continues with “Of course I’m gonna use it for blackmail.”

I glance up at him and infuse my voice with a lack of interest. No way I want him thinking I have any interest in this girl. “Stop talking and see how long it’ll take to get this car out of the building. We got work to do today.”

“Might as well buy a new car,” Jace mumbles, his boots scraping against the concrete as he moves around the car. “This thing is trashed. What’d you do with the buck?”

“Morgan kept it.”

Beside me, Sev removes her gloves, drops them on the ground, and attempts to touch the hood.

“Don’t even think about it,” I warn, glaring at Sev. I know what she’s about to do. Swipe her finger across the hood to touch the blood. Believe me, this kid keeps me up at night in fear she’s going to cut my throat to see what my insides look like.

“I not gonna lick it,” she snaps, pushing her hat from her eyes. “I’m leaven dis stupid place.”

Jace laughs and picks up the bumper off the floor. “We fixin’ this pile of junk?”

“Might as well.” I don’t let on to what I may or may not be up to, but I know I don’t want to let Kacy leave just yet.

Jace begins to walk away, but he turns and waves his hand to the back doors. “I’m gonna go plow the drive so we can get this out of the side of the building.”

Staring at the car, I nod but don’t say anything.

“Who’s the girl?”

I don’t have to turn around to see that it’s Tilly and she’s holding coffee. “What girl?”

“The one camped out in the office with Lil. You know they’re talking about you.”

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