Page 36 of Run Away With Me

‘Jenna,’ I said, tripping a little on the name I wasn’t used to yet. Mikey didn’t notice.

‘Pick a song, Jenna,’ Mikey said, gesturing to an iPad mounted on the wall with a handmade sign above it sayingJUKEBOX.

They had a music subscription, so I had access to pretty much every pop song ever made. It took me a moment of scrolling to find what I was looking for, then I hit play on ‘Graceland’.

‘Nice,’ Mikey said with a nod. He propped the door of the waiting room open so the music spilled out, gestured for me to follow him into the main part of the garage and hoisted himself up to sit on a long workbench. I put my can down before copying him.

Brooke looked over at me, noticing the music, and grinned.

My stomach fluttered in response, and I knew I was going to chase this feeling – doing things to make her smile, to make her happy.

‘Where are you headed?’ Mikey asked, which was an innocent enough question. It wasn’t his fault it put my hackles up.

‘Denver. For a funeral.’

‘Ah. I’m sorry.’

‘Thanks.’

Our fake funeral cover story didn’t invite people to ask more questions, and while Mikey seemed nice, I wasn’t going to take the risk.

From across the open space I could hear Brooke arguing with Luca as he raised the Mustang up on one of the car lifts.

‘What’s she looking for?’ Mikey asked.

‘I have no idea.’ That was almost the truth. ‘Honestly, I don’t know anything about cars. That’s her department.’

He nodded slowly. ‘Don’t see many girls working on cars. Not around here, anyway.’

‘She’s … special,’ I said, hoping he didn’t see straight through me.

That made him laugh. He gave me a long look out of the corner of his eye. ‘She ain’t your cousin, is she?’ he asked with a gently teasing smile.

I felt myself immediately blush deep red, my cheeks tingling. ‘What are you talking about?’

He laughed again. Not in a mean way. ‘Hey, I don’t look at my cousin the way you look at her. No Midwest jokes. I’ve heard them all.’

‘She’s … not my cousin,’ I admitted, sure that I was still bright red. I could feel the embarrassment crawling up my throat, making me hot and itchy.

He grinned. ‘Oh, you don’t say?’

‘I’m not good with …’ I waved my hand in her direction in a way I hoped would explain everything.

‘Girls?’

‘I’m better with girls than I am with boys.’

That made him laugh again, showing off a gold tooth. I liked Mikey. He was all right.

‘Boys ain’t shit. You’re doing good with her.’

‘I’m not doing anything with her.’ He didn’t need to know how often Idaydreamedabout doing something with Brooke. That wasn’t relevant right now.

‘For real? Man, that’s a shame,’ he said, sounding sincere.

‘She’s way out of my league. And probably straight.’

‘Only probably?’ he asked with a raised eyebrow.

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