Page 14 of Full Throttled

“Oh, I can’t have you not getting employee of the month from the boss,” she says with a laugh.

My head tilts to the side andstudies her. She really doesn’t know. “Well, I don’t usually award myself that title. It’d be kind of odd for the owner to call himself employee of the month.”

Her eyes go wide and her mouth falls open. She recovers when I start to laugh. “You’re serious? You own the construction company.”

“Yep,” I tell her, as I nod my head. “DJ Construction is all mine.”

“No wonder Wilder laughed when I was worried about getting you into trouble for showing up at your job,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief. Then she starts to laugh and the sound fills every crack left in my heart. I’d give almost anything to hear that laugh on a daily basis.

“Come on,” I tell her, and we head back to the truck.Once we wereinside and on our way back to the site, I tell her, “Zayde should be back in a couple of days. They started back this way today.”

“Does he know?” she asks, biting on her bottom lip.

I nod. “Yeah, I called him last night.”

“Good,” she says, but based on the waiver in her voice, I don’t think she really thinks it’s good at all.

Eleven

Zoey

There’s a nagging in the back of my mind the entire ride back to Drake’s work site. I can’t help but wonder how Zayde took the news of my return. I don’t expect him to be happy. I don’t expect him to open his arms and hug me like I never left. I don’t even expect his instant forgiveness. I broke our promise and even if he does understand why I ran I have no doubt that he was still hurt by my actions. I’m sure he was still fighting to clean up the mess that I left behind. Even if he understood it, he would never be okay with it. I’m going to have to work for his forgiveness.

The job site comes into view, too soon in my opinion. I look over at Drake and realize just how much he’s changed since I left. It’s not just the tattoos. It’s everything, his demeanor and guarded answers. He doesn't trust me and for good reason. I’m just trying to figure out how to fix it. “So, what exactly are you building here?”

He glances in my direction. “Well, it’s going to be an apartment complex once it’s finished. Ten stories high with all of the fixings. We’re talking bottom level pool along with a rooftop pool, massive gym, a small coffee shop on the bottom floor. It’s going to be very lavish and over the top,” he explains, with a roll of his eyes.

“What? You don’t like lavish and over the top?” I laugh at his response. His nose scrunches up in distaste and he shakes his head. “Oh come on. You know you would love to have access to two pools!” I’m joking and he knows it.

“Oh yeah, just my dream come true,” he tells me, with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

He pulls onto the dirt and up next to the fence bordering the job site. “So, this seems like a big project which must mean that your company has made a name for itself.”

“It has. I wasn’t sure if it would at first. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to do, but I had gotten really good with my hands, building things and what not, and construction just seemed like the right avenue. I started working for a company first to help pay for college but when it went up for sale, I knew I wanted to buy it so I applied for loans. Of course, I was too young with basically no credit, so it required my dad co-signing and the use of JamesTown and the shop as collateral. It killed me to let him do that.” I can see that it still bothers him by his tense and slouched posture.

“Well, I’m sure he knew you would make it worth it. He had faith in you obviously as well as your uncles it sounds like,” I tell him.

He nods his head slowly and when he looks back up, I can tell he’s out of whatever mindset he had slipped into. More than likely, he was beating himself up for not being good enough to do this on his own. That would be his opinion, but no one else’s. Drake has always been his own worst enemy when it came to certain situations. “Yeah, I work my ass off every day to make sure that this business makes it. If they lost JamesTown and the shop because of me and my company, I’d never forgive myself.”

I nod my head. “I know.” That’s the Drake I know and love. It’s the one that haunts my memories and keeps me awake at night wondering what happened to that boy. “Well, I should let you get back to work. I just wanted to thank you for the gas and now lunch.”

“It wasn’t a problem,” he tells me. “Where didyouapply?”

“Everywhere in that little shopping section by the clubhouse. Hopefully, one of the stores or eating places will call me back.”

“Did you apply at Surf’s Up?” he asks.

I nod. “Yeah, I may not surf anymore, but I used to manage pretty well and I’m sure I could sell the merchandise,” I tell him with a laugh.

He chuckles while rubbing at the stubble coating his strong jaw line. “I’m sure you could and then some.”

My eyes go wide and I cock my head to the side in confusion. “What?”

I watch as his ears turn red in embarrassment. “You’re still hot, Zo. You know that. The guys would be lining up to buy everything in the damn store just because you recommended it.”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “Doubtful, very doubtful.”

“I don’t doubt it for a damn minute,” he tells me.

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