Page 17 of Crash
“Hey,” he said with a smile. “You’re Violet, right?”
He was a fit looking guy, maybe thirty years old, with a shaved head and arms full of tattoos. He seemed friendly enough, so I nodded.
“I’m Bobby. Welcome to the chaos.” His eyes widened mockingly and he grinned.
“Uh, thanks,” I replied, shifting nervously as I heard the back door open.
“Can I smell something burning?” A booming voice declared behind me.
As Lincoln’s tenor washed over me, I shuddered, my entire body becoming aware of his presence.
“Day two and this fucker’s already a comedian,” Bobby said to me, his brown eyes sparkling. He waskindacute in a lost puppy dog kinda way.
“You got a sec, Violet?” Lincoln said to me.
I drew in a deep breath and glanced up at him. He was waiting expectantly, his eyes drilling into mine. Fuck, the worddrilling.
“Uh, give me ten,” I muttered before escaping the scene like a terrified little girl who was stuck in the deep end. Shit, what was I going to do with ten minutes? Hyperventilate?
I climbed the stairs, cursing to myself for being such a freak show. Shoving into the office, I pressed the power button on the computer and after I dumped my bag on the desk, I began to pace back and forth.
Should I say something about our awkward encounter the other night? I should apologize, right? That’s what normal people did. I bet Dr. Ormond would be proud of me.
The door opened a crack and Lincoln’s head appeared, looking just as sexy as it did ten minutes ago.
“You cool?” he asked, edging into the office.
“Yeah.” I sat in the chair in front of the computer and waited.
Moving right into the room in a waft of some spicy cologne that made my head spin, he sat a piece of notepaper on the desk. “My bank info.”
Oh. What the fuck did I think he wanted? And why the hell did he smell so damn good?
“Listen, about—”
“Lincoln—”
We tried to speak at the same time, and it all came out super awkward.
“You first,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck with a big hand.
I shook my head. “No, you.” I’d rather he’d talk first since what I wanted to say sounded stupid. I was glad he’d interrupted and unknowingly saved me from myself.
“This morning,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said hastily, picking up the piece of paper.
“Andrea…” he went on, ignoring me. “I don’t really know her…”
I ran my gaze over his terrible handwriting so I didn’t have to look him in the eye. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.”
He didn’t really know her? Was that guy code for I don’t know her, butI know her? Whatever it was, she was prettier than me and I was one hundred percent sure she didn’t have an aversion to the male touch.
“What were you going to say?”
I froze, not sure how to answer. Silence opened up between us, and I thought about what to say, then it got to the point where I’d left it too long, so I shook my head.
“I didn’t expect to see you, to be honest,” he said, trying to fill the awkward silence. “I mean, after everything that happened.”
