Page 32 of Trouble
“And what happened to your face?”
“Oh, I got into a fight.”
“No shit. How’s the other guy?”
Pissed, because I slept with his sister.
While Bryan was a buddy, he wasn’t someone I’d share my deepest, darkest thoughts with. That privilege was reserved for Jack, Wes or Andre. Although I guessed the state of my face was due to me oversharing with Andre.
Instead, I brushed it off. “It’s nothing. Got caught up in something I didn’t need to.” I shoved the takeout bag from the coffee shop at him. “Here, I got you a snack.” I walked off into the office before Bryan could say anything else.
I sat down at the desk and flicked through the schedule to see what today had in store. There were only a few jobs booked in, nothing too difficult, which meant I could spend some time on the Midget. I reviewed the list Lyla and I had started making yesterday, mentally working out where I could get some of the parts from. If I went over to Cali Heights, maybe I could stop into the boutique she worked in and explain. Get some flowers, try to smooth things over. With a heavy heart, I came to the realization that it wasn’t going to happen.
In the past, I’d learned the fastest way to get over a girl was to keep busy. So I went to work. I cleared all of the scheduled jobs, helped Bryan with a couple of his and generally made sure I didn’t think of anything else apart from cars.
Shortly after one, I stopped for a lunch break. Aunt Penny’s breakfast was long since forgotten and I munched on the bagels from the coffee shop. As I ate, I checked my messages. One was from Andre. Apparently, Lyla slapped him after they’d talked last night. He even sent me a picture of his face to prove it: a serious red handprint on his cheek. I wanted to know what he’d said to her to cause such a reaction, but I wasn’t speaking to him. He’d made his stance pretty clear.
I wanted to speak to his sister though. Lyla, with her sexy sweet ways, seducing the shit out of me. I had no idea how I was supposed to recover from that.
I’d waited for years to be with her.
I’d built it up in my head and when it finally happened, it had lived up to all the expectations I’d had.
Exceeded them even.
I was done now. I could never be with anyone else again.
My life was over.
Bryan left around mid-afternoon for his regular college course and Ric was on a day’s vacation, so I was alone for the rest of the day. Once the paid work was finished, I turned my attention to the Midget. I rolled under the car and set to work, checking out the chassis. Without Lyla distracting me with a million questions about what I was doing, I was faster. Although it wasn’t anywhere near as much fun.
As I was on my own, I had put my earbuds in and was listening to music. I sucked at singing, something Andre and Lyla had teased me about pretty much all my life. But it kept me occupied and stopped me getting distracted by unwanted thoughts.
Like Lyla in those coveralls.
Dangerous thoughts.
Because of the earbuds, I never heard the door open. I never heard heels tapping across the floor until suddenly my legs were kicked.
“What now?” I growled as I rolled out from under the car.
Lyla was the last person I expected to see standing in front of me. Her legs were clad in tight jeans, teamed with heeled boots and a similarly tight black t-shirt that emphasized her ample cleavage. It was like Bad Sandy from Grease had materialized right in front of me. I ripped the earbuds out and leapt to my feet as her gaze swept over my face, no doubt checking out the damage her brother had done.
“Why are you working on the car without me, Maddox?” Her tone was calm, controlled, almost too much. “This was our project.”
How can I consider working side by side with you on the car after everything that’s happened between us? It’s too hard, too painful. We need to work out how we’re going to move forward first.
That’s what I should have said. What I shouldn’t have said was: “Andre wouldn’t like it.”
“What the fuck does this have to do with Andre? This car is a project, a business transaction between the two of us. Or, did you forget I already paid half?”
Given how it had come about, it was extremely difficult to forget. And I didn’t want to. What I wanted, more than anything, was Lyla. I wanted her working on it with me, by my side, for as long as it took. I’d be happy if it took forever.
“You know what he thinks about our… relationship.” I tentatively threw the word out there. I should have told her how I felt. How all the stuff with Andre didn’t matter because all I wanted was her. Then my brain forgot what it should be saying and ended up coming out with, “I don’t need any more bullshit in my life right now.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you kidding me? I’m bullshit?”
Shit, shit, shit. That wasn’t what I meant.
