Page 4 of Trouble
2
Lyla
Butterflies quivered in my stomach, my knees shook, and I was desperate to wipe my sweaty palms.
I didn’t want Maddox to think I was nervous, unprepared even.
Tonight was the night my proposal would—hopefully—come to fruition.
I’d been thinking about this moment all day. Even at work my boss asked if I was okay, and she rarely spoke to me apart from barking orders to put more stock out. After graduating from the community college in Cali Heights with a generic business qualification, my mom insisted I got a job as soon as I could. I wasn’t Andre and I didn’t have the same ambition as he did. Plus, I definitely wasn’t management material. I hadn’t really decided what I wanted to do with my life and drifted from temp role to temp role in Cali Cross, working in the bar, the diner and the coffee shop. When mom found out about a role in one of Cali Heights’ exclusive boutiques, she forced me to apply, even pulling some strings to get me an interview. When I told her I’d been successful, she squealed and practically broke my ribs when she hugged me. Given I usually spent my free time browsing classic car websites, she was grateful I’d found something more ‘ladylike’. It served a purpose right now. I was still living rent-free at home and kept my spending down, only going out occasionally or going around to my best friend Ianthe’s house to watch Netflix.
Every penny I scrimped and saved was going towards this plan.
Every privileged rich bitch who looked down her nose at me would be laughing on the other side of their over-made-up face when I made double my money back.
Maybe that business degree hadn’t been a waste after all.
I wriggled uncomfortably in the outrageous outfit Ianthe had suggested I wear. While my boss was on lunch, I’d FaceTimed her to suggest a killer look. Even though I worked in the boutique, I’d never bought anything from there. I was more of a jeans and t-shirt girl, a tomboy almost. Whenever we did venture out, Ianthe was always the perfectly made-up one, the groomed one, the one who got the most attention. I wasn’t too bothered about that, there was only one man I was truly interested in.
Maddox stared at me; his intense green eyes fixed on me.
I had to act confident, had to act exactly like I knew what I was talking about, otherwise he’d see right through me.
And even though I said I’d leave him alone, I didn’t mean a word of it.
Ineverwanted to leave Maddox Riley alone.
He’d been the source of a million fights between me and my brother over the years.
After all, I’d had a crush on Maddox since I was twelve yet I was cursed to love him from afar. With Maddox and Andre being best friends, completely inseparable, along with Wes and Jack, the four of them were barely away from our place. After school, after football games, there was at least one of them in the house with my brother, usually Maddox—tormenting me with his rugged, dark good looks and piercing green eyes. Over the years, he’d gotten more built, working out at the gym and, of course, doing loads of manual labor in the garage.
Oh how I’d fantasized over his muscled chest and toned abs.He was the cause of my first self-administered orgasm. And many since.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one to have fallen under his spell.
There was a long line of women desperate for Maddox Riley to notice them.
But he never seemed to. Sure, he dated, but not for very long. There hadn’t ever been a steady girlfriend. At least not to my knowledge from the many conversations I’d eavesdropped on between him, Dre, Wes and Jack over the years.
I had decided it was my turn to be at the front of that line now.
We’d had a few near misses over the years. The most notable one was at my junior prom. I’d thought my date was standing me up and I’d convinced Dre to let Maddox stand in, so I didn’t look like the biggest loser in town and have everyone laughing at me. Maddox looked so handsome in his tux, I almost threw myself at him right there and then, screw what Andre thought. As we were about to leave, my stupid dufus of a date showed up and wrecked it. He plied me with lilies—the pollen stained the white dress—and cheap booze before we even got to the school gym. How I regretted that night. I ended up getting drunk and throwing up on the guy’s shoes. Still, it served him right for being an idiot.
On Andre’s graduation night, our parents had thrown a party. Maddox had been the one to drink too much that time. Incoherent and buzzed, he had declared his love for me, then ended up going off with someone else, one of Scarlett’s friends who had recently moved to Cali Cross. I’d sobbed my heart out the entire evening and no-one ever asked me why. Not even my best friend, Ianthe. Although I wasn’t sure I could have told her the truth anyway. She would probably have gone running to Andre. Yeah, while I might have had a huge crush on my brother’s best friend, I knew exactly how Ianthe felt about Dre back then. Talk about pot calling the kettle black.
She’d done nothing to make me feel better about the whole situation either. Maddox had become a running joke ever since. “What? Still stuck on the one guy you can never have?” was her recurring taunt after I’d turned down yet another second date with a perfectly acceptable alternative. I’d merely whimper and change the subject.
Nothing worked.
No one I dated lasted longer than a few weeks. None of them could ever live up to Maddox.
I ended up being depressed and had even gotten into cars as a result. I learned about basic maintenance and engines, then progressed to fantasy car shopping. Plus, I’d been around Maddox long enough to know what his ultimate dream car was. When I’d found the perfect project online, I knew I had to make it work.
See, I honestly believed that if we could just spend a little time together, get to know each other better, then he wouldn’t simply see me as his best friend’s little sister. He wouldn’t care so much about pleasing my brother and adhering to some ridiculous boy code.
I’d come up with a foolproof plan.
One Maddox wouldn’t be able to resist.
