Page 103 of Grease Monkey
Great. Someone else who wants to talk. I huff and slowly move the car away from the stoplight and toward home.
“How did you know it was me?” I look up in the rearview mirror, picturing my red Mustang holding everyone up. “Back there, how did you know?”
Ozzy chuckles, fiddling with the radio. “You know this town is small. Everyone is all up in everyone else’s shit. You were parked outside As Good As It Tastes,so Mina called.”
I grunt a response, and we silently drive to my apartment. I’m not nearly as mad when we reach my little place over the auto shop. Yes, rage still beats through my chest like a drum, but at least I no longer want to end the world. Ozzy helps himself to a beer in the fridge, grabbing one for me too, and we settle outside on the makeshift veranda—basically the rooftop of the auto shop.
“I’m ready when you are,” Ozzy says, sinking into the deck chair next to mine and not allowing me time to wallow. I prop my elbows on my knees, the beer bottle dangling from my fingers between my legs as I listen to the hustle and bustle of a sunny Sunday afternoon.
“Her mom broke us up.”
Ozzy doesn’t need to ask who, so I tell him about the best six months of my life, followed by the most lonely ones. Even as I repeat it, I can barely believe that I was so hard up for her in just six months, always wanting to be around her, never not thinking about her laugh, her pouty pink lips, or her unique sea-glass eyes. I always knew the chemistry between us was intense, but looking back, nothing’s changed. I still feel the same ferocity for her now as I did then.
“That’s some romance novel shit right there, isn’t it?” Ozzy asks right after I tell him about returning home from New York.
I swallow down a gulp of cold beer and laugh. “You read that?”
Ozzy lifts a shoulder, nonchalant. “I’ve read some of my sister’s books when I babysit Sierra sometimes. Don’t knock ’em till you’ve tried them.”
“Isn’t it just porn?”
Ozzy’s eyes widen, his mouth dropping. He points his bottle at me firmly, “Okay, firstly, don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do, Teddy. And secondly, there’s nothing wrong with women enjoying books that describe relationships and include sex. Men don’t get shamed for watching porn, so why should romance readers be?”
My brows fly up my forehead at his passionate outburst. His cheeks flame, and he tugs on his ear.
“I might have got told off by Tasha when I claimed she read porn.” We both wince because Ozzy’s sister is scary as fuck. “Anyway. Please continue. Your pathetic ass turned up to the restaurant, and then what?”
I kick his foot with mine and fill him in on Ana’s revelation. Each word brings a fresh round of fury, and by the end, I’m on my feet, pacing along the small balcony, itching for a fight.
“Well, that’s a scandal and a half. Like daytime soap opera shit,” he says, a cross between surprise and complete disbelief marring his face. “How could someone be so controlling like that? To her own daughter. It’s twisted, man.”
I grunt a non-response.
“So what you going to do?”
“What do you mean? There is nothing I can do. She’s engaged…”
“To a guy she clearly doesn’t want to be with.” He stands, his hands coming down on my shoulders, and he spins me to face him. “You love her, Teddy. You can’t let her get married to that dude.”
“I loved her back then too, and what good did that do? Her mom can still bury my family.”
“Surely, she can’t touch you here in Phoenix?”
“Fuck knows, but I wouldn’t put it past her to try.”
We’re silent as the whole fucked-up conversation weighs heavily.
“Didn’t you say Ana’s dad is running for office?” I nod. Ozzy’s face breaks out into a slow, mischievous grin. He taps his finger on his chin and hums. “As I said, this is a scandal and a half.”
“Oscar, I’m not in the mood for riddles.”
“She blackmailed her daughter to break up with you, yes?”
I nod. I guess that’s technically right.
“And her husband is running for Governor after serving two years as State Attorney General, correct?”
“Thanks for the fucking history lesson.”
