Page 6 of All Wrong
She cast him a sideways glance. “If it’s not flashing, it’s not urgent, right?”
He laughed. “Who told you that?”
She shrugged. He wondered if the armchair mechanic doling out piss-poor advice was the samelong-legged fucker who’d been in the passenger seat before him.
Not my business.
Except it pissed him off, the same way any professional would be pissed off at someone else spewing potentially harmful mistruths.
“Whoever it was, he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. Do you have something I can write on?”
A slim, manicured hand waved gracefully toward the glove box as she shot him a questioning look. “Should be a pad and pen in there.”
He opened the glove box and rooted through, pulling out a travel pack of tissues, a leather foldable with insurance and registration, vehicle manual, six lip balms, a tire gauge, and a mini tube of hand cream before he found the small spiral notebook and a pen. He quickly scribbled his name and his phone number, then ripped out the page and slipped it into the cupholder.
“What’s that?”
“My number. Give me a call before you bring it into the shop. I’ll take a look.”
She frowned. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Just trying to do something nice,” he said, throwing her words back at her.
Her lips quirked at the corners. “Touché.”
The rest of the ride passed in easy, companionable silence. He expected a lot of questions about what had gone down earlier, but to his pleasant surprise, he received none.
“Where is your bike?” she asked, turning off into the fallow field turned parking lot. Very few cars remained.
“In the back. You can drop me off right here.”
She pulled over and put the vehicle in park.
Despite his initial hesitation to accept a ride, he was now reluctant for it to end. It hadn’t been the intrusive third degree he’d expected, nor had she revealed her motivation for the kindness.
“Aren’t you going to ask?” he said, unable to help himself.
She gave him a small smile. “No. If you wanted to tell me, you would.”
He forced his hand to the door and opened it. As he was getting out, she added, “And I won’t say anything to anyone about it either, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t,” he said. He totally had been. “But it doesn’t matter to me if you do.”
She shrugged. “Your business, not mine. But if there’s some way I can help, I’d like to.”
While he appreciated the offer, Nick had no intention of involving her. “Thanks for the ride.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Bring the car in, yeah?”
She smiled. “Good night, Nick.”
Then, she was gone, looping around until she turned back toward the exit. He didn’t know if she would show up at the garage or not, but it seemed like a good way to repay the favor. He didn’t like feeling indebted to anyone.
Yeah, that was why he wanted her to stop by.
When her taillights disappeared from view, Nick moved into the shadows and began to search around. It didn’t take long to find what he was looking for. He picked up the bag AJ had shown him earlier, stuffed it into his inside pocket, then went to his bike.
