Page 21 of Phantom
“Yeah,” I replied. “I wouldn’t say we were best friends or anything, but we were close.”
Nick nodded. “Well, I’m thinking she must have liked you. Tess always kept the guys she liked a secret from Taylor and me. For good reason. If Taylor found out, he’d flip.” We worked together to slowly lift the top framing off the bike and set it to the side. Then we started working on undoing the mechanics so that we could disconnect the bad engine. “I see the way she looks at you. I see the way you look at her. I’m guessing I interrupted something earlier.”
I stopped short and looked up at Nick, my heart pounding a little quicker. Suddenly, I was a nine-year-old boy again as Nick came stomping out of his house with a rifle in his hands. I wished I could run and jump in a trash can like I did then. Most people didn’t frighten me, but something about the totally calm way that Nick approached subjects that would normally enrage someone else reminded me of how I liked to carry myself. I finally understood why it was so terrifying.
Nick laughed. “Don’t shit your pants there, son. I know that Tess is a beautiful girl. Takes after her mother. It’s been alongtime since I’ve seen her look at someone like that, though. You’ll have to forgive my eagerness. All a dad wants is for his kids to find someone great for them. It’s been so long. I didn’t think Tess would ever date again. Maybe I’m being dumb by acting on my gut, but it’s never steered me wrong before. I have a good feeling about you. I think you’ll be good for her. You’ll be good for each other.”
It was completely unexpected. I knew that I was probably worse at holding it together than I was hoping for. Every time I laid my eyes on Tess, my heart rate went up. It was only natural that it would show on my face, even if I was trying to remain stoic.
“I do like her,” I admitted. I couldn’t rightfully explain that, though I had feelings for Tess, strong ones, I’d never be able to act on them. “She’s very important to me.”
“That’s good,” Nick said. “Of course, I wouldn’t be a good dad if I didn’t say…” He stopped what he was doing with the bike, reached over, and opened up one of the toolboxes he’d brought. There were no tools or parts inside, just a single sparkling, silver pistol. He looked right into my eyes. “If you hurt my daughter, I’ll put you in the ground.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I replied faster than I intended, especially considering it was a promise that I couldn’t keep.
Nick slammed the top of the toolbox down again. “Good. Then we have no problems.”
He leaned away from the bike and stretched his body out. He looked down at my bike and tapped it. “Well, what do you think we call it for today? We can get the engine in there, but it’s gonna need more than that to get up and running again. It’s not like we can do much without all the parts we need.”
“I’m fine with that.”
“Cool. I’ll leave everything here. As soon as the parts come in, we can keep working.”
We spent the next thirty minutes or so putting the bikes in a position where they’d be fine until we could resume work on them, and then I followed Nick up the pathway and through the front door, with Lockjaw right at my heels.
“I’m going, angel!” Nick called in.
“Already?” Tess came down the hallway, likely having been in her room up to that point. “I expected you two to be at it all day.” She gave Nick a kiss on the cheek before reaching down to pet Lockjaw.
“Yeah,” Nick responded. “Worse damage than we thought. I’m gonna need to order some more parts, and then we’ll keep going.” Nick slammed a hand on my shoulder, and it had some force behind it, not so subtly following up his earlier threat. “All right, I’m gonna get outta here. You kids be good.”
He reached down to rustle Lockjaw’s head and then was back out the door. A few minutes later, we heard his bike start, and neither of us said anything until the rumble was barely audible as he drove off down the street.
I shut the door behind me and walked all the way in, moving over to sit down at one of the barstools to think about what the past couple of hours had meant.
Tess crossed her arms. “How was that?”
I snickered. “Terrifying.”
She laughed. “Nicholas Nicholas is nothing if not a horrifying man.”
I smiled, remembering the love he had in his eyes when he talked about Tess. It actually made me a little jealous. “He’s a good dad. He loves you.”
“Yeah. He’s a great dad.” She stepped a little closer to me. “Don’t tell me you have a crush on him now?”
A laugh caught in my throat. “He’s not my type.”
Tess closed in on me, and my arms moved up on impulse to wrap around her waist and pull her the rest of the distance to me. The taste of her lips was one I was quickly growing addicted to, and all of my fears of resistance were coming true. It was one thing to hold myself back when I hadn’t given in yet, but now that I’d gotten my hands on her, I never wanted to take them off.
Tess smiled. “Get that shirt off. No more fighting like you did last time.”
I grabbed the base of my shirt and prepared to pull it up over my stomach. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on the perspective—the shirt caught on some of my bandages. I froze, remembering the horrible scarring and discoloration that covered my entire left arm and some of my left pec and my stomach. I’d looked at it a couple of times in the mirror when I replaced the bandages over the worst part after my shower.
I didn’t want Tess to see. I stopped short and put my shirt back down.
“What’s wrong?” Tess asked.
My heart started to pound, and my throat tightened up. It’d been a couple of days since I truly thought about my scars. Tess was a nice distraction. But now my whole body was heating up as if I was lying amongst the flames again. I shook my head, trying to free myself from the thoughts, but it wasn’t working.
