Unsteady (The Torqued Trilogy Book 1) (19 page)

Lenny approaches the car, along with Tyler and Rawley, all looking over her sleek black lines and flawless leather interior. I watch Lenny as Sheldon and I walk toward the car, her gaze faltering as I approach. She does that thing where she looks at me, and then the car, and then me again, unable to keep her stare focused.

Sheldon hands me the keys. “Go ahead.”

Tyler glares at me. “I totally fucking hate you right now.”

I’m about to offer him to come with me when Lenny’s eyes light up at the sound of the 426 with open headers rumbling. Our eyes catch in the window and I give a small nod to her to get in. I know I’ll be torturing myself, but I can’t help it when her eyes shine like that.

Lenny doesn’t move. Instead she stands there open mouthed and looks to Sheldon. “Can I go with him?”

He laughs, adjusting his hat. “Yeah, hon, go ahead,” Sheldon tells her, winking at me and watching Lenny slide into the passenger seat.

This is a horrible idea.

Lenny glances over at me buckling her seatbelt. “I know he said yes but are you sure I can come? I’ve always loved these cars.”

“Seriously, he won’t mind.” I eye Sheldon one last time. “I’ve always wanted to drive one of these with a hemi.”

“I’ve never seen one before, let alone been in one.” She breathes the words out slowly and it sends a jolt right to my dick. Mostly because of the
way
she says it. “It’s rumbling my chest!”

I swallow and say nothing, the throaty idle shaking the two of us in the seats.

“Who is that guy that he lets you just take his car out? I mean, hell….” She runs her hands over the black leather seats. “This thing has to be worth a hundred grand.”

Exactly why I can never afford it.

I struggle to remain focused at the thought of her running her hands over something else. “That’s Dan Sheldon but we call him Sheldon. He’s a long-time friend of my dad’s and I think he just likes to fuckin’ tease me with this car.” I eye Lenny’s legs and then toss her a smirk shifting into gear. “I’d hold on if I were you.”

Those are the last words either of us say as I ease out of the parking lot, careful on the gravel.

When we hit the pavement, the tires squeal as I take off around the corner and onto the main highway. It’s a good fucking thing I know the sheriff in town because going one twenty usually draws some attention.

Had I been pulled over, I would have drained my bank account for the ticket just to see the smile on Lenny’s face that afternoon, all smiles and laughing.

Or maybe it was when she grabs my arm as I spun the car around into a 360-degree turn, smoke billowing into the car from the tires against the pavement, and all the while, she laughs.

Maybe it’s the rumbling in my chest or the adrenaline in my veins, that makes me want to fucking kiss her so bad as we sit at a stop light in front of the shop and she’s cackling with excitement.

For a moment, in the middle of the day when I have so much else going on, I’m free from all my obligations and back to being sixteen when nothing else matter but speed and the girl next to me.

In front of the shop, I glance over at Lenny, my heart pounding with the adrenaline. “Enjoy yourself?”

Gasping, she sits there breathing heavy and smiles so wide it hurts my chest. “Can we go again?”

I clearly can’t help myself when I say, “Ready for round two already?”

She shifts in the seat, drawing my attention to her legs again. “Well, you know what they say about a mechanic, right?”

“No, what’s that?”

Leaning in, she whispers in my ear. “They’re who you come to when you need lubricated.”

I don’t I know what to make of that. Mostly because she stares at me wide eyed, waiting on my reaction and I want so baldy to kiss her.

When I don’t say anything, she pats my shoulder. “Thanks for the ride.”

I’ve met my fucking match, haven’t I? She actually managed to leave me speechless.

I REALLY DON’T know how I made it through the rest of that day.

Between Lenny wearing those jeans and that joy ride around Lebanon, I’m a walking hard-on. I’m so fucking tempted to call that stripper tonight and have her take care of some pent-up aggression. Tempted being the key word, but I won’t. Besides, with Nova in the house, the only relief I’m gonna have is me and my right hand.

At the end of the day I swing by Elle’s to grab Nova. After this morning, pickup goes nice and quick and as I’m starting the car, I can tell Nova has something on her mind. “What’s going on?”

“Don’t be mad, Daddy.”

“Why?” I stare at her in the mirror.

She blinks slowly, pretty blue eyes beginning to work me over. “Just stay calm.”

“Tell me what you did and I’ll decide which one it will be.”

“No.” She crosses her arms over her chest, her bottom lip out like she’s going to start crying. “Now I’m not telling you.”

“Nova,” I warn in my deepest dad voice, and she cracks.

“Gosh, fine. I told Kale to get off my dick. I don’t think it means what I thought it meant.”

I want to laugh. I really do because it’s just like the time she called another kid a stack of cock rings after hearing Rawley call Daniel that.

“Where did you hear that?”

“It was on Lenny’s shirt. Just
tell me
what it means already!”

“Not gonna happen and don’t say it again.” I refuse to tell her what it means because my thoughts can’t seem to leave Lenny and her getting
on
my dick. “Did Elle hear you?”

“Well, no, but I think he… I don’t know. I think he might tell his mommy on me.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he said, I’m telling my mommy.”

I shake my head and turn back to drive away. We’re about a mile down the road when Nova starts in with her questions. It happens every night when I pick her up. She’s a talker.

“How was your day?” she asks, staring at the road at the passing cars and I think she’s counting them, one by one.

“It was okay.” Thankfully, she can’t tell by my tone that it wasn’t. The last thing I need to do is burden my child with the pressures of my life too.

“Was Lenny at the shop today?”

“Yes.” My eyes snap to hers in the rearview mirror, wondering where she’s going with this.

“So…” She’s dancing around something, and while I have an idea of what she’s going to say, it surprises me when she asks, “Do you like having Lenny at the shop?”

“I guess so.”

“I really liked Lenny.” Her eyes light up, and I want to smile too because it’s the first time she’s ever said she liked a woman. Other than her mother. “She seems like someone I could hang with.”

“Oh, really.” I turn the corner at the gas station and start thinking about what the hell I should make her for dinner. “Well, I’m sure she would really like to hang with you also.”

“Great! Set it up. We can all have a playdate.”

Now that’s the kind of playdate I can be on board with.

“Well, Lenny is really busy with work and all, but I’m sure we can work something out.” And maybe I can take her in my room and show her my piston.

“You should bring Lenny coffee in the morning. Uncle Colt says you’re being a prick to her.”

I turn around when we’re at the stop light. “Uncle Colt told you that?”

She shrugs, a hint of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “Is it true?”

“No, it’s not true.” I turn back around as the cars begin to move. “And he’s not your damn uncle.”

After work, I follow Tyler upstairs to his apartment.

He smiles when I get out my one duffle bag from my Bronco. “That’s all you got?”

I shrug, looking at the small apartment above the office. “I travel light.”

“Or you left in a hurry.”

I change my voice into a lowness that sounds dramatic. “Well, there’s that.”

Tyler laughs at me as we enter through a door on the side of the office, and then up a set of carpeted steps and into an apartment. “I’m just renting this place from Mia, but it works out pretty good for me since it’s so close to the shop.” He laughs at his joke, and then motions around the place. “It’s not much, a one-bedroom, one-bath but it serves the purpose. You can have my room if you want. I can sleep on the couch.”

“No.” I place my bag on the couch. “I’d be happy with the floor or the couch.”

Nodding, he laughs, and then sits on the couch, and I do the same. You can certainly tell a man lives here. It’s fairly bare, aside from a black rug in the middle of the living room and a coffee table made from two truck tires and a piece of plywood on top of that. “Classy, Tyler.” I smile over at him and pat my hands on the black leather couch. “Do I need to put a sheet on the couch?”

He rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I’m a gentleman. I fuck ‘em in a bed.”

“Sure you are.” I shove his shoulder lightly, sending him rocking to the side with a grin. “Seriously though, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you helping me out.”

“You don’t have to keep thanking me. This is what family does.”

Breathing in slowly, I contemplate how foreign that is to me. “I really don’t know how that feels. I’ve never had family that cares.”

Tyler’s expression is pained, his brow pulling together. I stare at his blue eyes waiting to see what he might say. “I know you’ve had a hard time, and I hope it gets better for you. I’m sure work hasn’t been the way you thought it would go but hang in there. The guys like you.”

“Sure they do,” I snort.

“They do. Red just takes a little bit to get used to.” He turns his head toward the television and points the remote at it. “Since Lyric died, he hasn’t been himself. I think he always knew the shop would be his. I don’t think he expected it to happen this soon. He was basically just thrown into it a month ago.”

I can understand what Tyler is saying. It’s obvious what Red’s going through in a sense that it doesn’t appear to be easy on him. I mean, I try to remember the guy lost his father a month ago, but then again, does that give him the right to be a douche to everyone?

I’m not sure how long Tyler and I sit on the couch, but I eventually fall asleep and wake up in the morning with a slice of pizza in my hand I don’t remember taking from the box of pizza I don’t remember ordering on the coffee table. I must have been really tired last night.