14. Luke
CHAPTER 14
Luke
My stomach rumbled at the smell of fries while Evan Bailey and I waited for our food. The Zany Zebra was great for greasy burgers, fries, and milkshakes. I was starving, so it was going to hit the spot.
The guy at the counter handed us each a tray with our orders, and we found an empty table.
Evan Bailey was a big dude with a perpetual scowl. The fact that he and I were friends was only slightly less shocking than my sister marrying his brother, Levi. Annika and Levi had ended the feud that had raged between our families for generations. But the rivalry between me and Evan had gone beyond the feud. It was personal. We’d hated each other.
Funny how things could change. Once he and I grudgingly admitted we respected each other—at least on a professional level—we’d started to run out of things to hate each other for. He was a good guy, and we had a lot in common. Like me, he restored classic cars, and we could spend hours talking shop.
He’d asked me to go with him to take a look at a car he was interested in down in Wenatchee. It was a 1969 Camaro— a favorite of both of us—and the news had been good. The car was in rough shape but definitely salvageable, especially if he could get it for a decent price.
We’d decided to stop at the Zany Zebra for food on our way back into town.
I was about to sink my teeth into my double bacon cheeseburger when the door opened, and she walked in.
My heart rate picked up, and a burst of heat ran through my veins. In a sleeveless black dress with her hair up, she looked amazing. Damn it. Why did she have to show up everywhere I went? Having her at work every day was one thing—I was getting used to that—but it was starting to feel like I couldn’t go anywhere in town without running into her.
I took the bite, ready to ignore her, when some guy walked in behind her.
No, he wasn’t behind her. He was with her. And by the way he put a hand on the small of her back, he was her date.
My eyes met hers and I caught a glimmer of surprise in her expression. She glanced at her date—whoever the fuck he was—and back at me.
Really, Mel? That guy?
Evan raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. I ignored him, narrowing my eyes at Melanie. She narrowed hers at me. We were like a couple of gunslingers facing off, ready to draw as soon as the other one twitched.
Her date didn’t seem to notice. With his hand still on her back, he led her to the counter to order.
She watched me as she walked, her glare deepening, until the guy said something, and she tore her gaze from mine to reply.
Evan’s mouth turned up in a slight grin.
I had to swallow the bite I’d taken. “What?”
“Is that Melanie Andolini?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh. ”
“What does that mean?”
He popped a fry in his mouth. “Nothing.”
I scowled at her back—and the back of the fucking guy she was with. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Yeah, I can see this doesn’t bother you.”
I turned my scowl on Evan. “It doesn’t.”
“Okay, sure.”
They ordered something, and I ate a few fries without really tasting them. “Who over the age of seventeen brings a woman to the Zany Zebra on a date? Cheap-ass.”
“Maybe it’s not a date.”
The guy leaned in close to her ear and said something. She laughed. I glared harder.
“Do you know who he is?” Evan asked.
“No. He looks familiar, but I don’t know him.”
The kid working the counter gave them two milkshakes. With his hand on her back again, the guy led her to a table on the other side of the restaurant, and they sat across from each other.
He really needed to stop touching her.
But why? What right did I have to be mad that she was out with someone?
She wasn’t mine anymore.
That thought hit me square in the chest. And hurt more than I wanted to admit.
Evan glanced over his shoulder again. “That does look like a date. Sorry, man.”
Clearing my throat, I hunkered down with my food. I just needed to ignore them.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Evan asked.
Drag him outside and punch him in the teeth? “Nothing. It’s not my business.”
“True.” Evan paused. “But you want to hit him, don’t you?”
“It would be satisfying. ”
He chuckled and ate another fry. “Do you want to know what I would do?”
“Sure.”
“Make a statement. Prove you want her more.”
I hesitated. “You’re speaking from experience, aren’t you?”
“There was a time when you tried to take my girl.”
“Come on, man, she wasn’t your girl then.”
He tipped his head. “Fair enough. She wasn’t. And I should probably thank you. Because as soon as I found out you made a move on her, I made a bigger one.”
Laughing softly, I shook my head. He was right. Before he and his wife Fiona had gotten together, I had made a move on her. Her rejection had stung at the time, but she’d hurt my ego more than my feelings. She was great—especially for Evan—but my attraction to her had been mostly superficial.
However, this wasn’t about Fiona. This was about Melanie. And Evan had the wrong idea.
“That might be good advice if I wanted her, but I don’t, so I don’t have anything to prove.”
“You just don’t want him to have her?”
My eyes flicked to them again. “No. That would make me a dick.”
“Yeah, kinda.”
They were too far away for me to hear what they were saying, but Melanie laughed. I rolled my eyes.
“What does she want with a guy like that, anyway? He’s all wrong for her.”
Evan smirked. “Oh yeah?”
“Look at him.” My eyes flicked toward their table. “Clean shave. Probably ironed that shirt. I bet he has soft hands.”
Evan nodded, but I had a feeling he was just humoring me. And what was I talking about, anyway? I didn’t want to be with her. She drove me crazy. So why did I care that she was out with some guy ?
Some guy who was obviously wrong for her.
That was the problem. This wasn’t about me. It was about her. She’d just been through a divorce. For all I knew, the jackass she’d been married to was a guy like that—who shaved every day and ironed his shirts and wouldn’t know the difference between a torque wrench and a socket set.
“It’s not that I want her,” I said.
“No?”
I shook my head, confidence in my explanation growing. “She just got divorced, and I don’t want to see her get hurt again by the same kind of asshole who hurt her before. That’s all.”
“That’s very gentlemanly of you.”
“Quit with the sarcasm, you dick.”
“I’m serious.”
“Yeah, you’re not. Why am I even talking to you? If I want someone to give me crap, I’ll call Theo.”
Evan shrugged. “Fine. You don’t want your ex-girlfriend back. You’re only plotting the guy’s murder in your head because you don’t want her to get hurt again.”
“Exactly.”
From the corner of my eye, I glanced at Melanie and her date. Did she like him? Was she having a good time? I wondered if it was their first date and what he had planned after they had their milkshakes.
He didn’t think he was going home with her, did he?
“You’re glaring,” Evan said.
I scowled at him. Again.
“I get it,” he said. “Before Fiona, if I had to see my ex all the time, it would have driven me crazy. And not because I wanted her back.”
“It wouldn’t drive you crazy now?”
“No. She doesn’t matter anymore.”
That was how I should have felt about Melanie. Indifference. She could do what she wanted—date who she wanted—and it shouldn’t have mattered to me.
But being there, sitting in a restaurant while she was on a date with some jackass, was absolutely driving me nuts. I couldn’t hide it. Anger consumed me. I wanted to grab the guy, drag him outside, and beat the crap out of him.
That wasn’t me. I’d never been one to start shit. Even when Evan and I had been cutthroat rivals, I’d never been this angry at him over anything. Not when he beat me out to get a client I’d wanted or a car I’d been hoping to buy and restore. Not even when Fiona chose him—definitively—over me.
I didn’t even know who I was mad at. The guy for taking Melanie on a date? Or at Melanie for… for what exactly? For being in my head and pissing me off?
I was angry at her for making me mad. That made a ton of sense.
My appetite was gone, so I crumpled up the wrapper with what was left of my burger in it. “I should get going.”
“Yeah, me too. Fiona and the kids will be home soon.”
My phone buzzed with a text. It was Jenna. Standing, I slipped it in my back pocket and gathered up my trash. Why had I been so hesitant about Jenna? It couldn’t have been because of Melanie. That made about as much sense as being angry at her because she made me mad. I didn’t have feelings for Melanie—not those kind, at least. She could do whatever the fuck she wanted.
So I would too.
I followed Evan outside and said a quick goodbye, then got out my phone.
Jenna: Hi! Just wondering if we could get together soon. My grandpa lives right up the street from me, so you could just come here first.
Me: How about I pick you up Friday at 6? I can look at the car, then we can go out .
Jenna: I’d love to. That sounds great!
Me: See you then.
I cast a glare at the Zany Zebra. Have a nice date, Mel.