Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
ALICE
“ W ill!” I shout from my bedroom. Today is my first day of work, and I’m feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves. My life is changing day by day. Although it’s all for the better, it still shakes me up a bit. Change is scary, no matter if it's good or bad. But I’m doing it. For the first time in a long time, I control my life and it feels great.
“Girl, it is seven in the morning. Why the hell are you screaming like a banshee?” Will asks, walking into my room.
“I wanted to see if you like my outfit.”
When the club brought me here, I didn’t think about grabbing clothes. I had a one-track mind, and that was to get out. Sara came to me the next morning with a credit card and a laptop and told me to order everything I needed. I tried to decline, but she wasn’t going for it. Then I tried to keep the budget as low as possible, but again, Sara wasn’t hearing it. Once she saw my size, the woman went bananas and ordered me clothes. I saw the total when she checked out, and I’ll be paying her back every penny.
I wave Will over and point to the clothes sprawled across my bed. Will takes a look at the outfit and his brows furrow. He looks me in the eyes and then back to the outfit again. He opens his mouth and then closes it. He looks completely speechless.
“Umm… hello? Anyone home?” I wave my hand in front of his face, trying to snap him out of whatever he has going on.
“Alice, you’re aware you’ll be working in a garage, correct?”
“Duh, Will. Can you just tell me if you like this or not?”
Will shakes his head and scoffs. “Alice, the outfit is perfect if you worked for some CEO on the top floor. You do not need to wear a damn pencil skirt, blouse, and…” he pauses and squints at the shoes. His eyes connect with mine as he stares at me in disbelief. “Are those heels ?”
“I want to look professional. It’s my first day of work.”
“Babe, I don’t know if you checked the weather, but it’s going to be hotter than Satan’s balls outside today. Although the garage has AC, they keep the bay doors open all day. It’s going to get a little stuffy in there.”
Rummaging through my dresser, he pulls out a pair of jeans and a camisole. “Here, wear this with a pair of sandals. The guys probably would have looked at you like you were crazy if you showed up in that other outfit.” Will giggles before leaving.
I stare down at the outfit I chose and can’t help but laugh at myself. I was so caught up in my nerves that logical thinking went right out the window. I would have been a sweaty mess. Florida heat is no joke.
After I get dressed, I head for the kitchen. Someone always makes breakfast here. I learned the clubhouse serves breakfast every morning, but Violet, Leah, and Nova aren’t quite comfortable being around the guys just yet. I asked if anyone had made them uncomfortable, and they quickly let me know it had everything to do with the man who had hurt them.
I still don’t know all the details, but just from the look in Leah’s eyes, anytime that subject is brought up, I can only imagine.
Walking into the kitchen, I find a blushing Violet gazing up at Nova as she whispers something to her. They share a quick kiss before they get back to cooking.
“Awwww,” I coo, making them jump.
Violet's name might as well be Scarlett, based on how red she is. Nova mouths stop at me before smiling. Violet always gets super shy when we catch them in the act. I think it’s so cute.
“Are you ready for your first day of work?” Violet asks. I try not to giggle because she can’t even look me in the eyes. She’s staring down at the eggs she’s scrambling, like they’re the most interesting thing in the world.
“I am. I always wanted to work. I didn’t have an idea of what I wanted to do, and before I could even try to think what career path I wanted to take, Declan shut it down.”
“Well, luckily, that asshole no longer has anything to do with you.” Will takes a seat next to me at the bar. I turned to him, ready to respond to what he said, but the big fat red mark on his neck has me closing my mouth. I don’t know how I missed this when he was in my room helping me with my outfit.
“Will, you let him leave a hickey on your neck?” Nova asks with a brow raised.
“I didn’t let him do anything. When I’m being served almost ten inches of dick, my ability to say no disappears. The only words I know are ‘yes, please’, and ‘more.’”
We all burst into laughter at him. Will has no shame in his game. We’ve yet to meet his mystery man. It seems he comes when everyone has gone to bed, and he’s gone before we wake. Will told me the guy he’s seeing isn’t necessarily out. I was shocked when he told me that. When we were seniors, Will experienced a really bad heartbreak when dealing with someone who was in the closet. Will vowed then that he would never be with someone who wasn’t out. When Declan forced me to cut contact with Will, he had still kept his word. Whoever this man is must be someone special to have Will ignore something that caused him a lot of turmoil all those years ago.
“Well, judging by the size of that thing, it looks like you got it good last night.” Nova snickers and sets a plate in front of me and Will.
“And did,” he sasses back before taking a bite of his eggs.
Laughing, we all continue talking until it’s time for us to head out. It feels good leaving with them. Every day they left for work, I was lonely being here with no one to talk to. Even though Red offered to give me a ride to work, after feeling that monster between his legs, I decided against it. I need to create a little bit of space between us. Will has offered to let me use his car during the day since he rarely has to take the children anywhere when he has them. So, problem solved.
When I open the front door, Red is standing there with a hand in the air, preparing to knock. I damn near jump out of my skin, seeing him towering over me.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just here to pick you up for work,” he says in that deep baritone voice. God, it gives me chills every time he opens his mouth.
My eyes travel down his body, and I notice how his abs are literally pressed against his shirt like a second skin. I try to resist the urge, but my eyes travel lower. After what I felt against my stomach yesterday, I’ve had a few lingering thoughts that I have tried to stop having. But that thing has been seared into my brain. There is no forgetting it.
Red clears his throat, and my eyes shoot up at his. He’s wearing a smirk, but his eyes are very much heated. Will and Nova are standing off to the side, quietly giggling to one another. Red can’t see them, but I can. Lord, the embarrassment. I was just ogling this man from head to toe.
“O-oh, that won’t be necessary. W-Will has agreed to let me use his car to get to work,” I stammer. I quickly close my mouth as I stutter like an idiot. I feel like the geeky nerd who has a crush on the handsome jock.
“I’ll take you. I’ll be waiting by my truck.” Red turns swiftly and walks down the stairs of the porch and to his truck. He left no room for argument.
“You heard the man. He’s taking you to work. Now get.” Will smirks and shoos me out the door.
Well, I guess I’m riding with Red. When I reach his truck, he opens the passenger door for me.
Okay, can I just say I swooned a bit? Not only is this man smoking hot, but he’s chivalrous. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
Red closes my door once I’m seated and quickly walks around the truck. Once he’s seated, he cranks the ignition, and we’re off. When he pulls out the front gate, he quickly glances at me before turning his attention back to the road.
“So, how are you liking it at the clubhouse?” he asks.
“Oh, umm… it’s been great. Will and the ladies have been so welcoming, having me at their house. It’s going to make leaving here really hard.”
Red frowns. “Leaving?”
“Well, yeah. I can’t stay there forever. I figure once the divorce is final, Declan will move on, and I can live my life. The lawyer you guys set me up with called last night. Michael said mediation is in three weeks. Hopefully, Declan doesn’t drag this out. I figured once all that is squared away, then I can start looking for an apartment.”
“I don’t know about that.” Red clenches his jaw. He looks a little upset. For some reason, I’m not the least bit afraid. I always feel safe with him, even when he has a scowl on his beautiful face.
“What do you mean ‘you don’t know about that?’”
He shrugs. “I just don’t know.”
What the hell does that even mean? For the first time, I’m getting a tad bit irritated with him. He needs to stop speaking in code and tell me something. Before I can press him further, we’re pulling into the shop parking lot.
We get out of the truck, and Red opens the shop's front door and holds it open for me. Turning on the light switches as he walks, he leads me to the front desk.
It’s a mess, a complete and utter mess. Papers cover every bit of this desk. The phone is barely visible because it's covered by paper as well. I turn to Red with wide eyes.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he looks away in embarrassment. “Uh, the last girl we had working the front desk left with no notice, so the guys and I have been trying to manage everything on our own.”
I scan the desk and start thinking of ways to tame this catastrophe. “Can I ask why there is so much paperwork? With technology, you could have all these documents pulled up with the click of a button. It's less chaotic.”
Red chuckles, and there goes those damn chills shooting down my body. “Well, I can have a laptop here in thirty minutes. That cool with you?” I nod my head since forming words is impossible at the moment. I’m still trying to get over the way my body reacts to this man.
“Okay, well, let me show you around before the rest of the guys get here.”
He gives me a full tour of the shop, showing me where the breakroom and bathrooms are. I even get a look inside his office. Red also let me know under no circumstance does he want me out in the service bays. He said if I needed any of them, I could call them on the PA. Once he leaves me in the office, I feel I can finally breathe again.
I don’t know what’s happening, but fighting it seems futile at this point. I guess whatever happens, happens. I can only hope that when it’s all said and done, it doesn’t leave me with another heartbreak.