Chapter 4
FOUR
“You’re late!” Adam yelled as I walked into the auto shop.
I didn’t bother with a reply. My brother had the audacity to call me out when I was the one opening the shop nine times out of ten.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my brother. He was dependable, but he was not a morning person.
The fact that he was here before me was a testament to how fucked up my head was at the moment.
The first thing I did was head toward the back and turn on the coffeepot.
I wasn’t a coffee guy, but I needed a pick-me-up if I was going to make it through the day.
I barely had any sleep last night. My thoughts were screaming at me.
It had been a while since my thoughts and guilt got too heavy to let me sleep.
“Whose Civic is that?”
And right there was the main reason I got shit sleep last night. It was the fact that I stayed here until two in the morning fixing that damn car up. I swear to fucking God, it’s like that girl forgot everything I had ever taught her. The other part—Astrid had returned home.
Fuck.
As stupid as it may sound, I had been dreaming and dreading this moment.
When my brother told me we had a call, I never expected it would have led me to Astrid.
People getting their tires popped on their way through town rarely happened, but it was not unheard of.
Adam loved playing the hero when it came to stranded chicks.
I remember thinking I was going to rub it in his face as soon as I noticed a pair of long legs.
The kind of long legs you wouldn’t mind having wrapped around your waist.
Then my eyes made contact with her midriff, and a chick showing her belly button wasn’t anything new nor newsworthy. But the moment my eyes landed on those two little piercings on her hips, I was fucking glad I took the call and not Adam. The piercings were sexy as fuck.
I greedily took her in, not knowing who she was at first. Her hair was different shades of blonde and light brown. It was like looking at the sun when it was starting to come out. Nice firm set of tits, and then when I got to her mouth, I felt something in my skin tingle.
At the moment, I confused it with arousal because, come on, I lived in a fucking small town, and new chicks who had banging bodies with piercings were something exciting. But the more my eyes traveled up her face, a feeling inside me was telling me something I had refused to acknowledge.
Looking into her eyes was all it took—those hazel eyes that used to gaze at me with wonder were now laced with hate, and at that moment it just clicked for me.
Astrid Hart had returned.
My mind instantly got the memo that I was checking out my best fucking friend—my cock had a little trouble catching up.
The moment I found out that Astrid had left town without even a goodbye, I knew I had fucked up. After calling her for two weeks straight and getting the operator because she had changed her phone number, I knew that losing her was right up there with losing my mom.
I’d mourned my mother. It was hard losing someone that young.
Not knowing what love was but feeling it so deep and then losing that fucked you up on a fundamental level.
With Astrid, that shit went bone deep. Losing someone without getting a chance to make amends was one of the worst hells ever because that closure wasn’t there.
You walked around with an open wound that refused to heal.
The pain dulled, but aches were a constant companion.
“And then she gave me a blow job in the middle of town square,” Adam deadpanned.
“Sounds good,” I replied.
“In broad daylight.”
I brought the shitty coffee to my lips as Adam went on. Just before I took a sip, Adam smacked me in the head, making the coffee spill down my shirt.
“What the fuck?” I hissed.
That shit burned.
“You’re not paying attention to me!”
Adam had the audacity to be appalled at the fact that I was not paying attention to him.
“You burned me, asshole.”
“Serves you right. Like I would catch a case for public indecency.”
At that, I had to look at him.
“You ran down the bar buck-ass naked,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but that was a drunk dare, and no one at Zeke’s would rat me out.”
He had a point there.
“Need help with the Civic? I couldn’t find the slip, so I didn’t touch it because I didn’t know what you were doing with it. EZ usually leaves me a note if he needs help.”
“Nah, I got it. I need to add wiper fluid, and it’s all set.”
I briefly wondered just how many fucking miles Astrid had driven since her oil change light came on.
It was a miracle the girl was not driving on fumes.
Then just like yesterday, that same fucking thought came to mind. She had no one taking care of her. When she was here, she didn’t have a car. There was no need for one. When Adam got his license, he would take us everywhere, and when I got mine, Dad let me borrow his truck on the weekends.
For fuck’s sake, Astrid was with me on the bay, watching me change the oil on that damn truck every three months hearing me tell her the same thing Pops had always drilled into our heads.
If you take care of things, they will take care of you.
Dad’s truck was ancient but still ran like a dream. He refused to part with that old thing.
I removed my shirt because it was sticking to my skin. I went to the metal drawer where we kept our shop shirts and grabbed a black one. I was about to put it on when I heard Adam shouting.
“Damn, Astrid, look at you, baby girl. You’re all grown up.”
Fuck.
With the new shirt in hand, I ran out because if Adam was good at one thing in life, it was getting a chick out of their panties.
Like hell if one of his victims was going to be Astrid.
When I came to the front, I noticed Adam didn’t waste any fucking time. He had Astrid in his arms, and for the first time in my life, I wanted to rip them off his body. What fucking killed me was that Astrid was beaming at him as the fucker gave her a twirl.
Once upon a time, she used to look at me that way, and I took it for granted.
“I see you haven’t changed one bit.” She playfully punched his arm with her free hand.
As for my brother, he was still holding on to her. My eyes latched on to where his thumb was caressing against her arm.
“You want to step back, Adam?”
My brother raised an amused brow at me. He knew it wasn’t a question and more of a demand.
“Ahhh, the best friends are reunited once again.”
At Adam’s words, Astrid’s body went taut. I took a step closer, and she turned her profile so she wouldn’t be facing me.
“I’m here to pick up my car,” she stated.
Adam looked at her, then at me, and his grin grew.
“The Civic is yours,” he said as something clicked in his little chicken brain.
“Yeah. Is it ready? I tried to pay yesterday, but a hindrance wouldn’t let me.”
“Are we still doing this?” I questioned her.
I always figured we would make up when Astrid finally returned to town.
It fucking sucked having to carry on without her here, especially after how we left things.
Deep down, I always knew she’d be back—I guess I just figured I would apologize.
She would tell me that I was a shitty best friend and to never do that again, then we would go back to shooting the shit.
So far, nothing was going the way I had envisioned.
“Why are you naked?” Adam asked.
At his words, Astrid quickly turned around to look at me. I couldn’t help but smirk at her. A thrill went through me as her eyes rapidly roamed my chest.
“Like what you see?”
She rolled her eyes, then dismissed me and gave her attention to my brother. Not going to lie, that shit stung.
“You should tell your brother to cover up. I might call the cops for public indecency.”
Adam was cracking up, and I felt like I couldn’t catch a break with the girl.
“For fuck’s sake, Astrid, drop this bullshit,” I growled.
That didn’t do shit. She just flipped her hair, and everyone knew when a chick did it was equivalent to a fuck-you.
“So, about my car. Is it ready?”
Adam opened his mouth, but I had enough of her ignoring me.