Chapter 9 #2
“Hold your fucking horses, Spencer. I’m trying to get a job here.”
He turns, slowly, looks me up and down, then huffs a laugh. “Of course you are. I’ll be in the car just outside. No running.” He points a finger at me like a stern parent and I give him the girl guide three-fingered salute in return.
Turning back toward Nero, I grin. “Can I give you my number to pass along to the salon owner?”
“Of course. Pop your number in there.” She passes me her cell and I do as she asked before handing it back.
A few seconds later, my phone is ringing before it cuts out just as abruptly.
“That was me. Now you have my number too if you need a friend. Teagan, the owner, starts later on Fridays, so I’ll pass it on to her when she comes in for her coffee.”
“I appreciate it. Thank you.” I resist running around the counter to give her a giant hug to show exactly how grateful I am, and instead bow my head like I’m in some K-drama and head out the door.
True to his word, there sits Spencer in his little red car, the engine idling as he waits for me.
“Open the boot.” I tap on the glass of the window.
The window slides down and a look of confusion twists Spencer’s handsome features.
“Open the what now?”
“The boot. The…” My whole body deflates and I groan. “The fucking trunk.”
The sound of the boot clicking open is like music to my ears.
I can stop pulling this damn case around with me for a little while.
Thankfully, Spencer’s boot is plenty big enough for my suitcase and my backpack.
After stowing my every worldly belonging, I round the car and climb into the passenger side, strapping myself in because I saw those test dummy ads and no thank you.
“So you’re taking me to Grinder, and not Sledge? Or you’re taking me to both?” We haven’t been moving for more than a minute before I start my next round of questions.
“Both. They’re both at the compound. They both want to see you. For very different reasons.” He doesn’t look at me as he speaks. Instead, he’s diligently observing the road as he expertly speeds around the bends. It’s clear he knows this place like the back of his hand.
“You should go for it with Grinder. He seems real sweet.” I think back to the way he smiled at me when he realized I had already killed the man he thought he was saving me from.
The way he took one of the man’s teeth as a keepsake, like a memory of our first meeting.
At least, that’s how I’m choosing to look at it.
Spencer laughs, loudly…and for long enough that tears start forming and I think he needs some water.
“Are you okay?”
He laughs some more, but it dies down and he clears his throat to speak.
“Sorry, but Grinder and sweet have never been uttered in the same sentence ever. And I can’t go for it.
He’s into you.” He sighs, and it’s full of longing.
“I’ve seen these club guys when they fall for a girl.
Their one. Their old lady. Nothing and nobody else stands a chance. ”
“Bullshit. I saw the way he looked at you. Heard the way he tried to get into your pants…and I also saw the way you blushed every time he caught you looking at him.”
“That’s just Grinder. He’s a flirt.”
“Nah. You’re talking out of your arsehole…that would, may I add, feel an awful lot less tight if you just let Grinder fuck you already.” I’m watching his every move, every twitch of a facial muscle, and he continues to stare straight ahead, like the road is the most interesting thing in the world.
It is not.
“And then what? He dumps me like all the rest?” He’s flustered and shakes himself before taking a deep breath. “I shouldn’t even be talking to you about this. I don’t know you and you don’t know me.”
“You know my name. I’m twenty-five. From the UK, Mum died of being a cunt, Dad died in a shoot out, and my long-lost big brother is a member of the club we’re heading to.
To top all that off, I fancy the pants off of one of my new big brother’s best friends, but so does the new friend I made yesterday. So…what do we do about that?”
Spencer finally spares a glance in my direction, his brows furrowed. Before he can speak, I answer my own question.
“My first plan was to go down the, I can’t fuck him because he’s friends with my brother route, but I know me and I know my vagina.
And that man looks like he can do very bad things to it and cause an addiction like no other.
I also don’t wanna be a complete cunt now that I know you like him too.
You clearly got dibs. You’ve known him longer.
So…how about we share him? Not together, because no, but we’ll have none of this dumping talk.
I’m sure I’ll get bored after a while…I always do.
So then you can have him all to yourself and my brother won’t be too mad at me for fucking around with his mate!
” It all seems so logical…but I know it really isn’t.
Yes, I get bored quickly, but no man has made my pulse race the way Grinder does. That’s something I can analyze at a later date, though.
Spencer doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, and I stay quiet too, allowing my amazing plan to sink in.
Eventually, he takes a deep breath and huffs a laugh. Just one, singular huff before he side-eyes me.
“That sounds like exactly the kinda plan Grinder would come up with.”