Chapter 25 #2
I followed her gaze to Wolf’s Silverado parked on the street, where a shirtless Wolf hoisted a wheel out of the bed.
I swear, the late afternoon sun shimmered over his muscles like he was a mirage in the desert.
The saying “water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink” popped into my head.
But I had drunk from that tall glass. I could drink more…
Cassie parked, and I got out, walking to the drive where Wolf was crouched, heaving the wheel onto my car. Of course he was replacing my tires. Wolf had always taken care of stuff for me.
“You know you didn’t have to do this,” I said.
He looked up at me, squinting against the sun. “I know.”
“How much were new tires?” I could tell they weren’t new-new, but even scrap-new cost money. And four of them…fucking Megan.
“About a hundred bucks.” Damn. It was a bargain, but still a hundred more dollars I had to find. Not that I had much choice. I could limp along without a car for a while, but I needed it to get to work, class, home…
He grabbed the tire iron and tightened the bolts. “I know a guy.” A drop of sweat rolled between the muscles of his back. Jesus, there were lines and bulges everywhere.
“I’ll pay you back,” I blurted, my face getting warm.
I took a seat on the curb to watch him work, the same way I had a hundred times before.
He and the guys sometimes had to fix up the cars they stole before taking them wherever it was they took them.
They were all good with cars, but I loved watching the little line of concentration sink between Wolf’s brows, his smile when an engine started or ran smoother.
There had been an innocent simplicity to it that was so rarely found in Dayton.
That shine of innocence had long since dulled from both of us, but sitting here like this reminded me of those simpler times. The fact that he was always shirtless was an added benefit for my one-track teenage mind. Evidently, I hadn’t grown out of that.
I focused back on the conversation. Paying him back… Not that either of us should have been paying for tires in the first place.
“I know who slashed my tires.”
He glanced over his tattooed shoulder. “Who?”
“Well, not my ex.” I tried not to be snippy with him. It wasn’t his fault— No, it kind of was his fault that he had terrible taste in psychos. “I met Megan earlier.”
He stopped tightening the lug nut, like he was afraid to move.
“Evidently, if I don’t stay away from you, she’ll—and I quote—slash more than my tires.”
His jaw clenched. “I’m going to fucking kill her.” No shock that it was her.
That confirmed my suspicion that he’d probably done more than just screw her.
Before me, Wolf had been a man-whore of the worst kind.
No way he’d have remembered a girl’s name unless she was a repeat.
Or he actually liked her… That thought was a punch in the gut.
Maybe Cassie was right. Setting fire to her car wasn’t just about the slashed tires.
“I already handled it?—”
“What do you mean, you handled it?”
“Seriously, how can guys not see when a girl has psycho stamped on her forehead?”
“Jade,” he said slowly, staring at me like I was the crazy one. “What did you do?”
“Why do you care what I did?” I narrowed my eyes and studied his reaction. “Are you worried about Megan?”
“No. I’m worried about you going to jail. I know how you ‘handle’ shit, Jade.”
That he did.
“Just a little pyrotechnics.” There was no point in denying it. “I may be a terrible criminal, but I’ve set plenty of blazes, and I haven’t gone to jail yet.”
“You Dayton girls and fire,” he mumbled, turning back to the tire.
I stared at his back, trying to work him out.
He didn’t seem very bothered. He didn’t even ask if I’d burned her house down—not that I would do that…
which he knew. Did he care about her? Did he still find her attractive?
I wanted to ask him if he’d dated her, but I refused to show just how irrationally jealous I was.
I was supposed to have grown, become better, more secure.
Besides, no one liked crazy, except, evidently, him, and Megan was a whole can.
Wolf lowered the jack to the ground while I took my phone out of my pocket. I typed out a message to Cassie, even though she was inside the house, looking for some kind of validation. Or for fuel on the flames of insanity. Which I clearly wanted, or I’d have messaged Monroe, the sane friend.
My phone dinged with an app notification, and my daily affirmation popped up on the screen: Live in the moment. And wasn’t that just well-timed advice.
“Tell PussyHunter69 I said fuck off.”
“Wow.” The jealousy in his voice delighted me, given the circumstances. “He really is living rent-free up there, isn’t he?”
He mumbled something under his breath while giving the nuts one last tighten. Even mad, my attention still went to his biceps as they flexed.
“Wolf!” Rogue shouted from the house. “Come help catch these rats! One bit Petey’s ginger ass.”
A trickle of alarm worked through me at the prospect of them actually catching Goose and Maverick. They’d kill the poor things.
Wolf tossed his wrench in his tool bag. “I’m going to kill you and Cassie…”
“Rogue has traps. Either they’re the world’s smartest rats, or he is really stupid.”
“Fucker is smart but has zero common sense. He’d get run over if he crossed the street unassisted.”
I laughed when I pictured Wolf holding Rogue’s hand.
“Wolf!” Rogue shouted again.
“Calm your tits, I’m coming.”
I pushed to my feet. “It’s like you attract needy people. Hendrix, Rogue…”
“Well, I attract you. You saying you’re needy?” He clapped an arm around my shoulder, squeezing me against his bare, sweat-slicked skin.
“Gross, you’re sweaty and greasy.” I tried to push him away, but he pulled me to his chest. I didn’t know how it was possible for a guy’s sweat to smell good. Maybe my brain was just broken for Wolf.
“Didn’t complain about me being sweaty this morning,” he said, his lips brushing my neck on the way up the steps. The heat of his breath sent a shiver through me. “I like it when you blush.” Which was all the damned time around him.
He opened the door to the sound of Squishy’s Shiba screeches mixing with one long, drawn-out, high-pitched man scream.
“It’s bloodthirsty!” Rogue’s voice came from the kitchen, followed by an outburst of raucous laughter from the other guys.
Another string of horrified screams rang out that sounded more like a young girl getting murdered than a man running from a rat.
“Fucking rich kids, I swear to…” Shaking his head, Wolf headed for the kitchen, and I followed.
Squishy bark-screamed at Rogue, who was crouched on the countertop, wielding a spatula. Petey leaned over the sink, his finger under the running tap. While Bellamy leaned against the fridge, laughing so hard he was doubled over. Three men versus two rats, and this was what happened. Pure chaos.
“What in the actual fuck?” Wolf frowned, taking it all in. “It’s a rat , not a mountain lion.”
Bellamy sucked in a breath and wiped tears from his cheeks. “I could have caught the thing if it wasn’t for these two princesses here.” He thumbed at Petey and Rogue. “Fucking funny, though.”
Wolf stepped into the room, and Cassie seemed to appear from nowhere, wedging herself into the doorway beside me. “I’m capturing this image for my happiness spank bank.” Her phone camera clicked.
I stared at the ridiculous image of Rogue on the counter, captured for all of eternity. “What is a happiness spank bank?”
“You know, when you’re sad and need a little joy.”
“And where is the spanking coming in?”
She winked. “Well, spanking always makes me happy, Jade.”
I really needed to learn not to ask questions with her.
Squishy suddenly bolted across the kitchen, claws scrabbling over the tile before he squeezed his face in the gap beside the refrigerator—presumably where Goose and Maverick were hiding.
“I can’t deal with this,” Wolf said, then yanked the fridge from the wall like it weighed nothing.
“Get the rats, Dog!”
I watched in horror as Squishy let out a banshee war cry and shot into the fray.
Wolf was right there with a Coors Lite box.
As though he’d been doing it all his life, he caught the poor creature running for its life, then shot to his feet, tipping the box the right way up.
We all stared at him in stunned silence.
I did not expect to be adding “rat catcher” to the list of things I found attractive in a man.
Mechanic, thief, footballer, rat wrangler… was there anything he couldn’t do?
“That’s one.” Wolf held the box up like a trophy. “Bell, you get the other one.”
“Put it in the microwave!” Rogue shouted from the counter.
Horrified, I snatched the box from Wolf. “I’ll microwave your pathetic little balls, Rogue.”
Wolf looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “What are you going to do with them?”
Well, I hadn’t thought about that. I wanted to argue that they had names, so they were practically pets, but the idiot on the counter thought they were actually wild. We really didn’t need to piss off Rogue anymore by revealing our rat exploits. “I don’t know. Not microwave them.”
A few seconds of hard stares passed between Wolf and me. “Right…” Then he took the box back and moved past me.
“Wait!” I hurried after him as he strode toward the door. “What are you doing?”
“Letting it out in the yard. Freedom from attic oppression—” He waved a dismissive hand as he pushed the front door open to the humid heat—“or whatever bullshit you’d say.”
“No!” I grabbed his arm before he could descend the porch steps.
“They’ll get eaten by snakes, or cats, or…
other rats. They don’t know how to fend for themselves.
” Yes, I felt guilty for the rats. But we—well, Cassie—had been the ones to buy them, so we were kind of responsible for them.
“It would be like sending a Barrington kid to Dayton High.”
“Drew survived,” Wolf said. “They’ll be fine.”
“They won’t.”
“Well, you can’t keep them in a beer box. They’ll eat through that shit in a few hours, and I can’t deal with Rogue anymore.”
I looked at the cardboard box and thought about the poor creature inside being thrown out as easy prey. “It’s not their fault.”
Wolf let out a long, suffering sigh. “Fine.” He handed the box to me. “Just keep it away from the princess in there.” He took his keys from his pocket and started down the steps. “I’ll go get a cage.”
Half an hour later, Bellamy had managed to catch the other rat, and Wolf had returned with not just a cage, but a palace, complete with tunnels and an exercise wheel.
He put Maverick in, then closed the hatch. Wolf took a step back and shook his head. “Hendrix would rip me a new one for this shit…”
He would, but only because Hendrix was a heartless asshole who would never be half as good as Wolf.
“This must have cost you a fortune,” I said.
“I was going to get the metal one, but the guy behind the counter said he’d give me a discount if I posted a photo to InstaPic and tagged the store.”
The perks of being a well-known football player. “Wow. Lucky number thirteen.”
“Not sure what they think rats have to do with football…”
“Maybe the fans will petition you to make Maverick and Goose the team mascots.” My attention drifted from Wolf to the two rats exploring their new home.
Goose ran through one of the tunnels while Mav tried out the wheel.
“Look how happy they are.” If only they knew he’d saved them from a grizzly microwave fate.
Wolf’s arms came around me from behind, his chin resting on the top of my head. “You look happy. That’s all I care about.”
Warmth spread through my chest. I didn’t think it was possible to fall more in love with Wolf, but here I was…over rats, of all things.
“I know something that would make you just as happy.” I turned to face him, and a cocky smile pulled at his lips.
“Yeah? What’s that?”
I reached for his belt and lowered his fly before sinking to my knees.
“Yeah, that definitely makes me happy,” he said when I wrapped my lips around him.
It didn’t matter how messy things had been between us, only that we’d found our way back to each other.