“You are doing that, but you’re kind of going to be dealing with everything in the office.”
Just like my dad not to tell me all of the details. “What exactly is everything?”
“The team has only been around for a couple of years, and we’re still growing. So, you’ll need to help coordinate travel, and other things.”
I sighed and looked at the sea of boxes in my kitchen. “I need coffee and to unpack my stuff. I can’t think about the job you bamboozled me into right now.”
“There isn’t anything I know you can’t do, Harlyn. Before you know it, it won’t even feel like work.”
“You could sell a Bible to God,” I mumbled. The man had a way with words; he could talk you into doing anything.
“Be at the office Monday. That’ll give you Friday and the weekend to get settled before you have to get into the swing of things at the office. Besides, I’ll be gone for two weeks.”
I closed my eyes. Of course he was going to be gone for two weeks. The man was never around when I needed him. I didn’t know why I thought this was going to be different than any other time he had let me down. “So I won’t see you for a while.”
“Planned on making sure everything was going good here, and then I was gonna come over for dinner.”
That was a surprise. “Tonight?”
“That okay with you?”
I glanced at my kitchen table buried under tens of boxes. I was really going to have to make a dent in unpacking everything. “Sounds good to me.”
“I’ll be over around six.”
He disconnected the call, and I tossed my phone on the counter.
My dad actually making an effort to spend time with me was something I wasn’t used to. For as long as I could remember, he always chose his work over spending time with me or my mom. That was the main reason he wasn’t married to my mom anymore. Absence didn’t always make the heart grow fonder. For my mom, it made her hate him and move on to a man who actually wanted to see her more than once a month.
My phone dinged. I was surprised to see it was Remy and not my dad canceling dinner tonight.
Morning.
I leaned against the counter, forgetting I needed to find the coffee. Hello, stranger.
I’m not really a stranger. I’ve been under your hood.
Oh, Lord. So you have…
That sounded way more perverted than it did in my head.
If that wasn’t the truth. I’ll ignore it this time.
I waited a full minute before he texted again. How’s your day going?
Trying to unpack and find the coffee. What about you?
Working and then we leave town early in the morning tomorrow for a couple of weeks.
Jesus. Everyone seemed to have jobs that took them out of town. Cool. I had no idea what else to say. I was awkward at best on a good day. Otherwise, I was just a straight-up goober.
You good with me texting you while I’m gone. Maybe even call you?
I had given him my phone number. I figured that was me giving him permission to call or text me. Sure.
Okay. I gotta run, but I just wanted to see how your day was going.
It had suddenly gotten better since he had texted me. It’s going good now.
Talk to you later, babe.
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Who got butterflies at the age of twenty-seven? Apparently you, Harlyn.
I closed my eyes and tried to clear my head. A few text messages didn’t mean much. I wasn’t going to even start thinking about what it could mean that he wanted to call me. Find coffee, unpack your boxes, and have dinner with your dad. Those were the things I needed to focus on.
Not Remy, and definitely not his gorgeous green eyes.
*
Chapter 5
Remy
“You think the car is ready for this weekend?”
Frankie shrugged. “As ready as she’s going to be. I think the engine could stand a little bit more tuning, but hopefully with the first qualifying pass, I can get everything dialed in.”
“I haven’t even seen Brooks this whole week. You would think the guy would be around to help get the car ready.”
Frankie scoffed and wiped her hands on a shop towel. “Pfft, that would mean he actually cared about something besides himself.”
“You would think he would care about the hurtling piece of metal and nitro he straps himself to.” I leaned against the workbench and crossed my arms over my chest. “He could have some shit going on we don’t know about. I’m sure owning your own race team isn’t stress-free.”
“I’d rather not talk about that knob unless I absolutely have to.”
Frankie had a rather escalated hatred for the guy who paid her every week.
“Frank, Grain. Get your asses in gear and start loading up the trailers.” Roc stood on the other side of the shop shouting orders to Frankie and me. “We need to make sure we have every spare part we could need times three. If we make it to the finals, that’s at least nine drags down the track. Think of everything we could need, then add to it. There is a checklist on the clipboard in the trailer. Make like Santa Claus and check that thing twice.”
“Santa Claus?” Frankie laughed. “Ninety percent of the time, Roc is a hardass, and then he says something ridiculous like that.”
“Not like he's ever been anything but nice to you.” I grabbed a pair of work gloves and made my way to the trailer outside.
“Hey, you can’t be mad at me for Roc riding you so hard.”
I pulled open the side door and grabbed the clipboard hanging on the wall right inside. “I wouldn’t mind it if I was doing something I shouldn’t be. I do everything the guy says to do, and he still acts like all I do is stand around all day.”
“Standing around all day is my job.” Jay grabbed the clipboard from my hand. “You guys start grabbing shit. I’ll check everything off.”
Frankie laughed. “You would take the easiest job.”
Jay shrugged. “Someone has to do it. Besides, Remy can’t do it because then we would have to deal with Roc being as asshole.”
Six hours later, we had the three haulers and two pickup trucks loaded.
“Holy fuck, that is a shit-ton of stuff.” Jay sat on the tailgate of one of the trucks and tossed the clipboard over his head into the bed of the truck.
“What the hell are you complaining about? All you did was look at the damn list the whole time.” Frankie grabbed her water bottle and squirted it at him.
“Fuck you.” He rotated his wrist and grimaced. “That was a lot of check marks and shit I had to cross off.”
Frankie shook her head. “The odds are good I’m going to kick you in the balls before this season is over.”
Jay held up his hands. “Hey, hey, cool your jets, woman. I’ll sic Leelee on you.”
She scoffed. “Please, she is married to my brother. What exactly do you think she is going to do to me?”
I had only met Leelee a couple of times, but I wouldn’t want her on my ass. She was a bad-ass chick who ran her own speed shop up north. Frankie and Jay had known each other all through high school. Jay’s sister, Leelee, had married Frankie’s brother, Kurt.
Jay sighed, defeated. “Dammit. You also have Luke and Mitch.”
“Both of which plan on being in the Glades in four weeks,” Frankie said smugly.
“Yeah, Leelee said her and Kurt were going to be there, too. You and I both know Leelee can bring all your brothers to their knees.”
Frankie flipped him off. “You’ve never seen my brothers when it comes to me, asswipe.” She tucked her bottle under her arm. “I’m heading back to the house to pack up. You two might want to do the same thing. Roc said we all need to be here ready to go by five a.m.”
It was already half-past eight, and I didn’t have anything packed of my own. “I was surprised Roc disappeared around six.”
Jay hopped off the bed of the truck. “That’s what happens when you’re the boss man.”
<
br /> One day, that was going to be me. Except I wouldn’t leave in the middle of the chaos like Roc did today. “Well, since I rode in with you today, Frankie, looks like I’m heading home to pack too.”
“I’m gonna stop and grab something to eat. You guys want anything?” Jay asked.
“Where you stopping?”
Jay put his arm around Frankie’s shoulders. “Where ever you want me to stop, shorty.”
Frankie elbowed him in the side. “I’m not short, and I want Chinese.”
Jay put his hand on her head and rumpled her hair. “Good. I’m stopping to get pizza, then.” He took off toward his car, laughing his ass off.
“Should I really be surprised he took off before we’re actually done?” she grumbled.
That was the thing about Jay—the guy could do nothing and come out looking like he had worked the hardest. It was like he had a damn horseshoe shoved up his ass.
I shrugged and headed to the shop to lock everything up. “You’ve known the guy a hell of a lot longer than I have, Frank, and I’m not surprised by it.”
After Frankie and I shut down the shop and locked everything up, we headed back to the house. Jay was already there with two large pizzas and a couple containers of Chinese sitting on the kitchen table.
“How in the hell did you manage to go to two places and still make it home before we did?” I asked. I grabbed a couple of plates from the cabinet and three beers from the fridge.
Jay shrugged. “Monica was working at the pizza place, and Ming was at the Chinese place.”
“And you’re dating both of them?” Frankie asked.
“Dating isn’t the word I would use,” he replied smugly. “That wouldn’t be fair to Joy and Maya.”
Jesus. I didn’t even know how the guy could keep track of them all. “One day, your shit is going to catch up to you. Especially in this small town.”
Jay grabbed a plate and piled it full with pizza. “They know where they stand. I never promise these girls anything more than a little bit of fun.”
“Fun is going to get your ass kicked by four girls one day.” Frankie grabbed the two containers of Chinese. “I’m gonna pack. See you assholes in the morning.”
“Hey,” Jay shouted around a mouthful of pizza. “I wanted some of that.”
She flipped him off and disappeared up the stairs.
“I put up with her bullshit, and I don’t get anything out of it,” he grumbled.
“You try to hit that, and you know she’ll kick you in the balls so fast, you won’t even see it coming.”
Jay sank down on the couch in the living room and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. “Been there, done that.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Jay had never told me he hooked up with Frankie. I sat down in the recliner and reached down to kick up the footrest. “You and Frankie?”
Jay laughed. “For about two-point-four seconds. I didn’t even get to first base before she told me to fuck off.”
“Now that is surprising.”
“Yeah, well, it shouldn’t be. She’s hot as hell, but damn if she doesn’t have more balls than half the dudes I know. I like my girls a little bit softer around the edges.” Jay shoved a full piece of pizza in his mouth and pointed at me. “Bef ma.”
I blinked slowly. “Excuse me?”
He chewed twice and swallowed. “Beer me, fucker.”
I looked at the table where he had left his beer. “Seriously? It’s right there, dude.”
“Dude, beer me.”
Jesus Christ. I pushed down the footrest and walked the ten feet to the kitchen table. “You do know I’m not one of your chicks to do your bidding, right?” I handed him his beer and sat back down.
He smirked and held up the beer. “And yet I have a beer in my hand, and my ass didn’t leave the couch.”
“You’re such a dick, dude. One day, you’re gonna have to actually work and do shit for yourself, and you’re going to be completely lost.”
He shrugged and shoved another piece of pizza into his mouth. “Hopefully by that point, I’ll have tricked a chick into marrying me.”
I shook my head and dug into my pizza. Jay was sooner or later going to have a rude awakening. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see Harlyn had texted me.
Earlier in the day, I had texted asking how her day was going, but she hadn’t replied.
I was buried under a million boxes today. Sorry I didn’t text you back earlier.
It had irked me she hadn’t texted back, but I couldn’t really be upset. No problem. I just had a break working and thought I would see how you were doing.
Well, as of right now I’m exhausted and never want to move again in my life. I’m going to die in this duplex.
“What the fuck are you laughing at?” Jay questioned.
I hadn’t even realized I had laughed out loud. “Just texting my mom.”
“Your mom is crazy, dude. I can understand why you would be laughing.”
Start the new job tomorrow?
No. Boss man said I didn’t start until Monday. I’ve got time off to relax and explore Leeds Square.
Exploring Leeds Square will take you five minutes. LOL
“Dude, what in the hell is with the goofy smile on your face? Your mom must be off her rocker tonight. What’d she do this time?”
Stories about my mother were rather legendary. There was the time she kneed my dad in the balls, broke a bed in a furniture store with her best friend Cyn, and there was a story about a coffee pot and a bathroom, but I never got the full story on that one because she always ended up laughing herself silly to the point where I couldn’t understand her. “Nothing.”
My phone buzzed again. Well, then I’ll have lots of time to relax.
Too bad I won’t be in town. You think you’ll have lots of time to relax when I come back? Nice and smooth. Hopefully, she would get the hint I was wanting to see her again.
I’m sure I’ll have a little bit of time.
And I was in. Hell yes.
*
Harlyn
“I’m gonna head out, doll. I need to be up early to double-check everything got packed up, and then we have to be on the road by six.”
I shoved my phone in my pocket and prayed I wasn’t blushing. I had been bold saying I might have time for Remy. But if I wanted to see him again, I was going to have to step out of my little box every now and then. “Are you gonna even get any sleep tonight?”
Even though I didn’t see my dad a lot, I knew he would be up all night worrying and crossing all the last minute T’s and dotting all the I’s.
He shrugged and grabbed his coat off the kitchen chair. “I’ve got a pretty good crew I can trust this year. Three of them are young, but they have the hunger.”
“The hunger, huh?”
“They’re putting in the time, doing what they’re supposed to.”
“So, serious and don’t know how to have fun, just like you?”
The corners of his mouth turned up in a rare smile. “You know me so well, doll.” He pulled his keys out of his pocket. “You’ll be good on Monday, right?”
I waved my hand. “Of course. By the time you make it back into town, I’ll be able to run that office with my eyes closed.”
“I guess you should be able to after all that college I paid for, right?”
That was the one thing he had never flaked on. It was easy to sign a check and send it off. It was putting in actual time to see me my dad struggled with. I was twenty-seven years old, and I still had daddy issues. Lord, help me. “Yup, that degree comes in handy every now and then.”
“Try not to give Marion too much hell. I swear, that baby is sucking the brains right out of her.”
“How charming of you, Dad.”
“Just speaking the truth, doll.” He reached out and patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll try to give you a call while I’m gone. I’m not sure how these first two races are going to go, so I’m not sure how much free t
ime I’ll have.”
Humph. The man didn’t think he was going to have two minutes to call me, but you better believe he was going to have time to call me or Marion if it had something to do with work.
Then he was gone.
I looked around my empty kitchen and wondered when I wouldn’t get my hopes up every time I saw my dad. I didn’t want much. Just show some interest in me, act like you actually wanted to be around.
The only reason I was here now was because he was in a pinch with Marion going on maternity leave, and he figured since I had my degree in business that I could easily step in for her. He was right; her job wasn’t going to be a challenge for me, but it sucked the only reason he wanted me here was because he was in a bind at work.
Before moving here, I was lucky to hear from him once a month. He typically called every other month, but when it was race season, I never knew when I would hear from him.
After my mom had died, I thought maybe things would be different between us, but nothing changed. A year after her death, and I was just now moving to be by him. I knew I was twenty-seven and should be over all the crap from growing up, but a girl needed her dad. It really sucked when you figure out your dad doesn’t need you, though.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and swiped the screen to see Remy had texted me back. Two Mondays from now. Wanna grab a bite to eat?
Whoa. He took that little hint I would like to see him again and ran with it. I knew absolutely nothing about Remy, but there was something about him that drew me to him. After figuring he wasn’t a serial killer. Maybe.
Maybe?
You have two weeks to convince me. I didn’t want him to think he had this in the bag right away. A girl had to play a little hard to get, right?
Really? Well, I guess I’ll have to see what I can do. I gotta pack up. Talk to you later, pretty girl.
Safe travels, Remy.
So, that was that. I had shown interest, but not too much. But now I wondered if I could have shown a little more interest.
I hung my head and sighed. This dating stuff was hard. You’re not even dating him yet, Harlyn.
Burndown (Nitro Crew Book 1) Page 3