by Hadley Quinn
He must’ve let something slip though, because Melanie glanced at him and asked, “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” he shook his head with a straight face. “Just surprised you lasted this long without pissing your panties. Where’d you want to stop?”
She eyed him for a second and then answered, “Just the next rest stop is fine.” She put her headphones on again and closed her eyes as she laid her head back.
Just the next rest stop… The last sign said it was thirty miles away. Now that he knew he needed to take a leak, it was going to drive him crazy.
He glanced at Melanie again, looking sweet and peaceful with her lashes fanned against her skin and her lips slightly parted. It was a good thing she was such low maintenance or he would have strangled her months ago. Yeah, they battled back and forth ninety percent of the time, but it was a form of entertainment for him, and in the end, Mel was still her same smiling, cheerful self.
She’d basically taken the place of his sister lately, whom had moved in with a friend in Burbank. He hardly saw Kellie these days, and time with Melanie had easily filled the void. The only difference was that he didn’t think of Melanie as a sister. There was no fucking way he’d be attracted to someone that was related to him. He surely thought of her as family, but that wasn’t the same category as being related.
He glanced at her again, just as her tongue slid out and grazed her lips—
A horn honked right as he felt the truck bump over the lane dividers. In a quick second he was back in his lane, but Melanie had jolted alert with one hand against the door and the other on her stomach.
“Sorry,” Jay mumbled. He waited for the car to get out of his damn way and then worked his way to the exit.
“We’re stopping already?” Melanie asked, taking her headphones off.
“Yeah.”
He could feel her questioning gaze but she didn’t acknowledge his abrupt tone. Jay pulled into the first restaurant he saw, which was a Burger King, and parked the truck and car trailer at the edge of the parking lot. Melanie headed inside as he locked up, and as soon as she disappeared through the doors, he trailed behind right after.
When Jay came out of the bathroom, Melanie was already heading out the door for the truck, so while he was already there, he decided to grab some food. He texted her for an order but she answered that she didn’t want anything, and when he pushed his way out the door with his breakfast, the sight in front of him made him slow.
Some dude had parked his Silverado and a boat he was towing right next to Teague’s truck. The guy was obviously having an engaging conversation with Melanie because they were both smiling at each other as they spoke.
Like the asshole that he was, Jay’s eyes never left sight of the guy invading his space, and he stepped right between the two since they were standing in front of the driver’s door. He wasn’t going to say anything until the guy didn’t even take a step back.
That, in Jay’s book, was a blatant challenge.
“You see something you like?” Jay faced him. Melanie said something from behind him, but Jay didn’t budge.
The guy was big, with huge arms that hung from a sleeveless tee, and height that matched Jay at six-two. But he only glared at Jay before he left them to walk toward the restaurant.
“Wow, was that really necessary?” Melanie asked.
Jay chuckled as he opened the driver’s door. “No, but it was fun.”
“You see this?” Melanie motioned to her stomach.
He looked her over and cocked an eyebrow. “See what? With a sweatshirt on, I can’t even tell.”
“Exactly,” she scowled at him. “In another month that will change, and I’ll be passed over by every single guy I come across. I’m not dying to be picked up on by strangers, but it’s at least nice to still feel normal and have a decent conversation with someone. It’s nice to forget for a few seconds that I was a naïve, careless idiot that got knocked up by the world’s biggest prick. The guy only said that he liked Teague’s truck, and then I asked about his boat. Like I’m really going to pull my panties down for him just from that.”
“Do you forget who you’re talking to here?” Jay smirked. “I don’t care who you waste your time with, he was just in my damn way. Now let’s go because we’ve already lost an hour on this little side adventure.”
Melanie shook her head at him and traveled around to the passenger’s side. When they both climbed in and buckled, she murmured, “It was barely twenty minutes, drama queen.”
Chapter Seven
By the time Jay reached Lincoln City, it was dark again. The trip had been long but bearable, especially because Melanie was an easy travel companion. Yeah they had their little tiffs now and then, but she was actually okay to have along. She didn’t ask to stop anywhere except to go pee, and she kept pulling out various snacks every hour, which Jay started to look forward to like a goddamn toddler. They did stop to eat around three in the afternoon, but other than that, the food she brought allowed him to keep driving.
When he entered the streets of Olivia Beach, Jay felt a bit of nostalgia. He’d spent ten months here with Teague, and at the time, he wasn’t sure if his cousin would ever be the same again. Until one day Teague met a feisty, gorgeous blonde that pretty much turned his world right again. Jay had been happy to see Teague gradually pull out of the slump he’d been in, but he never expected his best friend to fall stupidly in love with Camryn.
All he wanted for Teague was for him to get laid, not married.
“Oh my goodness, Cam was right,” Melanie exhaled as she looked up at the gigantic house Jay pulled in front of. “This is where my mom lives?”
Jay killed the engine and asked, “You’ve really never been here before?”
She pulled her eyes away from the three-story house and looked at him. In the cast of streetlights he could see her eyebrows furrow and a partial frown form on her face.
“No. When she left California to run off with Lyle, I pretty much gave up on the idea of ever having a mom. I was only fourteen, a freshman in high school, and my mom just handed me over the second Tim said we could stay with him. To see her so…relieved is the right word, I guess…just made me despise her. Camryn felt the same way, but she’s apparently quicker to forgive than I am.”
“Well, she met Teague. I doubt she’s complaining about that.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Melanie laughed. “Camryn’s like that, though. She feels like it’s not her job to decide who deserves her help or not. She just does it.”
“You’re like that too,” Jay said, unbuckling his seatbelt. But he didn’t get into how cheerful, sweet, and friendly she always was too. Battling her feisty personality wasn’t the only thing he enjoyed about Melanie Jacobs. “And don’t beat yourself up about how you feel about your mom. My dad and I would rather kill each other, so I think how you feel is normal.”
She sighed as she slid out of the truck. He could tell how apprehensive she was about seeing her mom, and he hated to see her happiness fizzle out like that. He’d never met Serena, but he’d heard plenty about her from Teague and Camryn. But Jay wasn’t one to be intimidated by any parent, so he felt his duty was to help Melanie get through this. He was getting a fucking car out of the deal, so the least he could do was be supportive.
He joined her on the sidewalk and glanced at his watch. Grady had told him to call when he got to town and he’d help him load the car. But first he needed to get a look at it to see what it was going to take to get it on the trailer. He had no idea if the thing even had a working engine. Serena hadn’t told him much of anything because she refused to go down to the basement garage to give him a basic report.
“Okay, I’ll go up and talk to her if you want to wait here,” Melanie said. And then she took a deep breath like she was trying to prepare herself.
“Nah, I’ll come with you,” Jay told her. “I need to move my legs a little bit, and those stairs look pretty tempting.”
Melanie follow
ed his gaze to the flights of stairs that led to the front door and smiled. “Okay,” she agreed. “But thank you, Jay. I know she’ll be a little less overbearing if someone else is there, too.”
Jay only nodded before they trekked the steps. The front door opened before they were even halfway up, and a blonde woman that could have been Camryn’s and Melanie’s older sister watched them tentatively.
“Hi, Mom,” Melanie addressed casually as they made the last step onto the upper deck. “This is Jay,” she motioned to him. “Jay, my mom Serena.”
“Nice to meet you,” Serena replied with a tight smile.
“You too,” Jay answered dryly, not sure if he actually meant it. He was watching her carefully, wondering what exactly the woman was so uptight about. Him? His tattoos? Piercings? Seeing Melanie after so many years? Holy shit, the woman didn’t even come to Camryn and Teague’s wedding. She mailed a fucking congratulations card with a check.
“Well come in,” Serena finally said, like she didn’t have a choice. “There are a couple of spare bedrooms you can each stay in for the night.”
“We’re not staying,” Melanie informed her as they entered the house. “I told you that on the phone.”
“You’re just going to take the car and leave? In the middle of the night?”
Melanie sighed. “Yes, that was the plan. We both have things to get back to. But can you show us the car? Jay needs to see what needs done in order to load it.”
“It’s down in the basement. I’d rather not go down there, but I’m sure you can find your way. It’s through that door,” she nodded with her head. “The keys for the car should be in the upper cabinet by the shelves with all the spare parts and stuff.
“Spare parts?” Jay asked. “For the Mustang?”
“I have no idea,” Serena shrugged. “Take all of it anyways. The car and whatever else is down there you can use or sell. I really just want to get rid of it all before the realtor comes next week.”
“Realtor?” Melanie repeated. “You’re selling this house?”
“He left it in my name, but how am I supposed to live here? It’s too big. It needs to go to someone with a large family or someone who wants to rent it out as a vacation home. I don’t have the desire to keep it.” She sighed and added, “I hope you consider staying just a night, Melanie. It’d be nice if we could…talk for a little bit.”
Jay could read Melanie easily when she glanced away to avoid eye contact. He knew talking to her mom was the part Melanie wanted to get over with, so he was surprised by her answer. “Maybe another time,” she answered quietly. “We’ll head downstairs, and then I’ll come say goodbye when we leave.”
Serena didn’t look surprised and only nodded her head. Jay opened the door to the basement and let Melanie lead the way in silence, but once they were just halfway down the flight of stairs, he could hear her sniffle.
Oh good God. Chicks and tears. It’s not that he minded a crying female, but he just never knew what to say. Plus when he did actually try to say something helpful, it either sounded stupid or someone was offended.
But fuck that. He almost ran into Melanie at the bottom of the stairs when she stopped abruptly and gasped. “Oh my God,” she exhaled.
“Holy shit,” Jay added.
They were standing at the railing of a two-story theatre room. Teague had told him about this room, but Jay could hardly picture it until he was in it for real. They were up at the balcony, but there was another flight of stairs that hooked toward a lower level with even more seating down below.
“Wow, how cool would this be to have?” Melanie finally asked. She headed down the second flight of stairs and Jay followed her. “Can you imagine the movie parties you could have in a place like this?”
“Or other kinds of parties,” Jay murmured.
But Melanie heard him and swatted his arm with a laugh. “Oh? And how many girls have you fooled around with in a movie theatre?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” he smirked.
“Not really. How many? If it helps, I’ll go first. I think I’ve made out with about four guys in a theatre. But I may be forgetting a couple.”
“Well one of ‘em definitely wasn’t me, ‘cause you’d never forget it.”
She laughed at his arrogance but made her way to a door that led to the garage. He followed her through it and they both looked around for a second. It was just the regular garage to the house, but only Serena’s BMW was parked in it along with a few bicycles.
Jay spotted another door to their right and opened it, flipping the lights on. Jackpot. It was a two-story garage, most likely to fit an RV, but there was a car parked in it fully clothed with a blue cover. But before he even made his way to the car, the shelves that Serena had mentioned caught his eye first, and he swore out loud as he slowly walked by the endless amount of car parts that were spread all over every shelf. They weren’t labeled, but they were obviously organized meticulously by what engine component they belonged to.
“Is it good stuff?” Melanie asked, joining him where he stood looking over the assortment.
“Hell yes,” he practically whispered. If these were the parts Lyle had collected, Jay could only imagine what plans he’d had for the car itself. He slowly turned toward the fabric-clad machine and stared for a moment. It was Melanie that eventually walked over to it, grabbed a corner of the sheet, and yanked it off.
Oh. My. God.
Jay felt his jaw drop open. This couldn’t be happening, could it? This was the car that Melanie’s mom wanted to get off her hands?
Holy fucking hell.
“Jay, are you okay?” Melanie asked, breaking the silence. “What’s wrong? Are you upset? I’m sorry you came all the way up here if this isn’t what—”
“It’s gorgeous,” he finally exhaled, not even realizing he’d been holding his breath. “You’ve got to be kidding me. This is a joke, right?”
“What? I’m totally confused. You said that this ugly thing is gorgeous?”
“Mel, do you know what this car is?”
“Um, a Mustang?” she teased, biting her lip.
Jay smiled but he practically rushed the driver’s door to get started on his assessment. It was unlocked, so he opened it carefully, taking the time to pay proper respect to the glorious beast it belonged to. The interior was in better shape than he’d expected, and as-is, was totally usable. There were things he’d fix up and change, but he was beyond ecstatic that it wasn’t urgent.
After taking a minute to evaluate everything on the inside, he popped the hood and paused before looking underneath it. He wasn’t surprised; it was practically gutted.
“That might be a problem,” Melanie said, peering into the engine cavity.
“Something tells me this guy was on top of things, though,” Jay answered, glancing around the garage again.
He spotted what he was looking for and saved himself the torture by pulling the cover off it right away.
“Oh good God,” he chuckled, shaking his head. He couldn’t even believe his eyes. Who knows how long this engine had been sitting on a rack, but Jay was sure it’d been oiled and turned over properly while awaiting its destiny. “Was Lyle a good guy?” he asked Melanie.
She looked confused and then shrugged. “I only met him once, when he came down to help my mom move up here. But my mom adored him.”
“Okay, because I want to worship this man and I’d feel bad if he’d been a dickhead or something.”
“So that’s the engine to the car?” Melanie chuckled. “I’m assuming it’s a good one?”
He took a deep breath and motioned to the car that needed the paint stripped just a little bodywork. “This is a ’69 Boss, my fucking dream car. This here,” he added, pointing the engine propped on a stand, “is the 429 that goes in it.”
“So…it’s a Boss. Like Teague’s car?”
“Teague’s car is pretty special with all the extras we did to it, but it’s got a 302 in it. A different engine
,” he clarified when she stared at him blankly. “We modernized a lot of the interior, though, because it was such a mess. That makes it cool and very unique, but this here,” he pointed to the car again, “is as close to original as you can get.”
“So you’re happy with it?” she asked eagerly. She obviously didn’t want him to be disappointed, and Jay seriously loved that about her.
“Yes, this makes me extremely happy, Mel. I’m ecstatic. I mean…the guy has about twenty grand in parts alone in here,” he said, walking back to the shelves. “I guarantee he must have other cars he’s owned or worked on because most of this is standard stuff and the rest of it is specifically for this car. This is the Holley carburetor that goes in it,” he pointed, more for his own benefit than hers.
Melanie stood next to him and nodded her head. “And is everything here that you need in order to put the car back together?”
“It looks like it. But even if it’s missing a few items, this is way beyond what I expected. I’m totally blown away. This guy must have been a total car enthusiast.”
She turned to him and said, “Come to think of it…” She paused as a thought developed, and then looked around. “That’s why my mom won’t come down here,” she finally said. “Lyle died from a massive heart attack while working on one of his cars. He was supposed to take my mom out to lunch for her birthday, and she was mad that he didn’t come upstairs when he said he would, so she went the entire day without coming down here or speaking to him. When it was almost midnight, she came down to finally let him have it and… He’d been dead since morning, I guess. He died down here on her birthday.”
Jay didn’t know what to say so he kept his mouth shut. Melanie had already left him anyways and was walking around the garage, checking everything out. She even looked interested as she flipped through an engine manual that was spread open on a drafting table.