Tom shot a perplexed look at the shop as though he could see Sully through the wall. Why hadn’t he told Marcus where he’d gone?
“Everything okay?”
Tom walked over and leaned his elbows on the counter. “It is now. Is your phone on?”
Marcus frowned and took his phone from his back pocket. He hit the home button a couple of times, but nothing happened. He sighed and swore. “Forgot to charge it. Why?”
“Well, your sister’s van broken down on the side of the road out by the Dream Cinema. She called the shop for you, but you weren’t here and you weren’t answering your cellphone. So, I went to help her and Connor,” Tom replied.
Marcus’ eyes widened. “Are they okay? What happened?”
“Tire blew and Kendra couldn’t get the nuts undone. Why is that, Marcus? The first thing you do is loosen them so women have the strength to change the tire if need be.” His temper started rising.
“It’s a secondhand van. I didn’t think they would be that tight. Usually it’s only new cars whose nuts have been machined tightened.” Marcus smiled.
Tom’s anger went from twenty to a hundred, and he banged a fist on the counter. “How the fuck is she going to get a hold of you when you can’t even remember to charge your phone? How could you leave her helpless like that? Especially when she had Connor with her! It’s a hundred degrees out, and they were out there for almost an hour. By the way her air conditioner is shot, so it was as hot as fuck. Ever hear of heat stroke?”
Marcus rounded the counter and came to stand toe-to-toe with Tom. “Stop yelling at me. Are they okay?”
He battled down his anger. This is how his father was. He would get angrier and angrier until the fists flew. Tom closed his eyes and battled the demons he’d inherited. He repeated in his head that he wasn’t his father and he could and would control his temper. What if he lost his temper with Kendra or Connor? He would never forgive himself. At least he didn’t drink, so hopefully he’d never make a drunken mistake and lash out in a fit of rage.
“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Tom said.
A flicker of guilt crossed Marcus’ face. “Thanks for taking care of them.”
“I don’t need your thanks. I need you to be accessible. What if we’d had an emergency at the shop?”
Marcus held up his hands. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry. I’ll call Kendra later and apologize. Are we good?”
Tom brushed by him. “Not even close.”
Marcus followed him into the shop. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Tom turned around and Marcus almost ran into him. “It means I will do what you should’ve done a long time ago.”
Marcus’s left eyebrow arched. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
Tom put his hands on his hips. “I will fix her van, including getting the air-conditioning working, and then I’m teaching Kendra how to do other minor repairs. She should’ve been taught as a teenager. I just assumed that you had.”
He moved away, but Marcus grabbed his shoulder. “Wait a second. I know you’re mad, but don’t get your nose out of joint too far. You’re right. I should’ve taught her, but then cancer hit and we had more important things to focus on. I’ll teach her now.”
“No, you won’t. You didn’t do it before, so I’ll do it,” Tom said, shaking Marcus off. “I already told her I would.”
“Why would you do that?” Marcus’ eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What gives?”
Tom shook his head. “Nothing. I’m her friend and I want to make sure she can take care of her and the kid if they get stuck again, that’s all.”
“Why do you have to be the one to do it?” Marcus crossed his arms. “Besides, since we came home, you haven’t hung out with her. Just the opposite, in fact. Now you want to suddenly be all buddy-buddy with her. Why?”
Tom stepped right up to Marcus. “Maybe because I’ve been honoring your order from all those years ago. Maybe I’m rethinking that.”
Anger chased the surprised expression from Marcus’ face, which was turning red. He raised a finger and seemed to struggle for words.
People rarely caught Marcus off guard, so it was amusing to Tom to watch Marcus fumble. Tom broke into a grin and then laughed while backing away. “Oh, man! You should’ve seen your face.”
Marcus gave him an uncertain smile and then chuckled. “Ha ha. Very funny.”
“I know it is.” Only his promise to Kendra made Tom keep up the pretense of joking around. “The real reason I will show Kendra is because you suck at teaching. You’ll just get mad when she doesn’t catch on fast enough and yell at her. Then you guys will fight and she’ll give up because she can’t stand you. That will not help her. You know I’m right.”
Marcus scowled in irritation, but he conceded Tom’s point. “Yeah, I know. I try, but—”
“You suck at it.”
They turned to see Tom’s other best friend, Lexie Walker, standing near them. Marcus’s expression darkened again, but Tom was thrilled to see her.
Lexie had been in the same auto mechanics class as Tom and they’d become firm friends. She was a stunning beauty, but for some reason their friendship had always remained platonic. Tom had taken Lexie into his formula one team on the European circuit. They’d had so much fun on the circuit until she fell for one of the rival team’s drivers—Jason Colter.
“Lex!” He embraced her. “What the hell are you doing here? You didn’t tell me you were coming into town.”
Lexie hugged him back, but Tom felt how tense her shoulders were and grew concerned.
“It was a surprise,” she said.
Pulling back, Tom met her dark eyes, but her gaze slid away slightly. “Everything okay?”
“Not really. Can we talk?”
Tom was further surprised when he saw her blink tears away. “Yeah, sure. Come on to my office.”
She and Marcus traded scathing glances while Tom motioned for her to go ahead of him and he almost sighed. The two of them would never get along. Marcus hated Jason. And unfortunately, Lexie was part of Jason’s life, her husband, when the accident on the race track happened. Jason’s recklessness caused the crash and Marcus just couldn’t get passed his career ending like it did. He’d been on target to win the driver’s championship for the second time.
There it was. Now his two best friends were at odds and it made things awkward for Tom whenever they were together. He’d tried to get Marcus to see that Lexie wasn’t to blame, but Marcus’s memory was long—and twisted with bitterness.
Once they settled in his office, Tom behind his desk and Lexie in a stylish black leather chair, he asked, “What gives?”
Lexie looked at the ceiling a moment and then back at Tom. She was trying to hang on to her composure. “Jason and I are done. For good this time. I caught him with another track whore. I can’t take it anymore.”
Once again today, anger surged through Tom. “Son of a bitch. I’m sorry, Lexie.” He wasn’t overly surprised though.
She slapped her hands lightly down on her thighs. “Don’t be. You tried to warn me, but I wouldn’t listen. Well, that’s the last time he makes an ass out of me. I filed for divorce last week, licked my wounds, and now here I am, ready to get on with life.”
One side of Tom’s mouth lifted. “It takes a little longer than that to recover from that kind of thing, Lex.”
The pain in her eyes made Tom’s fists tighten with the need to bash Jason’s skull in with a tire iron. If he ran into the scumbag, Marcus would have to get in line.
“I don’t have time to sit around gnashing my teeth and wailing. I’m flat broke, Tommy. Jason took off with all my cash, any that was left that is. He sniffed most of our money up his nose.”
Tom leaned forward in shock. “He’s using again?”
Lexie gave a sarcastic laugh as she pushed her dark hair back from her face. “Yeah. I don’t think he stopped, but he hid it well until a couple of weeks ago. I came home from being out with some friends and caught him doing a line off the kitchen
counter. We got in it, and that’s when he told me we were poor. He’s not worked since he got kicked off the racing team. We’re so poor he’s sold the car to pay off his drug dealers.”
Tom rubbed his jaw. “Christ. Listen, I’ll give you as much money as you need, honey. You just—”
“No. I don’t need money from you,” she said.
“Okay, then what? Just name it.”
Lexie blew out a nervous breath. “I need to work. I need money to live on, but I need to work just as much as I need the money. I need a job. Hire me.”
Tom relaxed back in his chair as dismay set in. “Lex, I’d love to, but we just don’t have a spot right now. And even if we did, you and Marcus would eat each other alive. I can’t have that kind of drama around here.”
Lexie’s expression filled with something Tom had never seen on her beautiful face. Desperation. She was desperate.
“Don’t make me beg, Tommy. Find something for me to do. Sweep the floor, wash windows—anything just so I can be around the cars,” Lexie said.
“Lex—”
“I’ll be good as gold around Mucous, I mean Marcus.”
Tom laughed at her derogatory name for his business partner. “Look, I might be able to throw some part-time work your way and recommend you for some side jobs. Or you could go work at another garage. I have contacts.”
His suggestion made Lexie look like she’d just swallowed gasoline. “What other garage? You mean like a garage-garage? Oh, hell no! C’mon, Tommy.”
Tom cast a glance at the office door. “It’s not up to just me.”
Lexie let out a disgusted sound and flopped back in her chair. Then she shot to her feet and stalked out of the office. Tom scrambled after her. He knew that crazy gleam in her eyes, and he needed to make sure that all hell didn’t suddenly break loose in the garage.
“Marcus!” she shouted.
Tom caught her arm. “No, no. Don’t you dare.”
Marcus came walking over to them from somewhere towards the back. “Yeah? What do you want?”
“To say goodbye,” Tom said. “Lex was just leaving.”
Lexie yanked her arm away. “Like hell I was. Why would I leave my new place of employment?”
“Lexie,” Tom warned.
Marcus looked back and forth at them. “What’s she talking about? Did you hire her? We don’t need another mechanic! All of our bays are full, Tom.”
Tom hated being caught in the middle of the two of them, which happened a lot. Just like now. They glared at him as though willing him to pick a side. “She’s kicked Jason to the sidewalk, and he’s left her broke. Have a heart.”
“Hey! Did you just hire her?” Sully shouted.
“Yes!” Lexie hollered at the same time Tom said, “Sort of,” and Marcus yelled, “Wait a minute… ”
Sully frowned. “Well, which is it?”
Marcus said, “No, we didn’t hire her. We really don’t need another mechanic.”
Sully sauntered over and gave Lexie a slow once-over. “Haven’t seen you in a while, Lex. Looking good.”
Lexie returned the favor. “Not looking so bad yourself, silver fox.”
Sully laughed and motioned for her to follow him. “C’mon. I got some places that need fixing that only small hands can get to. As I recall, you have great hands.”
“You might be gray on top, Sully, but there’s nothing wrong with your memory,” Lexie said.
Sully grinned and then said, “Zip! Get Lexie a pair of your coveralls! You’re the closest to her size.”
Zip popped out from under the hood of a sleek, silver Maserati. “Sure!”
He trotted off like an obedient puppy to do Sully’s bidding while Lexie followed Sully, leaving Tom and Marcus fuming as they faced off.
“What the fuck just happened?” Marcus asked.
“Sully happened,” Tom commented.
Marcus snorted and started for the office. “Who the hell are the bosses around here? I need a drink. Want one while I rip your face off for being a dumbass?”
“I can’t,” Tom said. “You know that.”
Marcus stopped. “Sorry. I might be pissed at you, but I’m not trying to be an asshole by tempting you back to drinking. Sometimes I forget.”
Marcus had been a great help when he’d first decided not to drink. He was the buffer between the rest of the gang who always tried to get him to drink. Fast cars and alcohol were like models and bikini’s—they just went together.
“Look we could do with an extra mechanic. We’ve got a waiting list already. Can’t you see that she’s nothing like Jason.”
Marcus sighed and handed him a coke. “I’ll try but—it’s just when I see her, I see Jason and the bad memories rush back. I can feel the car flipping and the pain…”
“Yeah, I know,” Tom said. “but that was Jason not Lexie.”
“I’ll adjust. I always do.” Tom stood up. “Where are you off too,” Marcus asked.
“I have to go get Kendra’s van and bring it back here. She has a new keyboard in it and I don’t want it to melt. She was coming back from picking it up today when the van died. I don’t know why you’re letting her drive that heap of crap.”
Marcus said, “I don’t want her driving it, either. I dropped a nice Jeep off to her one day, but she refused to drive it. It sat over there outside that place she calls a home for two weeks, but she never got in it. I had to take it back before someone stole it.”
Despite being irritated, Tom had to admire Kendra’s tenacity. “Okay, well, I better get going.”
“Fine, but when you get back, we will discuss this Lexie thing. I have a few rules,” Marcus said.
Tom met his gaze. “It won’t do any good to talk to me about it. Talk to the boss.”
Marcus groaned. “When the hell did we lose control?”
“The day we hired Sully,” they said in unison.
Tom snagged the keys for the tow truck off one hook that lined the wall outside of the office, then gave Marcus a last look. “Lexie needs a job, Marcus. That shit of a husb-ex-husband left her high and dry. If you recall, in this industry we help our friends. And Lexie is my friend.”
He noted Marcus’s slight nod. Tom had been by Marcus’s side every minute after his crash. Tom had been there when they’d told him he’d never walk again. He’d also been with him for most of his physical therapy, and he’d definitely been there when he had proven the doctors wrong and walked again.
You did not leave your friends in time of trouble. That is what loyalty was and unlike his traitorous mother and his drunken father, loyalty meant something to Tom.
Chapter Ten
Kendra jerked awake when someone knocked on her door. She forgot where she was and almost rolled off the couch when she turned over. However, she caught herself on the coffee table and avoided winding up on the floor. Looking at the wall clock, she saw that it was shortly after seven.
“Oh, God.” She got to her feet and finger-combed her hair while the knocking came again.
It was most likely Tom, but she never took chances.
“Who is it?” she called through the door.
“It’s me.”
Opening the door, she found Tom standing on the landing holding a huge bunch of roses—her favorite flowers. That’s what she missed about having a garden—she couldn’t grow her own flowers or vegetables. The muscles in his arms bulged under the weight of the huge bouquet, and she noted he obviously still worked out.
She took the flowers, not sure what on earth she would do with them. She didn’t have a vase big enough, and certainly not a cupboard full of vases to use. “Thank you, these are gorgeous.”
He brushed a curl off her cheek. “Not as gorgeous as you.”
She looked down at her clothes. “I fell asleep on the couch. I look—”
“Like a busy mother who needs a bit of spoiling.” He closed the door behind him and followed her into the kitchen.
“Could you reach the vase on the top shelf
for me, please?”
His movements pulled the t-shirt up and Kendra’s cheeks heated. She’d never been so jealous of a piece of clothing in all her life. The glimpse of the eagle tattoo she remembered so well teased her senses.
“Would you like some iced tea?” she asked, heading for the kitchen.
Tom followed her. “Love some. Where’s Connor?”
“In bed. He was worn out from today so I put him down early.” Kendra took a pitcher out of the fridge and got a glass from the cupboard next to it.
“I thought he was going to Stella’s so we could talk.”
She shrugged. “He’s so tired he’ll sleep. We can still talk. I’m hoping we won’t be yelling at each other. But we might have to order in. I haven’t prepared anything. Connor practically fell asleep in a bowl of cereal, and then I never bothered to figure out what to have for dinner.”
“No problem. How about I pop out and pick up some Chinese while you look through these listings I’ve bookmarked on my phone?” He handed her his phone as if he had nothing to hide on it. Didn’t he know what woman did when they got their hands on a man’s phone? “The code’s 8639.”
She handed him a drink, which he promptly put on the counter. “I’ll be right back with dinner and your keyboard, it’s in my car.”
“You left my keyboard in your fancy car in this neighborhood.”
He smiled like a sly fox. “You just made my point about living here. Check the listings.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
Kendra shrugged. “Clever, aren’t you?”
Tom grunted and then headed for the door. Kendra followed him just so she could admire his muscular shoulders and back. If her little apartment got any hotter, she’d combust.
Tom nodded. “Right. Well, start looking. There are several places I thought might suit you and Connor, but it’s up to you. Be right back.”
As soon as the door closed, Kendra was going through his phone. And she wasn’t looking at the listings. She’d gone straight to his text’s. She knew it was wrong, but he would be an important person in both Connor’s and her life, and she wanted to see if she could trust him with this sudden desire to be a one-woman man.
Reckless Curves: Bad Boy Autos (Drive Me Wild Book 1) Page 8