Behind the Wheel (Hearts & Horsepower Book 2)

by A. K. Evans

  Of course, it became clear that not everyone felt that way. And I learned that this week. Because even though Knox was still a wild card, Logan, Kieran, Nash, and Ryker had all treated me like I was one of them. They gave me the respect they’d give to each other or anyone else that was out there on the track.

  And that gave me a feeling I couldn’t begin to put into words.

  “Thanks, Kendall. I appreciate you saying that. If only more people could be like you,” I returned. “So, what are you doing here today?”

  “Logan and I are having lunch together this afternoon,” she answered.

  I tipped my head to the side. “Oh, do you work close to here?” I wondered.

  “Well, I don’t work far, but I’m off today,” Kendall began. “I’m a labor and delivery nurse at Rising Sun Medical Center. And since I’m working this weekend, Logan and I are soaking up some time together.”

  “That’s awesome you get days off during the week, though,” I told her.

  “Yeah, sometimes it is,” she said. “But now that I’ve met him and we’re together, I kind of wish I had more weekends off. I work every other weekend, and that can make it tough to do the things most people get to do on weekends.”

  I could see that, especially knowing what Logan did for a living. If he had a race on a weekend she was working, I couldn’t imagine it would be easy for them.

  “Well, it seems like you two are managing it well so far,” I remarked.

  Kendall smiled and said, “We’re trying.”

  Just then, the steel door that led into the shop opened and Logan walked in. His eyes immediately went to Kendall and a look of contentment washed over him. He quickly moved to her, kissed her, and spoke gently to her.

  “I thought I saw you pull up,” he began. “When you didn’t come right into the shop, I figured you had to be out here becoming friends with Avery.”

  “That’s exactly what I was doing,” she told him.

  “So, when are the plans?” he wondered, shifting his attention between the two of us.

  My brows pulled together as Kendall asked, “What plans?”

  Logan shrugged and said, “I don’t know. I assumed the two of you made plans to get together. I mean, if you were out here becoming friends with one another, shouldn’t you make plans to do something together?”

  Logan was pushing us to become friends?

  Maybe he didn’t realize what he was doing, but I wanted to jump up and hug him. I’d been struggling to find a friend, one that was a woman.

  Kendall looked to me and answered him by asking me, “We haven’t figured that out yet, have we, Avery?”

  I shook my head.

  “Well, if you need a longer lunch one day, Avery, it’s okay with me,” he insisted.

  My eyes widened as Kendall leaned into her man. “That’s why I love you,” she said. “You’re the best.”

  Logan chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “I’m trying. Are you ready?”

  “Yeah,” she answered. Then turning her attention to me and pulling out her phone, she asked, “What’s your cell?”

  I rattled off my number as she programmed it into her phone. Once she’d done that, she looked up at me and declared, “I’ll reach out to you sometime after work this weekend. We’ll set something up.”

  Feeling excited at the prospect of having a new friend, I responded, “That sounds great. I’m looking forward to it.”

  With that, the pair turned and walked out of the office. I watched them as they walked away, and felt something strange come over me. It took me a moment to understand what it was, but I eventually did and was shocked.

  I was envious of another woman.

  I was happy Kendall had Logan in her life. They were so obviously great for each other and in love. But seeing them together, I realized there was one thing my independence wouldn’t allow me to do. I’d never be able to fall in love.

  And for the first time in my life, I started wishing for something more than just a need to prove who I was.

  There was just under an hour left before work was over when I became even more frustrated than I’d been earlier in the afternoon. As I had expected I would, I finished pulling the rear suspension apart on my car during my lunch break. In the hours that followed, I scoured the internet for what I needed to be able to rebuild in between answering calls and updating a few customers on their projects.

  My searches weren’t leading me anywhere good.

  So, before I got lost too far down the rabbit hole, an idea hit me. I grabbed the office phone and carried it out into the shop with me. I had one man I knew would be able to answer my question.

  With my blinders on to anything else going on in the shop, I marched over and stopped in front of him.

  “Hey, Avery, what’s going on?” Nash asked.

  “I have a question,” I told him.

  “Sure.”

  “Well, I finished pulling apart the rear suspension and the differential on the car,” I began. “And there’s not much good to report there. That said, I decided to bite the bullet and do some searching. A new chassis hasn’t been easy to find. So, I was wondering how confident you were that mine is completely useless and can’t be repaired.”

  “It can be repaired,” he stated.

  Blinking my eyes in surprise and confusion, I countered, “But I thought you said I wouldn’t be able to.”

  Nash let out a chuckle and clarified, “I said if it were up to me, I wouldn’t put you back into the car.”

  I stood there staring at him, hoping he’d offer a better explanation. It took him a minute, but eventually Nash continued, “Anything can be fixed, Avery. To repair the damage on your car isn’t impossible, but it’s not something just anybody can do. Part of the reason I said it’d be better to start with a new chassis is because the amount of money you’ll need to put into just buying the replacement parts is going to come close to the cost of just buying a used chassis that hasn’t hit the wall at those speeds.”

  I took a moment to think about this. My car was like my baby. If there was a shot at me keeping it, I wanted to seriously consider it.

  “So, you’re saying if I can’t manage to find a suitable chassis, I could technically rebuild this one?” I confirmed.

  Nodding, he answered, “Yes. But you didn’t yet hear the other part of why I recommend you don’t do that.”

  “Okay. What is it?” I wondered.

  “Time.”

  “Time?” I repeated.

  “Are you planning to get back on the track this year?” he asked me.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’ll definitely not want to repair your car,” he started.

  I didn’t understand. “Why not?”

  Nash’s eyes moved behind me. They lingered there a moment before he returned them to my face and answered in a quieter voice, “Because in telling you that it’s possible to fix, I should also repeat that it’s not something just anyone can do. But I do know a guy who has the skills to fix it. Unfortunately, as good as he is, you’re still looking at hundreds of hours of fabrication work. Far more than would be necessary if you started from scratch.”

  Shit.

  So, my car could potentially be salvaged. But I’d need a lot of time, money, and at least a civil relationship with Knox. The guy hated me.

  “Right,” I murmured, dropping my gaze to the ground. “I understand.”

  “You could try talking to him,” Nash urged.

  I lifted my head and returned my attention to him. “I don’t think so. I appreciate the confidence you have, Nash, but the guy hates me,” I murmured.

  There was no mistaking the despondency in my tone. Nash gave my shoulder a squeeze of encouragement. It was then I realized just how ridiculously difficult this was going to be. Even if I took Nash’s advice and started from scratch, I was still going to need to have a new cage put in the car. That required a level of fabrication skills I did not have.

  I sighed. “Thi
s is kind of hopeless,” I started. “I’m pretty much screwed regardless of what I do because I’ll need a cage in the new car. I can do some welding, but that’s well outside of my skill set.”

  “Talk to Logan,” Nash advised.

  “I’m not going to have Logan make Knox do it,” I told him. “I’ll just… I’ll figure something out. For now, I’ve got to finish tearing the car down anyway. And I need to locate a new chassis. I’ll deal with everything else afterward.”

  Nodding his understanding, Nash clarified, “I’m not telling you to talk to Logan so that he has you put your car on Knox’s schedule. I’m telling you to talk to him about it because he is capable of that kind of fabrication work. I’m decent, Logan’s better, and Knox is the best. If you can’t have the best, you should go with someone who can still do a really good job at it. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll help Logan so we can get it done a little quicker for you.”

  I was a tough girl. I couldn’t cry. But I really wanted to. Because I never expected this level of kindness.

  “Thank you, Nash,” I rasped. “That means a lot to me.”

  “No problem, holeshot.”

  “Did you just give me a nickname?” I asked playfully, my mood instantly lifting.

  He threw a hand up and out to the side. “What do you expect? I heard about your lights all weekend. It’s badass.”

  I grinned at Nash. He let out a laugh.

  A moment later, I was on my way back to the office to finish my day.

  But what I didn’t know was that Knox not only watched me as I walked back to the office, but he also heard my entire conversation with Nash.

  It was a shitty day.

  Then again, I should have suspected as much.

  I’d been having horrible days for the better part of three weeks now.

  And this week had been the worst of it.

  The truth was, weeks ago, I thought I’d felt the worst I possibly could at the news that Logan had decided to hire someone who worked for a rival business. But that feeling didn’t compare to having that person start working with us on Monday. I was convinced then that what I was feeling was the worst of it.

  But I was wrong.

  Because as this week went on, it was getting progressively worse.

  I was battling between my attraction to Avery and the weariness I felt about her. And that battle was causing me to act in a way that was so far removed from who I actually was as a person.

  I didn’t know how to control it, though.

  The worst of it started on Tuesday when I blew up on Ryker and Kieran in the break room only to learn that Avery had heard what I said about her. Obviously, I still felt the way I’d told them I did, but that didn’t mean I intended for her to hear it. Admittedly, a small part of me was relieved that she had heard. At least now I wouldn’t need to try and pretend.

  But the other part of me felt something else entirely. And that something was that I didn’t like knowing that Avery knew I believed the worst about her. In a perfect world, she wouldn’t have ever known, and over time I’d hopefully be proven wrong about my assessment of the kind of person she was.

  So, after thinking on it for the rest of the day on Tuesday, I decided I was going to do the right thing and apologize to her. But when I walked into work on Wednesday morning, she was already on a call with a customer. I didn’t want to just stand around doing nothing but looking like a fool while she worked, so I walked right out to the shop. I intended to go back in within a few minutes to talk to her but got caught up in the project I was working on. By the time the end of the day rolled around, it just felt like too much time had passed for it to not be more awkward than it was already going to be.

  Yesterday, it got even worse.

  Throughout the week, I’d caught glimpses of her working on her car. God, I’d never been more turned on in my life. And more distracted, too.

  But yesterday she walked out of the office and across the shop to where Nash was working. I wasn’t too proud to admit that I’d listened to every word. Nash was lucky he’d urged Avery to just purchase a new chassis because there was no way she could get back in that car and be certain it was one-hundred percent safe. That was not an option.

  Not for her.

  Everything hit me the hardest, though, when I heard her sweet, delicate voice declare that I hated her.

  Hate.

  I wished I could hate her.

  I still didn’t believe she wasn’t someone to be concerned about, but I was definitely a far cry from hating her, even if my actions showed differently. Part of me wanted her to ask me to fabricate the cage for her new car while the other part of me wasn’t sure what I’d say to her if she did.

  So, all that had happened throughout the week had me completely unfocused on the work I needed to get done. This meant that I was seriously behind schedule on my current project, which was creating a new subframe and engine mounts for the engine transplant going into one of our client’s sand rail cars. If I had any reasonable hope of getting it done close to the promised completion date—Monday—I needed to push thoughts of Avery to the back of my mind.

  Sadly, that was going to be difficult to do.

  Because when I’d gotten a strange feeling that I was being watched, I looked up from the car, lifted my welding helmet, and saw Avery standing there. She had the office phone in her hand and was evidently nervous to be there.

  When she made no move to speak, I asked, “Is something wrong?”

  With a quick shake of her head, she answered, “No, not really. Or at least, I don’t think so. Um, well, I got a call from Steve Williams, and he was looking for a status update on his car.” She gave a quick glance at the car before she returned her attention to me and continued with an edge of caution in her tone, “I know you’re working on it now, obviously, but it looks like we promised a completion date of Monday. Are you still on track to meet that deadline?”

  Fuck.

  Had I been that big of an asshole to her?

  Doing my best to ignore how it made me feel to see her like that now when she always has such confidence talking to everyone else, I kept my voice as neutral as possible and answered, “Technically, I’m running behind schedule right now. But I’m going to be staying late tonight to put in the extra hours that I’ll need to get caught up, so Ryker can finish what he needs to tomorrow morning. You can tell Steve that we should be good to go for pick up by Monday, and if that changes for any reason, I’ll call him personally by no later than tomorrow afternoon to let him know.”

  Avery gave me a nod of understanding, but she didn’t move otherwise.

  Assuming the conversation was over, I attempted to get back to work, but when a few more seconds passed and she continued to stand there without saying anything, I looked back up and asked, “Is there something else?”

  Shaking her head, she replied, “No, that’s it.”

  Despite her answer, Avery remained rooted to the spot. I couldn’t handle having her stand that close, wanting nothing more than to pull her into my arms and kiss her senseless. I wanted her to feel a bit of the frustration I’d felt all week long watching her and having her around.

  But because I couldn’t do that, I needed to make sure she walked away.

  Narrowing my eyes, I clipped, “Well, then, unless you’ve brought your own welding helmet or are keen to burn your eyes, I’m going to suggest you walk away now. And to be quite honest, even if you did have a helmet, I’m not real fond of someone breathing down my neck when I’m trying to get something done, especially when I’m under the gun to finish a project. Though, I’m good at what I do, so I guess I can understand why you’d want to watch, considering the current predicament you’re in with your own car.”

  Avery’s body visibly jerked backward as though the verbal blow had physically struck her. Her face, already littered with trepidation, closed down ever further and a hint of sadness washed over her. Or, I thought it was sadness. It was hard to tell since she barely gav
e me a second to register the look before she turned and scurried back to the office.

  Fuck.

  I needed to figure out a better way to deal with this.

  Sadly, I didn’t have the time to devote to figuring that out. Because in the best of circumstances there was a considerable amount of work left to be done. My current situation was a far cry from the best of circumstances, especially because every time I lowered my welding helmet, I saw the wounded look on Avery’s face.

  A few hours later, I’d made decent progress on the car, though I still had a long night ahead of me.

  I hadn’t wanted to stop but had no choice when Logan walked up.

  “It’s looking good so far,” he praised me.

  “Thanks,” I returned.

  “Having any issues with it?” he wondered.

  I shook my head. “No, it’s just a pain in the ass,” I started. “The constant need to hoist the engine in and out to make sure everything is lining up properly is tedious work.”

  Logan continued to look over everything that I’d done. Occasionally, he’d do that. It never bothered me. He was the boss; he had a right to inspect the work being done in his shop. But for some reason, I doubted that’s what was happening right now.

  I learned I was right in my assessment when, several long moments later, he declared, “We need to talk about something.”

  “Okay. What’s up?” I asked.

  Logan sighed. “I talked to Avery a little while ago,” he shared.

  I wanted to roll my eyes. Here we go again. “Yeah? And?” I wondered, already convinced I knew what he was going to say.

  “And when I was having a friendly conversation with her about nothing in particular, I asked her if she had plans for tonight,” he started. “She and Kendall hit it off a few days ago and are going to get together at some point, but Kendall’s working this weekend.”