Better Than the Best

by Amabel Daniels

  She caressed his cheek and he turned on his shoulder, trying to reverse the position. His knee and shoulder hit the car and he grunted in pain. She broke the kiss with a light laugh and snuggled closer against his body as he lay back down.

  Sucking on his lower lip, Kelly felt his erection. She couldn’t wake up from the reality of what they were doing. Like animals. Under her car. She whimpered and slid her tongue next to his in her mouth, feeling trapped and comfortably secure in his grip. Like she belonged there. It was an intoxication she’d never experienced. His thigh spread her legs apart and she was draped over him, not close enough.

  “Yeah, let me tell him I’m taking off.”

  Clay’s approaching voice broke through the mist and Kelly leaned up suddenly, smacking her head again.

  Oh my God.

  Holding the lump on the back of her head, she lay back down on the cold cement as Will scooted out from under the car. Eyes closed, she swallowed hard, still tasting his lips. Breathing harshly, she winced, regretting the torture. What was I thinking? She hadn’t been. Holy moly.

  “You alright, man?” Above the car, Clay’s voice held a teasing tone. Kelly cringed as she rubbed the goose egg on her head. He had to have seen their legs together.

  “Yeah.” Will spoke roughly, still catching his breath. “My knee’s been bothering me.”

  “Where’s Kelly?” Clay asked.

  Kelly bit her lip as she screwed the last nut in the pan. The asshole knew and was rubbing it in!

  “Changing her tranny fluid,” Will said as she started to crawl out from under the car.

  They avoided each other’s eyes, guilty like a first crush. Kelly let her hair out of her ponytail to hide the evidence of Will’s hand musing it up. She gave a crooked nod to Clay. “Hey.”

  “How’s the tranny coming along?” Clay grinned.

  “It’s done.” She wiped her hands on her shorts and went for the bench to look for her keys. Daring a glance at Will, she found him raising a brow.

  Done? Was she done? What the hell has he done to me? Kissing? That wasn’t kissing. It was like a drug. The withdrawal from him had her aching and wondering as she got in her car with a small smile and drove away.

  ***

  Emily slithered off of Clay in his bed, aggravated.

  Her last mistake had been verified. Clay really wasn’t sleeping with Kelly.

  Emily was. Clay chucked her chin as he got up to go to the bathroom, leaving her in the sheets.

  Over there, on the other side of the wall. She was so close to Kelly, to her prey.

  Kill her. Smother her in her sleep. Do it, just DO IT!

  Emily flinched at the thoughts in her head. She had to even the score. Killing her wouldn’t serve justice and would rob Emily of the satisfaction. She had to reclaim the power Kelly had over her. Kelly couldn’t be better.

  Emily had screwed up. Kelly didn’t want Junior. Kelly didn’t want Clay. Men looked at the blonde, wanted her. Emily saw that as plainly as the sky was blue. But Kelly was either clueless or uninterested. Kelly didn’t want anyone, it seemed.

  Emily smiled at Clay as he returned. No more mistakes. When Kelly found interest in someone, Emily would know. She wasn’t going to miss Forty-One when he came along.

  Patience would only make the revenge sweeter.

  Chapter 18

  Kelly smiled politely at the groups of tourists window-shopping as she walked the short distance through town. Will’s sub in hand, she neared the garage and sighed with anticipation, not knowing which end of the swing his mood would be in. Hopefully, only a hungry one. And most especially, a forgetful one. She didn’t need Will to remember what happened a week ago when she was in the garage with him.

  Lapse. That’s all it was. Right?

  Kelly had never felt a kiss like his before. Kissing had always grossed her out before it made sense as a prerequisite to sex. And even then, it had been like a chore. All the spit, and guys could have really bad breath, or not know what to do with their tongue. It was anatomically challenging if one considered it, sizes and fullness of lips, and the length of mouths. Or tongues. A world of physiological oral variety which coupled with the man’s experience presented a hit-or-miss gamble of a tolerable kiss or a labor before getting on to the good stuff.

  John had been like a guppy.

  Will? His lips seemed to have been made for hers.

  A sparkling clean Cadillac stood in the first bay and Clay cowered in front of a pant-suited older woman.

  “Look, lady, I’m sure—”

  Kelly crinkled her forehead at his irritable tone. It was foreign. If anything, he was slick with the ladies. Old, young, fat, thin. He was a ladies’ man through and through.

  “Lady? Don’t you talk to me like that. I’m not one of your little sluts. You’ve got no respect—”

  “Only giving you the same courtesy you’ve ever given me, Mrs. Downs.” Clay leaned right back in her face. “I’m sure—”

  “I don’t care if you’re sure of anything. Can you fix my car or not?” Mrs. Downs smoothed the hem of her jacket and flipped her hair. She seemed to be going for a Sharon Osbourne look. Pissy, money and impatient.

  Kelly hadn’t seen the woman up close before. Mrs. Downs? The name seemed familiar.

  “No, not me. I mean, I—”

  “This is ridiculous.” Mrs. Downs shook her hands at Clay. “Where is Mr. Parker?”

  Kelly noticed the flat tire on the car.

  Clay crumpled his features. “Mr. Parker?”

  “Mr. Parker,” she repeated. “Your employer. The owner of this garage. Unless he’s gone bankrupt already.”

  “You mean your son?” Clay lost the irritable edge to his voice and his yell was an adverse reaction for the woman, someone likely accustomed to being revered in Churchston, never questioned. Kelly stood speechless with the sub in her hand, too mesmerized by the conversation to intercept.

  “My son is dead,” Mrs. Downs clarified with a stern expression. “Dead!” Her voice shrilled and Kelly jumped at the thud from Will’s office. No doubt something thrown at the wall. Kelly realized what the showdown was. Mrs. Downs was Will’s mother. And it was an understatement to think she only disowned him.

  Psycho.

  Clay twitched his mouth and ran his free hand through his hair. “Mrs. Downs—”

  “Can you fix my car or not?” she demanded coolly.

  “I could, but—”

  Kelly cleared her throat as Clay figured his response. Appalled and angry, and she was tired of standing there awkwardly with the sub. Who does this woman think she is? “Are you blind? How the hell is he supposed to fix your car with his arm in a cast?”

  Clay spun to face her in surprise. Mrs. Downs turned slowly and stared at her like royalty weighing the peon. Kelly pursed her lips, daring the woman to judge her.

  “Excuse me?” She eyed Kelly from head to toe and with the downturn of her mouth, she wasn’t impressed.

  “I’ve stated the obvious.” Kelly took a deep breath of the grimy garage air of. “Will here?” She waved the sub box in her hand.

  “He’s—” Clay started.

  “Who is this?” Mrs. Downs demanded.

  “Uh, Kelly. She delivers for Alan. Runs Roger’s boat hut.”

  Kelly didn’t care for the prim woman’s obvious disapproval of her attire. Most of her hair was in a ponytail. Her shorts hadn’t been stained with pizza sauce yet and her tank top was mostly clean, one little tear from the kayak earlier. Go to hell, Mrs. Ralph Lauren Sharon Osbourne, I’ll dress however I want. Tomboys are people, too. “Where’s Will?”

  Clay pointed to the office.

  “I’ll tell you where Mr. Parker is,” Mrs. Downs said. “He’s no doubt drunk. Drunk and filthy and disgusting like his father was. He’s wasting away in his little office, no doubt drinking and being nothing but a bum.”

  Crashes sounded in the office again. Kelly’s face fell expressionless and Clay winced. It sounded like Will had p
unched the wall.

  Talk about dysfunctional.

  “He can’t even run his own garage. His employees are as insolent and lazy as he—” She glared at Clay as he opened his mouth. “Mr. Parker?” Mrs. Downs faced Kelly. “Mr. Parker should be in hell, young lady. He’s wasting away like his good-for-nothing father when he should be dead.”

  Kelly clenched her jaw as her pulse throbbed faster. Having heard the stories of Delores Downs, she couldn’t have been prepared for the wrath of this Cruella DeVille. She wished her own son in hell? Stunned and enraged, Kelly fought to keep her patience, mind her own business.

  Mrs. Downs tapped her heart dramatically. “My son should be alive.”

  “Shoulda woulda coulda.” Kelly was nonplused. Not so much as a tease but a blunt reminder that nothing could change the past. “He’s in the office then?”

  Mrs. Downs glared and Clay shook his head with alarm.

  “How dare you sass me,” she sputtered.

  “How dare I?” Kelly smiled without mirth. “I open my mouth and out come words. Tell him I’ll get the change later.”

  Moving to set the sub on the desk behind Clay, Kelly only had thoughts of escaping the chaos. Dad had raised the Newland offspring to turn the other cheek, be the bigger person. But Kelly knew herself better and the old Botox woman was only an instigator for losing her patience. She didn’t want to make enemies in town, but the woman was asking for it. Someone was bound to put her in her place someday, but she didn’t feel it was her duty.

  “This is like his father. Can’t even run a business,” Mrs. Downs said as Kelly came nearer to deposit the food. “I come here to have my car fixed and he can’t even appreciate the revenue from performing his services.”

  “Looks to me it’s your tire needs fixing, not the car. You’d rather see your son rot in hell but you’d expect him to work on your vehicle?” Kelly couldn’t hide the dark humor in her comment.

  “No, oh, no. Of course not. He doesn’t even have the nerve to face me after he let my Matthew die. No, he’ll hide and drink and waste away like his father.”

  A couple of thuds and a swearing from the office sounded.

  “Then why are you here?” That did it. Kelly did not like this woman.

  “Kelly…” Clay stepped closer to intercept Mrs. Downs’ escalating fury.

  “It’s thirteen miles from my mechanic’s garage. I wouldn’t come to this filthy place if I didn’t have to.”

  “Get someone to push it to the fancy place then.”

  Mrs. Downs glared at Kelly. “Of course. Because he’s too much of a wasted coward to do his job. And him.” Her red-clawed finger stabbed at Clay. “He—”

  “Has a goddamn cast on his arm,” Kelly said. “A flat?” She looked at the car again. “All this bitching for a flat tire?” Her eyes went skyward. “Clay, you owe me.” She went to the car and slid the lift pads under the carriage with her sneakered foot.

  “What is she doing?” Mrs. Downs said.

  “Kelly?” Clay followed her.

  “I’m fixing her flat. Plugs are in the second drawer, right?” She pushed the button to raise the lift.

  “What is she doing?” Mrs. Downs said again. “She’s going to scratch it. Does she even know what she’s doing? I thought you said she delivers for Alan.”

  Kelly cranked the radio louder, letting Santana drone out the woman. Pop off the wheel and stick in a rod of rubber. Not rocket science. She’d seen the guys do it plenty of times. It couldn’t have taken more than five minutes, but it had been five minutes too long for Kelly to endure Mrs. Downs’ presence in the garage. She wiped her hands on her shorts and grinned at Clay as the Cadillac left the garage.

  “I’m going to buy you diamonds and candy and sugar you like a princess. Perfect timing. I was about to wring her neck. He went straight in the office to kill something and left me out here to get rid of her,” Clay said.

  “Ha ha. Anytime.” She was moved. Even though Will and Clay weren’t the friends they once were, Clay still had his back.

  “I can’t believe she actually came here. I would have done it and gotten her out of here if I could have. So he wouldn’t have seen her.”

  A few more punches at the wall sounded from the office and Kelly winced.

  “His sub will be cold,” she said and turned the radio down to its usual loudness.

  “I can’t believe she had the balls to even come here. She’s wicked, Kel. Evil. A bitch from—”

  Will burst from the office. Except for the scant few moments under her car when she had kissed him, Will had a default ogre hatred look. She was sure it was residue from the Marines. Kelly never wanted to witness the fury he emitted as he exited his office.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” he roared at Clay.

  “Hey man—”

  “Don’t ‘hey man’ me! What were you thinking?”

  “What was I supposed to do?” Clay offered his hands in a truce. “I’m in a fucking cast. I came back from a break and it was parked in here. She wouldn’t even let me tell her—”

  “Why the hell did you let her in here?” Will swore and punched at the air. “You got shits for brains?” He grabbed Clay’s shirt at the neck and pulled him closer. Kelly was mesmerized by his force, the tension in his neck as he clenched his teeth. Yet she wasn’t afraid. Rather, she worried about him, like watching a bomb swell and rattle before detonation.

  Chapter 19

  Kelly walked toward the front door of the garage after Will came out from his office. “Sub’s on the desk,” she called back quietly to let Will vent to Clay.

  “You.” It could have been a bear’s growl. Will let go of Clay and went after her. He clutched her arm in a vise grip and pulled her back to his office.

  “Yo, Will. Hey man. Don’t take it out on her. She was trying to help. Hey man, she didn’t—”

  Will slammed the door in Clay’s face. In the office, Kelly smacked at Will’s hand gripping her shoulder. He swore and let go of her forcefully.

  “Get the hell out of my way.” She went for the door to leave.

  “You had no right to do that!” He stopped her at the door with the bulk of his strong body.

  “Get out of my way,” Kelly repeated, guessing his temper wouldn’t simmer for a few months. She had never seen him so mad and wanted nothing to do with it.

  “You had no right to get in my business!” he yelled and put his hands on her shoulders again.

  “Get your hands off me.” Kelly slapped him when he pushed. In a whirl, his face twisted with rage. He grabbed her hand and spun her to slam her back against the door.

  “Will!” Clay pounded on the other side of the door. “Will, let her go!”

  The thudding competed with the throbbing in her head from Will’s force and the adrenaline racing in her blood.

  “You had no right to do that.” Will’s voice growled with fury.

  “To do what?” she snapped back. “Fix her flat? I did you a favor. He’s in a cast. You’re back here brooding. I saved your day.” Someday, she swore, someone was going to teach him he couldn’t explode. But it wasn’t going to be her.

  “Saved my day.” He scoffed. “Saved my day. She doesn’t belong here. Never. She doesn’t belong anywhere near me. She doesn’t have the right to say my name. To think of me. I won’t allow her to come near me. And I’ll be goddamned if she comes to my goddamned garage for me to fix her tire!”

  “I fixed her tire.” Kelly shoved his grip from her and rubbed her wrist.

  “She doesn’t belong in my life. You had no right to fix her tire here.”

  “Boo hoo. I didn’t see Clay getting rid of her. No way you were going to tell her to leave.”

  Will paced the office, his chiseled features still twisted in anger. “Tell her to leave? I’ll never speak to her until the day I die.” His big hand connected with a cup of pens and it went flying. “Which won’t come fast enough for her!”

  Kelly braced herself against the do
or as he got in front of her face.

  “You wanted me to go out there and speak to her?”

  Beneath the anger in his hooded eyes, Kelly could feel his pain, and wished she could stop it for him, put it away. Like a wounded bear, he was all bark and no bite.

  “If you weren’t a wimp you would. Make you the bigger person. Other than physically, of course, but that’s probably obvious. I mean, she’s what? Five-two, one-twenty? A little poodle of a person.”

  He punched the door above her head. Miracle alone it didn’t shatter the glass. “Wimp? You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

  She swallowed and fought the need to reach out and stroke his cheek. Instead, she feigned boredom. “She gave birth to you. Now she has a mental defect and doesn’t like the fact you’re alive. There are all kinds of crazy people in the world. Get over it.”

  “Get over it?”

  Kelly raised her brows. “There an echo in here?”

  “You think you’re so goddamn smart. Let me tell you something. You’ve got no fucking idea what it’s like to not have a mother. Even an evil bitch like her. You’ve got no idea what it’s like to have your own parent wishing you were dead.”

  Stunned, she blinked a couple times. “No idea, huh? No idea. My mom died giving birth to me. I know exactly what it’s like to not have a mother.”

  “That’s different. That doesn’t count.” He pounded his fist once on the door next to her head.

  “Doesn’t count?” Kelly shoved him back without moving him. “My mom dying doesn’t count?”

  “You couldn’t control that.”

  “And you could control her leaving your dad?”

  Will rubbed at his mouth.

  My God, he must have always thought she left because of him.

  He paced again. “She wishes I was dead! Matt was supposed to live and I wasn’t. She hates me because it was him, not me. She hates me, they all do, for letting Matt die.

  “You can’t change it now!” she yelled. “Why would you spend the rest of your time worrying about why she hates you? What’s it to you? Cut your losses. You don’t need her.” Kelly watched the play of angry emotions on his face, knowing deep down, he needed something, someone. Everyone did.