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Change of topic, Addison. Quick.
“So is this the best place for repairs?” she asked. “Er, was it?”
“It was and it is. We’re gonna clean it up.” Luke grabbed a broom from just inside the door. “We’ve got the oil cleaned up inside, the floor clean, and some of the tools sorted out, but the lot is still a mess. The windows are taking longer to come in than we thought. Fox is so torn up about it. The only reason Marcel’s group came here was because of us. We owe it to them to fix it.”
She nodded, toeing some of the glass on the ground. Poor Fox. She could imagine him taking all of the blame for this. God, the guilt must be eating him alive. She wished he trusted her enough to tell her and to let her comfort him.
With a sigh, she said, “I’ll help.”
When he didn’t answer, she looked up at him. His eyes narrowed as he leveled her with a suspicious stare. “Why?”
“Why not? I have nothing better to do today.” Hanging out at her apartment meant facing Mariella’s nosy questions, and her parents were house-shopping, which she couldn’t even stomach thinking about. This week’s work shifts didn’t start until tomorrow. It was a nice day and the distraction was welcome.
She wanted to laugh at herself. Some life she had. Working retail, daydreaming during classes, avoiding her only friend, and attending Sunday dinner with her parents. Other women her age were thinking about getting married and having babies. Addison didn’t even know what she wanted to do with her life past graduation. Working at the electronics store was a waste of her education, but her motivation to do anything else was seriously lacking. Getting a job would take months, if not longer. And she needed money now to help her family.
But Fox had shut that plan down.
Could Luke turn into an ally? Did she even want to work with them anymore? Luke seemed a little more lenient than Fox. Maybe she could win him over and join the group without landing in anyone’s bed.
But god damn did she enjoy his bed. Her past partners were shit at dirty talk compared to Fox. He could melt her with just a few words. And the way he’d commanded her body . . . No one else had ever been able to put her in subspace, to hurt her so good, to make her come so hard.
As for other feelings she’d started having for him, she didn’t even want to think about all the crying she’d been doing, or the fact that it probably meant it’d been about more than sex for her.
She gave her head a shake. That was over. Time to get down to business. “Give me the broom,” she said, putting out her hand. “I’ll sweep up out here.”
He grimaced. “I don’t know. Fox will be back soon. I don’t think he’ll like you being here.”
“Let me deal with him,” she said, braver than she felt. “I’ll just leave when he gets here.” When he still seemed torn, she pressed. “Come on. If this shop is the best, we need to get it fixed up. My dad’s car is a piece of junk and he can’t afford a new one. I need someone I can trust to fix it.?
??
Luke gave in with a sigh. “Fine.” He shoved the broom at her. “But if Fox is pissed, don’t blame me.”
She swallowed hard. Did she secretly want to see him again? Was that what this was about? Duh. Of course it was. Maybe a bit of closure would help. An official breakup. Or maybe another chance at getting into the group, at least peripherally. Maybe if she told him why the stakes were so high, he’d have pity and let her join them.
She snorted at herself. Yeah right. She was delusional. The best course of action would be to sneak away as soon as she saw his car come down the road. Or just be a freakin’ genius and leave now.
Avoidance. She didn’t usually do things that way. She was a head-on confronter, but she still couldn’t control her emotions when it came to him, and the last thing she needed was to show weakness in front of the very group she had lingering hopes might accept her.
The two worked, side by side. Luke was pleasant, joked and smiled a lot. Way more than Fox did. But there was no sizzle between them—no chemistry. Not like with his cousin, who’d woken senses the second she’d met him.
Luke turned on an old radio he’d found in the back room, which made the job seem to go faster. She swept the glass as she hummed along to the songs, not minding when Luke grinned a few times at her singing.
About half an hour later, another car pulled up. It was Fox.
For some reason, she didn’t bolt for her dad’s car and drive off. Sometimes she was too stubborn to take the easy way out. Her body froze in place and her chest tightened as she watched him get out of the vehicle with his brother, Atlas, right behind him. They grabbed cans of paint from the trunk then headed toward the shop.
When he spotted her, he stopped in his tracks. For a moment she forgot to breathe.
“What are you doing here?” Fox snapped.
Luke emerged from the shop and winced.
Fox looked at his cousin. “What the hell is she doing here?”
“Chill out,” Luke answered. “She brought her dad’s car in for repairs then offered to help sweep. It’s not a big deal.”
Fox put the cans on the ground. “Her dad’s car? Here of all places?” He narrowed his eyes at his cousin. “What have the two of you been doing? How long has she been here?” He shifted his gaze to her, looking suspicious. “Why are you dressed like that?”
