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Warren took my face in his hands, kissing me so slowly and tenderly I forgot everything else. And then Adrian was kissing me too. Holding me against his body. Crushing me in his corded, tattooed arms, while drinking so deeply from my lips it left me dizzy and breathless.
“I…”
My head swam, my eyes unfocused. I had such Bambi legs I could barely stand! And then just as abruptly they were gone, leaving me there with my bag. Standing there speechless, helpless.
Alone.
I felt half in a dream, as I floated my way through the security line. I reached the other side without incident, then focused on putting one foot in front of the other as I made my way to my flight’s departure gate.
Don’t choose.
The sheer insanity of it was staggering. The full measure of what they were suggesting still hadn’t washed over me.
We don’t want to lose you.
It was selfish. Stupid. Crazy and dumb. Not on their end, but on mine. To think I could somehow placate all three of them by sleeping with them at the same time. That things wouldn’t blow up and end exactly this way: with them disappointed, and me walking away in tears.
The flight was already boarding by the time I got to the gate, but my tears were so thick I could barely see. Somehow I produced my boarding pass. The smiling attendant scanned it, wished me a pleasant flight, and ushered me through without saying another word.
Not again.
Clearing my throat, I pulled myself together and slung my carry-on over my shoulder. Then I made my way down the jet bridge, still drying my tears.
Thirty-Four
WARREN
“This is the third time. The last time.” I shook my head. “It’s not happening anymore.”
I was kneeling beside our only tow truck, which was lowered nearly all the way to the ground. And the reason it rode so low was because it had fourveryflat tires.
“They could’ve slashed them,” Luke pointed out. “At least they only let the air ou—”
“Are you fuckingserious?”
I felt vindicated by Adrian’s rage. This was his first time here, his first time seeing this. He looked just as pissed as I was, maybe even more.
“Someone’s stealing your shitandsabotaging your only work truck,” he snarled, “and you’re trying to look on thebrightside of things?”
“Look, the last time wedidn’tlook on the bright side I was bailing this guy out of jail.” Luke nodded my way. “They’ve got a restraining order preventing him from going anywhere near the property, plus the owner.”
“And who’s the owner?”
“A guy by the name of John Payne Jr,” I said bitterly. “He owns Payne Collision, over on—”
“— the other side of town,” Adrian finished for me. “I know where it is. It’s been open for as long as I’ve been alive.”
“Yeah,” said Luke. “But junior only recently took over the shop a couple years back. Hisdaddygave it to him.”
He spat the word with the same measure of disdain I had. The guy’s father was a bit of a dick, but his son was the apple that fell right alongside the tree… and then rotted there.
“So why are these guys fucking with you?” asked Adrian.
Luke and I exchanged glances. It was a bit of a sore subject.
“When this place was Tommy’s it only did restorations,” I said. “Tommy was a purist. He’d only work on anything vintage. When I bought the garage, I had every intention of carrying on that tradition. After all, it’s what he taught me. It’s what I love.”
Luke sighed. “Yeah, well it turns out that doesn’t pay the bills though,” he said. “If you want to keep the lights on, we have to do other work.”
