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Vincent was asleep again by the time the tow truck, Manson, and Jess arrived. I jogged out to the gate with Haribo at my heels to unlock it for Ted, allowing the big flatbed to drive into the yard with Manson and Jess in the Bronco behind him.
Jess hung back in the yard as Manson and I helped Ted get the BMW unloaded into the garage. I kept glancing over to see how she’d react to having Haribo sniffing around her shoes. Slowly, she squatted down and offered the little dog her hand, scratching his chin when he finally gave her a friendly lick.
There were rarely hard feelings with dogs, even a moody little creature like Bo. I almost felt betrayed that he didn’t try to snap her fingers off.
“Thanks, Ted.” Manson knuckle-bumped the driver as he prepared to leave. “I owe you one.”
“See you for the next one,” I said, giving Teddy a wave as he hopped back up into the truck. He was a grizzled guy, pock-marked and gray-haired, but had the biggest heart. He and Vincent could talk for hours, the two of them never running out of stories and cringy jokes to tell each other.
Ted gave us a salute and a smile that was missing a few teeth. “I’ll be seeing ya’, Mr. Reed! Over and out, Zero Cool.” The engine rumbled as he pulled away, dust from his tires drifting through the yard as Manson went to shut the gate behind him.
“What did he call you? Zero Cool?”
I turned. Jess had Haribo cradled in her arms like a baby. The smug mutt was lying there with his tongue lolling out, happy as could be. Little traitor.
“It’s from a movie,” I said, heading back into the garage. “There was this film calledHackersthat came out back in the 90s. Zero Cool is an alias for one of the characters. Ted loves his movies almost as much as he loves to tell old stories he only partially remembers.”
“He was very talkative,” she said, a surprisingly gentle assessment. She popped her lips, swaying slightly as she waited for Manson to return. Her lips were pink, glittery, juicy-looking — probably sticky with gloss. I bet they tasted sweet as candy, almost as good as her pussy.
Fuck. I didn’t need to remember that right now, feet away from where it had happened. I’d had my mouth between her legs, I’d listened to her every little cry of pleasure and pain, I’d relished the tremblingIwas causing in her. It made me mad how much I’d enjoyed it, how the sight of her perfect ass bent over my car made my cock start to harden the moment I thought about it.
She obviously still spent time working out, judging by her toned muscles. I wondered what gym she went to, because it certainly wasn’t mine. It was probably that nice one near the new movie theater, the gym that had a sauna and a tanning bed. I’d been meaning to check that place out. Not because of her, obviously; she had nothing to do with it.
“What did you do to your car?” I said, and she groaned.
“I don’t know,” she said, setting Haribo down. “It’s been making weird noises for a while. Like someone was banging pieces of metal together in my engine. But it still drove fine so I figured it wasn’t serious.”
I burst out laughing. “It’s been making weird noises for awhile? What’s a while, Jess?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. A year? Maybe?”
I opened her driver door and popped her hood. I may not have been a mechanic, but I knew my way around a vehicle. Jess came around to peer at the engine beside me, eyes narrowed.
“See that?” I said, removing the oil cap and giving her a good look at the black gunk collected inside. “Motor oil isn’t supposed to be a paste. If oil can’t get through your engine, it’s going to overheat and break. When did you last get your oil changed?”
“Six months after I got it, I think.”
I stared at her in disbelief. “Six months after…you mean in high school? You haven’t had an oil change in overfour years?”
Manson came back just in time to hear my outburst. He paused for a moment, looking as stunned as if I’d said she fueled the damn thing with hair spray.
“I was busy, okay?” she said. “I didn’t drive that much in college unless I was coming back home.”
“Right, yeah, of course,” I said. “Did you cheat in all your classes there too?”
It was a low blow, but Jess had been aiming low ever since I’d met her and she obviously hadn’t changed. I was looking for a fight though; I’d admit that. Seeing her face right next to my thrashed Z didn’t exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy.
“Okay, okay, let’s be nice,” Manson said, getting between us. I innocently put up my hands and stepped back, letting him do his job. It was his shop so if he wanted Jess as a client, he could fucking have her.
But having her as a client still meant weallhad to deal with her. Hence the brilliant payment idea I’d told to Manson earlier. If Jess was going to be coming here as our customer, we needed to make it worth our while. And if she didn’t have cash, then we needed something else.
Lucas finally joined us, stalking into the garage, looking like he wanted to kill something. He was wearing a short-sleevedbutton-up shirt and his good jeans — the ones that didn’t have massive holes and grease stains all over them. When the hell was the last time he wore something withbuttons?
I sniffed as he stood near me, arms tightly folded across his chest.
“You’re wearing cologne,” I said.
His expression didn’t change. “Maybe you should consider doing the same thing. I can smell you from here.”
