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He stood up straight and frowned. “Why do you even care? It’s not like you were friends with her or anything.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from retorting with a witty, snarky response. I had to hold my cards close to my chest on this one.
Knowing Ali was interested in Aria put a damper on my plans for Aria’s contract. But I also knew I had to protect my best friend from the inevitable heartbreak Aria would cause.
Love was a fickle friend and not to be messed with. In the end, I would be saving him from the ruins lust could leave.
Chapter 6
Una
The text onmy screen made me sneer, snarl, and growl.
I paced under the bleachers, waiting for a new customer to come make a deal, when the text came through.
Aria. She was unsatisfied, especially after seeing me with Ali in the hallway yesterday morning. She assumed that his friendly manner toward her was in reaction to a set up happening.
And then she hadn’t heard anything from me since, meaning she was pissed. Rightfully so, but that was neither here nor there.
The gravel crunched as someone came closer. I shot off a text to Aria stating I was working on it and all was fine. That I needed to ‘butter Ali up’ and whatnot. I had to say something she would buy to get me more time to make this all go away in a manner that wouldn’t hurt my friend.
If that was even possible.
Thinking about Aria’s contract sent a sharp pain through my skull, leaving me crankier than usual.
My new customer waited for me to call him forward. He had his contract and money ready, which I appreciated as a busy woman.
We got through the specifics and the rules quickly. He was a friend of someone who used my services before, so he knew what he was getting into.
Deals like that were my favorite. In and out, giving me more time to get my job done.
Once he left, I sent off a few messages. One to cuss out Flow and Jett for once again leaving me stranded and needing my father to take me home. They were supposed to be here with me right now, but they decided to tackle Junior’s bully instead.
Which I was grateful for. They just should have done itaftermy consultation. It could have waited twenty minutes.
Now I was stuck once again.
I threw a few things into my to-do list on my phone while pacing under the bleachers. The less time I was out in the open to the soccer team, the better. I learned my lesson recently, when they all started staring and whispering behind their hands. As if I could even hear them from across the field. I didn’t want any extra attention today, not when I was already in a grumpy mood and knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from calling out a retort or two.
After I finished a few more phone related tasks, I started toward the front, but stopped when a call came through.
“This is Una,” I announced, not recognizing the number. Normally I would ignore it, but I had a lot of contracts out. Even though the rules stated students were forbidden to do more than send a text, some still slipped through.
“Una, it’s Tony. Listen, about your car—”
“Ugh, Tony. When’s the car going to be done? You’ve had it for way longer than you estimated already,” I snapped. He was lazy, slow, and I honestly wasn’t even sure if he was a real mechanic. But the price was right—meaning cheap.
He sighed on the other end. I could picture the deep grooves in his forehead and the frown pulling down his lips. “That’s the problem. We’ve found another issue. We have to order another part. It’ll probably be one more week and…”
I gritted my teeth. “Andwhat, Tony? Don’t mess with me.”
“Another hundred.”
The phone almost fell out of my hands. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Tony, you didn’t mention any of this when I brought it to you two weeks ago. Suddenly this is a problem now? I swear if you’re trying—”
“Una, your car has more issues than People magazine. You brought it to me ready to die and I’m trying to give it one more life. Deal with it or don’t have a car.” He hung up the phone on me, that cranky old man.
I stood there, seething, gripping my phone so tight, it left indents in my hand. If I were anywhere else, I would let out a scream. It was the only good way to release all the pent-up anger and frustrations.
