“Hey,” I say, smiling as I give her a hug after she opens her apartment door. “How are you?”
“I’m good. How’s your new job?” she asks as we step inside. Her apartment is small, but open and modern, with white walls and gray furniture.
“It was...interesting,” I say, sitting down on her couch and placing my bag next to me. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“This sounds juicy.”
“So my cousin got me the job,” I say. “A cousin I didn’t know that I had until recently.”
“What?” she asks, confusion on her face.
I give her the rundown on my uncle and Abbie, and then tell her how my day went.
“So basically your boss is a hottie slash asshole,” she concludes, eyes going wide. “And you’re working with motorcycle parts, something you have no idea about.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“I’m still trying to process the whole new cousin thing,” she admits, shaking her head at me. “Never a dull day with you, is it?”
“Only as of recent,” I say, sighing.
We move to the dining table and she serves dinner—pasta, garlic bread and red wine.
“Thanks for inviting me over,” I say.
“No problem. I do feel really bad about having to let you go, so I hope the new job is amazing, Bronte,” she says.
“You have no reason to feel bad,” I assure her. “I am not upset at you at all, okay? So don’t even worry about it.”
She smiles sadly. “It’s just a shit feeling, you know? You’re one of my closest friends and I loved working with you. Work isn’t the same without you. I had a stakeout yesterday, and it was so boring waiting there in my car alone.”
I grin. “It’s just how it has to be for now, but it’s nice to know that I’m missed.”
“You really are.”
“We will still be close and see each other all the time,” I say. “Okay?”
“Okay.” She nods. “Thank you for not holding a grudge.”
“You didn’t have a choice, Nadia,” I tell her. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I am fine. Hopefully business will pick up, and without you having to pay an extra employee, you can now make more of a profit.”
“I hope so too,” she admits. “If I have to close the doors, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Maybe they’ll hire me with you at the garage.”
I laugh. “That can be plan B. Plan A is trying to keep the business going and thriving.”
“Agreed. I feel a little better now that I know you have some eye candy at your new work,” she says, laughing.
I shake my head at her. “It would be a lot better if he didn’t talk.”
“We’ll see,” she murmurs. “I don’t think I’ve seen you let a guy get to you like this one has.”
I puff out a breath. “Yeah, you’re right. I need to not let him do that.”
If only it were that easy.
We finish our meal, and I help her clean up and then head home.
Tomorrow it will be time to do it all over again.
* * *
“I’m Cameron,” the most beautiful tattooed blonde says as soon as I step into work the next morning. She looks like a mixture of badass and Barbie, her denim shorts showing off her long legs, her pink top fringed and frayed. I find myself liking her instantly. “Everyone calls me Cam. It’s nice to meet you, Bronte. Abbie called me last night and told me all about you.”
So this is Cam.
“News travels fast around here,” I muse, smirking.
“You have no idea. I’m one of the mechanics, and I also do most of the designing and am the creative and artistic manager,” she explains, walking with me to my desk. “I gave myself that title but now everyone rolls with it. I work here full time too, so we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
“You tell me what you need, and I’ll handle it,” I tell her, turning the computer on. “Crow gave me the rundown, but I’m still not exactly sure what I’m supposed to be getting done every day.”
“You’re basically the glue that holds this place together.” She grins, flashing straight white teeth. Her beautiful green eyes dash to the phone as it rings. “And it begins. Anything you don’t know how to answer, put them on hold and call out to me.”
The man on the phone is asking me when we can fit him in to fix his Harley when Crow walks in, the whole atmosphere in the warehouse instantly changing with each stomp of his black biker boots. Cameron instantly goes over to greet him, and the two of them embrace, leaving my stomach in knots.
Don’t be ridiculous, I tell myself. I can’t stand the guy and barely know him. So why do I feel jealous that she gets sunshine and rainbows and I get moody?
“Look how tanned you’ve gotten,” I hear him say. “Tell me everything about your vacation.”
I can’t even remember what I say to the man on the phone, but we hang up and my attention is solely on Crow and Cameron. I don’t think they’re a couple, or he’d have known how her trip was already. And who cares if they are? He’s an asshole and it’s none of my business what he does.
Crow comes over, and I notice he has a bandage wrapped around his knuckles on his right hand. I wonder what he did to himself.
“Boxing at the clubhouse,” he says, eyes on me.
“Oh, I...” I trail off, not knowing how to reply to him answering a question I only asked in my head.
Boxing at the...clubhouse?
Clearing my throat, I lean back in my chair and study him. Crow’s enthusiastic attitude when he saw Cameron is long gone, a broodiness he seems to only reserve for me left in its place.
What’s his deal with me?
The phone rings, saving me. “I guess I better get back to work.” Saved by the bell.
“Fast & Fury, Bronte speaking,” I say, ignoring his blue eyes on me. I schedule an appointment for the client to come in, and only when I hang up does he speak.
“Your hair looks...different today.” He walks away, leaving my eyes narrowed.
He doesn’t give away whether that’s a good thing or not, which annoys me.
He annoys me.
Cameron walks up, brow furrowed. She turns, tilting her head to the side and studying me. “Crow is the most laid-back, funny guy I’ve ever met in my life. I don’t know why he’s so weird around you.”