“Murphy’s?” I asked.
She nodded.
“I’ll meet you there,” I said.
A flush crept up over Fran’s face. “Sounds good.”
Then she was getting into her car and heading in the direction of Murphy’s Garage. Murphy who happened to be another member of our gym. Though he was strictly a five a.m. class goer. Fran wouldn’t have had the chance to meet him at the gym just yet.
CHAPTER 6
Planks well with others.
-T-shirt
FRAN
I was utterly embarrassed, while also very proud of myself.
I’d asked him out on a lunch date!
I couldn’t believe I’d had the balls to do it, honestly.
I’d never been on a date before. And I’d certainly never invited anyone to do anything, imaginary or otherwise, that looked like him.
The one and only guy I’d been with that’d ‘popped my cherry’ had been… boring. He’d literally looked like the anti-Taos. Nerdy, blond hair, and smiled easily.
When you glanced at Taos at first, he was intimidating, quiet, and grouchy. But the more you got him to talk, the nicer he became.
When we arrived at Murphy’s Garage I left Mavis’ minivan running, seeing as in the five-minute drive Vlad had fallen asleep, and got out.
Murphy met us at the big bay door with a wide grin on his face.
That grin wasn’t for me, though. It was for the man behind me who’d pulled up and gotten out of his own vehicle. A restored older muscle car that I had no clue what the name was.
But it was pretty.
It was sexier even when the man that I really wanted got out of it with a small grin on his face aimed at the mechanic.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Murphy said from behind me. “Who the fuck do I owe this pleasure to?”
Murphy didn’t wait for an answer, only went up to the car and circled it. A car, that I might add, was not my sister’s minivan.
Murphy whistled. “You got the paint job.”
“I got the paint job,” Taos confirmed, looking at me with a small grin. “Two months ago, this thing was a beast, but it was ugly as fuck. Brown and primer as we got it ready to go get prettied up.”
That made sense.
And did the man know everyone? He’d literally waved ‘hi’ to at least eight people throughout Target, knew the cashier personally, and had found two in the parking lot to wave to. Now he knew the dude I was delivering dog food to?
“It looks sweet,” Murphy grinned. “I’m glad it turned out all right. It was my first time doing all that pretty shit.”
Apparently, ‘pretty shit’ was doing the bodywork on the car.
“You mind if I leave it here for a bit while we go have lunch?” Taos asked his friend.
Murphy shrugged. “You were talking about bringing it in next week to get that tune-up we kept talking about. Why don’t you leave it with me now?”
Taos shook his head. “Madden is on this week with the SWAT team, meaning I can’t take his car. And before you offer one of yours, the last time I did that, you had to ride your motorcycle because yours went out on you. I’m not taking your spare. So it’ll have to be next week.”
That was when I opened my mouth and interrupted. “How long is this going to take?”
I pointed at the car, and Murphy’s eyes came to me. “About two days, give or take. I need to get the parts in, then get them on. It shouldn’t take long at all.”
I turned to Taos. “You do know that driving people around is one of my services, right?” I batted my eyelashes at him. “And sometimes, people pay me in food.”
Taos grinned at that. “I think I could manage to feed you.”
I grinned. “And, just sayin’, but I can come get you for the first two classes of the day. You’d have to stay in the middle, then I can take you home that night really easily. No extra feedings required. But if you wanted me to pick you up and take you home during the middle classes you offer, then you’d have to feed me and ride along on my errands with me.”
Murphy fist-pumped. “I can pick you up when it’s done, too.”
I scowled at Murphy, but he didn’t see it.
The man was taking away my Taos time, and didn’t even realize it!
I’d literally just walked right into my dream, and he didn’t realize he was taking away some Taos time by being sweet.
“Perfect.” Taos grinned. “In that case, yes, you can keep my car. But I swear to God, I better not hear you entering it into one of those street contests again.”
Murphy laughed, pocketed the keys, and then started to unload his dog food, two bags at a time.
That was a hundred something pounds on his shoulder, and he looked like he didn’t even struggle.
“Let me guess.” I watched as he disappeared into the building with the food. “You know him from CrossFit?”
“Five in the morning class,” Taos confirmed as he walked in with the rest of the shit that Murphy had requested.
When Murphy came back, I handed him the receipt, and he handed me cash.
I loved cash. Cash meant I didn’t have to claim it.
I mean, sure, I was technically not supposed to do it. But what the government didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.
“Thank you.” I smiled.
I’d seen that he’d given me a rather sizable tip, like always.
I fucking loved Murphy, even if he kind of sort of hated me. Or, more accurately, he didn’t seem to get along with my sister.
Since Murphy had moved back to Soul’s Chapel before Mavis had Vlad, they have been sniping at each other. Mavis and Murphy seemed to hate each other for no apparent reason.
He called more than twice during the week for me to go pick up a part for him that was out of town because he wasn’t willing to wait. So that always worked out well in my favor tip-wise.
“Thank you.” He shook his head. “You have no idea how much I hate closing this place up to go get the shit. And with the hours I keep, that means that I have to do it in the middle of the day or I can’t get it. You literally save me a lot of hassle.”
I grinned.
That was why I liked doing what I did.
People were nice to me because I was doing them a favor, and I got paid handsomely for it.
Plus, the last time I was there, Murphy offered to give my car a tune-up in exchange for a trip to the store, which I took. And now it ran better, but it was still a beater.
I had no clue how nice it was to know a mechanic until Murphy.
“Damn, those dogs are getting big.” Taos shook his head as he walked out, wiping dog hair off of his pants.
I wondered what kind they were.
I’d never asked.
“Yeah, they sure the fuck aren’t the little puppies that they used to be when they came to the gym with me, are they?” Murphy asked.
After our goodbyes were made, I offered Taos the keys. “I’ll give you a dollar to drive.”
“Deal.” Taos paused as he looked at the minivan. “Though, just sayin’, but I think my man card will get revoked if I drive it.”
I snorted and got into the passenger seat. “I hate driving it. I feel like I’m driving a damn boat. But it’s easier to just take hers and allow her to take mine rather than shuffling the big ass car seat around.”