She laughed lightly. “I’d love to see you tell my boss that. I’m pretty sure if anyone would say that to him, he would laugh, flip them off, and then fire them. In that exact order.”
“Sounds like a real hardass.”
“Hardass is a pretty good description of my dad.”
“Your dad?” I choked. Maybe I wouldn’t be having that talk with her boss. I didn’t need to get on his bad side.
“Yes, my dad. Although you probably won’t ever meet him. He’s always out of town or has something more important to be doing.”
“Sorry, baby.”
She sighed. “That’s life, Remy. I learned to live with it a long time ago.”
“What about your mom?”
“She died a year ago.”
Now that really sucked. “God damn, Har—”
“Nope,” she cut me off. “I know you did not call me at midnight to talk about my dead mother.”
“Well, no, I hadn’t, but we can talk about whatever you want.”
“I think it’s only fair you know about my parents that I get to know about yours.”
I laid my head back against the hauler and crossed my ankles. “They’re divorced.”
“And,” she drawled.
“And, my mom is crazy but awesome. She married a biker guy and lives back in Rockton. My dad moved when I went away to college. The last time I saw him was a couple of months ago. He’s a good guy, just pretty self-absorbed.”
“I know all about self-absorbed parents,” she laughed. “I do have to say, knowing your mom is hooked up with a biker is intriguing.”
“Intriguing?” Not sure what she meant by that. I had been around Lo and the club for close to ten years now. They were just like any other people I knew.
I heard her smother a yawn, and the phone was muffled. “So she’s like an ol’ lady?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the words “ol’ lady” coming out of Harlyn’s mouth. “Yeah, baby. I guess that’s what she and all her friends call themselves.”
“Your mom sounds super cool,” she mumbled sleepily.
“More like crazy.”
I heard her snore lightly into the phone. “What?” she gasped, waking up.
I ran my fingers through my hair. “I’ll let you get back to sleep, baby. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
“Hmm,” she hummed quietly.
“Night, pretty girl.” I swiped my finger across the screen to end the call and clutched my phone in my hand. How the hell I missed someone I barely knew was beyond me. My head understood I barely knew Harlyn, but my… whatever the hell I was feeling didn’t care.
I looked around the traveling city that was set up every weekend. At least thirty race teams were always here, from funny cars to drag bikes. Our top fuel car and hauler were smack dab in the middle of the seven rows of dragsters and haulers.
This is what I had worked for for the past seven years. In and out of high performance garages to get the experience I needed to end up on the AC Cola circuit on the pit crew for a top fuel dragster.
Life was pretty damn good for the most part. I still had Roc, who I didn’t get much respect from, but I knew I could turn that around. Hard work and showing I knew what I was doing was going to win him over.
Add in Harlyn, who I wasn’t sure where things were headed with, but I had to assume they were headed somewhere good, and my life was damn good at the moment.
Damn good.
*
Chapter 10
Harlyn
“Harlyn?”
I tossed my arm over my eyes and laid back down. “Marion?”
“Sorry to call so early, girl. I wanted to catch you before you head to work.”
I cracked open an eye and glanced at my alarm clock on my nightstand. “It’s four-thirty, Marion. I don’t even think the rooster is up.”
“Rooster? Girl, I thought you lived in town. You didn’t tell me you had a pet chicken.”
Lordy. “Ah, never mind.” I closed my eyes. “Did you need something? Are you okay?”
“Just called to let you know we have the day off today. Roc texted me late last night. They won’t be rolling in until three, so if we had everything done we could stay home today.”
Roc giving us the day off? That didn’t seem like him at all. I had recharged during the weekend and was looking forward to meeting the pit crew today. “You sure?”
“Yup. Sleep in and relax. That’s what I’m going to do today.”
“Well, you’re nine months pregnant. That is what you should be doing.” Marion and I had become pretty close in the past two weeks. She made me laugh all the time, and I reminded her of everything she had said and forgotten.
“Damn right, girl. See you tomorrow morning.” She hung up, and I tossed the phone back on the nightstand.
That wasn’t the phone call I had been expecting, but I had to say, I was okay with it.
Last night before bed, I had talked to Remy for a half an hour while I rummaged through my closet, trying to figure out what I was going to wear on our date. Today was finally the day I was going to see him again.
I was excited but also nervous as hell.
With another day off work, I was going to have time to run to the mall an hour away and try to find something new and sexy to wear. My closet consisted of conservative office wear, t-shirts, and sweatpants. I was a simple girl who was now going on a date with a sexy stranger who had rescued her.
Sweatpants just didn’t seem to be the thing to wear with Remy present. Ever.
I snuggled back under the covers and sighed.
Sleep for a few more hours, scrounge up breakfast, head to the mall, and try not to hyperventilate when Remy showed up.
Easy peasy.
All except for the whole seeing Remy again part.
I was going to need a drink.
A strong one.
*
Chapter 11
Remy
“Dude. You need to cover for me.”
Jay dropped a box of extra parts on the workbench. “Uh, excuse me?”
“I have to be somewhere in forty-five minutes, and we aren’t even going to be close to done unpacking.”
“Where in the hell do you need to be?” He leaned against the workbench and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Somewhere.”
He smirked and shook his head. “I’m sure if you tell Roc you need to be somewhere, he’ll let you go.”
I looked over my shoulder. Frankie walked into the shop and glared at Jay. “You think one of you can come help unload the car?”
“Remy has to be somewhere.”
“What?” Frankie scowled.
Jay could never keep his mouth shut. “You think you could not scream that shit across the shop?” I grumbled.
Frankie stalked over to Jay and me. “What the hell do you mean you need to be somewhere? We have at least four more hours of work.”
“I know we do, but I made plans I can’t break.” Nothing was going to keep me away from seeing Harlyn.
“Roc is on the warpath. You really think you can disappear, and he’s not going to notice?” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. “Your name isn’t Jay. You actually have to work around here.”