Kurt grumbled, not liking my plan, but it didn’t matter what he thought.
The rest of the meal went off without a hitch. The good thing about having a crazy family was there was never a shortage of conversation and things to distract me from Brooks sitting beside me.
Though every time he bumped me with his elbow, and those five minutes he reached behind me and rested his arm on the back of my chair, made me realize things I didn’t want to about Brooks.
He was handsome. So handsome.
The low timber of his voice was downright sexy.
He smelled good. It was ungodly for a man to smell that good after traveling across three states with not even a nickel to his name.
And lastly, he didn't act like the selfish, self-righteous, pretentious prick he was whenever he came into the shop or racing trailer. He was nice.
That was the biggest blow to my hatred for him. It was much easier to hate someone when they were just a huge dick no one liked.
Violet made Ash help me clear the table while Violet and Leelee sat at the island sipping on a couple glasses of wine. The guys went back into the living room to watch the season opener of some show about guys who built and raced drag cars.
It seemed like a pretty cool show from what I could hear while I washed dishes, and I made a mental note to try to catch it in reruns during the off-season. Traveling for races most every weekend didn’t leave much room for binge watching TV. That was for the people who didn’t have to be out of town most every weekend and weekdays working late to get the damn funny car online.
“So, are you going to spill about Brooks, or are we going to have to drag it out of you?” Leelee asked quietly. At least she was trying to lower her voice so Brooks wouldn’t hear us talking about him. Although, I wasn’t going to say anything about him that he didn’t already know. I still thought he was a dick.
I couldn't forget about the way he had treated me before. “There isn’t anything to spill.”
“Why is he here?” Violet asked. Apparently, she was now in on grilling me about Brooks. It was now a complete family circle of people bugging me about him.
“He’s trying to get me to come back to Cummings Racing.” I grabbed the large pot I had simmered the sauce in and dunked it into the steaming hot water.
“So when do you leave?” Leelee laughed.
I shook my head. “Not anytime soon. At least, not with him.”
“Tell me you don’t think he is hot, Frankie.” She leaned forward on her elbows and grinned. “If you do, I’m going to have to check your pulse because I may be married to hottest guy on Earth, but Mr. Brooks Cummings comes in a very close second.” Violet wiggled her eyebrows and clicked her tongue in her mouth.
“Really?” Leelee asked. “I think he’s okay looking, but I don’t think he’s the hottest guy ever.” She held her hand out to me. “No offense.”
“Do you really think I need to be hearing my mom talking about how hot a guy is?” Ash shook his head and tossed the wet dish towel on the counter. He held his hand out to Violet. “Five bucks, and I won’t tell Dad and it won’t scar me for life.”
Ash got an A+ for blackmailing people.
“I’ll add it to the tally I owe you. Now, go finish your homework.” Ash shrugged and strutted down the hallway. “I swear to God, Leelee. That kid is all Kurt. If you two ever have a kid, don’t ever leave it alone with Kurt. You’ll forever be in debt to the kid.”
“How much is the tally that you owe him?” Leelee snickered.
“I’ve lost count, but I know he showed me a hover board the other day he said he wanted to cash in on.”
“Holy shit balls. Those things are over three hundred dollars,” I sputtered. The only reason I knew this was because Remy and Jay were looking at them a couple of weeks ago as a way to get across the pits of the tracks faster. They decided against it after watching two hours of hover board fails on YouTube. While it was hilarious to watch someone wipe out on one, they didn’t want to be the person falling.
“The one he showed me was over four hundred.” Violet cringed and shook her head. “It’ll be here Tuesday.”
Leelee slapped her hand down on the counter and laughed uncontrollably. “You’re killing me,” she wheezed.
I grabbed the towel Ash had tossed down, and I wiped my hands. “Don’t you think Luke is going to wonder why you bought it for Ash?” It was hardly Ash’s birthday, or anything remotely close to something that Violet could use to explain buying the hover board.
“He may, but then he’s going to have to explain to me just why Ash needed an expensive ass new remote control car two weeks ago.”
I nodded. “Of course, he played both of you. He’s already gotten ten bucks out of me since I’ve been here.” Though obviously, he used his power of blackmail on everyone.
“You are both suckers. He’s never hit me up for hush money.” Leelee sat back smugly.
“That’s 'cause he knows you’ll backhand him,” I laughed.
Leelee pointed her finger at me. “You’re right.”
“Though I’m kind of wondering where you went wrong with Jay,” I pondered.
Leelee waved her hand. “My brother is a good guy, he just doesn’t have the thing to motivate him. It’s gonna happen one day. He’s smart and hardworking.”
“When he wants to be,” I muttered. Jay drove me absolutely batty sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time. He could do the bare minimum and yet he still looked like he had done the most work. I busted my ass twenty-four-seven and got absolutely no recognition. The man sitting in the living room was the biggest culprit for giving credit to everyone but me.
“But,” Leelee drawled, “I will be the first one to tell you that he’s got a horseshoe shoved up his ass because he is the luckiest son of a bitch I have ever met.”
And that was why I loved Leelee. She may love her brother and always have his back, but she’ll be the first one to call him on his shit. “Well, I think he might be having to show that hard work buried deep inside him more now that I’m gone.”
“Oh, you are more than right.” Leelee laughed and shook her head. “He’s called me three times already complaining about being tired and having to actually work. You taking a little break from Cummings Racing is one of the best things that has happened to him.” She lifted her beer toward me. “Silver lining, girlfriend.”
“Well, he’s gonna have to keep picking up my slack because I’m not going back.”
Violet and Leelee both rolled their eyes.
“Babe, you got anything for dessert?” This came from Luke, who was always hungry.
“No, but someone can run to George’s.” Violet leveled her stare on me and smiled. “I think two people need to go.”
Oh, hell no. George’s may have the best ice cream in all of Illinois, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going. At least, not with Brooks, which is exactly what I knew Violet was thinking. “Leelee can go.”
Leelee held up her beer. “No can do. I just finished this bad boy, and I’m feeling a bit tipsy.”
“I had one with dinner, so I can’t go either.” Thank God I had drank that beer because it just knocked me out of the running to drive with Brooks to George’s.