“Kurt is going to hear about this,” Karrie spat at me.
It was amazing how a beautiful woman could be standing in front of you, and in an instant, she could turn into a fire-breathing bitch from hell. “Do that, darlin’. I’ll make sure to let him know my side of the story, too.” I threw her a wink which just infuriated her more.
She hurled insults at me as her friend drug her out of the shop, and I just stood there with my arms crossed over my chest.
“You’re a no name living off your daddy’s name,” she shouted before the door shut.
“Like I haven’t heard that one before,” I muttered.
“She’s wrong.”
I spun around to see Frankie standing in the doorway to the shop. “I thought you went back to work?”
She nodded at the door Karrie just walked out of. “I heard Bimbo freaking out so I came to see if Leelee's dyke cousin could help,” she laughed. “I see you had it under control, though.”
I rubbed a hand down my chest. “I don’t think anyone had control of that. I’m just glad her friend had some sense and dragged her out of here before I told her to shove it where the sun don’t shine.”
Frankie nodded and turned to leave. I looked back at the counter but whipped my head back around at the sound of her voice.
“Thank you, by the way. You didn’t need to stand up for me. It’s not anything I haven’t heard before.”
“People talk to you like that?” I asked. That chick was whacked in the head, and the fact that this wasn’t the first time Frankie had dealt with this was crazy.
“To my face, behind my back, to my brothers. Some way or another, people talk shit about me. I’ve learned to live with it. Leelee goes through the same thing. You’d be surprised about the amount of guys who walk in here and ask to talk to Kurt when Leelee’s name is the one that’s hanging out front.”
And that right there was bullshit and why Frankie hated me so much. She lumped me together with all of the other people who treated her like she was just some dumb girl with a wrench in her hand. She left the office before I could say anything, and I watched the door swing shut.
Not like I knew what to say. How could I apologize for all of the world being dicks to her, when I was just like them?
*
Chapter Eight
Frankie
“I can’t believe you did that.”
Brooks crumpled the empty bag of flour and smirked. “That’ll teach ‘em.” He slammed the door to the Honda and tossed the bag in the garbage. “We done for the day?”
It was only half past four, and we did everything on Leelee's notes. Two customers had shown up to pick up their cars, and they thankfully hadn’t been dicks to me. Brooks also talked to a guy about wanting to supe up his Mustang, but he wasn’t able to help him as much as he would have liked. He told the guy to come back tomorrow and to ask for Lee.
“Um, that’s everything, but I need to stay open until five.” I wiped my hands on a shop towel and looked up at Brooks. “You can go if you want. I’ll probably just sit around and look at old issues of car magazines.” There really wasn’t much else for me to do.
“What are you doing for dinner?”
I squinted at him. “Eating.” We had gotten along well enough today, but he was still Brooks Cummings. I wasn’t about to let my guard down with him.
“How about you eat with me? You drive, and I’ll pay.”
“Oh,” I laughed. “I see how it is. You just need a ride.”
He shook his head. “No, no. We can get a damn Uber if you want. That might be a better idea so we can both get a drink.”
“We just spent five hours together, Brooks. You really think we need to go out to dinner?” I figured it was best to end our time together on a good note, and not me hating him again.
“We both have to eat, right?”
Ugh. “Fine. Dinner and that’s it. We’re getting an Uber because I really need a drink, and I’m not letting you drive my car.”
He leaned toward me. “I bet that would kill you letting me drive your baby.” A smirk spread across his lips, and a low chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Wouldn’t grind one gear though, doll.”
“I should hope not since driving is kind of your job.” I wasn’t going to let him get the upper hand. We may be going out to dinner together, but he wasn’t getting any more than that from me.
“Always gotta deflate my ego a little bit, dontcha?”
“Keeps you on your toes.
“You are good at that, Frankie.” He leaned back and sighed. “I’m gonna take what I can get from you and go shower before you change your mind about dinner tonight. You sure you’ll be okay down here by yourself?”
I rolled my eyes and put him halfway back into the category with all the other assholes of the world. “Little ol’ me will survive without you for half an hour.”
“Not how I meant it, doll.”
“Not many other ways you could have meant it.” Lord, my inner bitch was coming back. Chill, Frankie.
He held his hands up and took a step back. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” He snapped his mouth shut and took another step. “Not that you will. Need me, that is.” He ducked through the door to the shop, and I sighed with relief that he was gone.
My emotions and thoughts were all over the place when it came to Brooks. All afternoon we worked well together, and then suddenly, it was like he flipped a switch in me, and all the people who had discredited me and made me feel like shit came to mind, and I felt the need to take it all out on him.
Brooks was my punching bag I took all of my anger out on. I was finally standing up for myself like I always should have, but it was to the wrong person.
He didn’t need to defend me to those two girls today. He could have laughed off what they said and probably gotten a date with the both of them. I was shocked when he told them to leave, let alone told them they weren’t pretty. I never had someone stand up for me before.
I had Luke, Mitch, and Kurt growing up, but this was different. Brooks wasn’t bound to defend me because we were related. He did it because he wanted to. At least, that’s what I’d like to think. He might have also done it because he was trying to get me to come back to work for him.
And there came the doubts.
Was everything he was saying and doing only because he wanted me to come back to work? Or did he actually mean what he was saying?
How in the hell was I supposed to figure out the answer to any of these questions?
I didn’t know anything anymore, and it was seriously messing with my mind.
Brooks Cummings needed to leave before I stopped hating him, or even worse, started liking him.
*
Brooks
“Terry McDougal is not going to win the AC Cola Series.” Frankie pointed a breadstick in my face. “He’s an ass, and he's not going to win.”
“Him being an ass had nothing to do with him winning all of the damn time.”
She smashed half of the breadstick into her mouth and tossed the other half on her plate. “It should matter. If you wanna talk about guys who didn’t pay their dues and are sliding by on daddy's money, then he is your guy.”