His daughter? Fuck.
“I didn’t know you had a kid.”
“Neither did he, apparently,” she mutters.
“Don’t listen to her. I have two, but it’s been…a while since I’ve seen them.”
“Ten years. Time just gets away from you, huh, Pops?” Logan deadpans.
My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline, my eyes bouncing between them like I’m watching a tennis match. They go back and forth for a minute before I chime in and ask about the tires. I decided to get a whole new set since I have to replace the one, and they’re getting pretty bald anyway. Henry, thankful for the interruption, lets me know that they did come in.
“But my guy called in sick, and I’ve been all booked up, so we’ll squeeze you in first thing in the morning. What time does your place open?”
Awesome. Note the sarcasm.
“Noon.”
“Since my darling daughter here helped herself to one of my vehicles, she can repay me by giving you a ride home. You can leave your truck here, and I’ll have it done by ten thirty, eleven tomorrow.”
I almost say no. But Logan’s eyes beg me to do just that, and for some reason, I want to do the opposite. Plus, I need to get this done as soon as possible.
My lips slowly stretch into a wide smile.
“Deal.”
Logan takes an angry swipe at the keys on top of the counter and storms outside.
“My chariot awaits,” I say with a shrug.
“Good luck,” Henry mumbles under his breath. “And try to be nice to her, will ya? She hasn’t had the easiest life. If you think she’s crazy, you should meet her mother.”
I give him a nod and hand him my keys before turning to leave.
I jump into the passenger side of the only other vehicle besides Henry’s and mine, but she doesn’t speak, or even look at me. I take her in, really looking at her for the first time. Long, wild, dark hair. Porcelain skin. Tiny frame. Her big, innocent, hazel eyes betray her caustic front. I haven’t spent more than five minutes with this girl, but I can already tell she’s the type of crazy I need to stay far away from. This morning, she was all sunshine and rainbows when she came into the shop, but it didn’t take much for her true colors to come out.
“You gonna tell me where to go or…?”
Right. She doesn’t know where I live.
“Go left, then left at the light.”
She does.
We drive in silence for a long while. No music, because we can’t even get a radio station to come in clearly up here. I notice that she’s shivering with only a thin flannel to keep her warm. If she’s already this cold, she’s in for a rude awakening in another month or so.
I lean forward to turn the heat on, but her fingers land on mine for a brief second, intercepting me before turning it back off.
“Heat doesn’t work. And it smells.”
“Might want to have your dad fix that or you’re going to need a thicker coat in a couple weeks.”
She scoffs, like that’s out of the question, but doesn’t respond.
“How far am I taking you? I didn’t realize this was going to be a road trip.”
“I live outside of town. A few more miles.”
“You live alone?”
“Yep.”
“Not a fan of people?”
“Nope.”
She gives me a sidelong glance, and she’s silent for a beat. Assessing. Then she speaks.
“It must be nice to live on your own.”
It’s small talk, which doesn’t seem like something this girl does often. Her words are intentional. So, I play along.
“You don’t?”
She shakes her head. “Never have. Staying with Henry for the time being.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-one,” she says defensively.
“I didn’t mean anything by it.” I’m surprised by her age, though I shouldn’t be. She looks young, but something about her feels much older.
“My mom was never home. By the time I was old enough to move out, my brother was just starting high school, and I knew if I left, there’d be no chance of him graduating.” Logan looks over at me with wide eyes, probably hating that she just divulged so much about herself. I know that look because I have the same aversion to sharing.
“I pissed the bed until I was twelve,” I blurt out in an attempt to even the score. Tell her something embarrassing about me to get the focus off her. And it works, because her expression goes from horrified to surprised, and then her cheeks puff out as she tries to hold back from laughing. She loses the battle and something between a laugh and a snort slips out, and even I can’t help but chuckle.
“Why would you admit that? To anyone? Ever?”
I shrug. I haven’t told anyone that before, for obvious reasons.
“Turn up here,” I say, gesturing to the left with my finger. “Follow this road until you see a cabin on the right.”
“You weren’t kidding when you said you lived alone,” she says, taking in the pine trees that line the narrow winding road. “You’re really secluded out here.”
“I like my privacy.”
“I guess so.”
Logan pulls into my driveway, and she looks over at me as she comes to a stop. She wets her lips with the tip of her tongue, and my eyes can’t help but follow the movement. She swallows, and her throat moves with the action. I have the urge to take her inside and see what those hazel eyes look like when she’s on her knees for me, what those puffy lips look like wrapped around me. But the last thing I need is to hook up with someone who isn’t just passing through, and it’s only a matter of time before she hears about me from someone in town and decides to stay far the fuck away from me. As she should.
Instead, I force myself to open the car door and get out. I prop my forearm on the doorframe, duck my head down, and say, “See you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” she questions, her eyebrows tugging together in confusion.
“Yeah. I’ll need a ride back to the shop. Pick me up at nine.”
“It’ll cost you,” she warns.
“Naturally. How much?”
“Fifty bucks.”
“Fifty bucks,” I repeat. “I could get a fucking Uber for less than that.” She doesn’t need to know that Ubers don’t come all the way out here.
“Take it or leave it.” She shrugs, expecting me to say no.
“See you at nine.”
She raises an eyebrow, surprised by the fact that I’ll actually pay her fifty dollars for a ride, I’m not sure. Maybe both.
“I don’t even know your name.”
“You never asked.”
“Well?” she asks expectantly.
“It’s Dare.”
I pat the top of the rattletrap she calls a car and walk away, hearing her drive off behind me.
Dare. That’s not a name. That’s a warning. And I’ve been with enough bad boys to heed the warning. I think. Then again, the last time I tried going for someone different—a straight-laced suit, someone who appeared to be a good guy with a good career—things got ugly. Sometimes the nicest guys have the darkest sides.