I nod at him. “Perfect.”
He places said battery on the ground, next to a portable toolbox that he’s already got set up for me, which makes me smile.
I really don’t deserve this guy.
“If you need anything else, just lemme know,” he tells me as he straightens.
I twist his cap around and briefly cup the side of his neck. “Thanks, man.”
“I’ve got you.” He squeezes my wrist, then goes back in to work on the Fiesta.
I follow him, grab my cap from the rack next to the entrance, and chance a glance to where Alex and Varsha are busy talking to a smiling Cignette.
She laughs, and I’m left standing there like a moron, staring at her.
It’s an airy sound, her laughter. Almost weightless. And I realize, to my stupefaction, that I really like listening to it.
Her hair sways as she shifts and takes a drink from the beer bottle in her hand, and my lips twitch at the fact that she’sactuallyfollowing in on my crew and I’s irregular routine of drinking at 10 in the fucking morning.
She lifts her head, and our eyes meet. She looks around as if searching for Gavin, but I shake my head subtly and mouth, “Don’t mention him.”
She has no idea why I’m asking her to do that, yet she inclines her head at my request anyway.
I give her a quick wink, then head outside again.
I push my curls back, put my cap on, and pop open the Cadillac’s hood. I grab a wrench from the toolbox and loosen the nuts holding the cables to the terminal. Beads of sweat trickle down my temples as I pull the negative cable off first, then proceed to do the same to the positive one. Once I’m done with that, I keep both the cables separated so that they don’t end up touching each other.
I’m about to lift out the old battery when I feel a crunch of gravel behind me, followed by a flash of a shadow on my left. But, before I can turn toward it, though, Cignette appears in my line of view. Sans the beer bottle from earlier.
“Where is he?” she asks.
I lift the old battery and place it on the ground. “I asked him to leave.”
“Why?” Pure curiosity laces her voice.
I sigh and wipe the sweat off my upper lip as I straighten. “Because he’s Varsha’s ex, and I didn’t want her to see him, or him to see her.”
Cignette sucks in a breath, and her brows rise a little. “I see.” She shifts on her feet, and if I’m not mistaken, I notice a hint of anger on her face.
I purposefully brush by her to get to the new battery, and once I have it, I set it in and attach the cables to it – the negative one first, and then the positive.
I’m aware that she’s tracking my movements, so I work slow; I let her see everything she wants to see. It only serves to feed my fascination towards her.
Once I’m done, I check to see if the nuts are tight enough, then step back and slam the Cadillac’s hood shut. Placing a hand on it, I balance my weight sideways and say, “I’m assuming you’re aware that he has a girlfriend.” I know that she knows, but I still want her to admit it out loud.
Cignette swallows and leans against the car. “I am, yeah.”
I hum. “Then I’m also assuming that you like him on quite a serious note.” Like him to the point where you don’t care about the chick he’s seeing, or that him being in a relationship doesn’t affect your decision to want to hook up with him, is what I mean.
“I like him enough to fuck him,” she says, then lifts a shoulder. “Because that’s all it really is – casual, meaningless sex.”
I don’t know why that confession riles me, but it does. The thought of Gavin fucking Cignette makes my skin crawl; makes me wanna reach for the strings of her memories that hold the stupid asshole in them, and pull them apart.
“Gotcha,” I state, then jerk my head towards the car. “It’s done. You should try starting it.”
She gets in and does just that, then gives me a grin and a thumbs up when the engine roars to life.
Mission accomplished.
