“It’s been longer than five minutes, and I’m fuckin’ starvin’,” Cian called as he stomped toward us. “What the hell are you doing out here?”
He jerked to a stop when he realized Harper was there.
“Oh. Uh. Hey, Harp.”
“Hey Cian,” she said. “I need to bring these keys to my dad. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Harper,” I called. She kept walking.
I wasn’t going to fucking chase her.
“Sorry, man,” Cian said with a wince. “I wasn’t trying to interrupt.”
“What the fuck have people been saying about Harper?” I barked, turning to look at him.
“Nothing much,” he hedged. “Noel saw you guys at the party and told Gray because he was looking for Harp. Someone must’ve overheard, and it spread around that you guys hooked up.”
“Why the fuck would anyone care?”
“Well, just with Lou and everything.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, pressing my fingers against the headache that was forming between my eyes.
“It was surprising, is all.” He shrugged. “It’ll blow over.”
“You’re my best friend—” I started.
“Thanks, bud. You’re my best friend, too.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Well, you are.”
“What the hell do you think is going on between me and Lou?”
“No fuckin’ clue,” he said easily. “That’s your deal.”
I wanted to hit something.
“So, every time I told you itwasn’t fucking like that, you just what? Didn’t believe me?”
“Come on, man,” he said, glancing toward his truck. “I just want a burrito.”
“We’refriends.”
“Cool. Burrito?”
I didn’t want to go anywhere. Harper was going to have to come back for the Toyota at some point, and the urge to sit my ass on the hood and wait was strong. But I also knew that she probably wouldn’t come out if she thought I was still there, and I did have an actual job that I was supposed to be doing. If I didn’t have that Dyna done by the time Dragon came to see the finished product, I’d have some explaining to do.
“Go without me,” I said, shaking my head. “I already took my break.”
“What the fuck, man,” Cian bitched. “Wait, how long have you been out here?”
Ignoring him, I walked back toward the garage.
“Those windows are fogged up!” Cian yelled with a chuckle.
When I got back inside, I put everything out of my mind. Focusing on the details that I wanted to get right was the perfect way to avoid the shit in my life that I didn’t want to deal with. The only problem with that was the moment I got off work and headed home, everything came flooding back.
