“Take my car. Go for a drive. Clear your head and come back,” she advised. “I know this is a lot, but... Ma is right. We can’t turn our back on her no more than we can you. Can you at least try, G?”
Gripping the keys in her hand, Giselle could only bob her head. After she grabbed her phone and purse from upstairs, she found herself behind the wheel of Maisie’s Lexus while cruising through traffic with Tink’s “Heat of the Moment” filling the speakers.“On my shoulders got more weight than ever. Heat of the moment I won’t feel no pressure.”She hadn’t paid attention to the forecast, but the darkened sky and the steady downpour of rain reflected her current mood. Running her fingers through her thick hair, she gripped the steering wheel with one hand and hummed along. Maisie still had half a blunt in her ashtray. Giselle picked it up and located a lighter in the middle console to spark it. Not a regular smoker, she took a deep pull, and the tip of the cherry popped off.
“Shit!” she hissed, shifting in her seat to locate it before it burned through Maisie’s leather seats or carpet.
She was going to kill her if she didn’t bring her car back in the exact condition she left in it. Stepping on the cherry with her foot, Giselle’s eyes drifted off the road for a few seconds before she heard a pop, and the car wobbled along like one of the tires had lost pressure.
“Fuck!” Slowly, she maneuvered the vehicle to the side of the road and peeped the dash.
Sure enough, the rear passenger tire was now showing zero. Pushing her door open, she climbed out and rounded the back of the vehicle to investigate her situation. Repairing it was not an option when she peeped the shredded rubber; she needed a brand new one.
“Fuck my life,” Giselle grumbled, eyes surveying her surroundings to see where she was.
The wind picked up around her, and she hugged herself to fight off the chill as a slow drizzle began. God had a sense of humor, that was for sure. She remembered passing Sapien Automotive about a block over. With little options, she grabbedher purse from the passenger seat along with her cell phone and decided to trek it to the shop to see if she could get some help. The large bolt that flickered across the sky left her shuddering. With this string of unfortunate events, Giselle wasn’t sure how much more she could take.
TWO
AS LONG AS YOU’RE HERE
Pulling the hoodie over her head, Giselle rushed along until she arrived outside the glass door to the auto shop. There were other community announcements and flyers taped to the window that she peeked through to view inside. Just as she raised her hand to knock, her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, and she fished it out. Maisie was calling, no doubt to check on her since she’d been gone for almost forty-five minutes. Deciding to ignore her, she tucked it back into her pocket.
“Hello!” Giselle beat on the door with her fist and tried to peek through the glass inside the shop.
She saw a truck parked outside, and there was still a dim light in the front window, so she assumed someone was there. The faint sound of a drill or some type of equipment being used rumbled in the distance. Knocking again, she paused and listened right as the lock clicked on the door, and it cracked open.
“Oh, thank God!” Relieved, she sighed, standing there wet and shivering in front of the grumpy looking stranger with oil smudges on his face.
“We’re closed,” he told her in a thick, husky tone while skimming her carefully in her drenched clothes.
“Are you serious? It’s pouring rain right now,” she pointed out, eyes desperately peeking at him from underneath her soaked hoodie.
“Sign says nine to six. It’s six-fifteen.”
“Well, how much for you to be open?” Giselle demanded.
“Not an option.” He prepared to slam the door in her face.
Pressing her hand against the wood, Giselle refused to be dismissed. Her sparkling eyes bounced around his greenish-brown hazel ones, and for a minute, she paused. They were gorgeous, even with his thick brows bunched together in an irritated frown.
“My cousin’s car caught a flat a block over. I need a new tire, and it’s really coming down out here. This is an auto shop. You do repairs, no?”
“Yeah, from nine to six, princess,” he grumbled, glancing up at the black sky as another bolt illuminated above them.
Seething, a spark of anger flickered behind her gaze. He had struck a nerve. There was nothing she hated more than being addressed as that. Not even her daddy called her princess. She found the shit insulting.
“I don’t think you get it. It’s cold, it’s wet, and I’m stranded. Now, you can let me in, or I can tell everyone in town that the customer service at Sapien Automotive is trash,” she surmised.
He hiked a brow before shaking his head. The door slammed shut, and Giselle was on the verge of beating it down when she heard a lock click, and he suddenly pitched it open. Stunned, she found her gaze dipping over his thick frame. Broad shoulders, arms corded with muscles, and an infuriating confidence, even standing there in one of those navy mechanic jumpsuits with the business name on the front and a wife beater tucked underneath, both stained with oil.
“You gon’ stand there and keep getting wet or come in?” he asked, using a towel to wipe his hands.
Motor oil and metal ignited her senses as she drifted inside. The waiting area was empty and in need of renovations. Old, tattered chairs were arranged around an oak table covered in auto magazines. In the corner, a 55-inch flat screen TV was mounted to the wall, and that seemed to be the most updated thing in the place. Her head spun with different ways to spruce the place up out of habit. She had a background in interior design, so it was something she always found herself doing. He closed the door behind her and locked it back up. With her back to him, Giselle canvassed the rest of the space while he examined her backside. She was petite, but there was no denying her curves.
When Giselle spun on her heel, she didn’t expect him to be a couple of feet away, studying her so closely. To her left, there was an office with a dim light shining into the waiting area, and behind him a large space to mount cars, at least three or four at a time. The hood was up on an old school Chevy, and she assumed that was where he was working when she arrived.
“It’s raining right now. When it lets up, I can go fix your car, and you can be on your way,” he told her, still rubbing his hands against the already greasy towel. “You want to have a seat? I was in the middle of something before you so rudely interrupted.”
“You would know rude,” Giselle muttered, holding herself tight as she caught a chill.
