My brain was fried, and now I had the inconvenience of this anonymous individual that apparently was mad at me. AND my truck— and of course Sterling was distracting me. He wasn’t even here, and he was causing me trouble. All of a sudden my phone vibrates, making me jump. I look down at the screen.
Sterling: I’m in Doe’s.
My heart lurches.No. Why couldn’t he wait in the truck?Piper is never going to let me out of there now. I swallow down my panic and respond. Making sure I don’t use an exclamation point before I hit send.Yeah, because that will make you seem less deranged.
Meg: Be down in a minute.
I gather my things and shove the note in the side pouch of my backpack. I probably shouldn’t be handling it so much. I’m sure anything of evidentiary value has been wiped away by my constant inspection of it. I do one last sweep, and walk out locking the door behind me. I take a few deep breaths as I round the corner and walk into Doe’s. I see him. I don’t know how someone can look so casual and dangerous at the same time.
Piper is behind the register helping a customer and I hope they have a long list of things to order. Walking up to the table,I notice he has a second cup sitting there across from him. I cautiously approach, wondering if he has company.
“You good,” he asks. His voice does things to my insides that I try to ignore. He takes a sip of out of the cup that is in his hands. His large hands practically engulf the white single-use cup.
“Y-yes”, I stammer and clear my throat. Suddenly, I remember that I need to get out of here.
“I’m ready to go,” I state. He looks up at me and raises his dark eyebrow. In this lighting his eyes are an eerie light blue. The combination is striking against his dark hair.
“You in a hurry,” he asks smirking and takes another sip out of his cup. He rocks back in his chair and examines me. Waiting for my response.
“I-I just figured that you had better things to do,” I stammer again, cursing myself for not being smoother. The way he continues to stare at me makes me nervous.
“Why don’t you have some coffee,” he gestures to the cup across from him. I look around the room and notice Piper is staring at me from behind the pastry case. Apparently, I am not getting out of here without her noticing. I ease myself into the seat and place my backpack next to the chair. I gingerly reach for the cup.
“Thanks,” I say simply. I am trying not to runaway at the mouth. Less is more— at least that is what they say, right? He nods, wordlessly and looks over my shoulder. I hear footsteps behind me.
“Meg, who is your— friend,” I hear Piper ask slyly over my shoulder. She paused for a beat too long before she decided on the word friend. I open my mouth to try to introduce him, but I am cut off.
“Sterling,” he says amicably. My head whips back around to him. He has never taken that tone with me. He sounds polite,pleasant even. He chuckles at my expression and then reaches out to shake Piper’s hand.
“I’m Piper, the best friend,” she explains while she gives him the once over. She looks over at me and her eyes widen a fraction. I immediately understand. In best friend speak, she is basically saying that calling him hot is an understatement.
“I’m the mechanic,” he states simply. Piper’s eyes light up and she smirks. I glare at her a bit. Trying to warn her. She just steamrolls on.
“Oh yes, Meg was telling me about how much you are helping her right now. It is very thoughtful of you to go our of your way like that,” she practically gushes. I roll my eyes and attempt to interject but Sterling beats me to it.
“It’s not a big deal,” he brushes off her statement casually and shrugs a bit. He almost looks a bit embarrassed. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that would be the case. I’m sure it isn’t.
“Piper, we should get going. I don’t want to hold him up,” I try to explain. She can see right through me and rolls her eyes.
“I have the part to repair the leak under your sink,” he states as he stands and stretches his arms over his head. His muscles bulging, making the tattoos on his arm dance.
“About time you get that fixed, it’s only been leaking for 3 months,” Piper states. I glare at her.Busted.
“3 months, huh,” Sterling chuckles amused. “I thought it had only been leaking for a few weeks.”
I roll my eyes. “It has been a long couple of months, I have been busy,” I explain. I grab my backpack and stand. Signaling that I’m ready to go as well.
“I’ll see you later, Meg,” Piper giggles as I walk away. I know I will be hearing from her. She won’t be able to help herself.
Chapter 10
Sterling
I watch her stride toward the door of Doe’s with her backpack over her shoulder. A piece of folded paper flutters to the ground behind her from her backpack as she goes. I bend down and pick it up, and shove it in my jacket pocket.I’ll give it to her later.
“See you later,” her friend Piper laughs and waves. I chuckle thinking about Meg’s reaction to her friend’s needling. Piper was pretty perceptive, knowing what her friend refused to acknowledge. I did a lot of thinking after I parted ways with Holt. I came to the conclusion that I was going to go with this.
I wasn’t going to fight it. What the hell did I have to lose? It isn’t everyday that the universe, or whatever the hell you want to call it, basically hand delivers a woman to you. One that you have the inexplicable and inexplainable urge to take care of and be around. Much to my initial shock. Meg was going to have to get on board with it, I decided.
