Caroline followed me as I headed back outside, and already that felt better, like pressure lifting off my chest, because for some reason I really didn’t like him near her, or her near him… it was definitely one or the other. Maybe both.
“Is everything okay?”
I crouched down to fake concentration, like I was checking her brake pads and disks, but really I was just trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me.
“Harley?” Caroline crouched beside me, and with her came a soft breeze scented with her perfume, something sweet, like flowers of some kind, and I found myself taking in a deep breath through my nose, just to take more of it in. Clearly I’d gone insane.
“I can take her in right now, and check them for you. I’m not charging you unless she needs replacement parts, or actual work is necessary though.”
Caroline rested a warm hand on my upper arm, and another hit of that perfume reached me. Why now, and not before, when we were in that enclosed space. Jesus, did she add it, to enticeRocket, or something? My fist clenched as anger and frustration filled me again.
“Harley?”
I shook free of her gentle grip and stood up, almost knocking her over as I moved, so catching her, and dragging her up with me? That was just more of whatever the hell was fuelling my insanity right now? Would I have let her fall? Obviously not, but did I make a habit of touching her? Of touching any customers of mine? Fuck no.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to bump you,” I said, stepping away as soon as she seemed to be holding her own again.
“It’s okay. You didn’t do any harm, Harley.”
I dragged a hand over my hair, glancing around us uncomfortably, like I wanted an interruption, like I wanted something to distract me from these weird feelings I didn’t usually have for her. I liked her. Sure I did. She was sweet, funny, massively into her motorcycle, and the ride itself. What’s not to like? Why it was suddenly feeling like I wanted her for myself, I had no fucking idea. Like she’d want a dick like me. I mean, I was a better prospect than Rocket, but only just.
“If you think they’re fine, I can just go?” I’d been ignoring her, and that wasn’t like me. Fuck me. Had I been possessed by a fucking alien or something?
“Sorry, Caroline. I’m just distracted. Rocket’s setting up in my workshop, and it seemed like a good idea at the time…” I trailed off, glancing in through the window to see Rocket manhandling my shelving aside, all on his own, because I’d abandoned him to it. At least the fucker had a good work ethic.
“You don’t like him?”
I faced her again, the woman currently making me feel like I’d been bodysnatched, only what I really wanted was…Jesus, don’t go there.
“Nah, he’s fine. It’s just distracting me. It’s… okay, let’s go get your brakes off and check everything’s good.”
“Like I said… I could-”
“I’m not letting you back on her, until I know she’s safe,” I practically barked at her, surprised to see a smile in response. I thought she’d be offended I pretty much snapped at her, but no. She seemed to be pleased, for god only knows what reason. A woman reason, I guess.
Caroline
WHILE HARLEY CHECKED ON my brakes, I took his advice and went back inside to get myself another one of my ‘god-awful chocolate disasters’, and paused to watch Rocket as he finished replacing all of Harley’s display parts on the shelving he’d moved.
“You enjoying the show, love?”
He straightened up, brushing dust from his hands onto his jeans. He had a smirk on his face that I was starting to realise was just his usual version of a smile. It made it seem like there was some inside joke in his head, that I probably didn’t want to hear.
“Just curious about what’s going on here. What are you setting up?”
He came over to lean on the counter, and I backed up a few steps to rest my back against the wall, putting distance between us, because he made the area seem small and compressed, and I needed to breathe.
“Not gonna touch you,” he said quietly, turning to carry on, as if he hadn’t spoken, “so this area here will be cordoned off, to trap fumes, and I’ll get an extractor set up too. The wall over here will be my counter and display. Oh… I do custom spray jobs. We figured this was a good place to find clients. Well, Harley did. He’s good people.”
“I know,” I said quickly, like it was suddenly important for me that he knew I knew that about Harley. I’d been coming to him for one thing or another for about six months, maybe more. At first, he’d just been this guy who knew so much that I could ask anything, and he’d understand, and he never ever talked down to me, or mocked me for my lack of knowledge.
He’d been calm and soft with me too, like he recognised my nerves around people.
“I come here a lot,” I blurted, my eyes drifting closed for a second, as I groaned internally, because he never asked that, and I didn’t need to say it. Sometimes my brain to mouth process was a little bewildering for some people, and Rocket looked confused for a moment.
“You guys fucking?” Oh my god! My cheeks flushed red, and heat burned its way through me, as mortification struck me dumb. How could he think that? Why would he think that? Was I behaving like I was intimate with Harley? Did Harley think I was behaving like that? Did Rocket see the almost kiss? My fingers trembled around the paper coffee cup, and I froze, determined to not spill a second drink all over his floor today.
“Shit. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m… I say what I think, and sometimes it offends people.”
