“Well, at least we know we don’t have to worry about her safety. No dude is going to fuck with her, that’s for sure.”
“She’s a badass.” Lois nods eagerly.“I’m team Firebird. Plus, her shoes are giving.”
“That’s a great point, Lois.” I flash her a thumbs-up. “You’resoright, shoes are what matter here. Anyway, whatever—I already spoke to Amir, and there’s no way I’m taking on two of them.”
Adam pauses. “Maybe one extra driver isn’t such a bad idea, come to think of it. We’re always booked up—a fifth Campus Driver would let us meet growing demand, at least.”
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” I frown. “We were basically breastfed together. By your mom,” I add with a smile.
“Eww!” Lois crinkles her nose and drifts back to the kitchen.
“Adam’s right, and anyway—we’ll be putting the trainees through their paces all the way through to June. Some of them will drop off, so we might as well take on a few extra. I’m totally sold on having a girl on the team—it’ll be amazing for business,” Lane says.
“I’m not taking on two of them, Lane. I’m just not.”
He shrugs. “You said Firebird didn’t seem too excited, right? So, what are you worried about? You said she’ll probably say no.”
I gulp down my smoothie. These guys are running circles around me, and they know it.
“I’ve got a whole training plan mapped out,” Donovan pipes up. “We can train the newbies on the job, so it doesn’t mess with our schedules. We just need to make sure our rides match up with their classes.”
“Jeff’ll only be in town during vacations, so I can cover for you guys the rest of the time.”
“Amazing, Laney.” Donovan turns to me. “So? What do you say, Lewis?”
“Mmmyeah.”
Don raises a brow. “Meaning?”
Adam beams. “He’s saying he loves it. We’ve been friends for twenty years—I’m fluent in Lewis mumbling.”
“Yeahscrewyou.”
“I heard that!” Don calls out.
Then he proceeds to talk us through the two students he’s got his eye on, while I sit there, quietly stewing. Nobody’s backing me up, so I might as well get on board with it. I don’t have a choice. There’s a month to go until I hook up with Amir again, which definitely gives me enough time to see what Firebird’s got going on. In theory, it’s up to her to come sniff me out, since she ditched me without saying yes or no. My personal plan is to play dead.
“I’m taking my car into the shop tomorrow morning. Can one of you drive me back?” Don asks.
I jerk my head up. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing. It’s just that RJ got my new leather seats in; he’s working on it this weekend. Since we’ve got the game on Sunday, I’ll need it ready to go the next day.”
“You think he can get it done by Monday?”
“Yeah. He’s got help, apparently.”
“Sounds good.” I nod. “I’ll come with you. My Dodge doesn’t sound great—could be the release bearing. Maybe he’ll let me use his lift to take a look.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
I eye him. He better not use our drive together as an excuse to break my balls over the Firebird situation.
RJ’S GARAGE IS THE BEST.It’s huddled on the edge of town, and the guy himself is a total gem—he knows his classic cars inside out, but he’s pretty handy with all the latest bells and whistles, too. He’s always there when we need him, and he lets us dip in and out of his gear. He’s definitely the only guy we trust to handle our cars.
Stepping inside the shop, I let out a whistle. “Check out the Cadillac, Don.”
“RJ? You there?”
