He gave me a small nod, and then he kicked his bike to life.And just like that, he was gone.
The roar of the engine faded as he pulled out of the lot and disappeared down the road.
I grabbed my bag and climbed out of the car, slamming the door shut harder than necessary before heading toward the back entrance.
The second I stepped inside, the familiar smell of the Dairy Bar wrapped around me.
I set my bag down, and moved behind the counter like I always did.
Like nothing had happened.
I grabbed a rag and started wiping because that was something I could control.
Something I understood, even if everything else suddenly felt a whole lot messier than it had that morning.
Chapter Ten
Jude
I had no business being here.
The thought kept circling through my head as I sat on my bike in the back lot of the Dairy Bar, with a cigarette burning between my fingers and Ever’s car parked ten feet away from me.
The parking lot behind the Dairy Bar was mostly dark, lit only by the weak security light over the back door and the glow spilling through the kitchen windows.The night had settled in good now, bringing a chill that cut through the leftover heat of the day.It felt good against my skin.
I took a drag off the cigarette and let the smoke sit in my lungs a second before blowing it out slowly.
Ten-thirty.
She’d be out soon, and I still didn’t have a good answer for what the hell I was doing parked there like some creep waiting for her shift to end.
I needed to make sure she got home okay.The donut on her car was temporary and not meant for long drives or fast ones.Following her to work had made sense and now making sure she got home on it made sense too.
At least that was the excuse I was using.
Changing that tire for her this afternoon had done something to me.
Not the tire itself or the work.That part was easy.I’d changed plenty of tires in my life and it wasn’t anything special.
But her standing there while I did it?Her eyes watching me?Knowing I was the one there when she needed help and not the guy she was seeing?Yeah, that had done something.
I took another drag and stared across the hood of her car.
It had gotten under my skin in a way I still couldn’t sort out.
She’d been stranded and I had been the one there for her.Maybe it was fucked up that I liked that and it said something about me, but I didn’t want to inspect too closely.
But there was a satisfaction in it I couldn’t deny.
I pinched the cigarette between two fingers and tipped my head back.
The back door swung open and I straightened before I even realized I’d done it.
Lark stepped out first, the door slamming shut behind her.She stopped cold when she saw me sitting there, then tipped her head to the side like she was looking at something suspicious she couldn’t quite decide whether to kick or interrogate.
She chose interrogate.
Of course she did.
