“Has he touched her since?”
“She says he hasn’t but she’s terrified that he will. She doesn’t get enough sleep because of it and I think she’s starting to struggle in school. I saw one of her test papers sticking out of her backpack the other day and the grade on it wasn’t one I would expect Annabelle to get.” She was so damn smart. What the fuck was she doing making D’s?
Noah jerked to his feet and started pacing. “What the hell am I going to do?” he muttered, but I knew he wasn’t asking any of us. He was talking to himself, like he always did, raking his fingers through his blond hair.
If you looked at him and Annabelle you would have no doubt that they were brother and sister. They had the same platinum-blond hair, the same light blue eyes, even the same nose. On Noah it gave him a pretty-boy kind of face, one that girls went crazy for every Friday night when he took the stage. On Annabelle it gave her an almost delicate elfin quality and it only increased my instinct to protect her.
“We could kill the motherfucker,” Wroth spoke up for the first time letting us all know that he hadn’t been so lost in his nightmarish memories that he hadn’t been paying attention. “I’m not against slicing that fucking loser up.”
“I’m with you there, dude.” Devlin pushed his long dark hair back from his face, grinning evilly. “You’re a beast. You could hold him down while we took turns slicing him open.”
“We’ll call that plan B,” I muttered. The whole idea would have made me happy, but I knew that Annabelle would be upset. Probably not that we actually did it, but that we would get in trouble. She was always trying to protect us, when that was exactly what we wanted to do for her. “Noah, what are you gonna do, man?”
“I don’t fucking know, bro. I don’t fucking know.”
CHAPTER THREE
Annabelle
My stomach was growling and I still had over an hour to go before I could lock up the garage. I was exhausted after spending all day at school dealing with the drama that went with high school: bitchy girls, boys who thought they were men trying to either get me to notice them or wanted to push my buttons because of old vendettas against my brother and his friends, pop quizzes as well as tests that I should have studied for but hadn’t remembered to, teachers complaining and lecturing… The list went on and on.
On top of all that, I’d come into the garage with plans to study for the exam I was supposed to retake on Monday after turning on the water works with my history teacher. Mr. Wake was in his mid-forties, but he was still a sucker for a pretty face and tears. I’d been desperate enough to pull one of the tricks I hated other girls for pulling. I’d gotten a D on my last history test and the grade I’d gotten today hadn’t been any better. If I didn’t get my grade up, the vice principal would be sending a letter home to my mother and I just couldn’t deal with that crap at the moment.
For the most part, my mother ignored me. She liked to pretend I didn’t exist and I was more than happy to let her. It was how things had always been between us, even before my father had died and she’d married Jacob Malcolm.
My plans to study had been thrown in the trashcan when I’d gotten off the bus in front of the garage and seen the way everything was backed up in the office. We only had one full-time mechanic. Wade Cutter was a freaking genius when it came to anything that involved an engine. His social skills, however, needed some serious work. Noah and Liam had worked part time, apprenticing with Wade up until last year. Liam’s cousin, Wroth, had come back from his deployment overseas and Liam had quit soon after.
Noah had still been apprenticing up until he had graduated this past May. Now he lived in the apartment above the garage and helped out more in the office than in the garage. When I’d stepped into the office it was to find Noah with grease smeared across his face and hands as he tried to sort through the paperwork on the desk. Six different customers had been standing around, shooting daggers at my brother.
“What’s going on?” I’d smiled politely at a few of our regular customers, but two of them were strangers to me.
Noah nodded his head at the strangers without taking his eyes off the computer. “Idiot number one has been driving around on bald tires for a while now. Thought he could make the long drive from New Jersey to Mississippi on them. Didn’t work so good for him when one blew out and he took off the bumper of idiot number two. Idiot number two needs a new bumper and for some reason a new carburetor, but thinks that idiot number one should pay for said carburetor.”
I looked at the two strangers and forced a smile for them while my brother continued to call them both idiots. Noah had become one hell of a mechanic, but his social skills were nearly as bad as Wade’s when it came to dealing with customers. He had no patience for stupid people and no filter to make him keep his mouth shut. Not that it mattered all that much. My dad’s garage was the only one in the county so it wasn’t like we were going to lose business because of my brother’s rudeness. Still, it helped make things a hell of a lot easier when you were nicer to the customers.
At least it made it easier on me. Since I had to run the office Wednesday through Saturday, I was the one who had to field angry phone calls. Usually because of the way Noah had treated someone, but there was the occasional irate old farmer who needed a new part but had been told to ‘fuck off’ because Noah had been too busy to deal with them.
When Noah continued to glare at the computer, I’d nudged him out of the way and took the invoice slips from his hands. “Go help Wade. I got this.”
Noah grunted something under his breath and slammed the door that led into the garage bay behind him. I gritted my teeth, sucked in a deep breath for patience, and smiled up at the two men my brother had called idiots. “Gentlemen, can I get you to take a seat for a few minutes? I’ll be right with you, I promise.” For extra measure I turned up the brightness of my smile and fluttered my long lashes at them.
The displeased expressions on their faces cleared marginally and they both took seats in front of the window that acted as our waiting room for such occasions. Once they were out of my way, I dealt with the other four customers who had been waiting to pick up their vehicles that had either needed a new part or an oil change. It took less than ten minutes to get them to pay and out the door with their keys in hand.
Once the majority of the chaos was out of the office, I turned my full attention on the remaining two men and started to put their information in the computer. Our system was outdated and needed to be handled with kid gloves. Something that Noah still didn’t understand.
It took over an hour to get everything sorted because I had to call both customers’ insurance agents to make sure we were going to get paid. There was only one problem. There was no way insurance was going to cover a carburetor for a simple fender bender. Explaining that proved to be futile and I took to calling the stupid man Idiot Number Two, if only in my head. It was after five before I had the payment from the would-be conman.
Around six, Noah appeared in the office, freshly showered and changed into his usual old T-shirt and faded jeans he wore to his weekly gigs at Floyd’s Bar. “Wade is almost finished with the Buick. They’ll be picking it up in the morning, so go ahead and start on the invoice for that. If they get here early I’ll just take care of them so you don’t have to.”
I raised a brow at him. “Whose Buick is it?”
“Mrs. Farris.”
“Then I really, really, really hope you have to deal with her.” I’d grinned up at him. “She still hates me.” Mrs. Farris had been both Noah’s fifth-grade teacher and mine. She had adored Noah, but when I’d become her student it had been like night and day in how she’d treated me. I tried not to let it bug me, but it still did. I’d never had a teacher dislike me until that old hag.
“Let’s hope, kid.” Noah had leaned over the desk, brushed a kiss over my cheek and left the office with a grin on his face.
Wade had finished up the Buick and left over half an hour ago, and I still had a mountain of paperwork to d
eal with before I could lock up.
My tummy flipped at the thought of what was going to happen after I closed the garage for the night. Zander was supposed to pick me up. We were going to get a hamburger and then I would be spending the night in his room again. My heart kept teasing me that this was like a date, while my brain kept scolding me that it was just Zander being Zander. He was looking out for me, making sure I ate and that I was safe.
The inner battle between my heart and brain was distracting and I still wasn’t finished with all the paperwork by the time an old truck pulled up in the parking lot. Groaning, I stacked all the papers together and left them on the desk so I would remember to do it in the morning. It took a few minutes to shut down the computer, but at least I’d put the money in the safe earlier and didn’t have to worry about that. Grabbing my backpack, I locked the garage door and then the front door on my way out.
Zander was already out of the truck. He stood leaning against the passenger door, a tired smile on his sinfully sexy face. It was dark out, but the streetlights made it possible for me to notice that his eyes were green and shooting gold flames. The smile told me he wasn’t raging, though.
Reaching out, he took my backpack off my shoulder and tossed it in the back of the truck. “Long day?”
I shrugged. “I’ve had longer.”
Zander grimaced. “Yeah, I bet you have, babe.” He opened the passenger door and stepped back. “I’m starving. How about you?” Before I could even nod my head, my stomach growled loudly, causing him to grin. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“It’s been a while since lunch,” I muttered as I climbed up into the truck with his help. His hand touched my back and I couldn’t help how I reacted. Goose bumps popped up on my arms and legs, and I shivered. I knew it was just Zander helping me in, not him touching me because he actually wanted to touch me. His grandmother had taught him to be a gentleman where members of the opposite sex were concerned. Well, for the most part. My heart didn’t seem to care because it melted a little more for him as he closed the door and jogged around to the driver’s side of the truck.
He started the engine and shot me a frown as he turned to back out of the parking lot. “You haven’t eaten anything since lunch? That was what, eleven thirty?” I nodded and his jaw clenched. “I don’t like that, Anna.”
Stupidly, my heart gave a little delighted shiver at his calling me ‘Anna’. He was the only one who ever shortened my name, and it made me feel as if I were special to him because of it. Liam Bryant had his own nickname for me, but Anna was so much better than Anna Banana.
“We were busy most of the evening,” I explained. “And then Noah left for the bar so I couldn’t go get a snack or anything. Besides, I knew you were going to pick me up. I didn’t want to ruin my dinner.”
Zander pulled out onto the road, but his hands were clenched around the steering wheel. “I’ll bring you something next time. I don’t like you being hungry and not eating.”
Ah, Z.
I smiled to myself as he continued to drive toward the only burger place in West Bridge. We didn’t have a McDonalds or anything; just a locally owned place called The Burger Shack, which was ten times better than any fast-food chain. It was only eight thirty on a Friday night, and the place was crowded when Zander pulled into the parking lot.
He opened his door and waited for me to scoot across the bench seat to climb out on his side. His hand shot out to take mine as he helped me down, but he didn’t release it once he’d shut the door. Pulling me close, he linked his fingers through mine and we went in.
Inside, it was so full that Zander released my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist, keeping me close as we made our way to the long line of people waiting to order. A few people saw that it was Zander and immediately stepped out of the way. West Bridge was a small town, which meant there were very few places to hang out on Friday nights. Most everyone came to The Burger Shack to hang out more than to actually eat.
“Annabelle!”
I turned at the sound of my name and smiled when I saw my friend waving at me from a back booth. Chelsea made a face and waved her arms again. Beside me, Zander groaned. “Of course they would be here,” I thought he muttered under his breath, but the noise level was so loud that I wasn’t sure if I’d heard him right.
Chelsea turned her head away and I watched her stare dreamily up at the guy sitting next to her. I shook my head at the sight of my brother stuffing a burger in his mouth, seemingly unaware of the adoring way his girlfriend was watching him. Chelsea was probably my closest friend, but she had been Noah’s girlfriend first. I didn’t know how those two had stayed together as long as they had because they tended to argue more than anything else. Still, I figured they would be together forever and my friend would one day be my sister-in-law.
We ordered our burgers with extra chili fries to share and waited for the order before turning to find a place to sit. I figured Zander would want to sit with Noah and so I started walking toward the back table, but he caught hold of my elbow and pulled me down into a booth with him closer to the front. I was surprised but definitely happy that we were sitting alone.
Zander handed over my wrapped burger, his brows raised. “Is this okay?”
“Yeah, Z. This is great.” I took a sip of my sweet tea before smiling up at him. “Thanks.”
“Is it enough?” He sounded concerned. “If you want something else, I’ll order it for you. How about some fried mac and cheese?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “This is plenty, Z. I swear. I probably won’t even eat all of this.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Okay, but we’re getting dessert afterward. Okay?”
Damn it. My heart was going to be a puddle of goo if he didn’t stop. “Yeah, okay.”
I took my time eating my burger, mostly eating the chili fries, which were my favorite. Thankfully it was the extra-large order, because Zander was like a wild animal when he ate. His burger was gone in no time as well as half of the fries. When I was full I offered him the rest of my burger and it was gone within a few seconds. He licked his lips before wiping them with a napkin. “You want a slice of pie here or should we wait and get ice cream?”
I blinked, coming out of the daze I’d been in after watching his tongue swipe across his full bottom lip. “Um… ice cream sounds good,” I murmured before taking a gulp of my sweet tea in hopes of cooling myself off.
Zander grinned. “Good. That means we can get out of here before your brother comes over to ruin our night.”
My heart jumped. He didn’t want Noah interrupting us? I couldn’t help wondering why. Was it because he was having a good time with me and didn’t want my brother getting all big-brother on him? Was this really a date? My heart and head were both confused and hoping, but I didn’t want to act stupid so I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from blurting out something I’d regret.
He stood and picked up the tray that had our trash on it. He was back from throwing it away before I could get to my feet. Zander took my hand and linked our fingers as he headed for the door. I glanced over my shoulder as we waited for a few other people to enter The Burger Shack to glance at Noah and Chelsea. My friend waved and I lifted my free hand to wave back, but Noah was watching me with narrowed eyes. That look made me glad that we were going for ice cream and not sticking around. I didn’t need Noah going all brother-bear on Zander.
Outside, the night air was turning cooler and the scent of rain was on the wind. Zander stopped by the passenger door to his truck and while he opened the door for me I closed my eyes and enjoyed the clean fragrance. I’d always loved the rain, even the thunder and lightning. For me it was calming. The rain could wash away the past, while the thunder and lightning seemed to energize me.
Zander tugged on my fingers and I opened my eyes to find him staring down at me with an odd expression on his sinfully sexy face. The lighting was too dim for me to see his eyes, but at a guess I would have said they were green with
those damn gold flecks flaming down at me. My heart jumped in my chest, excitement making my blood practically sing.
I didn’t dare blink for fear of making him step away from me. Kiss me. Please, kiss me.
An old farm truck backfired as it left the parking lot, causing me to jump. Zander shook his head, as if he was trying to clear it, and then smiled down at me a little sadly. I wanted to cry, feeling like I’d lost out on something special. “What flavor do you want?” he asked as he helped me into the truck.
“I don’t know,” I told him honestly. Ice cream had been the furthest thing from my mind just then.
He closed the door and came around the truck to get in behind the wheel. “Let’s get several and share, then,” he suggested as he started backing up.
“Okay.”
It was barely a two-minute drive down the street to the little ice cream shop that had been open back when my dad was a little boy. The owners were an older married couple and they both greeted us when we walked into their shop. They had only ever sold seven flavors, but every now and then they would get a new flavor in by accident. Butter pecan was my favorite and the old couple always made sure they had some on hand.
Mrs. Welsh smiled fondly at Zander as he glanced from one flavor to the next. She and her husband were one of the few people in West Bridge who didn’t look down their noses at him because of his OCD. “How are your grandparents, Zander dear?”
Zander met the old lady’s gaze and smiled. “They’re good, ma’am. Thanks for asking.”
“What would you like, Annabelle?” Mr. Welsh asked as he grabbed an ice cream scoop. “The butter pecan is calling your name, I bet.”
I grinned over the counter at him. “I think we’ll take two scoops of everything, Mr. Welsh. Two spoons, please.”
Zander turned to face me as Mr. Welsh scooped up the ice cream into one large, disposable dish for us. “You are the only chick that gets me, Anna.”