Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“I can see that,” she said. “But why are you doing it in the middle of the road?”
I looked around, spotting no one close, and said, “Nobody is around.”
She snorted. “No, you’re right. Nobody’s anywhere near you. But I think that’s because you give off this ‘don’t get anywhere close to me’ vibe. Oh, and they don’t want to hit you, so they’re steering clear.”
I wasn’t technically in the middle of the road. In actuality, I was in the middle of a parking lot.
There was a difference.
Which I told her in the next breath.
“There’s a difference between being in the middle of a road and the middle of a parking lot,” I pointed out. “But that’s neither here nor there. I’m not hurting anything or anyone by being where I am. And this just so happens to be where my bike tire went flat.”
She tilted her head slightly, then said, “How are you going to jack that up and get it off there?”
I pointed out the cinder block that was underneath the frame. “By lifting it up and putting it right here.”
I demonstrated by grabbing the bike and manhandling it onto the brick so that it was balanced just so, allowing me to easily pull the tire off next.
“Do you need a ride?” she asked.
I looked over at her Jeep that was parked a few feet away.
She’d come to a stop just a few feet from me and had parked.
Her fuckin’ fan was so loud I could barely hear her talking.
“Sure,” I grunted as I picked up the tire and walked it over toward the back of her Jeep.
She drove an old, eighties Jeep Wrangler.
Once I had it in the back, I climbed into the front seat and hit my knee on the dashboard.
“Fuck,” I grumbled. “Does this seat not go…”
I looked back to see that the seat, indeed, wouldn’t be going back any farther. The damn thing was practically touching the metal at my back.
“It’s the C-5,” she said. “Less legroom. My dad originally bought it for himself, but when he tried to get in, he realized that his knees would be up by his shoulders, and he wouldn’t be able to easily shift. So he painted it pink and gave it to me. I’ve been driving it ever since.”
It was a cute vehicle.
I wasn’t sure how safe it was for her to be riding around in a Jeep without any doors or top on. A single woman on her own with no way to keep herself shielded from the elements? That wasn’t the best idea in the world.
Yet, I told myself it was none of my damn business what she drove, where she drove it, or how she protected herself.
She was a grown adult.
And I had no doubt that she knew how to protect herself, seeing as her brother was a police officer.
“I like it,” I found myself saying. “But I hope you have something for protection in here. Your doors being off are somewhat limiting to you driving away. And if you’re in traffic with someone in front of and behind you…”
She looked over at me when she got to the first stop sign. “Okay, Silvy.”
I held up my hands. “Just a thought I had. If I was a bad person, and I wanted you out of this car, you’d be out of this car.”
She sighed and switched into first. Like a fuckin’ pro.
“You’re driving this really well,” I pointed out.
She snorted then. “I had a good teacher.”
She had the best.
Okay, so I hadn’t stayed away from her as much as I should have before I went to prison.
The day she was talking about felt like just yesterday.
• • •
“Having problems?” I asked.
“Fuck yes,” Silvain grumbled, sounding miffed as hell. “I’m not sure what gave that away.”
The yelling and screaming that I could hear across the entire damn docks.
The look on my face must’ve conveyed it enough, because he threw up his hands and said, “This stubborn little asshole won’t hear anything that I have to say!”
I looked over at the girl, who was fuming mad.
“Stubborn little asshole?” I asked.
“Stubborn little asshole,” he confirmed.
I gestured toward the girl, then toward him. “Just saying, but girls don’t respond well to fathers yelling at them like that. They shut down instead of figuring it out.”
Silvain, Jr. threw up his hands and said, “Well, then she’s never gonna fuckin’ learn, because she’s fuckin’ stubborn!”
Him repeating himself, and now yelling at me, let me know that he wasn’t going to accomplish a goddamn thing when it came to this girl.
“You want me to try?” I asked.
He opened his mouth to shoot me down, then shrugged. “Just don’t leave the parking lot. The car isn’t insured yet.”
Then he was gone, stalking off in the direction of his marina.
I got into the car with a sixteen-year-old who looked way too damn old to only be sixteen.