Total pages in book: 13
Estimated words: 11737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 59(@200wpm)___ 47(@250wpm)___ 39(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 59(@200wpm)___ 47(@250wpm)___ 39(@300wpm)
Keeper just laughs. “You two having woman problems or what?”
He starts talking to Rider and I know they’re talking about Willow. Everyone knows that Rider just needs to man up. It isn’t long before Rider gets up and walks out the door.
I then hear Keeper talking about how he needs to work but he’s having to deal with pansy-ass men that don’t know how to handle love. He walks over to me and sets a bottle of water down. “All right, let’s have it.”
I peel the label off the bottle and set it down. “Have what?”
He laughs and leans forward. “What’s up with you? And save me and you both some time, don’t tell me nothing.”
I shrug my shoulders. “I met a girl.”
“Great, and you fucked her and dumped her.” He gets up from the table and starts to walk away.
I'm angry now, because I can’t believe what everyone seems to think of me. Yep, I’ve been around, but I never cheated or lied to get what I wanted. I was always honest, sometimes probably too honest. “No, Keep. I made love to a woman and then she dumped me, said I was too young, a player, whatever.”
I get up from the table and start to walk away, but stop and turn around when Keeper says ominously, “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”
I bang my hand on the counter. “What the fuck does that even mean? It seems like everyone thinks I deserve this. I mean, fuck, this shit hurts, Keep. I don’t need my brothers giving me shit about it.”
“Okay, okay,” he says, walking toward me with his hands up. “So did you tell her how you feel?”
I about walk out then, but realize I need to talk this shit out. “No, I couldn’t. She fucking wouldn’t let me. She was too busy trying to get the fuck away from me.”
Keeper slaps his hands together. “See, Brewer, that’s where you messed up. You need to start with that. You need to tell her how you feel, then if she walks away, well, that’s on her.”
I look up at him with hope in my eyes. “You think?”
“Fuck, Brew, seeing you like this, well, it’s worth a shot, right?”
7
Brewer
Keeper’s right. That’s exactly what I need to do. But first I need to shower so I don’t smell like a brewery. I get dressed and pull out of the clubhouse and go to work. I take the long way around just to drive by the bank. When I see Maggie’s Honda sitting in the parking lot, I almost pull in. But at the last minute, I change my mind. I’m going to go bury my hands in some metal and rubber at the shop. Try to get lost in my work and figure out a plan to get Maggie back.
I’m elbow deep in grease and an engine when I hear her soft voice. At first I think I’ve imagined it, but when I hear my name again, I look up and straight into her eyes. “Maggie?”
She smiles softly at me. “Is this a bad time?”
I look at the men around us and they’re all looking at Maggie curiously. I pull my hands out of the old Chevy and holler, “Shut down the bay, everyone out.”
Maggie looks around the room at everyone staring at us. Her pretty face blushes, and an intense need to get the men away from her overcomes me. “Now! I said move,” I holler again.
The sounds of tools clinking as they fall into tool boxes or to the concrete ground is heard until I hear them all leave and someone pulls the bay door down. We’re left alone then and I can see her chest raise and fall with her deep breaths.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t have to kick them out,” she apologizes.
“But I did. It’s closing time anyway. Plus, I didn’t want them looking at you. A garage is no place for you,” I tell her honestly, because at this point I’m going to tell her everything, straight up, even the stuff she probably won’t like.
She laughs and then stops when she realizes I’m not joking. “But you’re here… in a garage.”
“That’s different. They want to look at me, they can. I don’t want any man looking at you.” I shrug my shoulders at her as if that’s explanation enough. I know it’s irrational. I know it’s over the top, but that’s how I feel. And the one thing I learned from Keeper this morning is to tell her how I feel. Well, couth or not, that’s how I feel.
The corners of her lips lift in a small smile before it drops, remembering why she’s here. “Can we talk?”
I walk over to the sink against the wall and start washing my hands. “Yeah,” I tell her as I scrub. I plan on getting my hands on her soon, and I need them to be clean.