by Adele Niles
Logan shrugged. “Okay. Fine.”
“Fine.”
We looked at each other for a moment, expressions serious, then Logan laughed.
“Really, though,” he said. “I’m glad you’re letting me stay at the main shop.”
I patted his shoulder. “No worries, man.”
Chapter Twenty
Bryn
I pulled up in the lot of No Regrets and took a deep breath.
Things really had come full circle.
This was how I’d met Benny.
It seemed right that a fresh start would begin here, too.
I checked my purse, making sure my sketchbook was there. I had marked the page I wanted with a colorful paperclip.
It was there, bright red against the white paper.
No going back now.
I exhaled slowly and got out of the car.
The bell above the front door chimed as I walked in.
Everyone turned to look at me.
Zoe, Garrett, Logan, Ryker, Bradley.
And Benny, already sitting at his station.
Silence fell. It was tense, tight.
It made my stomach twist.
Everyone was staring at me.
“Uh, hey,” Zoe said. “Welcome to No Regrets.”
I glanced at her. Her hair was electric blue now, which suited her. She wasn’t smiling.
“Hey,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, um, walk-in. I should be in the system already.”
She raised an eyebrow and tapped on the iPad. “I don’t see you.”
Benny called out from his station. “She’s good, Zoe. We’ll get her in the computer later. Come on back, Bryn.”
I caught his eye, mouthing ‘thank you.’
He smiled again and waved for me to come back.
I took a deep breath and headed straight to Benny’s booth. He wasn’t working on anyone.
I leaned down and kissed him.
Hard.
Maybe a little harder than I normally would in front of other people.
“I knew it,” somebody hissed.
I looked up. Ryker and Logan’s hands were clasped together, but they hurriedly let go. Logan tucked his hand into his pocket; he was smiling, while Ryker looked a little disappointed.
They’d been betting. On me and Benny.
Cute.
“Benny. Hey,” I said. “Got any appointments coming up?”
“Not until this afternoon.”
I smiled. “Good. Go get the screen?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You want some new ink?”
“Yeah. And I thought I’d come to my favorite artist.” I opened my sketchbook, laying it on the table.
Benny leaned over to study it, a smile spreading on his face. “You’re gonna give me a copy of this one, too, right?”
“If you want it.”
“Of course I want it. It’s gorgeous. It’ll look great with the lotus.” He chuckled and took the sketchbook back to the copier, transferring it to the template paper.
A rose in full bloom, with a delicate chain looped around the leaves.
A heart-shaped charm hung from the chain.
Benny’s name was etched into the heart.
He set up the shade. With my back to the shop, I pulled off my shirt. I’d already left my bra at home.
“Where are we putting it?” he asked.
“In the most logical place.” I took the template and held it where I wanted it.
Right over my heart. Exactly where it belonged.
Wrecked
The Slippery Curves Series
Book 2
One
Alex
“You owe me one,” I say.
“I know, I know,” Jackson says. “But look at it this way, man, you get to go back and visit your home town.”
He chuckles in to the phone. He knows how much I dislike Cartersville.
I don’t have many good memories of the place and I haven’t been back since I left for college.
Shit.
Has it really been almost fifteen years?
All of a sudden, I feel old.
I’ve been on the road since six a.m. Court’s at eleven. It’s supposed to be an open and shut case. Show up, make a plea, and leave. Then I’m off to enjoy the mountains and get out of C-ville.
I would be in town for two hours, tops.
“I won’t be there that long. You know you should be the one doing this?” I joke, knowing good and well there’s no way that would happen.
“Stace would kill me. She’s due any day and it would be my luck that I’m three hours away in that Podunk town when she goes in to labor. Alex, seriously. I’m really thankful you’re doing this.”
Jackson and I had been roommates and were in law school, and we started our small firm right after we passed the bar exam. We had planned on saving the world, but we’d ended up taking on wills, estates, and divorces instead. Nothing super exciting, definitely not saving the world, but it pays the bills.
He’d taken on this case for a friend, not knowing it was going to be out of town, let alone in the middle of nowhere.
A divorce case. This one is supposed to be cut and dry and I’m just showing up to present some documents, get a continuance, and leave. A three-hour drive for ten minutes of work.
“So, you’ve talked to your friend?” I say to him. “She knows I’m coming, and not you?”
The phone goes silent and I look at the display on the dashboard. It still says connected. I grab the phone from my seat and glance at it. It says connected, too.
“Jackson? You there?”
Still nothing. Then the dreaded three-beeps before the disconnect.
Dropped call.
Another reason why I hated Cartersville and being out in the middle of nowhere.
I scroll through my recent calls and try to reconnect with Jackson. I-90 is long and straight, and boring as hell. I glance up every second as I continue, until it’s too late.
“Fuck!” I swerve, trying to avoid the big pile of scrap metal sitting in the middle of the road.
Swerving doesn’t help. Instantly I can feel the metal under the car as the explosion of the tire popping jerks the car toward the left. I try to counter it by jerking the wheel to the right, overcorrecting.
My Mercedes hits the edge of the road, the tires now digging into the dirt. I slam on the breaks. The engine clanks and the car shuts off on its own. The dashboard lights up like a video game.
Low Tire Pressure.
“No shit. How about no tire pressure.” Above the tire warning is a bright red alert to check the engine. “Double fuck.”
I grab my phone and climb out of the car, but not before checking my watch. I don’t have time for this. Court is in two hours. I’m not far from Cartersville, but it’s too far to walk.
The tire is shredded and barely hanging on the rim. I kneel beside the car and look underneath. Nothing. I glance back down the road and see the twisted piece of metal about a hundred yards back.
I curse Jackson under my breath as I walk toward the culprit and try to call Jackson back.
No Service.
I kick the metal off toward the side of the road in a huff, and it grabs my leg, clinging to me like some sort of cruel-ass joke. I flail my leg, finally freeing the sharp piece of aluminum.
“Come on.” I hold my phone up toward the sky. Somehow, I think this is actually going to return my cell service.
Nothing.
Run-flat tires are supposed to run when they’re flat. Expensive replacements for having a spare., they probably don’t work when they’re shredded, though. For the hell of it, I try to start the car. It doesn’t work.
I pop the hood and look under it. I was never handy with cars, but maybe it would be something obvious I could fix, even with a flat tire.
“Yeah, not a chance,” I say to myself as I walk over toward the trunk of the car and lean aga
inst it.
To make matters worse, it looks like it’s about to rain and in the fifteen minutes since I’d been sitting on the side of the road, not a single car has passed.
Jackson, you owe me a hell of a lot more than one.
Get Wrecked Now
Also by Adele Niles
No Regrets Ink
Just a Little Prick - Bradley
(Now Available)
I Did Before I Do - Ryker
(Now Avilable)
Three Little Words - Benny
(This Book)
Never Again, Maybe - Garrett
(Coming July 17)
Something on the Side - Logan
(Coming July 31)
Slippery Curves Series
Stay For Me
Wrecked
Bet You’re Mine
10 Days
Seasons of Seduction
Scorched
Flung
Snowbody
Autumn’s Coming
Stalk Adele...
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