Burndown (Nitro Crew Book 1)

by Winter Travers

  “I’ll have the inventory taken care of before the end of the day.” I was trying to get on Roc’s good side and work my way up with the team. If that meant I was going to have to count nuts and bolts all day, then that was what I would do.

  Roc grunted like he didn’t believe me. “I want the counts on my desk when you’re done.” He stalked out of the garage and into the front offices.

  “Damn, dude,” Jay laughed. “You piss in his Cheerios or something?”

  I grabbed a scratch pad off of the workbench. “All I did was apply for the job, and I’m breathing.”

  “Well, it has to be the fact you’re breathing, because he hired you for the damn job.”

  I sighed and looked for a pen. “Yeah. Sometimes I think he hired me because he figured I would be a good punching bag when he was pissed off.”

  Jay nodded. “I think that is a pretty good assumption.”

  I flipped him off and spotted a pen lying on the floor. “Well, whatever the hell his problem is with me, I’m sure ignoring the fact he wants me to do inventory isn’t going to help me.” I pointed to the other side of the garage where Frankie was trying to move one of the spare engines. “Go help Frank before she kills herself.”

  Jay rolled his eye but moved over toward Frankie. “You know she’s going to tell me to get lost.”

  “Yeah, but it gets you out of my hair.”

  “Dick,” he called.

  “Asswipe,” I hollered back.

  I made my way outside to where the car hauler was. First, I needed to see what we still had on the hauler and then count and restock what we were missing. It was easily going to take at least five hours to get everything counted and restocked.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw Harlyn had texted me back.

  From awkward to sweet.

  I aim to please, baby. Annnd I was back to being a cheesy, cliché fucker. What are you doing tonight?

  Icing my butt.

  The weird and awkwardness has been passed back to you.

  Humph. So it has.

  Can I see you tonight? I only had two nights before we were back on the road to the next race. I wanted to see Harlyn as much as I could.

  No contact sports?

  I laughed and knew I was back to smiling at my phone like an idiot. No sports. Just you, me, pizza, and a movie.

  7?

  7 works. Later, baby. I tossed the phone on the wheel of the hauler and got to work. If I wanted to be at Harlyn’s by seven, I need to get to work and stop fucking around.

  I knew I wouldn’t be able to get Jay to cover for me two days in a row, so now I busted my ass, and then tonight, I could be with Harlyn.

  Seemed like a fair trade to me.

  *

  Chapter 15

  Harlyn

  “You wanna grab some dinner?”

  “Uh.”

  Dad had a hip leaning against my desk, and his arms were crossed over his chest. “Yes or no, Harlyn.”

  He had been a bear all day. I didn’t know what had crawled up his butt, but whatever it was had put him a shit mood. “I was just going to go home and relax.”

  “Eat dinner with me and then you can go home to relax.”

  I glanced at the clock on the corner of my computer screen. It was half past four, and I still had half an hour of work. Not that I had much to do, and I had over two hours before Remy was coming over. “I want to be home by seven.”

  “What happens at seven? You turn into a pumpkin?” He laughed at his own joke. The man was an asshole most of the time, and then he went and laughed at his own jokes. He definitely was an enigma.

  “I just want to be home, Dad. I know that’s a hard concept for you to grasp, but some people do like to just be at home.”

  He huffed and pushed off the desk. “Let me make sure shit is getting done, and then we can head out.”

  “I have half an hour of work left, so take your time.” Even if we didn’t leave until five, we would have plenty of time to eat.

  “Give me ten minutes, and we’ll be on the way.”

  “Dad,” I grumbled. “This is my job. I need to be here.”

  “You just did payroll for last week. You don’t have anything else going on. I think I can pull some strings and get you off a bit early.” A smirk spread across his smug face.

  “Marion did payroll last week. I just watched.” Plus, I didn’t want to get off early. If that started happening, no one was going to respect me around here. “I don’t need the boss letting me leave early while everyone is stuck here working.”

  He waved me off and stalked out into the large garage where all of the work got done on the car. I had only been out there when Marion had given my tour the first day when no one was here. Now that the race team was back, it was a hub of buzzing energy. Roc had been in and out of the office all day, stalking back to the garage to bark orders. The only person I had caught a glimpse of had been Mick, one of the older crew members who was the cylinder head specialist. Otherwise, I only saw Roc and Marion.

  Marion had taken the last half of the day off for a doctor appointment, so it had just been me the last few hours trying to look busy. With Marion going on maternity leave any day, she had tried to get a lot of the work done before I came, which was great, but it also sucked because I didn’t have much to do.

  I had just started reading the latest Kristen Ashley book this afternoon, and I was already more than halfway done with it. If work was going to be this slow, I was going to have to ask to be paid in gift cards to buy more books.

  “Grab your shit. I wanna go to the seafood place over in Lexford.”

  “That’s half an hour away. How am I going to be home by seven?” I grabbed my purse out of the drawer and tucked my e-reader inside.

  “Harlyn, I’ll have you home by seven. You sound like an old lady needing to be home before the sun goes down.” He leaned against the door jamb and crossed his arms over his chest. “You got someone coming over or something?”

  I switched off my computer and hitched my purse over my shoulder. “Would it matter if I did?”

  “Who is it? I need to meet them,” he demanded.

  A cynical laugh escaped my lips. “Kind of late to be the overprotective dad, don’t you think, Roc?” The time for this behavior should have been more than ten years ago when I had gone on my first date. I was twenty-seven. I didn’t need my father butting his way into my relationships. He didn’t have that right.

  “Don’t do this, Harlyn. I’m just worried about you.”

  I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re right, Dad, we aren’t going to do this. We’re going to go out to eat, talk about anything but my plans for later, and then I’m going home.”

  “I don’t know how many times I need to apologize, Har.”

  That was the problem. I didn’t think a thousand times of him saying “I’m sorry” were going to matter. I loved him, but I couldn’t let go of the past. “You don’t need to apologize anymore, Roc.”

  “You were calling me dad two minutes ago.”

  Yeah, and two minutes ago I had forgotten he was a crap dad for a few seconds. “Does it really matter?”

  He sighed heavily. This was the point we always got to on the phone, and neither of us knew where to go after. “I’m sorry, Harlyn.”

  I believed he was sorry. I knew he loved me. But why did it take him twenty-seven years to see me as his daughter and not just an obligation he threw money at every month? “Why am I here?”

  He cleared his throat, and his eyes dropped to the floor. I had never asked him outright if I was only here because he was stuck in a hard spot with Marion going on maternity leave.

  “Because you’re my daughter, Harlyn, and I need to make up for the past.”

  That was a surprising answer. “And also, you needed someone to run the office for you.”

  He raised his eyes and leveled his gaze on me. “I could have found ten other people within a five mile radius to do th
is job. I asked you, because I want you here.”

  I nodded my head and felt a lump form in my throat. That was the first time I had ever heard him say anything remotely close about his feelings. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” he chuckled. “I say all that, and all you say is okay. You really are a Krinston.”

  I shrugged. “I learned from you.” And I had, but I also had my mom to let me know that showing your feelings and what you were thinking didn’t make you weak. Roc had been slow on the upswing for that, but it looked like he was finally coming around. I was still going to keep my heart guarded when it came to him. He had broken it too many times before for me to trust him now.

  “You still wanna go out for dinner?”

  I shrugged again. “I guess I need to eat, right?”

  *

  Chapter 16

  Remy

  I pounded on the door and was surprised when it swung open not even two seconds later.

  “Hi,” she chirped.

  Damn, she was pretty. Her chestnut brown hair was piled on top of her head, a huge smile was plastered on her beautiful lips, and her eyes shone bright. Her legs were encased in a pair of tight black leggings, and she had a tiny white shirt stretched across her chest and stomach.

  Fucking hot.

  “Hey,” I croaked. I had seen her not even twenty hours before, but it felt like I was finally able to fully breathe again with her standing in front of me.

  “Did you eat?” she asked.

  “Uh.” I had finally gotten done with inventory at six-thirty and barely had enough time to shower and change, let alone grab something to eat. “No.”

  “Good.” She opened the door wide and motioned for me to come in. “I went out to dinner with my dad and brought home something for you. We went to that seafood place a couple towns over.”

  “Oh yeah?” I stepped through the door and closed it behind me. “I’ve always wanted to go there, but I never seem to have the time.” Especially with the season starting, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go there. All of my free time was going to be spent getting to know Harlyn. I just didn’t think she knew that yet.

  “I got you the lobster mac. I had it, and it was the best thing ever.” She padded across the living room into the kitchen. She paused and looked over her shoulder at me. “You coming in, or are you just going to stand at the door all night?”

  If I could stand here watching her all night, I would be fine. Her tight pants, which I’m pretty sure were leggings, stretched across her round, perfect ass, and my hands itched to run over the fabric and her ass. I cleared my throat and talked myself out of jumping her right then and there. “Just checking out your house, baby.”

  “You saw it last night,” she laughed. She moved into the kitchen and pulled a large Styrofoam container out of the fridge. “Have a seat. I’ll get this heated up for you. It’s not too cold since I just got home ten minutes ago, but it needs a little warming.”

  I managed to get my feet to move into the kitchen, and I pulled out one of the stools tucked under the kitchen island. I sat down and watched her move around. She emptied the contents of the container onto a plate and stuck it in the microwave. “Beer?”

  I ripped my eyes off her shapely legs and nodded. “Sure.”

  She tilted her head to the side a bit and smiled. “Long day?” She thought I had a long day, when in reality, I was just mesmerized by her perfect body.

  “Yeah, I guess so. Had to take inventory, which took a big chunk of the day.”

  She grabbed a beer and bottle of wine from the fridge. “Wow, that sucks.”

  I shrugged and grabbed the bottle of wine. She handed me the opener and set a glass in front of me. “Just part of my job,” I mumbled. Normally, I had a bit more notice when it was about to happen, but that was what it is like to work for Roc. You never knew what was going to happen any day. I popped out the cork and filled her glass.

  The microwave dinged, and she turned to pull the plate out. “Well, my day was rather boring. I read a book for the most of it and tried to look busy anytime my dad would walk into the office. We then had an argument, the same one we always have, and then we went out to dinner where we both acted like everything was perfect.” She set the plate in front of me and smiled. “I was glad when I got home and knew you were coming over.”

  “Knowing I was coming over here made my day much more bearable too, baby.”

  She held a fork up in front of me. “You wanna eat here or in the living room? We can rent a movie off the Xbox if you want.”

  I grabbed the fork and looked over shoulder at her TV. “You have an Xbox?”

  “Yeah. Although, I don’t game. I just got it because it plays blu-rays, has all of my streaming apps, and you can buy movies on it.”

  “The fact you even know it can do all that surprises me. I only know it does all that shit because Jay has one.”

  She took a sip of her wine and rested a hip against the counter. “And who is Jay?”

  I stirred around the steaming lobster mac. “Roommate. Frankie is my other roommate. We all went to school together and work together.”

  “Frankie seemed nice enough,” she laughed.

  “That’s a good description of Frankie. Nice enough.”

  “I didn’t mean that in a bad way. Just she seems to have a wall firmly around her.”

  I loaded my fork with noodles and held it up. “For only meeting her for a few minutes, you sure do have her pegged pretty accurately.” I shoveled the bite into my mouth and took a swig of my beer.

  She shrugged. “Just what I picked up on. I’m gonna find a movie to watch. Any preference before I put on the cheesiest chick flick I can find?” She batted her eyes at me and lifted her glass to her lips. “Steel Magnolias is calling my name right now.”

  I chuckled and grabbed my plate in one hand and my beer in the other. “As long as you’re sitting next to me, I really don’t care what we watch.” Living with my mom had taught me it was just best to go with whatever movie a chick wanted to watch. Although, my mom wasn’t into chick flicks as much as others.

  She rolled her eyes and flipped the lights off in the kitchen. “Darn it. You were supposed to be the typical man and moan and groan about having to watch a chick flick. Then I was going to torture you with Pretty Woman or Steel Magnolias.”

  “Maybe next time, baby. But tonight, I’m just glad to see you again before I leave town, so we could watch both of those, and I wouldn’t care.” I sat down on the couch and set my plate on front of me on the coffee table.

  She turned on the TV, grabbed the Xbox controller, and collapsed onto the couch next to me. “Since that sounded too sweet,” she held the controller out to me, “you get to choose the movie.”

  “Fire it up, and I’ll help choose.”

  She huffed but sat back on the couch and started scrolling through the latest releases. By the time I finished my dinner, we had decided to watch Den of Thieves.

  “I think we managed to pick a movie that was anything but a chick flick,” she laughed.

  I set my plate on the coffee table and kicked my feet up. “And while I said I would watch whatever, I appreciate you not torturing me.”

  “I knew it,” she laughed, pointing a finger at me. “You didn’t want to watch a chick flick at all.”

  My fingers wrapped around her hand, and I pulled her to me. She leaned in, her shoulder pressing against my chest. “Everyone knows you shouldn’t show your cards too soon. I played that one close to my chest.”

  “Is that so?” she whispered. Her gaze traveled over my face, and she bit her bottom lip.

  “Did you miss me, Harlyn?” I had controlled myself long enough. After the kiss we had shared last night, I craved to be close to her.

  “Maybe.” Her eyes were trained on my lips, and her pretty pink tongue snaked out to lick her lips. “It was rather slow at work today, and I had time to um…well…think.”

  “About?” My voice was low and husky. My need for
her was building by the second.

  “Uh, things.” She fidgeted nervously, brushing against me.

  I released her hand and wound my arm around her waist. “I need to hear about these things.”

  “The movie is about to start.”

  “We can start it over.” I lifted her up onto my lap, her legs straddling me.

  “Remy,” she gasped. She rested her hands on my shoulders and settled onto my legs. “What are we doing?”

  “Getting to know each other better.”

  “And that means I need to be sitting on your lap?”

  I laughed and rested my hands on the small of her back. “Somewhere else you’d rather be sitting?”

  She bit her lip and sighed. “It is the best place in the house to sit right now.”

  “Kiss me.” I didn’t want to wait any longer.

  “You’re rather demanding.”

  “I just know what I want.”

  She ran her fingers through my hair. “I suppose. I assume you wanted me in your lap, right? That’s why you physically put me here.”

  “Don’t act like you don’t like it, baby.” She wasn’t going to play games with me. With Harlyn, I knew I wanted her, and I knew she wanted me.

  “I want you, Remy. I just don’t want to go to fast, and we burn out before we even begin.”

  I leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I can guarantee you that is not going to happen. But we can take this as slow as you want, baby.” I didn’t want her to think I was pressuring her. Whatever she was comfortable giving me, I would willingly take.

  “I like where we are right now.” Her hand glided along my neck, and she cupped my cheek with her hand. “I thought about our kiss today. A lot.”

  That was what I wanted to hear. “Is that so?” I pulled her close and brushed a kiss against the soft skin of her neck. “I have to say, that was on my mind all day too, baby.”