Burndown (Nitro Crew Book 1)

by Winter Travers

  Remy hung his head. “This is bad, Harlyn,” he mumbled.

  I looked around and tried to figure out what he meant. “Uh, why?”

  His head shot up. “You saw Frankie earlier, didn’t you?”

  My head tilted, and I squinted at him. “Uh, yeah.”

  “She knew who you were,” he stated.

  “Yeah.”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “Roc is going to kill me.”

  “I’m getting lost on how you are stringing this together. I’m not sure how me talking to Frankie, you, and my dad all go together.” He had completely lost me.

  He stepped toward me. “Harlyn. I love my job. I mean, there are days where shit isn’t the greatest, but I still love it.”

  I nodded. So far, I was following him.

  “Your dad also loves this job.”

  I bite my lip. Remy really had no idea just how much my dad did love this job. He had given up his family to have this job. “Yes.”

  “Your dad, Roc, he hates me, Harlyn.”

  I scoffed and waved my hand at him. “My dad hates everyone. He’s a grumpy bear who’s had a pricker stuck in its paw for the last thirty years. You’re really not telling me anything I didn’t already know.”

  “But I love my job.”

  And he had lost me again. “You’re gonna have to dumb it down for me even more, Remy, because I am not following you.” I was a couple of years away from being thirty. My dad had nothing to do with who I dated.

  “I know your dad, Harlyn. I know he hates me, or at least can barely tolerate me. Now, we add in the fact I’m dating you, I’m not going to have a job anymore.”

  I threw my head back and laughed. Remy was crazy and totally overthinking this. “You mean the man who didn’t have time to even call me my whole childhood? You really have nothing to worry about, Remy. Roc is all bark, but no bite.”

  The front door to the office opened, and Remy jumped back from me.

  “Harlyn. I need you to pull up the number for Maverick Tools for me.” Roc walked through the door, his head buried in his phone. “The last race, we didn’t have enough air guns. I don’t want that shit happening again.”

  “Their number is three on your speed dial.”

  Roc looked up. “It is?”

  I nodded. “Yup. I tell you every time.”

  He nodded. “I’ll try to remember it this time.”

  That was doubtful.

  He looked at Remy and scowled. “What the hell are you doing up here, Grain? Don’t you have shit to finish on the car and the hauler to start packing.”

  “I was just grabbing my check stub, Roc.” He swallowed hard and looked everywhere but at me.

  “Give him his check stub, Har, then let the man get back to work. He doesn’t get to stand around all day doing nothing.” Roc glared at Remy, stalked into his office, and slammed the door shut behind him.

  Remy raised his hand and pointed to Roc’s office. “See,” he hissed. “That man does not like me, and you and I together is going to go over like a lead balloon.”

  “Well, I can tell he’s not jumping for joy when you are around, but that has nothing to do with you and me.”

  His eyes didn’t leave the door to Roc’s office. “Can we just talk about this tonight?”

  I stalked over to my desk and grabbed his check stub. I slapped it in his hand. “So you still want to see me tonight?” I couldn’t mask the hurt in my voice. Ten minutes ago, I had the fleeting thought Remy may be the guy to stick around, and now it looked like my dad was running him off before we could ever really start.

  That finally got his attention. His hand wrapped around the envelope, and his other snaked around my waist. He pulled me close and pressed his lips to my ear. “I’m not giving us up, Harlyn. We just need to talk.”

  I leaned back and looked up at him. “There’s the man I’ve gotten to know.”

  “He’s there, baby. He’s just freaked by the fact your dad is Roc.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So my dad is sending you running?”

  He shook his head. “We’ll talk tonight.” He pressed a quick kiss to my neck. “I’ll be over at seven.” He left the office without a backward glance.

  I sighed and leaned against my desk.

  Well, it seemed like Roc had thrown a wrench into my budding relationship with Remy.

  The funny thing was, last night Roc had wanted to meet who was coming over, when he had actually worked with who I was seeing. Now if that wasn’t a twist of fate, I didn’t know what was.

  I just hoped it wasn’t going to be an issue that sent Remy running. I was starting to get used to him being around.

  *

  Chapter 19

  Remy

  “What are you up to?”

  I shifted the Challenger into drive and pulled out of the parking lot headed toward Harlyn’s. “Going out.”

  “Out where?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m twenty-six years old, Mom. Do I really need to tell you where I’m going all of the time?” I had made the mistake of answering the phone when my mom had called, and now, I was stuck talking to her the whole way over to Harlyn’s.

  Thankfully, Roc had stayed in his office the rest of the day so I didn’t have to look him in the eye while dealing with the fact that I had done unmentionable things to Harlyn. After I left the office, Frankie had hopped up on top of my workbench and had looked at me with a shit-eating grin on her face.

  She may have thought she had the upper hand knowing Harlyn worked here before I knew, but I blew her out of the water when I had told her who Harlyn’s dad was. She was in agreement that Roc was going to grind me into dust when he found out about Harlyn and me.

  “Who are you going to be hanging out with?”

  “Mom, really?”

  She huffed. “If you’re not going to tell me where you are going, the least you can do is tell me who you are going to be with. If I need to report you missing, I can at least give them a name.”

  I chuckled and braked at a red light. How a town as small as Leeds Square had a stop light was beyond me, but here I was, sitting at the light with no other cars in sight. “I can assure you that Harlyn isn’t going to kidnap or try to hurt me.”

  “Whoa, Harlyn? Here I thought you were going to say Jay and Frankie.” She covered the receiver of the phone, and I heard her holler for Lo.

  “Ma,” I called. Why was it every time I talked to her, she had to have another conversation going on in the background?

  “Just let me tell Lo you’ve got a date, Remy. He’s been worried about you.”

  “More like you’ve been worried about him, babe,” Lo grumbled.

  “Her name is Harlyn, and Remy said she won’t kidnap or hurt him. She sounds nice.”

  Lo roared with laughter, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Has that always been a concern for you?” Lo asked.

  I eased off the line when the light turned green. “Ma, I gotta get off the phone.” I turned down Harlyn’s street, and her driveway was only a block away.

  “What?” she squealed. “We just got on the phone.”

  “I know.”

  “That’s why you answered the phone. You knew you wouldn't be able to talk to me long.”

  “Yeah, but you at least talked to me. That means I’m good for at least a week before you send Lo after me.” Hopefully since I told her about Harlyn, she would give me a two week reprieve.

  “I never send Lo after you.”

  “Babe,” he rumbled.

  “Would you please not call me on my shit all of the time?” she asked him. “I’d like my son to think I have a little bit of control over my life.”

  “Babe.” Lo was the king of the one word reply.

  I pulled into Harlyn’s driveway and parked behind her car. “Look, Ma. I just got here. I’ll call you later.”

  “When are you going to be home for a bit? You haven’t seen anyone in forever.”

  I killed the engine and cradled
the phone between my shoulder and ear. “Maybe after this next leg.” I could manage to do a weekend trip during an off weekend. If things were going well enough with Harlyn, she might want to come too. I stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut.

  “I suppose that is going to do since you’re working all of the time now. I don’t even know how you managed to find a girlfriend with your head under Brooks’ hood all of the time.”

  I pulled my phone away and looked at it. She had to be drinking. I put it back to my ear. “You just said I have my head under a guy’s hood, Mom.”

  “Oh, you know what I mean. Although, if you wanted to have your head under a guy’s hood, you do you, honey. I’m your mother, no matter what.”

  Jesus. “You on your fourth or fifth wine cooler, Mom?” I asked.

  “Seventh,” Lo called.

  Totally called that one. “I’m at Harlyn’s.”

  “Oh-kay, honey. Have fun. But not too much fun. I’m too young to be a grandma. Although, just between you and me, I would totally be the hot, fun grandma.”

  “Jesus, Mom. Tell Lo he needs to cut you off.”

  “She’s doing good,” Lo called. “She’s still making sense.”

  Mom laughed. “Ha. He agrees I’d be the hot grandma,” she sang.

  “Babe, hang up the phone, and let the kid get on with his date.”

  After two more minutes of Lo and Mom going back and forth bickering, she finally hung up the phone.

  “You normally stand in the driveway for five minutes before you come in?”

  I looked up from my phone and saw Harlyn sitting on her front porch.

  “Not normally, but my mom called, and I’ve learned ignoring her calls doesn’t really pay off in the long run.” I jogged up the four steps and sat down next to her. “I didn’t know you were sitting out here.”

  She pointed to the bush. “I kind of hid behind the bush when you pulled up. Then I eavesdropped on your conversation.”

  “Did I really say that much? My mom really doesn’t leave people much time to talk. Lo tends to reel her in most of the time.”

  She laughed and held out a beer she had sitting next to her. “I figured you would be thirsty.”

  I grabbed the beer and smiled. “And hungry.”

  “I figured that, too. Pizza guy should be here in ten minutes.”

  “Got it all planned out, huh, baby?”

  She laughed and crossed her legs. “I was trying to think of everything but us talking tonight. I also managed to clean my kitchen and bathroom.” She turned to me and smiled. “Both of which did not need to be cleaned.”

  I kicked my legs out and rested my hand with the beer on the arm of the chair. “I was an idiot earlier.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Now that was not what I expected you to say.”

  Six hours ago, I wouldn’t have said the same thing, but having time to think about everything, I had come to a much better solution than running for the hills. “We’re just getting to know each other.”

  She nodded her head. “Yeah, although, I think we know each other more than you think.”

  “I know I don’t want to have to stop getting to know you.”

  “I’m glad wise and rational Remy came over tonight. I don’t think I could handle irrational Remy much more.”

  “We still need to talk, though.” She had to understand what working for Cummings Racing meant to me. “You know about my mom, but I didn’t really say much about my dad.”

  A soft smile touched her lips. “I really wanna meet your mom. Especially after hearing your side of the conversation you just had with her.”

  Harlyn was definitely going to come home with me after I got back from Florida and Louisiana. “You will, baby.”

  “So tell me about your dad.” She tucked her legs under her and turned in the chair to face me. “Is he as crazy as your mom sounds.”

  I shook my head. “That is a big, fat negative, baby. My parents are complete opposites, and not the good kind.”

  “I’m sorry, honey.”

  I waved my hand at her. “Those two getting divorced was the best decision they ever made. Once they were both free and on their own, everything got better. Granted, I was back and forth between the two of them constantly, but it was still a routine. I never really understood my dad. My mom was easy to get. She wore her heart on her sleeve, and you always knew what she was feeling because she couldn’t hide it. My dad is a different story.” I sighed and set my beer on the table between us. “My dad got me into racing. It was the one thing we bonded over and the only time I knew we weren’t going to argue unless it was about who we thought was going to win the race.”

  “So working for Cummings Racing is something that makes your dad proud.”

  I nodded. “I swear, when I told him the news that I got the job, he was on the phone telling everyone he knew his son worked on a legit NHRA pit crew.”

  “And now you think somehow dating me means you’re going to lose your job?” It sounded ridiculous when she said it, but that was what I was afraid of.

  “Do I think your dad will fire me because of it? No. But I do think he will do everything in his power to make my life miserable to where I quit.”

  She sighed and rested her head on her hand. “I wouldn’t let him do that, Remy. I honestly think he won’t care. My relationship with my dad has been turbulent at best. And,” she drawled, “I’m twenty-seven years old. He doesn’t have a say on who I date.”

  I grabbed her hand and threaded my fingers through hers. “I hear you, baby. I know you are right, but I don’t think we need to announce us to the world yet, right?” I brushed my thumb back and forth over the smooth skin of the back of her hand. “I want you to myself before I have to start sharing you.”

  “Frankie knows. And I’m sure Jay knows by now, too.”

  “Jay is trying to figure out how to get a date with you, probably.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Um, no thanks.”

  “You might be the first to ever turn down Jay.”

  Her dark brown hair swayed in her face as she shook her head. “I doubt that. I only talked to him for two minutes, but I can tell he is full of himself. I doubt he would tell anyone if a chick rejected him.”

  “You might be right, baby.”

  “I tend to be.” She winked and picked up her wine glass. “So, back to you and me. Do I get to be your dirty little secret for a while?”

  “Dirty, huh?” I laughed.

  She stood up, grabbed my beer out of my hand, and set it on the side table. “Definitely dirty.” She planted a knee on the side of my chair and rested her hands on my shoulders.

  “I have to say, I really thought you were going to be a lot less accepting of this.”

  She planted her other knee next to my thigh. “It makes sense.” She sat back, her butt resting on my thighs. “You love your job. Your job makes your mom and dad proud, your dad especially. I get you not wanting to let him down, even if you’re well past the age of needing his approval.”

  “You got all of that from the jumbled mess I just said?”

  Her head nodded, and she smiled. “I was the same way with my mom before she died. I knew she was proud of me no matter what, but I always strived to actually do my best because I didn’t want to let her down.”

  “But what if your dad doesn’t like that you are dating me?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t think you really get my relationship with my dad.”

  “Uh, kind of?”

  A laugh bubbled from her lips. “I love him. I always have, but it’s not the kind of love you’ll do whatever you can to make them proud.” She grabbed a strand of her hair and twirled it around her fingers. “It’s really hard to vocalize it from my head to words, but I’ll try.”

  I wrapped my arms around her waist. “I’m all ears, baby.”

  “How can I worry about the feelings of a man who couldn’t be bothered to make it to any of my softball games or call once a
week? He wasn’t there. There was a year that went by, where I could count on one hand the amount of times I had seen my father and still have three fingers left over. So, I repeat, I love the man, but whether or not he likes you doesn’t matter to me.”

  “Then why did you move to Leeds Square?”

  “This is where it gets a little tricky.” She sighed and rested her hands on my chest. “While I know what my father is, I still have the nine-year-old little girl inside me who will do anything to have a relationship with her father that’s more than sporadic phone calls and a check mailed every month.”

  “Me being around might mess up that chance for that little girl.”

  A heavy sigh escaped her mouth. “And why do you think Roc hates you so much? Did you steal his sunglasses or blow up the race car?

  “Those are rather specific things,” I laughed.

  “I know the things that would drive him insane the most.”

  I rested my hands on her thighs. “I don’t know why your dad doesn’t like me, baby. He just seems to ride my ass hardest out of everyone. Jay could be taking a nap in the middle of the shop, and Roc will step over him to come yell at me about the loose screw he found last week.”

  “Now that seems rather passive aggressive of him,” she laughed. She leaned forward and rested her forehead on mine. “Maybe he just likes you, and he doesn’t want to look like he’s favoring you.”

  “Well, there is no chance of that ever happening. Roc favoring someone has never happened. Ever.”

  She trailed her fingers up my shoulders and delved them into my hair. “Then I guess I’ll just have to make up for that, won’t I?”

  “Hmm, I like the way that sounds, baby.” I pressed a kiss to her lips, and she sighed.

  “Think maybe we should take this in the house?” she asked.

  I moved my hands to her ass and squeezed gently. “I kind of like where we are right now.” I didn’t want to move. I had Harlyn right where I wanted to be with her, and I didn’t want to do anything to send her running again. I pressed another kiss to her lips. “Though, I’m not gonna be able to stay long tonight, baby. Roc made the call to roll out at four a.m., and I don’t have anything packed.”