Under My Skin (Shady Falls Series Book 2)

by Shelly Davis

  Toni just smiled, she knew me better than anyone. Toni could always just read my moods, a long time ago, Mia also had that skill. “She told me you danced with her.” Toni paused a moment. For a silent moment I started to analyze what I was doing when it came to Mia. Then Toni’s next words hit home, hard. “Maybe it’s time for you to make a choice. Maybe it’s time to either move on or step up. You’re never gonna be happy if you’re always sittin’ there glowerin’ when she’s around.”

  Maybe it was time to move on. The problem was, other than my friendships with Toni and Monique, I hadn’t met a single woman who I could deal with for more than a couple hours in a very long time. At least until Mia reappeared. Now I found myself looking for her. I wanted to see her and be around her, but I wanted to get as far away as possible. Self-preservation I guessed. “Yeah. I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. I just don’t know if I can be friends with her. But I also don’t know if I can ignore her either.”

  “I get why your feelings are so jumbled when it comes to Mia. For the record, I think she’s just as confused,” she paused. “Anyway, you ready to get started?”

  One of the things I loved about Toni was her direct-to-the-point personality. She didn’t feel the need to harp. She said what was on her mind and let shit go. She knew I’d do what I wanted no matter how much she debated, so why argue.

  “Yeah, let’s get your reps done, my interview is gonna be here soon.”

  “Hey! Y’all in here?” a deep voice bellowed from the back entrance. Julius Fuller came through the door with a huge smile on his face. I sighed inwardly. It was always great to see Julius, but with all the interruptions, I knew I’d never get Toni’s workout done before my interview came.

  “What’re you doin’ here?” Toni asked. The way she lit up when she saw her boyfriend made me proud. She’d been through so much in her life, so much violence and heartbreak, none of us were sure if she would ever be able to let go and trust again. But she proved us all wrong. She trusted and loved Julius and he adored her in return.

  Maybe I needed to be more like Toni.

  “Thought I’d come by for a workout. Ain’t I allowed?”

  “I don’t know, this is my Jake time,” Toni said, hugging her boyfriend. Julius was only about six inches taller than Toni, but he enveloped her in his hug like she tiny. His dark brown eyes smiled when he looked at her.

  “Hey now, no fightin’ over me. There’s plenty of Jake to go around,” I said spreading my arms and grinning.

  “Really?” Toni turned and laughed at me. “Plenty of Jake? If there’s plenty of Jake to go around, does this mean you’re cookin’ for me tonight?”

  “Well tonight probably ain’t gonna work. How about next week when y’all come back? We’ll have dinner at my place next Wednesday.”

  Smiling, Toni said, “Sounds great. You can practice for your restaurant.”

  “What restaurant?” Julius asked.

  “Jake’s openin’ his own restaurant.”

  “It’s not a done deal,” I insisted. Of course Toni would be excited about this venture and she’d start telling people.

  “Well,” Julius said. “Let me know what I can do. I’m always looking for great investment opportunities.”

  “Thanks, Jules,” I said. “Let’s get started before Gage gets here.”

  Fifteen later, a knock sounded on the door, Faith, our receptionist, popped her head inside. When her eyes landed on me, a crooked smile crossed her face. She stood a little taller and stuck out her chest a little more. The hope I had for her to finally realize I wasn’t interested seemed completely wrong.

  “Jake, there’s a guy named Gage Andrews up front lookin’ for you. You want me to send ‘im back?”

  “Yeah, Faith. Thanks.” She winked before she turned.

  “You got a thing goin’ with Faith?” Toni asked, a shocked look on her face.

  “Hell no. She just won’t listen to reason. I assumed she finally understood I’m not interested, but apparently I was wrong.” If she didn’t keep the place runnin’ as well as she does, I probably would’ve gotten rid of her a while ago. But Faith was good at what she did and she kept the clients happy, even when I was a miserable bastard. And if I wanted my restaurant, we needed her to take on a more active role in running the business.

  “Must suck to be so desirable,” Toni teased.

  In a flash my arm shot out, winding around her shoulders. I pulled her into me and instantly started giving her a noogie. Toni squealed. She swung her fists at me and shouted for help from Julius as he just stood by and laughed. When I released her, her hair was a tangled nest at the crown of her head and her face was flushed.

  “You asshole,” she shouted through a smile while swatting at me. Then she turned her venom on Julius. “Thanks a lot, jerk. You’re supposed to help me.”

  “Not from family,” he laughed. “Besides, Jake would probably kick my ass if I got in the middle of you two. I can’t let him hurt my pretty face. The sponsors would be pissed.”

  A laugh burst out of me as Toni smoothed her hands over her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail.

  “Paybacks are a bitch. I’ll get you both,” she growled.

  The squeaking door turned our attention from play fighting. A stalky, buff looking man walked into the room. He was about six-feet tall; hardly taller than Toni. His black hair was cut close to his head and his dark brown eyes were framed by thin wire-framed glasses. His dark umber skin was taut over his muscular frame. He smiled when he walked into the room, taking in the private gym and its occupants.

  “You must be Jake. Damn, Cade wasn’t kidding when he said yinz were identical.” The man walked toward me with his hand out stretched. He had a strong Pittsburgh accent. “I’m Gage,” he said grasping my hand firmly.

  “Good to meet you, Gage. These are my friends, Toni and Julius.”

  “I know who you are,” Gage said, his hand out to Julius this time. “Good to meet you, Julius. Yinz work out here too?” He looked from Julius to Toni. “Wait, ain’t you the woman mechanic they keep talking about? Holy shit, man. I can’t believe I’m meeting yinz.” His Pittsburgh accent was undeniable.

  Toni took his hand and smiled. “Yeah, I’m a mechanic on Julius’ team. Nice to meet you.”

  “I’m gonna show him around,” I told Jules and Toni. “Y’all can go and do your thing, or you can come see the new pit crew area we’ve been workin’ on.”

  Toni looked to Jules, her eyes lit with excitement. “We’re comin’ too.”

  Gage and I walked out into the main gym area with Julius and Toni following. Immediately I searched the area for Mia, as always. I had to know if she was still there and where she was so I could consciously ignore her.

  It pissed me off every time I saw Mia. She was the only woman on my mind since she returned. I spent my time trying to ignore her, and trying to convince myself she meant nothing to me. Monique wasn’t wrong when she accused me of ending our date nights because of Mia. I just couldn’t think about any other woman, and I wouldn’t be with Monique if Mia was the one on my mind. I wouldn’t use her.

  Every time I was with another girl, every time I ignored Mia, or was mean to her, it wasn’t actually about Mia. It was about proving to myself that I no longer felt her in my soul. She no longer owned me. I wanted to rip her from my heart and kill everything I still felt for her. If I could, I’d finally prove she wasn’t in control of my spirit and mind.

  We walked around the main area and talked about the equipment and the clients. We talked about our policies and procedures for dealing with unruly clients. The entire time I scanned the room for her, I had to make sure she was truly gone.

  We slowly walked through each part of the gym, discussing everything from clients to equipment. I took my time and tried to make sure he saw everything and got a good understanding about what Cade and I expected.

  After about twenty minutes we walked through to the other side of the gym where the weightlifting equip
ment was housed and my eyes instantly found her smooth, flawless, russet colored skin. Fuck, why couldn’t I just stop lookin’ for her? She sat on the butterfly machine, working her arms – her form perfect. Her muscles stretched and contracted with each repetition, her pretty breasts pushed forward every time her thin, shapely arms spread. Goddamn-it why did she have to wear those little tank tops and skintight yoga pants?

  Hell. My blood boiled and heat rushed through my limbs, making my skin tingle. Every part of my body wanted her, craved her, but I feared what would happen if I actually touched her again.

  It wasn’t about being gorgeous, even though she was. It wasn’t about not wanting others to have her since I couldn’t. It was about wanting back the feelings I had all those years ago. I hadn’t met another woman who got me like Mia did.

  But that shit was done a long time ago, I just wished my body could forget hers.

  My head’s so jacked up because of her, it pisses me off. Toni’s right, I just need to move on.

  I sucked in deep breaths and clenched my fists; I needed to control myself. There were so many men around, and they were looking. You could see how beautiful her body was and knew what was under her clothes was just even better. My heart hammered and a knot formed in my throat. I desperately wanted to peel her clothes off and lose myself in her body. If I could, maybe I could finally forget why I was so pissed at her for so long. Maybe the past didn’t matter anymore. What happened to moving on?

  Mia looked up and our eyes met for an instant. For a moment, I swore I saw some kind of regret or sadness in her gorgeous hazel eyes. Her gaze then fell to Gage. A huge smile crossed her face when she saw him.

  “Hey, Gage, what’re you doin’ here?” she questioned. They knew each other? Did they teach in the same school? Was there something going on between these two? No, no, no ... Not this guy. Just from our short conversation, he seemed like a good fit for the gym.

  “Hey, Mia, I’m busy getting hired. You work out here often?” he asked. Then he paused. “That sounded like a pathetic pick up line,” he laughed. “Anyway, do you know Jake, Toni, and Julius?” At least he acknowledged a bad pick-up line. I was liking this guy more, even though he was talking to my Mia.

  Mia snickered at his question. “Yeah, Toni’s my best friend and roommate. Toni and I grew up with Jake and Cade. And of course I know my best friend’s boyfriend. What do you mean, gettin’ hired? You aren’t quittin’ teachin’, are ya?”

  “No, I’m just looking for a second job. I met Cade in a class I was taking. Jake was just showing me around. So yinz’re all friends?”

  “Yeah,” I interjected, trying to cut off the conversation. He wasn’t flirting with her, but why wouldn’t he? She was gorgeous.

  I couldn’t stand there and watch them talk any longer. I needed to move the interview along and get away from her. “Let’s take a look at the back area.” I started walking, trying to lead him away from Mia.

  “Duty calls,” Gage said. “See you tomorrow at school, Mia.”

  “See ya.”

  Once out of the weight room, I started with the questions again. I needed to get to know him before handing over the paperwork. I also needed to make sure there was nothing there between him and Mia. That was something I couldn’t tolerate. “Are you a NASCAR fan?” I asked. He knew who Julius was, but it didn’t mean he was a big fan.

  “Yeah. Started watching racing when I moved down here. My wife’s brother is a big fan, so when we started dating, I started watching so I had something in common with him. I’ll admit, I went in thinking it was just going to be watching a bunch of cars making left turns. But I came to appreciate it.”

  He was married? He wasn’t hitting on Mia and she probably already knew he was married. I relaxed. At least I didn’t have to refuse to hire Gage because he was screwing around with Mia.

  We walked into the area we designated for pit crew practice. We’d been working on this area since Toni was in school. We took a room meant for storage and created an area with specialized equipment specifically for pit crews. Lined up on one wall were a series of lugs and tires for tire changer practice. There was a wall with weighted vests to practice jumps, speed and agility equipment, and a weightlifting area.

  “This is amazing. Do yinz train a lot of teams?”

  “We don’t train any whole teams. A bunch of the guys from Julius’ team train here and some of the guys from the school Toni attended. We’re lookin’ to expand and draw more teams.”

  “Yinz have a great thing going here. I’d be glad to be a part of it.”

  Nodding my head, I was happy to hear he was interested in what we had going on. He needed to understand this wasn’t just about training a couple people, this could become much bigger if we were lucky.

  “Let’s go back to the office, talk more, and get the paperwork outta the way.” I turned to Toni and Julius who were doing the tire changer drills. No surprise they would both go straight for the drills. “We’re goin’ back to the office. I’ll see y’all later.”

  “Okay. Nice meetin’ you, Gage,” Toni shouted as she slammed the tire on the lugs and used the air gun to spin the lug nuts into place. She was focused on the drill and not much else. She barely acknowledged when we were walking out the door.

  “You too, Toni,” Gage shouted back. He turned to me, laughed and said, “She’s in the zone when she’s working isn’t she?”

  Returning his chuckle, I nodded and said, “You have no idea.”

  Gage turned to Julius. “See you around.”

  Julius stood to shake Gage’s hand. Gage paused and seemed uncomfortable, but then he spoke. “Would you mind if I brought my brother-in-law around some time? He’d love to meet you, you’re one of his favorite drivers.”

  “Yeah, no problem. Actually, why don’t you bring him and your wife to the race next weekend? I already have part of the Pit Box Lounge reserved. My mom and sister will be there along with Jake, Cade, and probably Mia.”

  Damn, Mia was going to the race too? I should’ve known. How the hell was I ever gonna get her outta my head if she was always around? Son of a bitch … Would she bring the asshole from the club? I didn’t know if I could be around that cocksucker and not punch him in the face.

  Gage looked shocked. “Really?” he asked. “The championship race? We would love to. I don’t know about my wife though. She’s pregnant.”

  “No worries. My sister just had a baby a few weeks ago. She’ll have him there with her. It’s inside, so the noise isn’t nearly as loud.”

  Gage smiled. “Sounds amazing. They would love going to a race.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll give your passes to Jake.” Julius turned to Toni who was still working on the tire changer drill. She was pretty fast and could lift the tire with no problem. “Woman, what the hell do you think you’re doin’?” Julius called out to her. “Don’t think you’re tryin’ out for another job! You know I need you in the tower.”

  She grinned over her shoulder. “Yeah, I don’t know. It may be time for a new job on a new team,” she said. “Don’t want people thinkin’ my boyfriend is givin’ me special treatment.”

  “Oh, bull shit! You ain’t goin’ nowhere.” Jules laughed. He looked up at the clock and went to Toni. “We gotta go, angel. I’m stayin’ at your place tonight so we need to run by my house so I can get my suitcase. We have an early mornin’.”

  Toni stood and crossed the room to hug me. “I’ll see you later.”

  After she hugged me, Julius planted his shoulder into her stomach and lifted her over his shoulder. “There ain’t no way you’re goin’ anywhere, baby. You’re stuck with me.” Toni giggled as Julius carried her across the room toward the door.

  “See ya,” I shouted after them. The door slammed behind a giggling but complaining Toni. It was good to see her so happy.

  “He doesn’t act like a famous person,” Gage mused. We walked back through the gym and into the office. It was getting late, so the gym was starting to empty
out.

  “No, he doesn’t. Jules is one of the best people I know. Genuine.”

  Gage nodded but didn’t say more about it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mia talking to someone. Gage acknowledged her, but I didn’t say a word, opting to get into the office and shut out the rest of the world. Outta sight, never outta mind.

  Once we were back in the office, I handed him a folder of paperwork we gave to our employees. “First, before we get into this, I need you to understand that during the racing off season, we could get extremely busy, especially on the weekends. With a wife and baby on the way, I need to know what you’re expectin’ to work.”

  “I’ll work as much as I can. I’d like to be able to let my wife stay home for as long as possible. At some point I may need to draw it back, but if I can work a couple hours a night and some on the weekends, it would be perfect.”

  Happy with his response, I handed over the paperwork. “This is the tax and other payroll info you’ll need to fill out. There’re some other papers for you to sign also, like a confidentiality clause. We’d like to be able to give the race teams and drivers who come around the opportunity to remain out of the public eye.”

  “I understand,” he replied as he looked through the pages and started filling the top one out.

  We sat in silence for a few long minutes before he started speaking while he wrote. “So you grew up with Mia? She’s a nice girl and a great teacher. I have her students every day at the end of the day for gym class.”

  “Yeah,” I said but didn’t elaborate.

  I hadn’t thought about growing up in Shady Falls for a long time, but I remembered how difficult it was for her. Small town folks could be cruel.