by Nikki Ash
I sigh and Heath groans. “What now?”
I don’t know why I even bother telling him. Half the time he acts like he hates me too. But then he hands me a handful of cash, tosses me a wicked smile, and for a second I feel connected to him. Because I crave that fatherly attention, I find myself blabbing what’s on my mind.
“What if she doesn’t pick me?” He seems so sure Cat will choose me, but nothing she’s done indicates she’s going to choose me over the mechanic. He hasn’t seen the way she smiles whenever Harrison’s near. The way they kiss when they’re together.
It’s disgusting to watch. She was a virgin when I arrived this summer. Sweet and innocent. The last thing I want are the scraps from that blue-collared stray dog. It’s only a matter of time until he convinces her to let him pop that cherry. “It’s not fair.”
“Stop whining like a little bitch,” Heath snaps. “I said she’ll pick you. End of story. Now pay attention to how I drive so you don’t destroy this two-hundred-thousand-dollar car.”
“I’m not whining,” I say. “I’m just saying if she doesn’t pick me soon, she’s going to fuck him, and I don’t want his leftovers.” It’s bad enough my dad has gone further with her than I have.
I feel Heath glaring daggers at me. “You’re not giving up on her, are you?”
“No, I mean…I don’t know.”
He pulls up the driveway and slams on the brake. “Listen here, boy. If you want to be left anything in my fucking will. If you want that credit card and bank account. If you want me to pay for your pretty boy ass to go to Yale, you will get the girl.” His face is nearly purple with rage and his brown eyes are flaring with fury. “You. Will. Get. The. Girl. Understood? Catrina Crenshaw should’ve been mine!”
I frown in confusion. “Don’t you mean Lincoln?”
Heath seethes. “You know what I fucking mean! Man the fuck up and take what you want! Don’t let that fucking orphan take what’s yours. If he fucks her, it’s only because you were too much of a fucking pussy to make her yours. And my son isn’t a fucking pussy.”
He slams the door and stalks inside. Sighing, I get out so I can go pick up Cat from school. I took the day off to go to the bank and sign some papers with my dad and handle Cat’s car situation. She should be done with practice by now.
“Theo.” I look up from my phone and see Anne standing there. I didn’t notice her car is parked in the drive.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came by to talk to Cat.” She rolls her eyes.
“Everything okay?” Cat should be at practice with Anne.
“Yeah.” She shrugs. “Apparently she’s considering quitting the cheer squad. She hasn’t shown up to practice in a few days. I told the girls I would come over and talk to her, even though she totally doesn’t deserve it after the way she went off on everyone on Monday.”
“What happened?” This doesn’t sound like the Cat I know. She spent the entire summer creating new cheers outside by the pool. Excited to teach them to her squad.
“It’s that mechanic.” Anne’s nose scrunches up in disgust. “He showed up to practice to pick her up. A couple comments were made and she went crazy defending him.”
“He’s a bad influence on her.” A lightbulb goes off. “Maybe you could convince her otherwise.” I run my fingers down Anne’s arm and she melts right here. Why the fuck can’t Cat do that?
“I tried.” She pouts. “Wanna show me your room?” She bats her lashes. I told myself I wouldn’t fuck Anne anymore. I want Cat, and I can’t chance her finding out I’m still fucking her friend.
“No.” My goal is Cat.
Anne steps closer and grips my dick through my pants. “I’ll let you call me Cat.” She kisses the side of my neck and rubs up and down my erection. I groan at her touch. Maybe just once more.
“Help me break up Harrison and Cat.”
“You told me the name calling was just a kink.” Anne gives me a look of disgust. “You don’t like want to date her, do you?”
“No!” I bark out. “We’re family and I’m worried about her. The guy is a fucking loser. Cat deserves better.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do. I can ask my sister about him. She hooked up with him before.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, Daddy calls it her rebel phase. She dropped out of school and started working at Tillie’s.” Anne sticks her finger in her throat and pretends to gag.
“What’s Tillie’s?”
“The strip club in town. We’re not exactly close right now, but I could talk to her.”
“Call her.”
“What?” She gives me a confused look.
“Call your sister right now.”
Anne pouts but does as I ask, handing me the phone.
“Is this Anne’s sister?” I ask when she answers the phone.
“It is. This is Violet. Who’s this?”
“I’m a friend of your sister’s. How would you like to make five grand?”
“I’m listening.”
I go through the details of what I want her to do and when I’m done, I give her my number so she can let me know when everything is in place. When I hang up, Anne’s hand goes back to my dick.
“Let me please you, Theo. You seem very stressed.”
She unbuttons my pants and pulls my dick out. Then, dropping onto her knees right here on the driveway, she swallows me whole. Fuck, her wet mouth feels so good. Gripping her hair, I pump my dick in and out of her mouth. Closing my eyes, I imagine it’s Cat’s mouth on me, taking me down her throat. I imagine the noises are Cat enjoying the taste of my dick, and seconds later I’m shooting my load down her throat with a groan and my cousin’s name on my lips.
Anne stands and wipes her mouth, and I zip my pants.
“I need to find out where Cat is. I’ll let her know you came by.”
“She’s inside. I already told you I came by to see her. She had your maid pick her up from school. Guess her new boy toy must not have been available.”
Shit! I glance around, checking to make sure Cat didn’t just see Anne suck my dick. I don’t need her coming up with another reason not to give us a chance.
“I’m going out of town,” Heath announces. “I have some business in Jersey that needs my attention. Helen will be here if you need anything.”
“Oh,” Helen says, setting down the lasagna she made for dinner. “Did you forget to check the calendar? I leave tomorrow for the weekend.”
“Cancel,” Heath demands.
“No.” Helen frowns. “I visit my family’s graves, like I do every year.”
Heath glares.
Helen smirks.
Heath groans.
Apparently Helen has the magic touch because she’s the only one Heath doesn’t treat like shit.
“Fucking great,” Heath hisses.
My eyes dart down to my phone for the millionth time. Violet needs to hurry her ass up. I’m not sure what time Harrison gets off work and in order for my plan to be successful he needs to be there.
“I’m leaving you in charge. Anything gets fucked up and I’m holding you responsible.”
I pull my gaze off my phone to see who Heath’s speaking to. His eyes are trained on me.
“Me?” I question.
“Yes, you! Pay fucking attention.” He reaches over and smacks the back of my head.
“Heath, language,” Helen chides, and he scoffs.
Cat’s eyes meet mine and she gives me a bright smile. Confused, I tilt my head to the side. She looks into her lap and a second later, my phone goes off.
Cat: Daddy’s leaving! Party!
“I’m not sure what day I’ll be back. Most likely Sunday. Think you can handle holding shit down here until then?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Don’t fuck up.”
I glance back down at my phone and there’s another text from Cat.
Cat: Tomorrow night after the football game.
Shit! W
ell, he did tell me to get the fucking girl.
Me: Okay
Cat sends me a text right back.
Cat: Whoop! Thank you!
Before I can reply, my phone goes off again with a message from Violet.
Violet: On my way.
“Hey, Cat, we need to go.” It’s time to put my plan into motion. If everything goes the way I’m hoping for, soon enough Cat will be all mine.
“Where?” Cat gives me a perplexed look.
I stand and grab my keys from the counter. “Your car is ready. We need to go pick it up.”
“Wow, that was fast,” Cat says. “I thought it would take another week at least.”
“Money talks,” I quip.
“What about dinner?” Helen asks.
“We need to go now before the shop closes. Can you save it for us for when we get back?”
“Sure.” Helen smiles softly.
Heath gives me a questioning look but remains silent. He knows there’s no way the car is ready.
Cat stands and asks, “How much do I owe you? I’m looking into getting a job.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” I insist. “I told you already I would take care of it. I’ll take care of you.”
She frowns but nods. “I appreciate that, but I want to pay you back.”
Not wanting to argue, I say, “We’ll figure it out.”
We arrive at the auto shop, and I send a quick text to Violet to let her know we’re here. I drive slowly to give her a second to get in place, being careful not to grind the gears so I don’t tip off fuckboy. Instead of parking in the parking lot, I pull up right in front, giving us a perfect view of inside the shop.
And just as I planned, leaning against some piece-of-shit car with a hot woman pressing up against him, is none other than Harrison. Violet’s in a skimpy as fuck pair of shorts with her ass cheeks hanging out. I can’t see the front of her, but her shirt is so short, it must be showing the bottom of her tits. She’s definitely earning that five grand. Maybe, I’ll even give her an extra grand just to be nice. It’s not like it’s my money I’m spending.
Violet’s arms are wrapped around Harrison’s neck, and by the look on his face, I only have a few seconds before he shoves her away.
“Holy shit!” I yell and Cat looks up from her phone. I know when she sees the scene in front of her because her lips downturn into a frown and her head tilts slightly to the side. Her beautiful green eyes squint like she can’t believe what she’s seeing and she needs to focus harder.
“What a fucking asshole!” I hiss dramatically. “Let me get you out of here.” Putting the car into reverse, I start to back up. The gear grinds at the same moment Harrison finally shoves Violet off him. The timing couldn’t have been better. His gaze hits the car and his eyes go wide like he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t have been doing.
He starts stalking toward the car as I press the gas, peeling out and heading away from the shop.
“Wait! Turn around!” Cat begs, finally finding her voice. “I need to see who that was. I couldn’t tell for sure from behind.”
“Cat, that’s Violet. Stripper Violet. As in Anne’s sister.”
Cat’s forehead creases with a deep frown. “That’s who I thought it was.” She’s quiet for a moment and then she says, “Wait! How do you know her?”
“I’ve seen her with her sister, Anne,” I lie. “We hung out last week and she was stopping by to borrow an outfit from Anne.”
“Why would Harrison be with her?” Cat shakes her head back and forth, not wanting to believe her precious Harrison would ever cheat on her.
“Cat, I thought you knew.” I slow down the car to give us more time to talk. “Harrison and Violet fuck each other on the regular.”
“No, that doesn’t make sense. Anne told me it was only once.” Cat pulls her vibrating cell phone out.
Shit! Thinking quick, I say, “Maybe he decided to give her another chance. You saw her body. I mean, she’s fucking hot.”
Cat glares daggers at me. Fuck! Wrong thing to say.
“I’m just saying from what I’ve heard, Harrison has fucked his way through the entire town. Is it so shocking that we would see him with Violet, a stripper he’s fucked before?”
“I need to talk to him,” she insists. “If he is fucking her then he needs to tell me to my face. Turn back around.”
Shit. Fuck. Damn.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. What if we go back there and they’re fucking? Do you really want to see that?”
“Turn around or I’m going to get out and walk back there myself,” she demands with her hand on the handle. Her phone vibrates and it’s Harrison. Before she can answer the call, I snatch the phone out of her hand.
“What the hell!” she shrieks. “Give me my damn phone!” She starts attacking me for the phone and I have no choice but to pull over before we get into an accident.
“Cat, think about this,” I plead. “You know what you saw. If you answer his call, he’s just going to lie. Say it’s not what it looked like. I’ve heard bad things about him. Trust me, please.”
She freezes in her place for a moment and I think she’s going to listen. But then she pulls the handle on the door and before I can hit the locks, she swings the door open and stumbles out.
“Cat, wait!” I yell, fumbling with the keys to turn the car off. “Where are you going?” I run after her.
“I told you I’m going to talk to Harrison!”
“Cat! Get back in the car!” I desperately beg. Fuck! I didn’t see this coming. I thought she would be heartbroken. I’d take her home and she’d cry on my shoulder while I comforted her. I would convince her to forget about that dumbass and give me a chance.
“Cat, please!”
“No!” She continues to trek down the road. I pick up my pace to catch up to her. I need to get her ass back in the car! If I have to drag her back, that’s what I’ll do. She can’t talk to Harrison. It will fuck everything up! I just need some more time to convince her.
My hand grips her bicep and she flails her arm out. It smacks me right in my nose, and I stop and bring my hands up to my nose to see if I’m bleeding. Crimson liquid runs down my fingers.
“Cat! I think you broke my nose!” I cry out. I look up to see if she’s stopped. The rumble of a motorcycle is heard first. And then I see him…her stupid mechanic hero on his metal horse coming to save my princess.
Fuck.
Harrison
“GET OUT OF THE FUCKING way,” I roar as the minivan in front of me taps its brakes for the hundredth time since I pulled out onto the road.
They put on their blinker and I gas it, zipping past them. The wind is cold tonight and I didn’t have time to grab my hoodie, but I don’t care. I was a man on a mission. Hell, if Damian knew I left the shop wide-open to chase after them, I’d probably lose my job. At one time, I wouldn’t have done such a thing to jeopardize the job I love so much.
But right now, all that matters is clearing shit up with Cat.
My gut churns at remembering the look on her face. Everything happened so fast. I was working on replacing the timing belt on a Volkswagen Bug when some chick I bagged one lonely night decided to waltz in and throw herself at me. Before I could tell her to back the fuck off, I saw Cat and Theo watching us. It was almost as if that little shit planned it.
I wouldn’t put it past him.
He’s Heath’s son after all.
I’ll figure out the whys later, but for now, I have to get my girl back.
My girl.
Possessiveness, hot and fiery like motherfucking lava, burns through my veins. Hell yes, she’s mine. I’ve been with enough women to know what feels different and right and fucking real. Cat is all of those things. She’s mine. I don’t care if I have to chase her down, toss her over my shoulder, and yell it to the world. Now that I finally know what it feels like to be happy, I’ll be damned if I let a misunderstanding steal it away from me.
&
nbsp; Up ahead, I see brake lights on a vehicle that’s pulled over on the side of the road. My chest tightens as I hold out hope it’s Cat. That fucker can barely drive his car, so the odds are stacked in my favor that he’s stalled out or some shit. As I near the vehicle and see my beautiful fucking girl stomping away from him, my heart stutters in my chest.
I hit the brakes as I pull off on the shoulder and my bike slips. I fishtail a bit on the gravel but manage to stop twenty feet in front of her.
“Cat,” I call out, my voice strained.
She runs toward me, her stupid cousin calling after. I yank off my helmet and hand it to her. We can talk later. Away from this prick. She straddles the bike behind me and situates her helmet.
“Get me out of here,” she orders, hugging my middle.
I gas it and whip back around the way we came. Theo calls out behind us, but the roar of my engine drowns him out. She hugs me tighter and some of the tension bleeds from me. If she thought something worse than what she saw, she wouldn’t be here with me. Her palms wouldn’t be rubbing my stomach as though she can’t get enough of me.
We whip into the shop parking lot and I pull into the open bay. Thank fuck the chick from earlier is gone and nobody is trying to rob the place. I shut off the engine and before I can get a word out, she climbs off. I slide off and approach her. She looks so fucking cute with the helmet on her head. My little bobble head with the big, sweet lips I’m craving to kiss.
“Who was she?” she asks, her voice shaky.
“Nobody,” I say, stepping closer.
She takes a step back and unlatches the helmet. Once she’s freed herself, she hands it to me, putting space between us. Her green eyes flicker with sadness and her pouty lips aren’t smiling.
Fucking Theo.
I don’t know what he did, but I know that asshole is responsible.
“Cat, listen,” I say softly as I set the helmet down on the ground beside me. “Whatever you saw—”
“You,” she snips, crossing her arms over her chest. “With a stripper. That’s what I saw, so we’re clear.”
Scrubbing my palm over my face in frustration, I try to remind myself that she came to me. She didn’t run. “I fucked her once. Months ago. You know my past is shitty.”
