Fast

by Gillian Archer

  That bitter smile still curving his lips—probably because of my less than smooth reaction to his scars—he raised his eyebrows. “Should I come back another time?”

  “No, sorry. The guys aren’t in today—they’re shooting a bike reveal with Cole Jackson.” I replied, referring to the rock star we’d built two bikes for now. My cousins and I ran a motorcycle shop where the guys built custom bikes for clients while filming a reality show all about our dysfunctional relationship. My cousins liked to argue and occasionally got physical, meanwhile I was the boring accountant who was rarely on camera. And I liked it that way.

  “Uh…” Logan’s gaze darted to mine for the first time in minutes but quickly fell away again.

  “But they asked me to stay and show you around.”

  “Right.” He sighed like that was the most annoying news ever.

  My heart shriveled. I’d been so torn about this meeting, not wanting to see him but aching to find out what had happened. Two years ago he’d made it sound like we’d be back together the minute he got back to town, but I’d never heard from him. He went so far as to delete all his social media. Hell, he’d never returned a single call from me. I guess that in and of itself was all the answer I really needed.

  I gave him a sad smile. “Let’s start in the workshop.”

  He grunted in agreement. “Lead the way.”

  My smile felt tight on my lips as I turned on my heel and all but stomped into the workshop. Pointing out the parts of the existing system that I knew of, I watched as he took notes. Occasionally he asked a few questions that I didn’t have answers to, but mostly he avoided looking at me or even talking to me as he took copious notes and measured a few distances.

  After a few minutes he turned and gave me another one of grunts. “I need to see the paint shed next.”

  It felt like my heart was breaking in my chest. I didn’t know who this angry stranger in front of me was. This wasn’t the smooth, charming man I’d started falling for two years ago. Now he was a grunting, kinda bitter stranger with physical scars to match the ones he no doubt had running inside as well.

  And from the way he was acting, he didn’t know me. He didn’t remember me. I was a stranger to him. And not even one worthy of flirting with. Sometimes I had to hide in my office when customers came through. Some of our more unsavory clients assumed I was a perk of the shop—some bimbo to flirt with and occasionally try to grope. Before the television deal, we’d lost more than one job to assholes like that. Well their assumptions, my knee, and my cousins’ hot tempers.

  But not Logan. I could’ve been his elderly aunt for all the attention he gave me. There was no spark of recognition, no flirty banter, nothing.

  I robotically took him through the rest of the tour while I tried not to fall to pieces in front of him.

  It was a relief when we finished even as we stood awkwardly in the reception area.

  “I think that’s it.” Logan set his clipboard down on the table and pulled his wallet out. A second later he held a business card between two fingers. “Please pass this onto Austin. I’ll have a detailed quote for him by Monday and if he approves, we could start work as soon as a week from now. I appreciate you taking the time to show me around.”

  Something about the way he held that business card out, like I was a little peon to do his bidding had me seeing red.

  I lost it.

  I’d carried around all this pain for two years and he had the nerve to hold his business card out like that? “What the hell?”

  He blinked but didn’t say anything.

  I shook my head in frustration. “Why did I ever waste my time on you. Sleep with you? I’ve held all this pain inside me when you ghosted me—two years ago and just now, live and in person. Like an asshole.”

  Logan’s eyes widened slightly but other than that he didn’t react to my little outburst.

  Or say anything.

  “I never thought you were this much of a bastard. I guess my asshole radar could use a little work, huh?” I snatched the business card out of his hand and held it up between my two fingers like he’d done to me. “I’ll be sure to give this to my cousin. Have a nice life.”

  Logan didn’t look at me as he turned and left the building.

  Shaking my head, I tore around the shop in a haze of anger, turning off all the lights, dropping Logan’s card off Austin’s desk (when all I really wanted to do was rip it up into tiny shreds), and locking all the exterior doors.

  When I knew enough time had passed for the asshole to leave, I was behind the wheel of my plum crazy painted Dodge Charger that my new bestie convinced me to buy—much to my cousins’ chagrin. My baby squealed out of the lot as the tires left a burnout streak in my wake.

  I drove on autopilot while my mind churned the past hour over and over again. Freaking asshat. Did he seriously want me to believe that he didn’t remember me? That the two months we’d spent together meant nothing to him? And he still didn’t even really know why I was so pissed—why his final betrayal wounded me so deeply. But I’d be damned if I gave him even that much.

  Blinking, I took in my surroundings. Somehow I’d ended up at my mom’s restaurant—Bette’s Diner, named for the last owner and not my mom, Wendy. The lot was mostly empty, but I recognized her decrepit Toyota Camry parked in the far corner. No matter how much my cousins threatened and cajoled, she refused to part with the P.O.S. I sighed and let my head thunk back onto the headrest. I loved my mom, but I couldn’t talk to her about Logan. She didn’t know any of the important details, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to spill the beans now, two years later.

  Instead, I put my baby into gear and much more slowly this time, pulled out of the parking lot and headed to see my oldest and dearest friend. Of anyone, Madison would understand how I was feeling. She’d been the only one I let in during that dark time.

  Half an hour later, I could feel the tension leaving my body as I stared at the familiar brick building. There was just something about this place that filled me with peace. The small 1930s building was quaint and cute and kinda like home now.

  Or maybe it was the knowledge that Maddie was inside.

  As I pushed through the walnut doors, my eyes immediately searched for her. She wasn’t behind the main desk, so I pivoted and headed for the second story stacks where I knew she sometimes liked to hide.

  I found her in the farthest corner sitting next to her book cart, thumbing through a hardback book. Shaking my head, I snuck up behind her. When I was a few feet away, I cleared my throat.

  Maddie let out a muffled shriek and jumped six inches into the air. Clutching the book to her chest, she spun around and glared at me. “I should’ve known it was you.” Her voice was a harsh whisper in the still room. “Only someone who grew up with four older brothers could be so mean.”

  I snorted. She was right.

  I nodded to the book she still clutched. “Anything good there?”

  “Of course. It’s La Nora. I’d read her grocery lists.” Maddie rolled her eyes and shoved the book onto the shelf. “What are you doing here? I thought we weren’t meeting for book club till next week. Did you come to scope out your next pick?”

  “No. I don’t… I can’t…” I raked a jittery hand through my hair. The long drive didn’t do anything to calm me down. “Can you take a break?”

  Maddie stood up with wide eyes. “Yeah, you know we’re not on a strict schedule here. What’s going on? Are you okay? Is your mom okay?”

  “Yeah, no. We’re fine. It’s not…” I shook my head as a croaking sob sound lurched out of me.

  “Sabrina.” My friend grabbed my shoulders and pulled me in for a tight hug. And I just lost it. I shuddered as tears burned my eyes and sobs shook my body. Maddie held tight and gently rubbed my back through it all. She didn’t try to talk me out of crying—she just held on and let me fall to pieces.

  After what felt like ages, I finally calmed down and pulled away from my friend with a wry smile. “Than
ks.”

  Maddie pulled a pack of tissues from her back pocket. “Always. Are you feeling up to talking about it?”

  I took a second and wiped my eyes—thank god for smudge proof mascara—then blew my nose. “Logan is back.”

  “Logan, Logan?” Maddie’s eyes all but swallowed her face.

  “Yes, that Logan.”

  “Did he explain why he never called you back?”

  “No. I couldn’t tell if he honestly couldn’t remember me or if he turned into an asshole. Either way he was practically unrecognizable. He was all blunt and abrasive and dismissive. Then at the end he held his business card up to me like I was a total stranger, and I just lost it. I tore him a new one and he ran out of the shop like his pants were on fire.”

  Maddie grunted much like Logan had a little bit ago. The sound gave me a pang. “Good. Sounds like he deserved it. What was he even doing at Badass Builds?”

  I tried not to notice the way my bestie whispered the shop’s name almost reverently. I knew she had a crush on one of my cousin, but I never teased her about it. I knew nothing would ever come of it. Maddie wasn’t the kinda girl my cousins went for. She was too nice and smart and just…normal for lack of a better word. She was my bestie, and I’d neuter any of my cousins who’d dare to touch her. Because they’d break her heart and she wouldn’t want to hang out anymore. It wouldn’t be the first time I lost a friend over them. They knew better now.

  “I guess Logan installs sprinkler systems or something now and we were getting quotes for a new system.”

  “Are you going to let the guys hire him? Can you imagine having hanging around for god knows how long to install it?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to wait and see his quote. Hopefully he’s more expensive than the other firm.”

  “Have you told your cousins about him? About…” She tilted her head, letting the thing go unspoken.

  I shook my head. “Ryan knows some but not everything. He’s the only one.”

  “They’re your family, Sabrina. If anyone would understand, it’s them. They’ll back you one hundred percent.”

  “I don’t want to answer their questions. I don’t want to dig that up all over again. Hey if he can pretend to forget about me, I can pretend to forget him too. Girls can be assholes too.”

  “Sure, sure.” Maddie gave me a disbelieving look. “If you say so. How’d he look? Still as yummy as ever?”

  I knew what she was trying to get me to say, but I wasn’t gonna. “He’s uh, still tall, muscular.” I closed my eyes as I briefly remembered that feeling when he first came into the shop and how he’d still smelled the same. Shaking my head, I opened my eyes and shrugged. “He kinda had some scars that made me think maybe he was injured in that fire.”

  Maddie’s eyes widened. “Maybe it’s not an act. Could be he has amnesia.”

  “Amnesia? Really? I thought that was super rare. Especially for it to last this long and go that far back. I think you’ve been reading too many romance novels.”

  Maddie laughed. “You might have a point there.”

  My lips twitched at the sound of her laughter. But my brain kept turning over her amnesia suggestion. Was he being as asshole or did he really not remember me? Did I just off on someone who didn’t know what the hell I was talking about?

  It would explain his bafflement in the face of my rage. “Maybe he really does have amnesia.”

  Maddie blinked. “Really, Sabby? You were just mocking my suggestion a few seconds ago. Sounds to me you’re doing everything you can to give him the benefit of the doubt. Do you still have feelings for him?”

  “No, of course not.” I scoffed weakly.

  “Sabrina.”

  “I don’t, okay? I learned my lesson. I don’t do smooth bad boys anymore. Not that Logan is a smooth bad boy now, but that’s not the point. Hopefully none of that matters and I won’t have to see him again.”

  “Right.” Maddie bit her lip.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Just say it.”

  Maddie sighed. “Fine. If I know anything about you and I think after almost two decades of friendship I do, it’s that this is not over.”

  “Maddie.” It was my turn to sigh.

  “No, you guys had a baby together. You have acres of unfinished business and you’ll never be able to move on until you sort your shit out.”

  I had to laugh at that. You’d think she was a therapist and not a librarian. “You made me sound like a ghost haunting him or something.”

  “No, he’s the spirit who’s been haunting you for the past two years.”

  “I think you’re mistaking him for the baby I miscarried.”

  Maddie winced. “Sabrina, I’m sorry. That was a poor choice of words. I didn’t mean to make light of—”

  “No, I’m sorry.” I’d lashed out without thought and now felt like shit. Maddie had been there for me then and always. I couldn’t take out my horrible feelings on her of all people. “I was the one to say it first. But let’s just drop it, okay? I don’t have feelings or unfinished business with Logan. I’d be ecstatic if I never saw him or heard from him ever again.”

  “Okay. If you say so…” Maddie’s disbelieving tone said it all.

  “I do.” I gave my friend a sad smile. “But thanks for letting me unload all over you.”

  “What are best friends for? You know I love you.”

  “Ditto, chica. You’re my soul sister. Well, you and Hope.”

  “Agreed. We good for dinner tonight?”

  I sighed. More than anything I wanted to postpone but that would only prove Maddie’s point about Logan, and I’d be damned if I did that. “You know it. See you.”

  “Later.”

  I gave her another hug then headed for the front door before she could pry any further into my brain. I was done with Logan no matter what she said. The past was best left in the past and that was where Logan belonged.

  In the past.

  Spark: A Bad Boy’s Second Chance Romance

  Burns Brothers #3 is available for preorder.