ADRIA, SIX YEARS LATER
"Adria, I swear to God I'm leaving your ass if you don't hurry up.
Rolling my eyes I grab my phone from my bedside table and throw down my door.
"I'm coming," I bite out and close my bedroom door harsher than needed echoing off a bang through the house. Taking a deep breath and squaring my shoulders I put one foot in front of the other and walk down the hallway. entering the living space I completely ignore lee who's glaring at me flicking his keys.
Walking right past him I head for his truck. He lets out a sigh but follows behind me.
I open the passenger door getting inside, shutting it I put on my seat belt before lee has rounded to his side. He gets in and starts up t and pulls away heading down our dirt road to go into the town. A lot has changed for me and lee in the past few years. After that night when I was fifteen everything between us changed.
We never spoke about it but I know he knows how much it hurt to not talk about it.
Just over two years ago when I turned eighteen, I finally went to the police station to say I run away when I was a child and if there was a record about missing persons.
Shockingly there was and it turned out I have a grandma I never met, and after the police confirmed it was me, they contacted my grandmother who flew from LA to meet me. She's my father's mum and I found out my dad had died when mama was pregnant with me. When I asked as a kid she always said dad abandoned us. I hated him and had no idea that he was dead, to say it was a shock was an understatement. I still remember her first words she said as soon as she set her eyes upon me.
"Firstly you never call me grandmother, people would never believe it so you will call me lovey." she drags her gaze from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet shaking her head.
"This will not do, come with me child. We have a lot to catch up on."
So from that day, she became me and lee"s fairy godmother. Turned out she was a widow from her last marriage and the guy was loaded leaving her buck loads of money.
Eventually, I grew to tell her where we lived and the poor women almost had a heart attack. But, she was impressed with what he had accomplished being so young and with no help.
Within four days, she bought us a patch of land that was twenty miles from the town we grew up in and she hired an architect to make the dream of our home come true. And by god she did.
We built a whole one-story glass structure(That I might have copied from a certain someone)three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and the best part? You guessed it, it has a hammock that hangs and looks up at the stars.
I love it.
She helped me get my birth certificate and open a bank account, she also contacted a friend of hers to give me and lee exams to see how far behind we were for not going to school. But turns out I and lee were ahead, with not much to do with our time we read a lot and learned ourselves.
Anyway long story short, we passed our exams and lovey asked if we thought about college.
Lee jumped at the chance. Me? Not so much.
I'm not interested in any of that, the only thing I ever wanted to do was drive, so one night, lovey woke me up out of sleep to come and have a talk with her.
I told her about what my dreams were and after some thinking, she offered me an opportunity that I will never forget.
"Adria, my sweet sweet child, you take after your father more than you will ever know," she lights up one of her cigarettes before drinking some of her martini.
"Your father, God rest his soul, was the same. Loved cars. Anything fast and that boy would smile like it was Christmas day." she laughs her eyes glossed stuck in a memory. "He would have become professional if not for that tragic accident." she grimaces and finishes off her drink before turning to look at me.
"Your father would have been proud of you, to see how you survived on your own without help, you're definitely his, no question about that, you have his free spirit about you Adria." she bends forward tucking a loose hair behind my ear.
"And I'm going to help you."
Two years later I own a mechanic shop that's in the good part of town, I've built up a good rep with the customers over the years and at first, I had to get lee to pretend to be the owner. Men Don't like to watch women fix their car when they stand out the way terrified of dirty in their Armani trousers. Plus they're worse knowing I own it. So lee had to be the face until one Fateful day I snapped at a guy in the coffee shop. When he commented to another guy that women shouldn't be asking what about his job and are better off making coffee all because the waitress took an interest in his work. Safe to say I gave that man a piece of my mind that day, and afterward I yelled in the middle of the coffee shop that I was the one who owned.
The Kid, auto shop.
I took off and Didn't even bother with my coffee and the next day when I went to the shop, I couldn't believe my eyes.
The African American waitress who was the one serving the coffee the day before was standing there outside my shop. She walked right up to me handed me the drink I ordered and held out her hand.
"Thank you for what you did yesterday, it's the kick I needed to quit that fucking job, " I put my palm out and shakes her hand, "your welcome, " she nods her head and lets me go, she points to the shop. "You hiring by any chance?"
A smile crosses my lips and I walk past her to the door, unlocking it I gesture to her to follow me.
"Well, I need someone to handle the books, answer phones, book in clients stuff like that." I put down my bag and coffee on the front desk before spinning to look at her.
"Well, what do you say?"
She darts her eyes around the space taking it in, when her eyes get to me she smiles.
"When do I start?"
And the rest is history. We have been friends ever since.
Sometimes I still wait for me to wake up inside the den, and for all this to be a dream.
I'm brought out my thoughts when lee says my name.
"Sorry what?" I ask him. He rolls his eyes before looking back to the road.
"I said, will your bike be ready tonight or will I pick you again?"
I sigh and look out the window. "Yeah, she will be ready Don't worry about me, I'll make it home just fine." I can't quite contain the bite in my voice.
We had a major argument a few nights ago and it got so heated that he went and smashed my bike. He says it was an accident but I Don't believe him, he has been driving and picking me up since. I had to put it in my garage and have Simon fix it up, but we had to finish another car first. Lee has a temper problem and someday it's to come right around and bite him in the ass. He cusses under his breath and I know exactly what's coming next.
"I said I was sorry Adria,(but you still broke it) I will pay for to fix it (with my grandmother's money) Can't you just forget about it and move on?"(Like you have made me do all my life).
I choose not to answer and instead just keep my eyes trained on the road that leads up to my shop. Fucking finally.
When he stops at the curb I grab my bag, Don't even say bye, and exit the car. I close the door making sure to bang it and head into the shop. I feel his annoyance digging into the back of my head. The noise of the tires screeches down the street with the pressure he's pulled off with. Idiot.
Entering the shop I spot ember sitting at the desk on the phone. Walking up I put down my bag and sniffle a laugh at the expression on her face. She rolls her eyes and points to the phone indicating she has a Karen on the other line.
"Yes, I understand that sir, but you can't just bring cars here without booking them in, and to do that I need your details of the said car."
I fight to keep from laughing when her face turns confused.
"Sir, how am I supposed to book your car in without the details of your car?"
"Hello?" she pulls the phone back and looks at it before pressing it back to her ear.
"Sir?" with a scoff she puts down the phone she throws her hands up in the air.
"Did you hear that? How the hell do you book a car in without the details of the car. Honestly some people!"
I finally let out the laugh I was holding making ember scroll at me.
"It's not funny," she says seriously making me laugh more. Ember flips me the bird before settling back into her seat. "Keep laughing, you will know all about it when I don't show up tomorrow."
Letting the last chuckle leave me I head towards the office, "You won't do that, you love me too much."
"Don't bet on it," she hollers back as I enter the room.
We both tease one another but she's a loyal friend and I'm so thankful for her. At first, part of me was scared lee finding out incase he made me pick him over her. Like he did once before.
And at first, he wasn't happy but I put my foot down and made him swear never to do that to me again.
Nope.
Not going to open that can of worms.
I boot up my laptop locking up the thoughts in my head, every time I think about it anger overtakes me. Then that usually causes a fight but I've already argued enough with lee this last week. I don't need another excuse.
❧
"She is ready Adria," I look up from my phone to see Simon standing in the doorway. In a blue overall with the name KIDautoshop printed on the top left, he's every girl's greasy machine dream. Unfortunately, he bats for the other team.
"Thank you, Simon, I really appreciate it," I tell him smiling.
He nods his head before slapping on the door, "No problem boss, I'm going to take off but there someone out front asking for a book in and I can't find ember anywhere," I look at the time and rub my forehead.
"She's gone for the night, it's cool I will check it out. Just go home to Steven."
He eyes me warily. "You sure boss?"
"Yeah, on you go I'll deal with it." he wavers but finally agrees and takes off. I rub my eyes feeling a headache forming, I'm not in the mood to deal with a customer. I just want to go home and eat a burger before sleeping twelve hours. Rounding the table and leaving the office I walk down the corridor to the front of the building where the front door is.
Entering the open room I spot a man who's standing outside with his back to me.
He's wearing a black coat that comes to.his knees and he's got dark hair. But that's all I can manage to make out. I look over to make sure the surveillance is on before I open the door.
The first rule I ever learned as a female was never to trust a man. It doesn't matter who it is
I trusted lee most of my life until he grew up. Now, no matter how hard I try I'm on edge around him. A women's basic instinct is to question any man, and as I get older I find myself question everybody. I walk towards the door with purpose, unlocking it I pull on the handle wanting to get this over with.
"Hey, sorry we're closed-"
The man turns around after hearing me and I stop dead in my tracks when those eyes clash with mine. It's the face of someone I haven't laid eyes on in six years
"No fucking way," I gasp in utter shock. His eyes widen when they land on me and a huge smile breaks out on his face.
"Well, what do ya know, " he comes closer and pulls me right into his arms. "If it isn't jailbait." I chuckle at the use of my old nickname.
"Sam, oh my God, it's been too long, how are you?" I ask pulling back and looking him up and down. Instead of the biker clothed and rugged jeans instead, he's in a clean-cut suit with a long black coat to match. And I would bet cost more than some of my worker's salary.
Gone is his baby face and now that of an older more handsome man, a black beard that's neatly trimmed covers his jaw and chin connection all the way to his dark brown hair. Something about his aura though makes me nervous. There's a hard edge to him that wasn't there before.
Damn. Sam grew up.
"It must be what? Six years since we saw you?" he says we so I'm guessing he's still friends when Jensen. Not ready to ask about him yet.
He slides his gaze up and down me the same way I did him. I look different than I did back then.
My hair used to be long and hang to my waist but now it's midlength and I keep it wavy, my body wasn't bad back then but now it's toned and even filling me out.
My face is the same the only difference really is before I never had tattoos but now I have several scattered across my body.
"You look..." he drags his gaze back time before answering. "You look good JB"
"You're not so bad yourself now Sam, " I cross my arms rubbing them the chilly air hitting making a shiver pass through.
"I'll take that as a compliment." he nods at my shop. "You did well for yourself, how many watches did this take?" I can't help the laugh that bursts from me. He laughs back with me and just like old times we fall back into conversations.
"Fortunately, it wasn't watches." I say calming down. "But It is a long story."
He doesn't ask about it so I don't offer. When he doesn't say anything else a silence stretches us. I Hats being in these situations I decided to ask him a question. "So, im assuming you need work done?"
Tucking his hands into his coat he nods his head and looks up at the sign.
"Yeah, I've got some trouble with one of the cars and my usual guy....left town, so I need someone new and everybody is recommending here." he smiles now to myself and points at my sign. "He's going to love that, "
I try and not to ask about him, but patients were never my thing so I blurt out.
"How is he?"
Sam looks down from the name to me, "He's not doing too good, but I believe you're the answer to my prayers, darling."
I frown at him worry taken root, "what do you mean? Is he okay?"
He scoffs, "He's fine that way Jb but something happened and he's been acting like a fucking child since."
I raise an eyebrow, "So how am I the answer to that?"
A sly smirk plays on his lips, "See you soon JB."
He turns around and leaves me standing without another word.
"Erm, okay?"
He doesn't hear me just keeps walking and gets into the back of a black SUV that's parked right in front of the building. He shuts the door not looking back and within seconds the car is speeding off.
Well, then.
Shaking my head baffled by that conversation I've just experienced, I turn and walk back into the shop. Locking the door I instinctively do my night routine before I leave.
I go over the conversation in my head as I close the shop, I continue to think about it as I get on my bike and drive home. It doesn't leave when I shower or brush my teeth getting ready for bed. And it doesn't go away when I lie down closing my head.
Nope.
It doesn't leave and no matter how hard I try not to I dream of him, Those deep blues eyes who have hunted me for five years.