And hell, he was gone now for almost as long as Eric was.
Still…
I closed my eyes for a moment, envisioning Jacob’s chiseled body, his handsome face. His stubbled jawline pressed lightly against my face as he showed me how to start the lawnmower…
Damn. I could remember it all, now. The sensual way he breathed into my ear. The feel of his strong, calloused hand, closing over my fingers.
He seemed young and warm and boyishly innocent, yet there was something strangely sensual about him. Plus, he’d all but pressed his crotch into my ass as we pulled the cord together. For one brief glorious moment, I even imagined I could feel something stiff and hard pushing against me, right at the junction of my ass and—
The poking of a grubby finger snapped me back to reality. I turned back to my fellow passenger, ready to draw my lip into a snarl.
“Isn’t this your stop?”
Oh shit. It was.
“Thank you,” I smiled gratefully. “Really.”
“No problem,” he grunted back. As I slid past him, he looked up at me hopefully. “Bring gum next time?”
Out through the bus’s window I could see the looming facade of the big chain restaurant I worked at. Just the sight of it made my feet hurt.
“Sure,” I smiled back at my ride-buddy, hoping there wouldn’t be too many next times. “You got it.”
Four
TATE
“He’s guilty,” I shouted at the television. “C’mon, he’s obviously guilty!”
The plaintiff had rested. The defense too. Somewhere in the back of Judge Judy’s mind her finely-tuned bullshit detector went off, and she spent the next two minutes verbally destroying the guy who’d tried counter-suing the neighbor his dog had bitten. Smiling through the last of my tuna sandwich, I silently cheered.
“Get em’ Judy.”
I threw the rest of my lunch in the trash, then wiped my hands on my jumpsuit. I hadn’t even cleared the door to the break room when the old man showed up out of nowhere.
“Did you finish rebuilding the carburetor on that Honda?” he grunted.
“The one you nagged me to rebuild three times already?” I quipped.
“Yeah smartass,” he scowled. “That’s the one.”
I laughed inwardly, looking down at my uncle. Or rather my father’s uncle, which I guess made him my great uncle even though he wasn’t so great.
“Well? Did you?”
Ah, who was I kidding? The man was a goddamn legend.
“What do you want to hear?” I sighed theatrically.
“That you’re doing your job?”
“Then yes, sure,” I lied. “I rebuilt the carburetor.”
“Good, because you have a customer out front,” he jerked his thumb. “Pretty lady, looking for something used.”
“Everything we have is used,” I chuckled.
“Then you should have no problem selling her something.”