Tight

He was looking at me weird, as if he had something on his mind. Grease was smeared around his neck and on one side of his cheek, his hands covered in black from working on the Impala all day.

“You’re acting weird, like weirder than normal,” he finally said, and walked past me to wash off his hands in the sink. “Like, been acting weird these last couple of days.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “Why don’t you tell me what’s up?”

“Nothing. You’re paranoid.”

I turned and headed back to the engine, but the truth was, I did want to talk to someone on neutral territory. I wasn’t going to talk about this shit with my friends, the ones who would bust my balls for not going after her, who would give me a hard time even though they didn’t know the whole story or the background. They were also the kind of assholes who would give me shit for being celibate.

I looked over at Jacks, who was drying his hands.

I pulled the matchstick out of my mouth and tucked it in the small breast pocket of my coveralls. I contemplated telling Jacks any of this, but I needed to unload on someone, and he was the safest option given the fact we weren’t really friends but worked together daily.

“Actually, let me ask you something,” I said and waited for him to turn around to face me. He lifted a brow as he tossed the rag onto the counter.

Jacks crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the sink. “Shoot.”

It took me a moment to grow the balls to say the words, because this whole time I’d kept how I felt for Kennedy a secret.

“I have this …friend. He wants this girl. Bad. But being with her might cause issues within their families because, well…” I ran my hand over my jaw, the scruff covering my skin slightly abrading my palm. “People might see them being together as wrong.”

Jacks knitted his brows. “Wrong? What do you mean?”

I shrugged and walked over to the endgame. A second later Jacks lowered the music so it wasn’t so ear-splitting. I looked over my shoulder at him and saw I had his full attention.

Of course, I did. This was probably the juiciest gossip a grease monkey like him had heard in a long fucking time.

“Don’t leave me hanging. How is it wrong to be with her? She his sister or some shit?” He tipped his head back and barked out a laugh.

When I turned and faced him fully, not answering, my expression staying stoic, he sobered.

“Fuck, dude, she his sister?” He looked shocked and disgusted all at the same time.

“Hell no, but she is family … kind of.”

“How are you kind of family?” He lifted a brow. “Man, this is confusing as hell.” Jacks scratched his head as if he was trying to figure out some hard fucking math equation.

“I’ll put it this way. She’s part of his family but they aren’t related.” I exhaled, suddenly feeling pretty fucking exhausted talking about this. I stared at Jacks and waited for him to say something, anything. I didn’t know why I needed validation from him, but I wanted to hear him say that it wasn’t a big deal. “So, what would you do if you were in his shoes? Go after her despite what people would most likely say, or stay back because of who she is and the shit you both would get?”

It took him a solid minute before he answered, but he still looked grossed out that I’d even mentioned anything.

“Man, to be honest, it kind of gives me the creeps. Like, I get they aren’t related, but shit, dude, she’s still family, you know? Blood or not, I wouldn’t fucking touch that shit with a ten-foot pole.” He shrugged. “I also wouldn’t want to open that can of worms. Can you image how family gatherings would go?” He snorted. “Hey Mom and Dad, you know Susie here, right? Well I’m fucking her now.” He barked out another laugh.

I narrowed my eyes, feeling pissed at Jacks even though it wasn’t his fault. He’d given me his honest opinion, one I’d asked for, one that would probably be the same for nearly everyone. I’d even expected that to be his answer, but I’d been hoping that he’d tell me it wasn’t a big deal, that he’d go for it in a heartbeat because he cared about her and fuck what anyone said. “Dude, shut the fuck up and don’t go there.”

He lifted his hands in surrender.

I got back to work on the engine, and a few moments passed before Jacks spoke again.

“So, like, this friend of yours … he you, man?”

I stopped working and glanced over at him. “Nah. Friend of mine, like I said.”