Mess Me Up (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 1)

“And since you owe me now, you need to do me a favor,” he ordered.

My brows rose. “What’s that?”

“Drive Vanessa’s car,” he demanded. “I bought it for her, and it’s paid in full. So, use it. Drive it. It’s just sitting there. In fact, you can have it. I loved that car and wanted Vanessa to drive it, but no one is using it now. It may not have the newest technology anymore and probably will need a tune-up because it hasn’t been driven, or even started, since I’ve been in here, but it’s a good, solid car. It’ll be perfect for you.”

Vanessa’s car was brand new off the lot six years ago before she’d been murdered. She’d driven it all of three times before she’d been killed.

It would be a perfect car for me, but I didn’t want to take advantage of my brother just as much as I didn’t want to take advantage of Rome.

“Slate…”

“No.” He shook his head, and his eyes turned hard. “I need you to do it. You’ve taken care of me, and this is the only way I can help take care of you. Take the car. Drive it, use it—it’s yours. This will make me happy, sis.”

I looked down at my hands and swallowed. “Okay.”

I didn’t want to drive Vanessa’s car. Vanessa’s car was Slate’s pride and joy. One of the first of many fallouts with my parents.

It had taken just one time for Slate to show off the car to my mom and dad, showing them the shiny BMW that he’d bought her, for him to realize that they’d never accept her.

Vanessa was the turning point for our family.

Slate and I realized that we’d never make our parents happy with our decisions.

“Stop thinking about them,” Slate muttered, his sharp eyes on me. “They’re not worth it.”

I laughed a little at that.

“Funny,” I said. “You can say that all day long, and my head understands, but my heart on the other hand…”

“Did they meet Rome yet?” he asked.

“Yes.” I paused. “Well, sort of. See, I quit my job with them when they wouldn’t give me time off to help Rome with his son.”

I then went on to explain the entire debacle.

“So, you claimed Abuela when you left, did you?” he teased.

I nodded. “I sure the hell did.”

He leaned back in his chair and laughed. “Tell me what else you’ve gotten up to lately, sister.”

But all the smiles on his beautiful face never met his eyes, and I knew that they never would again.

He’d lost his everything once, and he probably never would smile with true happiness again…well, at least not until he found his next Vanessa.Chapter 18When you finally find true love, hold onto it with both hands. Sometimes tacos can be hard to handle.

-Izzy to Rome

Rome

“You’re a natural,” I said. “You’ll ace the test…if you borrow my truck and just go take it and quit being stubborn.”

She sent me a quelling look. “I’m not stubborn.”

I opened my mouth to offer her the money to buy herself a car, then shut it again.

She wouldn’t take my money, just like she refused my rides.

I’d offered them to her time and time again, and each time she turned them down with a negative shake of her head.

I can walk, was always her answer.

Rather than getting in a fight about it, I only pulled out the big guns when she was spending time with me. Then she couldn’t argue.

“Why not use mine?” I suggested. “You know how it handles, and you’re driving the truck well.”

She bit her lip.

“I guess I could do that.” She paused. “You really don’t mind?”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t drive the truck unless it’s raining.”

What was left unsaid was that I had no reason to drive the truck anymore was because my son was dead, and he didn’t need the safety of the cab and his booster seat any longer.

She sighed. “Slate offered me Vanessa’s car, but I don’t think I can drive it.”

I frowned. “Vanessa?”

“His fiancée—the one who was shot,” I murmured. “He’d just bought her a new car for her birthday. Vanessa was pregnant, and he wanted her in something safer.”

I made a sound in my throat.

“I asked him if he had a motorcycle,” I murmured, sounding just as upset as I felt at hearing that news. “He said you were supposed to sell it.”

She gave me a glare. “Yeah, thanks for that by the way. He yelled at me.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t know that he didn’t know.”

She gave me a teasing look. “I have my brother wrapped around my little finger.” She held it up for emphasis.

I was too far gone to tell her that I was wrapped around it right along with him.

“What do you want me to do next?” she asked, coming to a stop in the middle of the large parking lot.