I look at her expectantly. “When was it?”
“Fine, it was too long ago. A year maybe. But don’t tell King that, okay? He thinks I had it done recently.”
“You told him you had it done when you didn’t?”
“Yes! Otherwise he would just keep giving me hell about it.”
I frown. “Why wouldn’t you just tell him the truth and get it done?”
She looks at me like I’m the biggest idiot on the planet. “Ah, I don’t know, maybe because it’s expensive.”
“Fuck, Zara, you do realise King has a whole clubhouse of guys who know their way around an engine, right? That shit could be done for free if you can’t afford it.” While I think she’s made a poor choice, I can’t deny it helps reinforce my new impression of her. The fact she hasn’t begged her parents for free shit impresses me.
She places her hands on her hips and hits me with a defiant look. “Yeah, well maybe I don’t want to hassle him when I know he’s got a whole head full of problems that are way worse than mine.”
“Yeah, well maybe you should hassle him because he’d rather know you’re safe, especially at night. Imagine if you’d broken down somewhere other than here.”
Something I’ve said hits home with her and her defensiveness disappears. “Fine. You’ve made your point. I’ll talk to him about it.”
“I’ll check it out for you.”
She waves me off. “It’s all good. I’ll get it sorted with King. I don’t want to put you out.”
I’ve no fucking idea why I continue offering her help except my mouth seems to have taken over my body and is hell-bent on making promises all over the damn place. “I’m here all night with nothing else to do. I’ll take a look at it now and see if I can fix it.”
She turns silent for a moment before saying slowly, “Okay, thank you.” Then she says, “Umm, do you want a drink? I mean, it’s hot and all.”
I nod. “Thanks.”
Taking a step back, she says, “I’ll be back in a minute.” With that, she turns and hurries inside. It’s like she can’t get in there fast enough. I’ve no idea what the fuck just happened, but something did. Her voice changed and she practically stumbled over herself to get away from me. I’ll never fucking understand women.
10
Zara
* * *
God, could I be any more awkward? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me? After last night, I can’t stop thinking about Fury. I’m so confused about him. Does he like me? Do I like him? Or is this thing between us—if it can even be called a thing—just physical? Like, the guy is hot, no doubt about it, but is that all I’m feeling about him? Gah. Having him show up and offer to do something to help me only confuses me more. Now he’s being nice. Like he was last night. It makes me want to spend time with him. And that doesn’t feel like just a physical attraction.
I wish Holly were here. She’s the practical one out of the two of us. She’d talk me around until I saw this for the bad idea it is. Besides the fact he’s older than me, Fury is Storm for goodness’ sake. King laid down the law with me months ago and told me to take my attention off his guys. He’d never be okay with something happening between Fury and me. Holly would remind me of that if she were here.
So, because I don’t have my older sister to give me some of her wisdom, I try to talk some sense into myself. I pour Fury a glass of cold water and run through all these reasons why allowing this attraction to grow is a bad idea. I’m on reason number five when my phone rings. I glance at it and see it’s Marissa. Again. This is like the tenth time today she’s called.
I know she’s just going to keep going, so I snatch the phone up. “Hey,” I answer, snappier than I was going for. But I can’t help it; I feel snappy towards Marissa.
“Oh no, don’t you ‘hey’ me like you haven’t been ignoring all my calls,” she snaps back. “What the fuck’s going on, Zara?”
I’
ve pretty much come to the realisation that Marissa is not a good friend to me and that I really don’t think I want her in my life anymore. Ending the friendship is going to be hard, but keeping it will be harder. “I’ve got some personal stuff going on.” Not a lie. “But we do need to talk.”
“Damn straight we need to talk. Why did you tell Tommy you don’t wanna see him anymore?”
“Because I don’t. The guy’s a dick.”
“That’s never stopped you before.”
“What the hell does that mean?”