Page 10 of Kade
I study his face. “You don’t look like it’s fine.”
Kade rubs his jaw before answering. “Micah’s a little different. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I nod. I know there’s more to it, but Kade’s face has shut down. It’s clear we’re not discussing this further.
“I’ll look at your car, then let you know what I find. Just…wait for a bit.” He waves me into the empty waiting room.
I salute him with a smile. “Yes, sir!” then wander past him into the office and sit down in one of the customer chairs. I pull my hood up, cross my arms over my chest, and slide down into the chair. Might as well sit here for a while and worry about how screwed I am if the repair is as expensive as Jake said it would be.
Kade’s boots stay pointed at me for a few more seconds, and he whispers, “Sir,” in a way that makes my lady bits happy before he walks away. I worry for a few more minutes before getting sick of myself, raising my head and examining the room around me instead.
What a mess.
It’s obvious it’s a bunch of guys running this place. Judging by the layers of grime on the top of the empty water cooler bottle, I’m guessing it’s been months since this room was cleaned. It’s weird. The rest of the shop is spotless. All the tools are clean, the floors are wiped. Hell, even the break room I slept in was taken care of.
But here in this office? It’s been completely neglected.
I peek through the window into the garage and see two sets of legs near the hood of my car. I’m sure the guys will be occupied for a while, and I’ve never been good at being idle. May as well make myself useful for a while. It’s the least I can do to repay him for letting me sleep on the couch last night.
I’mup on a chair scrubbing the dirty window when I hear Kade walk back into the room. I had to strip off my hoodie ten minutes into the cleaning, so I’m only wearing my whiteTyler’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsutank top and my black leggings. He says nothing, and I can swear I feel his eyes boring into my jiggling ass. When I can’t take the tension any longer, I look over at him.
Yep. Staring at my ass.
“Yo! Eyes up here, big man.”
He startles and snaps his eyes back to mine. I smirk and raise my eyebrow but don’t say anything else.
“Ah…Um,” he clears his throat, “What are you doing?”
“You know that brown stuff all over the office? The stuff that gets all over your clothes and makes you sneeze? That’s called dirt,” I continue in a sing-song like I’m teaching a kindergarten class. “And do you know the best way to get rid of dirt boys and girls?” I scrunch up my nose, wondering if he’ll play along.
“Clean it,” he answers in a monotone voice. But I can see the twitch in the corner of his mouth. He’s playing.
I clap my hands excitedly, “Oh, that’s so good, Kade. Great answer!” I laugh, completely enjoying myself. I turn back to the window and give it one last wipe before hopping down off the chair.
Kade raises his arms and steps toward me, then stops and folds his hands behind his back. Humm. Was he going to catch me? The idea of jumping into his arms and flattening him like a pancake makes me smile. But then again, he’s pretty damn big. Maybe he could catch me. I’m considering jumping at him to see when I notice the scowl is back.
Shit, this is not going to be good.
“You can say it. The car’s fucked, isn’t it?”
He sighs and looks down. “Yeah. It’s fixable. But it’s going to be about three grand to get it fixed up right.”
I tilt my head and consider him. That’s not what Jake had told me. The repairs were going to be more like five thousand. No way would Jake ever pad the bill or take advantage of me. We’d peed in kiddie pools together as kids. We’re good as family. So three thousand? Kade is definitely discounting the bill. I hum in the back of my throat. There he goes again, trying to give me money. He’s being sneaky about it. Why would he do that for a woman he doesn’t know?
“I don’t have three thousand dollars,” I admit.
Kade nods slowly. “Yeah. I figured.” He exhales a big breath and tucks his hands in his pockets, raising his shoulders. “I’ll cover the cost. It’s going to take a couple of days to get the parts and get the work done, but you should have it back before the weekend.”
Just like that? I could be on my way to…what? My plan, moving to Chicago, was half-assed to begin with. Now that I have no place to stay, it’s looking even stupider.
More stupid.
Stupidest.
Whatever.
When it comes right down to it, I have no idea where I’m supposed to go, or what I’m supposed to do next. This being a grown-up shit is for the birds.
