“I, ah . . .” God, I’m going to stammer. “My car broke down.”
His brow shoots up. “Your car broke down.”
“Yes,” I say, crossing my arms. “Just down the road. I was heading to school. This was the closest garage.”
He studies me, but must see I’m flustered enough for this not to be a lie and he nods. “Where is it?”
“Down the road . . .”
He gives me an impatient stare. “Babe, left, right, forward, backwards . . . there are plenty of down the roads.”
Right.
“Ah, I can show you.”
He nods and turns to the receptionist. “I’ll be back.”
She’s studying us, but nods and smiles sweetly. I rush outside and begin rushing down the sidewalk, as if I have fire up my ass. Blade is behind me, but I haven’t once stopped to see how close he is. I’m halfway there when I trip on my heel. I go down slowly, hands out, and hit the sidewalk with a thump and a cry.
Someone hates me today.
Blade is there before I even push up to my knees, and he puts his hand under my armpits and hauls me up. Could this get any worse?
“Jesus, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I splutter.
He turns me towards him and looks down. “Your knees are all fucked up.”
I look down and curse at the blood running down my shins. It hurts too.
“Far out,” I huff.
“If you weren’t runnin’ like a loon towards the car, you might have stayed upright.”
I snap my eyes to his and he smiles.
Bastard.
“Do I make you that nervous, Tulip?”
“Bite me, Blade.”
He grins now, big and wolfish. “Already have.”
I turn and tuck my purse back under my arm, then I keep walking towards my car.
“You goin’ to let me clean those knees?”
“No.”
“Darlin’ . . .”
He’s amused. The shit.
We reach my car and I point to it. He takes one look and bursts out laughing. “Well no fuckin’ wonder it broke. How old is that thing? Fuck, it looks like it should be hitched to the back of a horse.”
I cross my arms and glare at him. “I’ll have you know Suzie is quite faithful.”
“You named your car Suzie?”
I shrug.
“And heaven only knows how Suzie has remained faithful, because she looks like she’s about to explode herself just to get out of the agony she’s in.”
“Ha ha,” I say blandly. “Can you fix her?”
“I can burn her, does that count?”
I turn to him, and his body is shaking with laughter. “I don’t know what’s so funny. This is the only car I have, Blade.”
“Has my dad seen this junk heap?”
I nod lamely. “He too thinks Suzie should have a burning death.”
Blade snorts. “It’s not a wonder. Why are you driving this thing?”
My face falls. “It was my dad’s.”
His face goes soft. “Aw shit, I’m sorry.”
I shrug and look away. “I know it’s time to move on, but . . .”
“I get it,” he says. “I’ll get the guys to grab it, see what we can do. In the meantime, have you got anywhere you need to be?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I’m free all day.”
“Good. I’m cleaning your knees.”
“Ah, I can do it myself, thanks.”
He gives me an impatient stare and then nods back towards the garage. “Come on, let’s go.”
I follow him without much protest. When we get back to the garage he leads me into a large office. He closes the door and points to a chair. “Sit.”
“You have your own office?” I say, sitting on the chair.
He digs through a filing cabinet. “Yeah, I’m the manager so it makes sense.”
“You . . . you’re the manager?” I gasp.
He nods. “Yeah, they needed one and I have experience. I’m running the entire show.”
“On your own?”
He nods.
“Wow, Blade, that’s amazing.”
“It’s hard work, especially when it comes to all this.” He waves his arms around at the office. “I’m not that savvy with paperwork.”
“Don’t you have an accountant or something like that to do it?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, I haven’t even thought of it.”
“What is it you need done? Can’t your receptionist do it?”
He finds what he’s looking for and turns to me, waving a first-aid kit about. Then he walks towards me. “She answers phones, books appointments, things like that. Not sure she can do the hard stuff.”
I frown. “You should have someone who can.”
“Yeah,” he says, kneeling in front of me. “I can.”
“Blade, you’re working so hard.”
He looks up at me after sliding my skirt up my thigh. “You wanna do it for me?”
I blink. “Ha ha.”
His eyes aren’t joking. “I’m serious. I could use the help.”
“Can’t Peyton do it?” I squeak as he slides my skirt up higher to expose my knees better.
“Peyton is a hairdresser.”
Of course she is.
“Ah, I study.”
“And you don’t need money in the meantime?”