Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
There’s no hesitation to twist them.
Tightly.
Just like there’s no hesitation to lift them up and up and up until his lower half begins to sink lower and lower and lower on a pitiful whine.
“Touch her again, Toth, and we will be breaking fingers.” Applying additional pressure is attached to my own smug smirk. “Got it?”
“Problem?” my best friend asks as he enters the garage, amusement undeniably dancing through his tone.
“I don’t know…” Tilting my head condescendingly to one side, I narrow my glare at the guy whose knees are now clumsily knocking into one another. “Do we have a problem here?”
“Nope.” He rapidly shakes his head. “None. Not uh…um…” he hisses from me bending them even further back to emphasize I’m the one in control. “Not even a tiny one.”
“Good.” I nonchalantly release his hand and stroll around the counter. “Cash or card?”
“Card.” Toth poorly shakes off the pain he’s in while wisely distancing himself away from Bunny. “The usual charges?”
“Seasonal checkup and the courtesy ride to retrieve your vehicle.”
“Is it really a courtesy if he has to pay for it?” Bunny playfully ponders, pulling an amused grunt out of Nolan.
I immediately hit my partner with a scolding stare.
“What?” He grunts a second time and leans against the counter space on the other side of our girl. “I’m not the one who had her help him study for his vocabulary test all afternoon.”
“It was the SATs,” she good naturedly jabs back.
“Okay his high school vocab test. Same shit different name.”
Her giggles instantly get Nolan and I both grinning.
Wide.
Goofy.
Effortlessly.
Fuck, how she’s done that from day one is a muscle car mystery I don’t need solved, but one I’m thankful to have.
After logging into the computer, I pull up Toth’s service report. “Nothing out of the ordinary, but I do recommend having whoever does the car sitting for the Toth household to drive it more often. It’s not getting enough time on the road and that shit can begin to fuck with your vehicle’s programming among other things.”
“Admit it, Kipp,” he begins, still wiggling around his most likely sprained fingers. “You just wanna be the one to take her out and show her a good time.”
“I already have someone for that.” Wiggling my eyebrows at Bunny gets her snickering again. “Besides, Mustangs are sexy, but Camaros are sexier.” Two taps to the keys allow his total to be brought up on the checkout pad. “Everyone knows that.”
“Does everyone know that?” our woman goads again, getting more chuckles out of the man we’ve barely seen all day.
An even better reason for us to all go out.
She gets the date she deserves, and we all get the time together we need.
And we do need it.
One on one time is important, yeah, but if we’re gonna keep doing…whatever it is that we’re doing…all three of us need to be hanging out.
Together.
Like a…insert the proper make and relationship model here.
“I’ve got a couple of college bros that would fucking argue with that shit.” Toth goes to retrieve his wallet but abruptly stops to face Bunny. “That’s why you look so familiar!”
Her eyebrows dart down in tandem with ours. “Excuse me?”
“The chick that’s been on my mind today is an old fraternity brother’s missing girlfriend,” Toth rushes to explain. “He’s been blowing up soc’ with photos of them together. All. Fucking. Day. Telling everybody to keep an eye out. If you’ve seen her or even think you might’ve seen her to let him know…” His gaze suddenly bores a little too hard. A little too long. “I fucking swear you could be her twin.” There’s a small pause that precedes him pointing an uninjured finger in her direction. “You’re not her, are you?”
“Can’t be,” Nolan replies, the faintest displeasure in his voice. “She’s not missing.”
“Yeah, Toth. She’s sitting right there,” I echo while doing my best to ignore the lump of dread building in my throat.
“Not to mention, she doesn’t date frat fucks,” my best friend definitely declares. “Never has.”
Nodding in agreement is attached to a forced laugh. “Just gearheads, like us.”
“Here! Let me show you!” He carelessly tosses his wallet on the counter and dives into his jeans to grab his cell. It takes less than a minute for him to pull up whatever account he’s determined for us to see. “Hm.” His confused hum is accompanied by his eyebrows pulling together and Bunny sliding off the counter. Stepping closer to Nolan. Brushing her body gently against his. “Fuck, they’re not there anymore.” Toth’s continuous scrolling receives deeper and deeper grumbles of consternation. “Where the fuck are those photos?” The stab at his device isn’t gentle. “Where the fuck did they all go?!”
Cutting a brief glance in Nolan’s direction has me spotting him inching a wrench into his clutches, an action that successfully stomps down the knot stuck in my vocal cords.