I headed out front toward my car, feeling better. I wasn’t going to be some gloomy asshole. I was going to move on with my life.
I slowed as I approached my ’72 Mustang. Standing by the curb, looking at her phone, was Piper. I looked around and realized that she was all alone and I had no way to avoid her.
I took a deep breath. I was being fucking stupid. There was no reason that I should be avoiding her. We could have a polite fucking conversation and then I could head home, and that was all there had to be between us. Not friends and not anything else.
Except my heart was hammering in my chest and my cock was getting hard as I approached her.
“Hey, Pipes,” I said.
She looked up. There was a moment of panic on her face that lasted for less than a second. If I weren’t trained to notice that kind of thing, I would never have seen it.
Why would she panic?
“Gates,” she said. “How’s it going?”
“Good. You waiting for something?”
“Oh,” she said, laughing. “Yeah. My stupid boyfriend left early. So I’m waiting for an Uber to take me back into the city.”
“That sucks,” I said. “Why’d your boyfriend ditch you?”
“He had work.”
“He work a lot?”
“Maybe.” She raised an eyebrow. “Does that matter?”
“Not really.” I shrugged, looking at her with a slight grin. “Just making conversation.”
“Yeah, well. It’s good seeing you again.”
“You too.” I stepped toward my car then stopped. “Hey, listen. Why don’t I give you a ride?”
She cocked her head. “Are you sure?”
“I’m going into the city anyway.”
She frowned. “I don’t know. I summoned the Uber already.”
“Can’t you cancel that shit?”
“Yeah, I can. It’s just rude.”
“Cancel it. Come on.” I motioned toward my car. “That’s a better ride, anyway.”
She laughed. “What the hell is that?”
“That is a nineteen seventy-two Ford Mustang with a brown vinyl top, beautiful gray body, and a fat fucking engine.”
She laughed again, shaking her head. “Okay, fine. Just for a chance to ride in that car.”
“All the ladies say that.”
She tapped her phone and followed me over to the car. We got inside and I fired the engine up, letting it roar to life. It was my pride and joy, and really the only thing that I gave a fuck about back home. I always looked forward to driving her after a tour, and this tour was no different.
I pulled out into traffic and we headed toward the city.
“It’s a really cool car,” Piper said.
“My dad gave it to me.”
“Really? What’s your dad do?”
“He died when I was ten. But he left me the car. I restored it when I was in high school, so I guess it has sentimental value to me now.”
“That’s amazing,” she said. “I didn’t know you were good with cars.”
“I’m just good with my hands.” I glanced at her, smirking. “As I’m sure you recall.”
She sighed. “I was wondering how long it would take you before you brought that up.”
“Not very long, clearly.”
“Okay, well, it’s out there now. We can move on.”
“Sure, we can move on. Although now I know you’re going to be thinking about that night for the rest of the car ride home.”
She shook her head. “Not even a little bit. I have a boyfriend.”
“I know.”
“That doesn’t matter to you?”
“It does, actually. I respect you and your relationship. It’s the only reason I haven’t pulled this car over yet and let you feel for yourself how good I am with my hands.”
She bit her lip and looked out the window, lapsing into silence. I drove like that for a while, smiling to myself, having a great time. Nothing was better than driving my car with a beautiful woman by my side, even if she had a boyfriend.
As we got closer to the city, she finally spoke up again. “When did you get back?”
“Two weeks ago,” I said.
“Any plans to disappear again?”
“No,” I said. “Not anytime soon, at least.”
“So I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other. Since we’re both friends with Greg and Lauren.”
“Seems that way.”
“We should try and be civil.”
“We aren’t being civil?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.” I paused for a second. “I saw you on TV the other night.”
She laughed. “Really? I didn’t think you watched local cable news.”