Twice Loved (3 page)

“I’m good and you?”

Why is this conversation suddenly awkward? We were never awkward with one another. It was one of the things about him that drew me in. From the moment we met we were at ease with one another. Comfortable and laid back. We laughed and talked like old friends. It wasn’t like we had just met it was like we had known each other our whole lives.

“I was doing great until I turned on Main Street.” He looks at me quizzically. I find myself laughing at his arched eyebrows and twisted lips. “My power steering suddenly stopped working.”

“Let’s take a look at it.” Tate walks over to my car with me and reaches in and pops the hood. The familiarity of everything with us is too much. Tate begins looking under my hood and I hear him make a few undistinguishable sounds. I don’t know if they were words or grunts. “You piss someone off lately?”

“What?”

“Your line was cut, and I’d say on purpose.”

I stare at Tate in disbelief. I can’t imagine why anyone would do something like that to my car then it hits me.

“That little motherfucker!”

It’s Tate’s turn to stare at me in disbelief before laughing.

“I take it you have an idea who did it?”

Oh yea I had an idea. I was going to kill Noah! I’m pretty sure that it’s frowned upon in all fifty states, but I had no doubt in my mind that he was the responsible party.

“Noah!”

One word is all it takes before Tate is laughing harder than he was earlier. I love how his eyes shine while he laughs and crinkle up in the corners. I’m trying really hard to hang on to my anger but watching Tate laugh makes it hard.

“It’s not fucking funny. I’m going to beat him when I get home.”

“It’s an easy fix babe. I’ll call and get the part sent over and we should have it done in about an hour.”

“Not the point. The little shit did this on purpose.”

Tate’s easy grin meets my eyes.

“Why would he do that?”

The whole situation is frustrating. I have a pretty good idea why Noah did it but there is no way in hell I’m admitting it to Tate. He would gloat even more than he already seems to be. In fact it’s almost like the asshole knows what happened.

“You weren’t in on it were you?”

I put nothing past Tate. When he wants something he goes after it.

“No, why would I have Noah cut your power steering line?”

It’s like a light bulb goes off over his head. His lips curve up in the biggest smile.

“I think I’m going to have to send Noah a big thank you.”

“Don’t fucking encourage him!”

“Mrs. Madison I think you need your mouth washed out with soap. What would the kids in your class think of their teacher’s dirty mouth?”

I stomp my foot like a two year old. I huff.

“Shut up asshole. You love my dirty mouth!” I gasp as my hand flies to cover my mouth. I didn’t plan to say that it just slipped out.

Tate moves in close to me his breath fanning across my face. He leans into my ear and whispers to me softly but still full of strength.

“I miss that dirty mouth wrapped around my cock.”

I resist the urge to kick him. I resist the urge to kiss him. I want to do both simultaneously. Instead I push him back from me and I stomp off toward the waiting room of Busted Nuts.

Mike is watching my entrance into the shop. He starts laughing. “He still gets your engine revving doesn’t he?”

“Shut up asshat!”

That’s my brilliant reply. I slump into a cold plastic chair. I’m pouting and I don’t even care right now. I’m so lost in my own thoughts I don’t even realize there is a guy sitting in the waiting room until I hear a subtle cough and clearing of a throat.

My head comes up to face a man around my age smiling. I want to stick my tongue out at him. Instead I just give him a small smile and pull out my phone and furiously begin texting Haley. This was turning out to be a disaster. Maybe she could come pick me up and take me shopping and come back for my car. I don’t think I can handle sitting in the shop for an hour or more with Tate.

Haley: you’re where??!!

Lori: COME GET ME!!!

Haley: I would but I’m over in Destin

Lori: wtf? Why?

Haley: Shopping

Lori: I hate you

Haley: no you don’t

I toss my phone back in my purse. I could call Noah or even Olivia to come get me but they are both at the high school practicing. I don’t want to disrupt their normal lives even if Noah deserves it right now.

Noah was in for a big surprise when he gets home tonight as I would be presenting this repair bill to him. We will see if he was as pleased with his little plan once he had to pay for it. That puts a smile on my face.

Chapter Three

Fifteen minutes pass before my car is pulled into the fourth bay of the shop. Pete, the head mechanic begins dismantling things under my hood. You would think that after I dated Tate for a year I would have more working knowledge of what parts were properly called but I didn’t care enough to learn the proper names. It’s not like I had to know the names. Steve took care of car maintenance when he was able and Tate took over when Steve no longer could. I trusted both men when it came to making sure my car was running safely. I still trust Tate.

The guy sitting across from me is starting to bother me. He keeps looking at me knowingly. He doesn’t know shit about me. He can keep whatever strange thoughts he’s having to himself. I jump out of my seat and walk out of the waiting room into the shop. I make my way over to my car where Pete is working.

“Hey Pete.”

“Lori.”

Yep Pete is a talker. Talking to him sometimes is like prying a bottle from a baby’s mouth.

“Been doing okay?”

I can’t stop myself from asking him. He grunts in reply and I give up turning around to see Mike working on a car in the bay next to us. I stand there for a full ten seconds with my mouth hanging open. The balding pot belly guy is twerking as he tightens a bolt on the engine of the car he is working on.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Tate and Jake’s laughter echoes in my ears at my question.

“Mike’s been like this all morning.” Tate’s voice replies to my question.

“Did he forget his medication this morning?”

Tate and I fall back into a natural rhythm.

“Hey!” Mike shouts bringing my attention back to him. “I resemble that remark.”

Then as if he didn’t miss a beat he starts dancing around the car as he does his post inspection. I find myself laughing at his antics. It’s hard not to. Mike has always been the clown of the group. No matter how shitty things are this man will make you laugh whether you want to or not.

By this time I give up all pretenses and just enjoy the show Mike is putting on. It sets my mind at ease watching him. I’m not worried about Tate or what to say to Tate. Comfort envelops me.

“How do y’all work with him?” My words are not directed at anyone in particular.

“We all have our quirks.” My eyes cut to Jake as he speaks.

“Yea I guess we do.”

I find myself looking at Tate as I speak. His head is bent down over a car but as if sensing me staring he glances up and his eyes twinkle as he smirks at me. Smug bastard! He goes back to what he is doing as if I am just another customer standing in the shop.

By now Mike is back to twerking around the shop. He holds a clipboard in his hand as he dances his way to the waiting room. He dances a little too close to me causing me to back up. I hit something hard and firm. Looking over my shoulder, Tate is standing behind me. My knees grow weak. I shouldn’t be melting over him, I gave him up but can’t help I still love him. I walked away and there is no way my pride would let me crawl back.

“Careful Princess don’t want you to get hurt.”

I stomp away from him like a bratty kid instead of the grown ass adult I am. Tate’s always had that ability over me though. I’ll never forget when we had our first talk about sex together. My cheeks heat a little at the memories.

“I’m always in control in the bedroom. I’ll never make you do anything you don’t want to do but let’s be clear I’m in charge.”

“You’re in charge?”

“Yes Princess.”

My mind reels in that moment. I wonder what I have gotten myself into with him. Steve had never been like that in the bedroom. It would be safe to say that I was the one in charge with Steve. In a split moment I decide it may not be so bad to let someone else be in charge.

“So do I need a safe word?” I have read one too many romance novels.

“It might not hurt…”

Tate has a giant grin on his face. He’s so damn cocky and smooth. I want him touching me right now. I’m not too sure my panties aren’t already drenched just thinking about the possibilities.

“Um so… my safe word is… Eagle.”

“Eagle?”

“Yes Eagle! It’s not something I normally cry out while having sex.”

We share a laugh over my choice of safe word but we agree to it. And all the while I am asking myself what the hell am I doing with this man?

Mike hollering out next to me startles me back into the present.

“Look at the ass on that one!”

I can’t stop myself from following the direction he is looking as do the other guys in the shop. On the trail that runs along the front street of the shop a woman is jogging. I commend her for trying to be healthy but she is a bigger woman and I have to agree with Mike she has an ass for days. But surprisingly it’s a shapely ass and I almost want to run out there and tell her not to lose it in her quest to be healthy. An ass can be an asset with men.

“That’s too much ass for me.” Jake’s lighthearted reply is the first.

“Yea I like ass but even for me that’s too much.”

I twirl around and face Tate with shock on my face because that was another thing I learned over my year with Tate. He loved woman no matter their shape or size. The one thing he found most attractive in them was confidence. The more confident they were the more attracted he was to them.

“Did you really just say that?” Surprise fills my voice. I feel like I’m missing something.

“Yea I did. I find my taste run a little smaller these days.”

“Oh…”

I don’t ask anything else. I really don’t want to hear about his current lover. It would be like a stake through my heart. I turn away from him and focus on Mike who is now talking to a customer at their car. It’s not long before he is moving an orange safety cone out of the way and directing the owner into the bay. Once he has them parked he runs them through a standard pre inspection before beginning an oil change something I am very familiar with after the time I’ve spent here. I spent the better part of a year hanging out at Busted Nuts just to have more time with Tate.

I continue hanging in the shop with the guys like old times watching them work on cars and listen to them give each other shit over the smallest things. I love how these guys work so well together. They have a bond and no one could deny that they got the job done timely and efficiently.

The guy in the car gets out and makes his way to a bench inside the shop and sits down. I glance over at him only briefly before turning my attention back to the guys working. I won’t deny my eyes travel to Tate time and time again. I love watching as his body stretches out over the car. I remember all too well what his body felt like stretching out over mine. His hands nimbly working under the hood remind me of his hands running across my body. His lips move as he talks and thoughts of his mouth all over my body overcome me. Suddenly I’m a little overheated.

I make my way to the bathroom and lock myself in. My back is pressed against the metal door. My breathing is rapid. I’m torturing myself with the memories of what Tate and I had. I need to get out of here I can’t watch him anymore. It’s killing me to be in the same room with him. I wash my hands and walk out of the bathroom. Jake is the closest to me when I come out of the bathroom.

“I’m walking to the store. I’ll be back.”

“You okay?”

His knowing eyes assess me. I just shake my head as I walk over to my car grab my purse out of the back seat and head off to the store. Luckily there is a small shopping center a few hundred feet down the street and it has a dollar store that I can get lost in for a while. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to find some things for my classroom as well. I just needed space. I once again want to kill Noah for setting me up in this position.

Forty-five minutes later I’m walking back to the shop. My hands loaded down with a few bags. I lucked out that this dollar store had a whole teachers section, and I found all kinds of monkey and jungle themed items I could use this year. I was excited. Working with young children enabled me to stay young at heart myself. I was use to children. I knew what to do with them.

Men like Tate, hot and sexy and crazy possessive where not something I understood all the time. I often joked Tate was a man child when we were together. There were days as a couple I wanted to fuck his brains out and other days I just wanted to kick the ever living shit out of him. Sadly he would have enjoyed either one.

As I walk back into the shop none of the guys are around and my car and one other are abandoned in their bays. I walk to my car placing my purse and bags back in the seat. I walk toward the back bay door the guys are out back on break smoking. Sure enough they have the tailgate down on Mike’s truck. Tate and Mike sit on the back while Jake and Pete stand nearby. This motley crew became my friends, and I had to give them up when I broke up with Tate. I realize in this moment I missed them.

Sure I saw Jake occasionally with Haley but it just wasn’t the same as these four guys together as a group. I had no choice though. They were Tate’s friends and coworkers so he got them in the unwritten “custody agreement”.

“The Princess is back.” Tate is trying to get a rise out of me now. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction but he gets under my skin like no one else ever has been able to.