Page 5 of Truck Me
I crushed on Garret hard back in high school, but he was the older boy who never once glanced in my direction. He was too busy sulking in the shadows, growling at everyone who dared to speak to him. But damn, it was a sexy growl. I wonder if he still does that?
From the way he’s looking at me now, I’d say yes.
Too bad, because I’d ride him in a heartbeat. He’s not my typical type. I usually go for the clean cut, well-dressed business type, but I could get down with the rugged, country bad boy. Tall, broad shoulders, thick biceps, and a very large bulge between his very long and solid legs. I bet he even has rock hard abs underneath that thick coat he’s wearing.
Yeah, I could definitely get down with that.
I lick my lips and stifle a groan. God, I miss sex. Brad may have turned out to be a cheating douche, but he was damn good in bed. He never left me unsatisfied. And I thought I did the same for him, but his cheating ass suggests otherwise.
“Garret! You made it.” The manager of the laundromat rushes out of the back room with his hand held out. Garret takes it in a firm shake. “Sorry to call you on such short notice, but all my machines are now down. We had just the one, but it stopped working on Miss Charlotte mid-cycle.”
“You’re here to fix the machine?” I ask.
He nods but doesn’t speak or make eye contact with me.
Of course, he’s here to fix the machine. Just what I need. I’m at my worst and the universe throws the sexist man alive in my face. Thanks universe.
The manager looks at me and smiles. I didn’t catch his name. He probably told me, but I’m too distracted by my bad day to remember. He’s an older gentleman, probably older than my dad, and seems nice enough. I wonder if he’s new to town since I moved away because I don’t remember him. It makes me feel bad that I didn’t try harder to remember his name or at least ask for it. I should add that to a list of things I need to improve on.
“No problem, Stan.” Garret turns his attention to the manager. Stan. I make a mental note to remember that. If we don’t get my parents’ washing machine fixed soon, I’ll be back here again next week. “I’ll do my best to get you up and running again,” he continues in a polite and respectful tone.
The way he addresses Stan after snubbing me, rubs me the wrong way. I haven’t seen Garret since high school, and I don’t recall ever doing anything to deserve such a poor greeting.
“Do you know my aunt?” Rayne asks after Stan heads back to his office.
“I do.” Garret’s voice is flat when he responds.
“She’s living here now. Did you know that?”
His eyes dart to mine, but only for a second, before he sets his tool bag on the large table in the center of the room. He shakes his head instead of speaking.
“Well, she is. She just got here like a week ago. Maybe two. I can’t remember.” Rayne’s voice is cheerful. It’s as if she doesn’t notice or pick up on Garret’s grumpy state. “It’s why I haven’t been to see you in so long. We’ve been busy getting to know each other. Until now, I only saw her, like, every other Christmas.”
I cringe at her last statement. I hate that I stayed away for so long. It’s been three years since I came home for Christmas. After losing Carol, home never quite felt the same. Now that Dad’s sick, I regret staying away for so long.
“Did you know Aunt Char like you knew my mom?” Rayne’s question surprises me.
“You knew Carol?” I narrow my eyes on Garret, but he doesn’t look at me.
“He tells me stories about my mom all the time.” Rayne answers for him.
“Huh.” I cross my arms over my chest and stare at him. “I didn’t know you and Carol were friends. Especially with her being a couple of years younger than me and I’m two years younger than you.”
“Oh, they weren’t friends.” Rayne adds. Garret glances at her, and if I’m not mistaken, I see a hint of nervousness in his expression. “But they hung out sometimes. At least that’s what he told me.”
“Is that so?”
Rayne nods with a huge smile on her face while Garret frowns at his tool bag.
I’m about to push Garret more on the matter when he finally decides to grace us with his voice. And oh, what a sexy deep voice it is. “I better get to work or else this machine won’t get fixed today. Got another job waiting for me.”
“Where you going next?” Rayne asks as if questioning Garret is the most normal thing in the world for her to do.
“Rayne. It’s not polite to ask him that. Let him get to work.” They both look at me with deep furrows in their brows and hard frowns. It’s confusing and doesn’t make much sense to me. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Rayne glances over at Garret, and then starts laughing. A slight smile tugs at his lips too.
“Did I say something funny?”