Page 9 of Love Collided

“Apologies. I’m used to women falling all over me, being more easy to please. I’m not sure what to do with one so full of thorns.”

For some reason that’s what finally made her smile.

“What you do is you leave her alone because you’re incapable of handling her,” she said, her voice as sweet as the smile she gave me.

The sound of an engine turning into the parking lot cut me off before I even had a chance to respond. We both looked out the open garage door, the dark Aston Martin flashing when it pulled in and parked beside my car. Scout didn’t waste any time stalking outside to the parking lot as Fox opened his door.

“You have a friend here waiting and he’s bothering me,” she said while they all walked back inside with her.

“Everyone has been bothering you lately, Scout. I can’t kick all their asses,” Fox said.

“You absolutely can.”

She glared at me. I couldn’t figure out why she hated me right from the start, but I also didn’t blame her. I would think I’m fairly easy to hate.

“Alright,grumpy gills, don’t go biting his head off, too,” Fox said. We both watched her stalk back into the garage.

“So I was right in the ankle-biter comments?” I asked.

“Maybe, but probably stop saying it to her face,” he said with a laugh, quiet enough so she couldn’t hear as we headed over to my car. “She’s usually Little Miss Sunshine so I don’t know what you do to her, but don’t do it again.”

I didn’t think Scout knew I had been hanging out with Fox and Ash, at least not based on her dislike for me, but I was starting to think Fox was cool with me being around. He and Ash had invited me out to catch up more after the race night. And then he invited me out again for what I guess they considered a guys night, where they brought me out to find street races andhang out. It was surprisingly one of the better nights I’ve had in awhile.

I looked back at Scout as Fox started messing with the engine. She was inside, ignoring me. Maybe my reputation precedes me.

It probably should.

I could almost bet Ash let her know all my dirty, public secrets. Most of them weren’t pretty or flattering, even if I was a little proud of them. It would make sense why a girl Fox would call Little Miss Sunshine would be so pissed right from the start at someone like me if she knew about my past.

The things I’ve done are usuallywhycertain people liked me. Why they hung all over me, vying for my attention, my money, my time. They all wanted some part of me, but yet there she was, turning her back to me.

It seemed Little Miss Sunshine didn’t like my brand of trouble.

“Hey,” Ash said, stepping in front of me, and waving her hands in my face. I looked away from Scout, letting Ash come into focus.

“Hey,” I replied.

“Do you want to stay and hang out? We have a cookout on the first Saturday of the month, which is tonight. Just food and relax type of thing.”

“A party?ObviouslyI’ll stay for that,” I said, grinning when she smiled back.

“Not a party, a hangout. Nothing crazy.”

“You think I can’t convince any one of these guys to do something crazy and make this a party?”

She groaned. “Don’t make me regret inviting you.”

I looked past her to Scout, who glanced out and met my eye.

“You wouldn’t be alone in that regret at least,” I said, laughing quietly as Scout turned her back to us.

Fox stood back up from leaning over the engine. “And stop staring at Scout. She doesn’t want you bothering her, and I don’t keep friends around who try to sleep with my little sister.”

“You’re related?”

“Not by blood, but I promise it doesn’t matter.”

“Hey,” I said, throwing my hands up in surrender. “I was trying to figure out why she hates me, not how to sleep with her.”

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