Page 94 of Fighting the Forbidden

No one who would run and tell my surprise to Molly is close enough to overhear me. “I found a ’71 Chevy Malibu Coupe for us to restore together.”

A wrinkle forms between his eyebrows. “You bought her dream project car for her eighteenth birthday?”

“I came across a good deal on it through one of Jerry’s friends.” Is the car too much? Nah, Molly’s gonna love it. That’s all I care about.

“Jesus, Griff. Even a ‘good deal’ had to be fucking expensive.”

It had taken a large chunk of the cash I keep buried in a metal lockbox at the back of my closet but that’s none of Remy’s business. “It looks rough on the outside, but mechanically, it’s not bad. The guy had been working on it for years, so it already has a lot of parts replaced.”

“That’s still going to be astronomical to restore.”

No one asked you. “It’s not gonna be much harder than the work I did on my own car. She’s driven mine, so at least it’s something she’ll be familiar with.”

“I guess.” He shrugs, still not sounding convinced.

“I’m gonna ask Vapor to do the paint and a few cosmetic things. I’d like to have it finished by the time her college classes start.” That was my plan, but filming the show could throw off my entire timeline.

“I wish you’d asked me.” Remy plows his fingers through his hair. “I was going to get her a car for college. Something built in this century with airbags.”

“I thought you might say no, so…” My shoulders lift in an unapologetic shrug. “It was a good deal. I jumped on it before the dude changed his mind.”

“That’s a big undertaking.”

“So?” What’s his point? Restoring cars is literally what I do for a living. “It’s not like I don’t have access to the tools and parts. And a safe place to store it.”

“True.” His pinched face suggests he’s still not pleased.

“I’m sorry, Remy.” I force some apology into my tone. “I wasn’t trying to step on your toes or anything.”

“No, no.” He cocks his head like he’s preparing to give me bad news. “You realize she only wanted that car because of you, right?”

“What’s your point? She still likes the car.” I snort-laugh. “You wanna talk expensive? She saw a Mustang I was working on once too and said she’d like one. But that was way the fuck out of my range.”

“So where is it? Are you giving it to her today?”

“Yeah, after the party. I’ve got it stored at the garage with a big red sheet over it and a little silver bow on the steering wheel.” The steering wheel is currently sitting on the passenger seat, but it’s the thought that counts.

He snorts. “Cute. I’m sure she’s going to love it.”

“I hope so.”

“When are you going to find the time to work on it with her? She’s got finals, prom, work?—”

“I know.” I can’t keep the defensiveness out of my tone. “Weekends? I kinda expected to do most of the work myself, but I want to include her as much as possible.”

“That might be a fun car for racing here. But I don’t know if it’s a practical daily driver for her. Especially if she ends up commuting to Empire or something.”

I had already considered that possibility. As much as I love my car, it’s missing a lot of modern creature comforts. “So what? Then she’ll have a restored classic. She can flip it and buy whatever she wants.”

He sighs and nods. “All right.” A short, sharp alert blares from his pocket. “Fuck. Not now,” he groans.

“Is it the bar?” I ask.

“Yeah. I gotta run in and help out Anderson.”

“You need me to come with you?” The last thing I want to do is leave Molly’s party, but Remy looks so stressed I can’t help making the offer.

He casts a glance at the patio and then to where the girls are clustered together by the chain-link fence separating Zips from the woods beyond. They’re dancing and singing along to the noise pouring out of the speakers in Hayden’s car. “No,” he answers slowly. “Did you see that asshole friend of Spoons showed up?”

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