Page 29 of Unconditional

There was something between them that I wondered if they saw.Rodger was clearly smitten with the woman—she may think he had a certain fondness for the hotel, but it was so obvious that it was her he was fond of.When his eyes darted back to her face half a dozen times in the short span of time it took them to cross the room, it was as if she had hung the moon.

And when he spoke to her, her cheeks went even rosier than they were on their own, giving away her feelings for him.Why weren’t they already a couple?In the few short conversations I’d held with Rodger, it was made apparent that much like Susie, he had a knack for hospitality.They were both very generous and kind and the pair would complement each other—

What thefuckwas I on about?Since when was old-people romance even on my radar?I shook my head, blinking away the weird as fuck thoughts.Rodger approached our table and cleared his throat politely to garner Misely’s attention from where it had strayed away from me and back to her work.

“Hi there folks,” he drawled, pulling his cap from his head.Misely and I nodded our greetings and he continued.“Paulie is back at the garage.Are y’all set to go?”

“Yes,” I said immediately, standing so quickly my chair nearly toppled over.

Misely, with a lot more grace than could be said for me, closed her laptop gently and smiled at our hostess and her companion.“Yes, we are.Thank you so much for your hospitality, Susie.I cannot express my gratitude enough.”She approached the woman and wrapped her in a warm embrace.I was horrified by the strange pang of jealousy in my gut.I hadnodesire to be on the receiving end of such warmth.None at all.

“It has been my absolute pleasure, dear.You and your husband are welcome back any time.But maybe next time try to make a reservation.”She beamed, gripping Misely’s upper arms and sending her a wink.I let myself one small and final moment of pleasure at the naive assumption that Misely was whollymine,because once we left this place, she never would be again.

“You’re kidding.”

He wasn’t.

Paulie was a short man with a receding hairline, skin that was tinted pink from time spent in the Floridian sun, and a beard that reached his chest.His first appraisal of Misely and me had been critical to say the least, taking us each in head to toe with skepticism.I’d hooked one thumb into the front of my jeans pocket and with my other hand gripped Misely’s hip and tugged her to my side.

She may not be talking to me right now, but I wasn’t very fond of the way the man’s gaze had lingered on her form.To her credit, she did not shove me off.Instead, she’d let out an almost inaudible breath, and maybe I was delusional, but it almost felt like she’d relaxed some.

“Wish I was,” he said with feigned regret.“There’s just no way your engine is salvageable.Unless you have the time and funds to wait around for a new engine for this heap—”

“We don’t,” I bit out, my molars grinding together.

Paulie shrugged.“Well, then this is what I got.”

He gestured behind him to the ramshackle van that sat there.

“Does that thing even run?”From the sound of it, that had been something Misely had meant to say in her head.Her fingers going up to cover her lips quickly confirmed that suspicion.

“As a matter o’fact,” Paulie said, sending her an irritated quirk of his bushy eyebrows.“Thatthinghas been in pretty high demand.Got all sorts o’ fix-it van-life kids knocking at my door tryna buy it off me.

“My offerin’ it to you at the cost I am is a courtesy.I could easily get double—no,triplethe amount if I went with one of those folks.”

It became quickly apparent why Rodger was not permitted to do any part ordering, and why it was reserved for Paulie and Paulie alone.Because Boss Man was a haggler, and Rodger was simply too nice.

“And how much…” Misely’s lofty tone brought me back to the conversation.“is it that you’re asking from us?”

I held back from digging my fingers into her skin where they rested on her waist.I was running low on cash.Staying at The Lodge had nearly tapped me out and I didn’t want to use any of my cards.Kyle was a stupid motherfucker, but he had his hands in a lot of cookie jars and friends in low places.It would be easy enough for him to change course and have me tracked down on my mission to bring back Milo.

Paulie tilted his head in deliberation.“Well, I’ll scrap the Chevy for you.That’ll get you about $300 off.”He pinched his chin, tapping a finger to his lips like he was trying to do the math.It was all bullshit.He had a price lined up.“It’s a vintage model, with a lot of demand.”All bullshit.And if I couldn’t tell for myself, the disbelief on Rodger’s face a few feet away was enough to sign off on my suspicions.

“I’ll take three grand.”

I sputtered, shaking my head.“That’s—” I was about to rip the man a brand new asshole, curse words balanced on my tongue, when Misely’s peel of hysterical laughter stopped me mid-sentence.

When she’d gathered herself enough to speak again, she wiped the corners of her eyes with the edge of her finger delicately, careful not to smudge her expertly applied makeup.Rodger and Paulie looked at her like she’d grown another head.

“I can respect your ambition, Paulie.”By the end of his name her voice had lost any trace of humor.Now she sounded more like the woman who’d raked a colleague through the coals for messing with one of her foster kids.“Really, I can appreciate a man who goes after what he wants.But that doesn’t mean I’m going to fall for such a blatant scam.”

Paulie sputtered, taken just as much by surprise as me.“Scam?!I would n—”

“Yes, you would.You run a garage in the middle of nowhere, knowing full well there are zero other options within fifty miles of here.I doubt you did a full inspection of the engine on the Malibu to determine if it really needs to be replaced or if we could simply get a new belt and be on our way.”

“I most certainlydid—”

“At this point, we don’t have time to wait around for a belt anyway, as you so kindly reminded us that we are already behind schedule on our trip.No thanks to you or your arbitrary part ordering policy.So we’ll take the van.But if you think for even a fraction of a second that I’ll be handing over three thousand dollars for that bucket of bolts, then you might consider going and getting a brain scan because you’re delusional.”

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