Page 16 of Crazy Love

“Prudes.”

A delighted squeal comes from Rachel’s direction at the back of the room. “I punched a hole in this wall!”

“Punch away!” I call out. “We’re tearing them all down.”

I hand a hammer to Meg and smile. “The sooner we knock this shit down, the sooner we can turn this into an oasis for the mind and body and less about asshole.”

Meg gingerly takes the tool from me, her hand still covering her mouth. I fish out a mask from my kit and hand it to her. “Put this on. It’ll help prevent the asbestos from getting in your lungs.”

Meg’s eyes widen and I can’t contain my laugh. “I’m joking. It’ll help with the smell. It’s about to be a construction site in here, and I don’t need you coughing your lungs up and ruining the day with a trip to the emergency room.”

Meg snatches the mask from me and whips it on over her face. “Why are you in my life?”

Before waiting for a response, she edges her way in Rachel’s direction. I hear Rachel shout a few seconds later and Meg screams, before cursing with a shriek.

“She’s going to last about twenty minutes,” Hazel muses, pulling on a pair of old gardening gloves.

“Ten,” I reply, handing Hazel a mask. “Thank you for being here today. As you can see from this shitshow, I am in way over my head.”

Hazel smiles, pulling her mask on. “I am so excited for you. Let’s knock some shit down.”

* * *

“Who knew how therapeutic smashing walls could be?” Hazel asks, as she collapses on a camping chair. She chugs from her water bottle before handing it to me.

Rachel nods as she wipes sweat from her brow. “I might quit my job and go into demolition.”

I scull a few mouthfuls of water before looking at the disaster site in front of me. All the flimsy, temporary walls have now been smashed to smithereens, a mountain of debris covering the entire floor. I can now see the three brick walls which make up the space, but the amount of crap on the floor makes me think we’re going to need help to get it out.

“I’m going to need to hire a few containers to get rid of all this junk,” I murmur.

“Let me see if I can find a company.” Meg taps at her phone. She’s been sitting outside in another one of the camping chairs for the past hour, editing the content she filmed when we first got here. As we suspected, she wasn’t keen to get her hands dirty and complained about the amount of dust, but she got some great footage of us tearing the place apart.

A low rumble turns all four of our heads to the carpark behind her and my stomach somersaults. The now familiar black truck of Anthony Bonetti trundles to a stop across the lot.

“Did you know he was coming?” Hazel asks me.

I shake my head.

The four of us watch as Anthony hops out from the driver’s side, wearing a tight-fitted grey t-shirt and what appears to be the only type of shorts he owns – tradesmen shorts. Tight-fitting, black cargo shorts that make his butt look like a goddamned peach. He’s donned his steel-cap work boots, making his calves look massive.

Rachel makes a purring sound under her breath. “Sweet Jesus, Kali. You’re trying to resistthat?”

I spent the better part of the morning updating the girls on my sexual tension and fantasies of one particular Bonetti brother.

“I know,” I sigh, watching as Anthony rounds to the back of his tray, his corded muscles flexing in the sunlight.

Meg whips her head to me. “You made a bet tonottouch him?Lookat him.Lookat the tattoos on his neck.Lookat theveinsin his neck.” Meg fans the paper in her hand across her face, her eyes trained on the tattooed Adonis standing outside my shopfront.

Anthony turns and locks eyes with me and I forget to breathe. It’s not until I register Meg filming my face that I snap out of my trance.

“Knock it off,” I hiss at her, snatching her phone out of her hand.

She squeals and jumps out of her seat, taking it back. “This is movie gold. A love story and a new business venture. What more could the people want?”

“It’s not a love story, so don’t even think about trying to make it into one,” I sneer.

Meg raises her perfectly raised eyebrows. “Ineversaw you look at my cousin like that and you were really into him.”

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