Page 81 of Every Broken Promise
“It’s getting some maintenance done.”
No way was I telling him it got stolen by Ty-asshole.
“Do you need a ride? I can take you home,” he offered right away, pointing over to his car.
“Oh no, it’s okay. My mom will get me. It’s on her way home from work.”
He gave me an easy smile and I thought he would drop it.
“You mentioned your mom works at the factory, right?” He looked down at the watch on his wrist. “They won’t get out for another thirty minutes. I don’t mind taking you home. Really.”
I mustered a smile.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind waiting.”
He shrugged. “Then I shall wait with you. I can’t in good conscience leave you here all alone.”
Fuck.
“Are you sure you don’t mind giving me a ride?” I asked.
Maybe he was trying to be nice. If I waited here, I had to pray my mom saw my message before she left work. That would be thirty minutes plus another ten to fifteen while she picked meup. Or I could suck it up and take a fifteen-minute ride to the auto shop with Ronnie.
“Of course not. I’m here for you when you need me,” he told me. “Well, for all my employees,” he amended right away, and all I could do was nod. I hoped I wasn’t grimacing.
I take back what I said about my ride with Tyler being tense and awkward. I had not lived through getting a ride from Ronnie.Thiswas tense and awkward.
“Let me know if you need a ride in the morning. I’ll be happy to swing by and get you.”
“Oh no, that’s totally okay,” I told him. “Can you drop me off at the auto shop in town? I’m sure my car is already ready.”
“If it’s not, my offer is on the table,” he persisted.
All I did was smile at him because I knew that was not going to happen. What was it about Ronnie that made me feel weird? He had not done anything wrong. I just couldn’t explain, and at this point I didn’t want to for fear of being called names.
When I saw the auto shop sign, I felt relieved.
I sat straighter and pointed toward the side of the auto shop. “You can go around the back. One of the bay doors should be open.”
Ronnie did as I instructed and I had to fight the urge to run as soon as I saw that the bay door was indeed open. Ronnie parked his car a few feet away from the bay door. Sure enough, my car was right there, and so was Tyler.
Butterflies—I felt butterflies upon seeing him.
He was in jeans that rode low on his hips. I could see the top of his boxer briefs and a white muscle shirt that was stained with grease.
Damn, he looked good.
“Thank you, Ronnie,” I told him as I went to open the door.
Ronnie put his hand on my arm to stop me. I turned to him with wide eyes.
“Nonsense, Astrid. I’ll go with you. You need a man for these kinds of things so they don’t take advantage of you.”
What the heck?
What kind of sexist shit was that?
I looked at where his hand held on to my arm and then back at him.
