Page 4 of Only Ever Yours
Turning around, I wasn’t prepared for the vision in front of me.
Hollis Sutton.
My best friend’s younger sister.
Although, this version was a pale imitation of the last time I’d seen her, a few months back, when she’d visited Finn: caramel-blonde hair pulled up into a messy bun, an oversized, bottle-green hoodie enveloping almost every inch of the top half of her curvy figure while skin-tight, black yoga pants hugged her shapely legs. Converse that matched her hoodie finished off the outfit. She wore no make-up, and there were dark rings under her eyes like she hadn’t slept in days.
She’s still fucking hot, though. To be fair, I’ve always thought that.
A bulging rucksack sat at her feet, a large hobo bag, crammed full of stuff, balanced precariously on her shoulder, and she held a designer handbag in one hand.
“Do I look like your brother’s fucking social secretary?” Running a hand over my head again, I checked for a bump, wondering if I might actually be hallucinating. Realising I might have come across as rude, I said, “Sorry. He’s not here, and you were the last person I expected to see. Usually, it’s a client come to pick up a car at this time of day, and you kind of took me by surprise.”
Hollis gave me a tight smile. “Nice to see you too, Jase.” She waved her phone at me. “Do you know when he’s going to be back?”
“Like I said, Princess, I’m not your brother’s keeper.” I turned back to the car. “And I’ve got work to do.”
She hissed out a breath, and I wondered what was so important that she had turned up here out of the blue. Finn hadn’t mentioned anything about his sister coming; the last I knew, she was living the city life in London, a far cry from her hometown of Maplebrook.
Sucking in my own irritation, I decided to humour her. Facing her, I wiped my hands on the rag tucked into the back pocket of my jeans. “Can I get you a drink or something while you’re waiting?”
Her eyes filled with tears, and I hesitated, almost regretting my decision. The last thing I wanted to deal with on a Thursday afternoon was an emotional female.
“I’d like that, Jase. Thank you. Have you any peppermint tea?”
I snorted. “You do realise this is a garage, not a spa, don’t you? I’ve got builder’s tea or instant coffee.There might even be some sugar somewhere, and I know the milk was fresh this morning. If you’re lucky, there could be a biscuit, too.”
Despite her tears, Hollis smiled. “Okay, I’ll take a builder’s tea, with one sugar. And I’m starving. A biscuit would be lovely.” She let the hobo bag slide to the ground to join the rucksack. “Where’s the bathroom? I could do with freshening up a bit.”
Pointing to a door in the corner, I added. “It doesn’t lock properly, but I promise not to walk in on you.”
I watched her walk over to the bathroom, unable to stop myself from checking out her peachy arse encased in those second-skin-like leggings. With a loud exhale, I moved over to the garage’s tiny kitchen area and filled the kettle. After I’d switched it on, I tried to find two clean mugs. Fuck it, one would have to do. I’d drink from the same one I’d had all day. Dropping a teabag into each cup, I waited for the kettle to boil and pulled my phone from the back pocket of my jeans.
Your sister’s here.
Almost immediately, a response came through.
Finn
Shit, sorry, mate. Forgot to tell you she was coming. I’m just locking up at the gym, be there ASAP.
Tossing my phone on the side, I added boiling water to the teabags and let it stew while I looked for the sugar. Funnily enough, I did find a bag of peppermint teabags tucked away at the back of one of the cupboards, but when I checked the expiry date, I chucked them straight in the bin.While I might have been surprised at Hollis being here, I didn’t want to kill her off that badly.
A sound from across the room had me turning around. Hollis strode towards me, her hair now loose and curling around her shoulders, and she’d taken her hoodie off, leaving me to stare at her rack in a white T-shirt as tight as her leggings and which showed me a hint of her nipples. Swallowing hard, I focused on the tea instead and shoved one of the mugs at her.
Hollis wrinkled her nose. “Honestly, I don’t know how you guys can stand it in there. The flush doesn’t work properly and the um…aroma leaves a lot to be desired.”
I shrugged. “We’re so used to it, we probably don’t notice.”
“Really?” She rolled her eyes and gave a gentle shudder. “Ugh.”
I held out a mug to her. “Here you go. Builders tea, one sugar.”
“Thanks.” She wrapped her hands around the mug and took a sip, swallowing quickly. “Is this whole milk?” Before I could answer, she spoke again. “God, I’m sorry, Jase. I’m not trying to be high maintenance, I promise. Thank you for this. It’s been…a day. Well, a week, actually, but I won’t bore you with it.”
Instantly, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what had brought her here out of the blue with a bunch of bags, and I hoped it wouldn’t be long before I knew the whole story.
Hollis and I made polite chitchat about the garage and how things had been going until Finn arrived around ten minutes later.
