Page 32 of Steeling Her
“Do they play football? Is that why you like it? Because I know Haley only watches it for me and the, to quote her, ‘hot guys on the field.’ ” That makes her laugh once more. The sound of her sweet laugh is doing something to my stomach. I’ve missed her smile the most, though. I groan at that thought. I’m turning into such a girl.
“Um . . . Yeah, kinda, but only the first part. I don’t go to look at ‘hot guys on the field.’ ” She uses her fingers to quote my sister. I see her blush a little and look away from me. I could tease her about it, but I feel like we’re not that close yet. Maybe some other time. “I’m not that type,” she mumbles down to her fingers.
“What type is that?” I ask curiously. I want to know more about her. She’s so interesting even when I don’t know much about her. Everything she says intrigues me.
“The girly type. Don’t get my wrong, I like guys, I just don’t go out of my way to get them to notice me. Because they don’t. I’ve never been that girl you know?” She looks at me. I can’t believe this is coming out of her mouth.
“Um . . . Carter?”
“Yeah?”
“You are that girl, you’re the girl everyone notices.” She shakes her head and laughs at what she thinks is a joke. She really doesn’t see it. She’s gorgeous and she doesn’t even realize it. That makes her even hotter. Damn, this girl!
“I’m not that girl, Nick. Trust me—”
“Trust me, you are. The night of the party, you had everyone’s attention as soon as you walked through that door. You just don’t realize it.”Shit!I just indirectly told her she had my attention. I watch her face fall from that perfect smile. What did I say now?
“Please don’t bring that up . . .” Her quiet tone catches me off guard. Thinking about what I said, I then realize. Stevens.
“I’m sorry, Carter. I wasn’t thinking . . .”
“It’s fine, I’d rather just forget about that night to be honest.” I really want to know what happened so I blurt out the question.
“What happened?” Her eyes once again meet mine with sadness in them. I can now see why she doesn’t want to talk about it. The look on her face says it all. When I see Stevens, he’s going to regret even looking at her like that. I will rearrange the shit out of his face.
“I got pulled upstairs when I spilt his drink on him . . . I offered to help clean him up in the kitchen but he decided upstairs was closer. I let him take me up, not knowing what was going to happen. He opened the door, that I thought was locked, and then closed it. I was backed up against the wall . . . and then he pressed himself up on me. He started to comment on how I looked and then kissed my neck.” Watching her touch her neck subconsciously tells me that she can remember every detail. With every word she speaks, I get angrier and angrier. “He wouldn’t stop and I froze. I couldn’t move myself away from him or say anything. I just stood there. If it wasn’t for TJ, he would’ve done whatever he wanted to me. I literally couldn’t move myself. It was like I was mute and made of stone . . .” I reach my hand around the back of hers and pull her once again toward me. I stroke her arm up and down as a sign of comfort. I want her to feel comfortable with me. I want her to talk to me, with me. I want to know her.
Boy, is Stevens going to crap himself at the sight of me.
“It’s alright, he won’t go near you again. Trust me on that,” I assure her to put peace in her mind. He won’t. If he does, I will literally beat him into a coma if I have to.
Stepping off at the next stop, we walk down the street to get to the car dealership. Seeing “Mercedes” written on the front, I look over to her blushing back at me. “You sure this is it?” I quirk an eyebrow at her before looking back up in front of me.
“Uh . . . yeah. This is it.” She smiles awkwardly before she looks away. She walks in front of me and we enter the dealership. She tells me to wait by a vintage car in display while she asks someone for help. I do as I’m told, but I can’t help but feel there’s something she’s not fully telling me.
***
Carter
I walk away from Nick, who is standing around and looking at the different cars on display in the showroom. I see a young sales woman immediately walk over to him.He’ll be fine,I think to myself. I walk over to the young man standing behind a desk clicking on his computer. His eyes immediately reach mine and he sends me a genuine smile.
“Hi there! Can I help you?” His husky voice stops me in my tracks for a moment. Damn, that’s a good voice.
“H-Hi, um . . . yeah, I’m here to collect my car. I have my insurance documents and registration. I also have my drivers licence too.” He takes my documents and scans over them quickly. I don’t know what he’s looking for.
“Well, Miss Steel, your father called this morning to say you’ll be collecting the car from us. I’ll call one of our guys around back to drive it up front for you to take, but first, I need you to sign this for me . . . Also, here’s my card if you have any problems or questions.” He slips his newly printed matte gray card across the desk for me to take. I grab it and slip it into my bag, thanking him. He walks around the desk and I bend down to sign the piece of paper. That’s when I jump when I hear Nick behind me.
“Hey! Eyes on me buddy!” I see him obviously staring at the guy beside me. I roll my eyes and hand the guy’s pen back. Hearing the guy chuckle as I do, he winks at me and I widen my eyes back at him. He reaches over to his desk phone to call one of his guys to bring my car around front. “They’ll bring it around for you now Miss St-”
“Okay, thank you! Bye!” I get there before he finishes my last name. I’m not ready to tell Nick yet. Or maybe ever. I walk away with Nick trailing behind me and we stand out front with the guy, who I didn’t think would follow us out too. I see my baby—my matte black Mercedes G7 wagon—pull up around the corner and cruise over to us with ease. I smile at the sight of her. Once it stops beside me, I grin like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Basically, I’m pretty sure I look like an idiot.
“THAT’S your car? Holy shit!” Nick smiles at her in awe as well. I tap my hand on the bonnet and smooth it across the paint job.
“Yep, this is her. My baby, Roxy.” I watch him admire her with a twinkle in his eye.
“Woah . . . nice car, Carter! Oh ho ho! TJ is going to die when he sees this! She’s a beaut!” An employee climbs out of the car to hand over my keys to the sales man I was talking to earlier. He scans the code on the keychain and registers it as picked up. He walks over to hand them to me and I take them graciously from him. I’ve missed my baby. He winks at me once more and walks me to my side of the car where I can get in.
“Get in!” I tell Nick, who is only too delighted to abide by my request. He slips himself inside, checking out the interior like it’s one of the many girls he has on his phone. I clench my jaw at my own thought.
