Page 38 of Malicious Pacts

“That’s quite the theory.”

I shrugged. “I’m notentirelyabove begging, and if you knew me, you’d know that’s saying something. I’m nothing like you think.”

“Hmm, well, I suppose I’ll just have to take your word for it.” She leaned in a bit. “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” she whispered before standing upright again. I saw the quickest pained grimace as she clenched her right side as she righted herself, but she recovered quickly. “I rebuilt one of these from the rusted-out floor pans, to the rebuilt Muncie M21 transmission, to replacing the small block we bought it with to a 454 big block engine back in Indiana. This is a 1970 Chevelle SS, and like myself, it deserves kindness, respect, and the intelligence to handle it properly. Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll have to keephandlingit myself.”

She winked and smiled at me and placed her hand on my chest, walking my stunned ass back a few feet toward the front end of the Chevelle. I said nothing as I watched her turn and remove a set of keys from her pocket before putting it in the door and unlocking it.

My eyes widened even more as I realizedshewas the one who owned the car. A large smile spread across my face as I watch her get in and put her books in the passenger side before shutting the door. I walked to the driver’s side window and gently knocked. She clutched her right side for a moment as she shifted in the seat and put on the seatbelt. She’d been in pain a moment ago, and I wondered what had happened.

She ignored me before putting the manual stick shift in neutral, shoving the clutch in, and starting the car. Part of me was immediately obsessed that she knew how to drive stick while the other part of me exploded with excitement when I heard the loud growl of the engine explode to life.

Fuck, this is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,I thought.

She rolled down the window and looked up at me, smiling as she revved the engine.

“Is it too early to tell you I think I love you? Or should I wait for our first date?” I asked. She laughed loudly, and it sent chills through me. She was perfect. “Now Ireallythink I need your name and number.”

“Have you graduated high school yet?” she asked. I shook my head, and she shrugged. “Me neither. I guess you’ll just have to hope we go to the same school.” She reached over to the passenger side seat and grabbed one of the books and handed it to me. A Colleen Hoover novel called,Reminders of Him. “That way you can return that to me and get a second shot at a first impression. Let’s hope it’s better next time. That should teach you how to flirt a little better.”

She rolled up the window and put the car in reverse. Once she had it lined up straight, she hit the gas and sped out of the parking lot—but hopefully not out of my life. A girl like that didn’t come around very often, and I really didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity like that.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TEMPERANCE

The whole week after Rick gave me the car, things with Harper were tense. That girlhatedme. I tried to be mature about it—trying to remember she’d been a spoiled, rich, only child her entire life, and now she had me coming in and competing for Daddy’s love.

Even if there wasn’t a competition.

I didn’t want a father-daughter relationship with Rick, at least not yet anyway. She was jealous of something she’d built up in her head. Which, my rational brain told me Ialsounderstood since I’d had flashes of distrust about Angela and Rick while the only person who had actually been rude to me was Harper—someone I had repeatedly justified and shown patience for in my head.

Iclearlyneeded help.

Even though I understood why she acted how she did, it didn’t mean I liked it or planned to allow it to continue. What I’d told Rick was true. I needed to fight my own battles, and I needed her to understand I wasn’t her enemy. I didn’t plan to take anything from her.

That was why after I finished moving things to my new permanent—until I decided if I wanted to leave or not—room in the Avery home, I planned to ask her to come along with me to Crestview to sign up for classes.

While it wasn’t a good idea for us to be seen together, it also wouldn’t necessarily raise any bigger red flags like it would if I were seen with Rick outside social ones, of course. Such as why someone like Harper Avery was hanging out with a “weirdo” like me. And that could be explained away by the excuse I came up with for her when she inevitably tried to say something shitty about not wanting to be seen with me. An excuse I thought she’d rather enjoy.

I just moved in down the street, and Rick took pity on me and made Harper show me around and take me to the school so I could sign up for classes. I was her charity case.

Rick had sent for my things back in Indiana and had them delivered here a few days ago. Everything in my room was moved here and was packed away nice and neat in boxes. I still couldn’t do any heavy lifting, so I couldn’t move anything myself, but he asked Javier to help. Something I couldn’t say I was entirely broken hearted about.

I looked in one of the boxes on my bed and saw it was full of books. I really needed to get some bookshelves. I had alotof books. Though, I had one less than I actually owned thanks to Asher Jackson.

Thinking about him made my heart flutter a bit. He was hotter than any of the guys I’d met back in Indiana by a long shot. It was still hard to believe he’d been flirting with me, but I loved it.

I’d kicked myself every day since then for not giving him my name and number, but after I looked his name up on Facebook and saw he went to Crestview, that crisis was averted. I knew I’d see him again.

It had been several days since then, and I still had no idea why I’d flirted like I did but didn’t give him any information about myself. It was like I was caught up in the moment. To be honest, it was a little fun playing hard to get, even with a guy who I never would have dreamed of getting in the first place.

I was just glad he wouldn’t be the only one getting a do-over. And maybe I’d actually get my book back. I’d heard really good things about it, and that was the one I was most excited about.

Which made the whole interaction even weirder and stupider.

Javier walked back into my room and broke my concentration. He set a bag of clothes on my bed before turning to the row of boxes stacked along the wall.

He wore a plain black V-neck t-shirt andveryfitting light colored bootcut jeans with a pair of black combat boots. I may be a lot younger than him and would never date him, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t look and appreciate the way the jeans hugged his impressive ass. It was normally hidden in the dress slacks he usually wore, as well as his thick thighs. Javier had a lot to show off, front and back apparently.

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