Nate turns to me with narrowed eyes. “Speaking of chicks that you fuckers can’t seem to close the deal with-”
Tyson cuts him off. “Hey, I can more than close the deal with her.”
Nate continues, ignoring his comments, as let’s face it, Nate’s right. While Tyson has more than fucked around with Bry, he’s not a closer. He wants her to be his exclusively, he’s just too much of a fucking pussy to go after it in fears of being shut down. “What’s going on with Brooke?”
My face scrunches, hating that this fucker can see right through me. “The fuck are you talking about?” I ask, ready and prepared to deny anything that he shoots my way.
“You heard me.”
I shake my head. “Nah, man, You got it all wrong. Brooke is dating that other guy now. We have history, but that’s it. Besides, I fucked that one up well and good.”
“Damn straight, you did. But don’t act like we didn’t all see you giving her the eyes the other day. You want her back.”
I glance over to Courtney and Kaylah who are listening way too intently. “Nah,” I tell him, hating the lie, but knowing that every word of this is going to get relayed back to her. “That was just a bit of flirting. That ship sailed. Besides, rumor has it that she’s getting pretty serious about this new guy.”
Nate scoffs. “He won’t last long. He’s a fucking dick.”
My brows furrow. “What are you talking about? Do you know something?”
“Nah, just a feeling. I don’t like him and I don’t like him hanging around Tora’s place. But what’s it to you? I thought that ship had sailed?”
I shake my head, knowing that no matter what I say, these fuckers are going to turn it back on me and throw it in my face. I knew I shouldn’t have shown up to help her move into her new place, and this was one of the main reasons, but I couldn’t just sit back and not help her out. I may be a fucking dickhead sometimes, but where I‘m concerned, Brooke deserves the best.
I don’t bother answering and luckily, Nate lets it go. I lean back against his work station, unable to stop the thoughts running through my mind. Brooke really does deserve the best and looking at me, I’m far from anything that she needs or would even want or desire. I’m a nobody who couldn’t get my shit together after high school.
I want Brooke back in my life. I want her to see me as the king she used to see me as, not this pathetic, lesser version of myself that I’ve become since my high school days. I have to be better, I have to be it all, but how?
If I want to have even the slightest chance of winning her back, then I need to be the man she used to believe I could be. I need to show her that I can give her a life worth being proud of. At this rate, any girl I end up with would be living off my parents’ money and my inheritance in the back of their property, and that’s nothing to be proud of. I want to blow her the fuck away. I want to build an empire and be that guy that everyone has heard of, but for the right reasons, not the ones they all know me for now.
I need to get my fucking act together. If only I could figure out what the hell I want to do with my life.
A high-pitched squeal rips my attention away from my aggressively annoying thoughts and I glance up to watch Kaylah go crashing into a rack of old tires before crumbling to the ground. The tires begin to fall and within the blink of an eye, Jesse launches himself over the massive shipment of car parts that Nate received during the week. “Fuck, babe. MOVE!”
He races to get to her as Puck gets up too, probably wanting to pull Courtney away from the falling rack of tires.
Jesse is way too far away to save her in time and we all cringe as she scrambles away. The rack comes down, clattering hard against Nate’s polished floors as Kaylah manages to get herself out from under the rack just in time.
Jesse dives at her and she instantly falls into his arms as he checks her over. There’s a slight cut on her forehead and he does everything in his power to make sure she’s keeping her mind off the pain as he continues to check everything else. “Are you good?” he questions in a panic.
“Yeah,” she says softly, looking a little in shock. “I think I’m fine.”
Jesse lets out a breath as he crushes her face into his chest. “In that case. What the fuck were you thinking? Don’t ever do that shit to me again.”