Blitz (Blast Brothers #3) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,36

he asked.

"A screwdriver."

"So she carries around a screwdriver?" He laughed. "Hell, I don't even do that."

He did in his truck. I knew this for a fact, because we all did – carried a few tools in our vehicles just in case.

But I saw what he meant. "Hey, at least it was our screwdriver." I knew because I'd spotted the orange handle.

Brody asked, "But what about the car?"

"What about it?"

"Was it hers or somebody else's?"

I laughed. "That's what I asked."

"And…?"

"And boy, she loved that. But yeah, the car was hers."

Sounding less than convinced, Brody asked, "You sure?"

"Sure enough."

"So where are you now?" he asked.

"On M-13, heading back from her place."

"No shit?" he said. "But I thought you were done with crazy chicks."

I had mentioned such a thing, but it didn't matter. Brody was reading it all wrong.

I told him, "I was just giving her a ride."

He chuckled. "I bet."

"Not that kind of ride," I said. "I was doing her a favor."

"Come on. You're joking, right?"

"No. Why?"

"Well, you're not exactly the chivalrous type."

Chivalrous – it was a funny word coming from my little brother, who had more rough edges than a pine tree. But then again, he'd been engaged for a while now, and his rough edges weren't as sharp as they used to be.

Sure, he was still tough as nails when it came to work. But as far as the rest of it, he'd gone all soft and sentimental.

It was annoying as hell.

But I got what he meant.

The truth was, he didn't know the half of it. I'd offered Mina double the favor. I'd volunteered not only to drive her home to get her keys, but also to return her to her car.

She'd politely declined the second half, even after I'd assured her that I'd be heading that way anyway.

Her car was parked just a few blocks away from my office, which was maybe ten blocks from my condo. I'd told her so, too.

But it hadn't mattered. She'd still turned me down, assuring me that she'd have no trouble finding a ride back to her vehicle.

As for myself, being turned down for anything was an odd sensation, one I hadn't experienced in a while.

Maybe she was crazy.

To Brody, I said, "Get this. She lives on a farm."

"No way," he laughed. "Like with cows and chickens?"

I hadn't seen any cows or chickens. But hey, a farm was a farm, right? I replied, "Probably."

"What, you don't know?"

"It's not like I stayed for dinner," I reminded him. "I just dropped her off."

"So…" he said. "Did you walk her to up the door?"

"It wasn't a date. It was a favor." And even if it were a date, it had been a long time since one of those had ended with a walk to the door. No. These days, my dates ended a lot more interesting, usually between the sheets.

Or on the sofa.

Or wherever.

It's not like my partners were picky.

The call ended with Brody reminding me that he was leaving for Colorado in the morning.

This wasn't a surprise. Brody spent a lot of time out of town, almost always for the same reason – to fix up yet another house for Blast – the cable show that had made our tools a household name.

Soon, I'd be heading to Colorado myself, along with Mason, who hated the show the way cats hate water.

But me? I didn't mind. Blast was my brainchild.

I'd made it happen through persistence and charm. It hadn't been as hard as you'd think. When I wanted, I could charm just about anyone – with the possible exception of Mina Lipinski, and maybe her dad.

It didn't matter.

Mina, I could handle.

And as far as her dad, it's not like I'd ever meet the guy.

Chapter 26

Mina

It had been only twenty minutes since Chase had dropped me off, and I'd spent most of those minutes in my parents' living room, giving them an update on everything that had happened.

I'd begun by explaining how the bank had backed out of the initial sponsorship, and I'd ended by telling them that Blast Tools had agreed to take up the slack.

When I finished, I expected my parents to be just as thrilled as I was.

They weren't. Or at least, they didn't look thrilled.

My mom asked, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

Wasn't it obvious? "Because I just found out."

"I don't mean about the new sponsorship," she said. "I meant the old one. Why didn't you tell us that it fell through?"

The reason for this should've been obvious, too. "I didn't want anyone