The First Taste (Slip of the Tongue #2) - Jessica Hawkins Page 0,106
left bed in panties and a tank to feed Bell. Not when she came home drunk off her head. I never stopped to wonder if it was just the way she walked or if she’d trained herself not to break character.
Sex with Shana, in the beginning, was an addiction; I was worse than a kid in a candy store. After Bell, it died off, and we had nothing to say to each other that didn’t involve accusations or insults. Her resentment over Bell needled me to an unhealthy level.
Amelia feeds a different kind of hunger in me. She isn’t candy, without nutrition or value, but a well-balanced, well-flavored meal. Her wit, her ambition, draws me in as much as her figure. She’s surprisingly funny. Adventurous. And somehow, despite our boundaries, the sex is more connected than casual, more intuitive than cautious.
A week without it has made my entire body raw as an exposed nerve. Whenever I look at the photo of her in the bathtub, all I see is what I can’t see. She mocks me, and it darkens my already black mood.
Randy’s still running his mouth about all the ways blowjobs can improve your mood when a Mercedes with blacked-out windows pulls into the driveway and stops. The car idles, but nobody gets out. I give it a onceover, but nothing looks wrong, and it sounds in good shape. Generally, yuppies stick to their dealerships for auto work. “Go see what he wants.”
Pico has his hand down his pants as he scratches his crotch. “’K.”
“On second thought,” I say, “I’ll go.”
The car’s back door opens, and a man on his cell phone gets out. It takes me a moment to place the slicked-back hair, the expensive-looking pinstripe suit that creases and gaps in the wrong places, as if it’s a size too big. If possible, Reggie looks even slimier in a suit than a baby blue polo.
Reggie checks the sign above my shop. When his eyes land on me, he says something into the phone before he hangs up.
“What the fuck?” I mutter for probably the hundredth time this week.
Randy’s back goes straight. “What’s wrong?”
Reggie and I walk toward each other, meeting in the middle. “What can I do for you?” I ask.
Reggie glances past me, into the garage. “Nice place. Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner. I never really make it to this part of . . . Jersey.”
I crack my knuckles as loudly as possible. The tip of his nose is red and peeling, as if he just got back from somewhere sunny. I wonder what the hell Amelia ever saw in this guy. “What can I do for you?” I repeat.
He looks back at me. “Just one thing, really,” he says with a labored sigh. “Amelia. She’s not really your type, is she? I don’t think you’re hers, either.”
I shrug. “How is this your business?”
“It is.” He puts his hands in his pockets. “She’s got a lot going for her—class, looks, value. She belongs with a man who can give her what she deserves. That’s not a mechanic.”
“She’s a big girl,” I say. “Maybe we should let her decide.”
He sniffs, possibly, I think, because he’s not getting the reaction he wants. “She’s a little mixed up right now. Hurt. When that goes away, she’ll regret this fling you guys are having. But, thing is, I’m not very patient, and I don’t really like the idea of my wife screwing around with some fuck-up from New Jersey, so I’m ready for it to be over.”
I laugh, a sound that’s menacing and hollow even to my own ears. My irritation is rising up my chest. I don’t care what he thinks of me, but that he’s still calling her his wife needles me, even if Amelia seems to be through with me. “You’ll have to talk to her about that.”
“I’ve tried, believe me. I assumed it was nothing at first, but when you get family involved, it starts to worry me.” He straightens his suit with a derisive glance at my coveralls. “I don’t think Amelia is dumb enough to fall for a guy like you, but I can’t take the chance.”
My face warms. I have to work to keep my breathing even. I don’t know what family he’s referring to. The only family Amelia and I have brought into this is Sadie, Nathan and Bell, and I can’t have this fuckwad even looking in their direction. “Get the fuck off my property.”