Bad Boy Best Friend - Hope Ford Page 0,6
to adding the Freon yet, because topping off the refrigerant is not going to make his AC work better, it’s going to blow it because there are pressure factors involved, and it takes knowing what you’re doing when it comes to the AC in vehicles.
Once I figure out the problem, I tell him, “I can give the AC a look at if you bring it down to the shop. But since you’ve got the oil on hand, I can change it now as thanks for breakfast.”
“Best hurry then. The women are gonna be calling us in any minute.” Jerry, who likes to make his wife Julia think that he knows how to fix his truck, thrusts the bottle at me. But I’m looking under the hood and not at Jerry, and as a result I get oil splashed over my shirt.
“Now I’ve done it. Sorry about that, Austin,” Jerry says.
I laugh it off and take off the shirt before the oil seeps into my skin and soaks into my jeans. I take the bottle from Jerry and recap the lid while I drain the oil first and then begin the refill. There’s black oil on my hands from working on the car and I’m trying to clean some of it off with the towel Jerry had on hand when Julia’s voice carries to my ears.
“Did you tell them breakfast is ready? What are you looking at?”
Looking up, I find Julia and Laney on the porch. But Laney is ignoring her mother. Instead, she’s staring at me with a look of appreciation. I get caught up in that stare, forgetting the fact that it’s my best friend up there. Forgetting the fact that both her parents are here, watching us. It’s like lust is burning in my brain and I can’t think of anything else. The heated charge that I felt the night before ignites again. It’s like a tug, low in my belly. I can feel my heart start to race, my palms get sweaty, and for the life of me, I can’t drag my gaze away from her.
The way she’s looking at me mirrors everything I’m feeling right now. I shouldn’t be looking at my best friend like this. I shouldn’t be thinking the thoughts I’m having right now, but there’s nothing or no one that could fully convince me of that. All I do know is, I can’t fuck this up.
Laney
How long have I been standing here staring?
I retrace my steps in my mind. I left the kitchen to come out and let my dad know breakfast was ready. The next thing I know I’m watching Austin climb out from under the car, shirtless, a smudge of black grease on his tight pectoral muscles, and good heavens his arms! His hair is off his shoulders in a ponytail. On anyone else it would look girly, but on him it’s only sexy. He’s always been fit, but Austin doesn’t look like an almost-man anymore. His shoulders are wider, his muscles are the lean, sexy kind that come from hard work. He’s on an all new level of sexiness and it has literally stolen my breath. All I could do was stand here and stare at him like a lusting, drooling fool.
My mom unfortunately announced my presence before I managed to stop staring, and Austin definitely caught me. It had to be all over my face how impressed I was by his physique because even from here I can see the flare of awareness in his eyes. I wait for disgust or pity to come across his face, but is that interest I see instead? No way! There’s no way Austin thinks of me that way. I shake my head, trying to snap myself out of it.
Great! Way to make things awkward, Laney!
“Looks like breakfast is ready. I’ll go and uh… find a shirt to loan you since I messed up the other one,” my dad says. He gives me a curious look as he passes me on the porch followed by another expression that I’m not quite sure what it means. I’m sure he’s wondering why I’m undressing my best friend with my eyes. Yeah, Dad, I know it’s wrong. I watch as my mom and dad disappear back in the house, then I take a deep breath before turning back to Austin.
He closes the hood on the truck and strides up the driveway with the confidence and presence of a man that owns the town.
I am not still