that from years of fielding requests for you. Do you know what it was like being your little sister?"
With a frown, I turn and press the switch for the lift. Being my sister was likely a pain in the ass. Chase only truly liked one of the girls I hung out with in high school, and she's—blowing out a deep breath, I push memories of the Tyler tornado back into the box I keep locked in the corner of my mind.
"Who says I saw Jess last night?"
"Right, okay." She presses the flat of her palm to her stomach. "You're full of shit, Carter."
"What's your point?"
"Nothing," she says with a shrug, sidestepping the RX-7 as it elevates. "I'm just saying you need some fun. Call her."
"Are you seriously advising me on my sex life?" I ask, gauging the height of the RX-7 and releasing the switch.
"Hell, no." Her voice is loud without the lift motor running, and she pulls a face. "I'm telling you to go on a date with a nice girl. Hang out. I'm tired of seeing you pissed off. I know giving up football has been a struggle, but you still deserve good things " Flashing a smile, she spins around and heads through my open bay door.
"I don't date!" I call to her backside.
"Then get laid, bro. Just find something that makes you happy once in a while."
What the fuck! "Chase! You come back here." Her giggles fan the flames of my ire. If my leg weren't giving me shit, I'd jog after her. "Getting laid is not the answer. Do you hear me? Any assholes try that shit with you, and I'll kick their ass. I'm serious." I'm shouting the roof down, and she's swinging her hips and waving her fingers over her head. "Fucking hell."
A shadow appears at my side. "Way to tell her." Owen chuckles deep in his throat. "She's eighteen, Coop."
Chase climbs into her car and backs up, her eyes finding me before she shifts into drive. Frey reminded me of the same thing a week ago, but the notion is a tough pill to swallow. "She's a kid," I say without much passion. Chase blows an obnoxious kiss my way, causing me to shake my head before her vehicle disappears around the building.
I turn and find Owen's narrowed blue eyes leveled on me. "I know, all right. That doesn't mean I can't protect her," I say, waving him off.
He moves to the front of the vehicle and steps beneath the right tire. "Like how she protects you?"
"Weren't you leaving?"
"Hand me the wrench?"
"I've got this." I argue while slapping the wrench into his outstretched palm anyway.
"Of course you do." He loosens the lock nut then shifts to the left side. "I did office shit and inventory all morning. Let me get my hands greasy."
I could tell him to fuck off, but why bother. "By all means, have at it."
I drag my ass to the war room, grab a bottled water, and shift a backed chair around to face Owen. I plop down and prop my foot on an unopened box before pulling my cell phone from my pocket.
"Tell me about Jess?" Owen asks after a while. "What's your history with her?"
Mindlessly scrolling through my phone, I ask, "Why?"
"A lot of shit happened with her parents around the first of the year. Her mom emptied their bank account and sold off stuff. Scorned lover kind of shit, except the woman wasn't the one scorned. At least not from what I've heard. She just up and left one day; then, all her secrets were exposed."
"Her secrets? Plural?" There were murmurs around town, but I've been rehabbing and keeping to myself or at the garage, I'm not privy to the details. The woman slept with her husband's co-worker, that is public knowledge since that’s how Paul lost his job, but what else happened? Just how bad off had Joann Womick left her husband and daughter?
"Rumor has it she'd slept around for years. I'm shocked how well kept her affairs were."
The way this town is? Yeah, me too.
I answer his earlier question. "We don't have history, Jess and me. You know her story, she was a cheerleader and close to Aubrey. We had some classes together, obviously went to the same parties, had the same friends."
"You never hooked up?"
Before last night? "Not that my sex life is your business, but no, we didn't."
Owen works beneath the car, adjusting the tire rods, and I follow his movements, my