Page 22 of My Fiancé's Brother
“Sounds like bullshit to me.”
My mouth dropped open. No one ever talked to me like that. How could I tell him that I feared rejection? I was happy with the dream of being an artist. What held me back was the fear of losing that dream when the art world rejected my work. It would take away one of my greatest joys. “I'm happy helping other artists.”
“I don’t buy it.”
My eyes widened. I had no response to that. “It’s complicated.”
“I can help you load up your paintings and carry them to your work.”
The thought of Jackson carrying my art into the gallery and demanding they hang them up almost made me laugh. “I can’t.”
He glanced over at me. “It’s up to you.”
“I’ll think about it,” I lied.
We pulledup to a stop in front of the loft. I yanked open the door and leaped out, not caring if I ripped the back seam out of my skirt. Ihad no intention of letting him touch me again. This guy, unlike all my other crushes, wasn’t even remotely safe.
I stopped short. “Where’s my car?”
“I pushed it into the garage.” He walked forward and pulled on the chain to open the door. I walked into the space that was Matt’s parking spot. The engine of my car lay in several pieces on the floor of the garage on a tarp.
My eyes widened.
“Sorry about this,” he said. “I got carried away.”
I stood there in shock. My car had undergone an automotive autopsy, and now all its important little pieces were lying on the floor. How had this happened? A car bomb was the only thing that would’ve taken this car apart more efficiently. I worked to find the words to make him feel better. “That’s okay. I'm pretty sure we can find someone to put it back together.”
Maybe. Maybe if I found a genius mechanic and paid him triple the rate he might be able to put it back together. But at this point it was doubtful.
He laughed. “I can put it back together. Your alternator failed. The part isn’t going to be in until next week.”
My heart tripped. Jackson had pulled my engine apart and had plans to fix it. “You can put my car back together?”
“Yes.”
I thought for a long moment. “You’re fixing my car?”
“Hope that’s okay. I was bored.”
I remained tongue-tied. No one had ever done something like this for me. “Thank-you.”
He crossed his arms. “Any reason why you don’t park in the garage?”
“Matt parks his car inside because his car is more valuable.”
“But you have an entire bay here. You could get at least two more cars in here.”
I pointed at the massive tractor tire that was lying in front of the other door. “That’s in the way.”
“The tire?”
“Yeah.”
He tugged on his ear. “Why didn’t you just move it?”
“Well, Matt ordered it because he was going to use it as part of his work out regime, but after it got dropped off, it was too heavy to move. Matt tried.”
He frowned. “Matt tried to move it?”
