“Hudson and I are heading to Clyde’s for lunch. You in?” Tucker asks.
I shake my head quickly—too quickly. “Nope. I’m good. I have food.”
He narrows his eyes but ignores my weirdness. “Cool, man. If you want us to bring anything back, shoot me a text.”
I tip my chin, acknowledging his offer. Glancing around the shop, I can see it’s just me and Maddox left.Fun.Sauntering over to my tool cart, I grab the box of heaven I have stashed there and rip into it, starving.
“I thought you said you had food.” Maddox stares me down from his station.
I shake the box of White Cheddar Cheez-Its at him. “I do.”
“Wow. Looks appetizing.” His voice is dry and flat.
“You have something to say, Maddox?”
He lifts his hands in an innocent gesture. “Nah, man. Nothing.”
“No, no. Say it. Whatever the fuck it is that’s on your mind, say it.”
Maddox works his jaw back and forth, sighs heavily, and drops his chin to his chest. It’s a mix of annoyance, anger, and concern—none of which should be directed at me right now.
“Look, I don’t know you all that well, but evenIcan tell something’s up with you. You’re…pissier than normal.”
“Did you just call me pissy?”
Maddox’s face turns red, his embarrassment evident as he keeps his head lowered. “Y-yes.”
Laughter threatens, but I push it down, wanting to maintain composure and make the kid squirm a bit more. “Yes? Hmm…is that so?”
“You’re always pissy—that’s just who you are though…but today you’re extra pissy. You won’t tell Tucker or Hudson what’s up. And I—” He clams up, rubbing his hands up and down his pant legs, his eyes darting about the shop but never landing on me.
“You what?” He shakes his head. I take a step closer. “Youwhat, Maddox?”
My sharp tone reaches him, and he finally meets my stare. “I saw you.”
“Elaborate.” I don’t request it; I demand it. He knows this.
“This morning? Guess who walks by Clyde’s on his way to work. You and that giant ass dude were two seconds away from being in a fistfight at six in the morning.”
“So? You never had a run-in with someone shitty early in the morning?”
“If I hadn’t heard what he said, I’d have chalked it up to that and ignored it.”
I tense, a weight dropping in my stomach. I set my box of Cheez-Its down, suddenly not hungry any longer. “What’d you hear?”
“Everything.”
I plop down onto the rolling stool next to him, my head falling into my oily hands, not giving a shit as I scrub them through my hair, pulling hard at the roots to relieve some of the tension rushing through me. This is the second time in less than eight hours my past his bitten me right in the ass. I’m not ready to tell people about what happened that night. I’ll be damned if Maddox is the first to find out either.
“Are you gonna tell them?”
“That you’re screwing Rae’s sister? No.”
Whipping my head toward Maddox, I can’t contain the growl that vibrates through me. “Screwing her? What the—? I’mnotscrewing her. Ijustmet her last night, and I had no idea she was even Rae’s sister!”
Maddox just stares at me.
“Besides, that’s not even what I thought you were talking about.”
