16
Grady Wilde
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
Today has been the longest fucking day of my life, and all I want is to get home, have a hot shower, and veg out until I fall asleep. It’s all I want! It’s all I’ve been thinking about doing for the last several hours, and now I’m finally able to leave the arena and go home, and I’m hit with aflat fucking tire.
Standing on the side of the road with my thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of my nose, I curse the gods before popping my trunk. I’ve changed a tire a total of, like, one time in my entire life, and even then, it was a stretch. I’ll have to pull up a YouTube video with instructions if I want to make it home with my car in one piece. I lift the carpet on the floorboard in the trunk, easily spotting the donut. But where are the tools?
“You must be joking.” Groaning, I let my head fall back onto my shoulders as I stare up into the evening sky as if it’ll have all the answers. Like the tools I’ll need will magically fall from there, hopefully avoiding hitting me—but hell, maybe that’s what I need.
Not only has today been the longest day, it’s also been one of the shittiest. The Grand Prix is approaching quickly—this fucking weekend—and my camera picked today to crap out on me. I’m going to have to go buy a new one tomorrow, and I really wasn’t planning on spending that kind of money. A steady fucking job would come in handy right about now. And if that isn’t bad enough, I slipped and fell in the dirt earlier. I’m covered in it, and I feel like I smell like horse shit.
Pulling out my phone, I find Benji’s number and hit call. It rings and rings before connecting to voicemail. I hang up and try again. And again.
“Come on!”
Finally, I try Jade’s number, and thankfully, she picks up after the first ring.
“Grady, what’s up?”
“Can youpleasecome help me?” I beg.
“Where are you? What’s wrong?”
“I’m on the side of Jeffrey Place, about a mile down the road from Powder Ridge with a flat. I don’t have the tools needed to switch out the tire for the donut.”
She sighs. “Can’t you ask one of your friends? I’m trying to put Suzy down for bed.”
“Do you think I would’ve called if I had any other option?”
“Give me twenty minutes,” she finally says, and I can tell by her tone of voice that she’s not happy about it. It makes me feel like shit, but what else am I supposed to do? Hitchhike?
“Thank you!”
Jade got back from Salt Lake City two weeks ago, and it’s been interesting staying with her and Boone as they figure their shit out with Jade going back to work. I’ve been helping with Suzy a lot more when I’m not at the arena, which I absolutely do not mind. In fact, I really enjoy hanging out with my niece as much as I have been.
Things between Boone and I are…tense. It’s been just over three weeks since I caught him jacking off, and we still haven’t talked about it. Not even once. We haven’t talked about anything, really, aside from the night we all watched a movie. Which kind of bums me out. We had somewhat of a friendship, and it feels like I’ve completely ruined that. Although, I will say that even though we haven’t spoken these last few weeks, when neither of us can sleep, it seems we both have the same idea. Numerous times now, we’ve found ourselves sitting together on the back porch in a comfortable silence in the dead of night. It’s one of the only times I’m okay with the silence between us. It feels right, like maybe these little moments will heal what happened when I spied on him.
If Jade’s noticed any friction, she sure hasn’t said anything—at least to me. Although, she probably thinks Boone’s weird mood has to do with their upcoming divorce and everything that comes with that. Which could be true. I very well could be making all this tension up in my head, trying to make it be about me when it’s not.
I’m probably not even on his mind at all.
Headlights round the corner and come to a stop behind my car, and the first thing I notice is the lights are way too tall to belong to Jade’s car. Sure enough, the door opens, illuminating the inside with the overhead light, and it’s Boone I see hopping out of his truck.
Fuck! She sent Boone.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as he approaches me.
“Your sister said you had a flat and needed help.” His tone is bored, and his facial expression looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here.
Okay, maybe he didn’t forget all about it.
“Well, I asked her to come.”
“Yeah, well, she practically pushed me out the door, so…” He works his jaw as he moves around me to inspect the tire.
“Sorry for making you come all the way out here.”
