I stare at her with a brutal discomfort building in my chest. Until last night, we hadn’t seen each other since the hospital. Vivian had fled, running back home. I suppose the sight of me had been too much for her. She was so damn angry, and normally I would brush it off, but I can’t. It’s too fucking much to bear. Her sadness is killing me.
I’m not sure why I have this pain, so I push it away because a headache starts to hammer through my skull. Digging in my pocket, I open my bottle and pop two pills and then go back to my work.
I focus on the way my hands easily turn the wrench and not on the way her eyes had slanted with painful sadness. I look over at my father, giving him a simple nod, which sends him over to me. In a whisper, I ask him, “Hey, Pops, what is she doing here?”
“Her dad wants me to help her learn about the books for her classes.” I wonder what she is taking this last semester. Then I recall she isn’t taking any math, so what’s the real reason she’s here? I already know the damn answer. My parents are trying their best to fix us—to fix me. The last broken piece of me. The part that even I know only Vivian can mend. Maybe I’ll never remember what happened that weekend, but it doesn’t matter as much as learning how to win Vivian. To remember why she was so furious with me, more than any other time before.
“Oh,” I mutter. My lips clamp together as I duck my head down toward the bike, refusing to look at her.
He grasps my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “You need to focus on school. Everything missing will come to you. Just give it some time. She’s not going to linger down here. I’m taking her upstairs.” Upstairs, where he takes Mom to screw? An unexplainable possessive feeling comes over me, and I grow angry.
“Into the office?” I question, dropping my wrench.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Son?” he sneers, giving me a scowl.
“Nothing. Just nothing.” Jealousy—a foolish sense of jealousy tears at my gut. There’s no reason for it because my dad is obsessed with my mother, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still suffering from those emotions.
“Yeah, that’s right. Go get to work,” he says with a chuckle.
My alarm goes off, reminding me it’s time to turn on the cameras and check in with my instructor for class. My presentation with my teacher goes well for the first fifteen minutes, until I catch his gaze shift behind me. I pause in my explanation and turn my head to see Vivian walking up to Petrol with some paperwork. He’s nodding, and they’re talking. A low rumble comes from my chest.
“Mr. West? Mr. West,” I hear my professor call out.
Finally my attention is returned to the screen. “I see you are easily distracted.”
“I wasn’t the one initially distracted.”
“She was lingering in the camera’s view. I assumed she needed something,” he snipes back as if I offended him, and perhaps he’d been correct. Vivian was probably looking around to find Petrol and caught the instructor’s attention. I’m just overreacting.
“Have you found out who caused your accident?”
“No. We don’t have any access to the cameras, so we can’t determine if there was a busted-up vehicle, and I’m sure they’re protecting their own up there.”
“Probably someone with a lot to lose. Can you determine what type of vehicle?”
“I don’t remember the incident, but from the injuries, it was definitely a freaking SUV.”
“So it should have a smashed hood and front end, at the very least.”
“Yeah. No doubt.” I didn’t tell anyone that I had a Ford logo imprinted on my shoulder for a few weeks.
“Well, I hope you find them soon.”
“Thank you. Me too. So, with regard to my assignment?”
“It looks great. You’re proving why you’re first in your class, even after everything you’ve been through. Keep it up. I’ll check in next week. That one will be in person, so it’s going to be at four instead of the usual office hours session.” I would claim it’s due to Vivian, but it was already on our schedules.
“Thank you.”
“Have a good day, Simon.” He ends the session first, and then I turn off all my monitors and clean up my space because I have three oil changes that are calling my name before lunch.
I can’t help but twist my head around to see if Vivian is still near Petrol, but she’s nowhere in sight, so I’m assuming she’s back in the office. I get my ass back to work and keep my mind focused because that’s the only thing that gets me through the day. The idea of Vivian talking to the other mechanics with her sexy body and gorgeous face… I’m going to want to smash something or someone’s face.
“Careful, Son. You’re going to actually crack that wrench,” my dad says with a chuckle.
“Sorry, just thinking…”
“Well, I don’t pay you to think. How many oil changes do you have left?”
