4
I got back to the club to see Jimmy and another guy unloading what looked like a piece of shit off of a trailer into the yard. I sat on my bike and watched them work, trying not to voice my disgust. I couldn’t tell the make of the bike, but it looked like it had been more than dropped. Like someone had taken the damn thing through the ringer.
“You know I don’t do body work, right? I just do shit with the engines.”
“Yea, yea,” Jimmy and his friend stopped with the bike in the middle of the damn lot. “All you gotta do is fix the engine.”
“I got a friend that’ll help with the body work,” the unnamed man said in response. “I know it looks like a lot of work, but I think once it’s running at least it’ll be worth the effort.”
I carefully eased in around the truck and trailer, I was going to have to set my bike up somewhere else because my usual spot was occupied. I went to the side of the building before I got up and put my bike on its kickstand.
“Where did you find it?” I asked with a frown.
“In a rotted out shed,” he shrugged and offered me a hand. “Anthony. Jimmy said you were a wizard with engines and you were the man to see if I wanted to get it running again.” He patted the molded leather seat with a hand, and I could already see the guy had big dreams in mind for the bike. “You think you can handle it?”
I took his offered hand and gave it a shake.
“Sid. I can check out the engine, we’ll have to see if we can get it started to see how bad it is,” I looked at Jimmy. “Go get some gas, would ya?”
With that, we started work. The Anthony guy hung around as we tried to crank the thing up and failed. I wasn’t looking forward to doing a whole engine rebuild, but it looked like that was what I was going to do. The next few hours were spent with me sitting on a tarp and working on piecing out a fucked up engine. I lost track of time and the company I had as I worked, it was something I did. I would get wrist deep in oil and forget everybody else was there.
It was dark when the stuttering rumble of Madi’s car rolled into the lot. I had forgotten to clear her out a space with the work I was doing, and I immediately felt like an ass. I set down the part I was working on cleaning out, and I stood with some effort. The pins and needles having shifted to outright numbness; as bad as it sounds it was something of a relief. When she got out of the car, I couldn’t explain how or why I was happy to see her.
“Hey,” I started wiping my hands clean on my jeans and shirt, not caring about the fact that I was making a bigger mess, as I sauntered over to see her.
She got out of the car, though she kept it running, and looked around the loaded lot.
“So, there’s not a lot of room to park my car,” she looked at me. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
“Second thoughts already?” I raised an eyebrow. “Are they about me or are they about me working on your car?”
“Both?” she threw her attention to the rest of the lot then back to me. “It’s also getting dark. How are you going to be able to see what the problem is?”
“Lights, baby, they have ‘em so you can work at night. Pop the hood, but don’t turn it off.”
I didn’t bother trying to get close to her. I was a mess. I had wanted to see if she’d let me steal some sugar, but if she was going to have second thoughts, I might not want to press my luck. She did as I asked and I hefted the hood up; there weren't any burning smells that I could detect it was just a noise.
“Turn it off,” I instructed, and I waited patiently for her to kill the engine. I gave it a beat to cool before I start checking fluid levels. “When was the last time you had the oil and filters changed?”
When she didn’t answer, I looked up to find her fidgeting next to me. She looked embarrassed, “Maybe a few years ago?”
“So,” since she was close to me I gave her a nudge, there was a temptation to throw my arm around her, but I was more than a little grubby. “That might create issues. Get me a couple of cartons of oil and an oil filter for Saturday. I’ll come over, you’ll need to text me your address, and take care of your problem. We can take a ride and see if that’s the issue.”
She nodded as she listened, looking at the engine with me. I watched her pull her phone out then and go the extra measure to text me. My phone vibrated in my pocket.
“You’re probably looking at about twenty bucks for all of that,” I informed her. “That okay?”
“You are busy,” she turned away to look at the mess of a bike I was fucking around with.
“This is what I do,” I nodded. I grimaced and looked at her, “You gonna tell me you got something against greasy hands?”
She smiled when she looked up at me, her face was flushed, and she took a step closer so when she spoke it was low. “I don’t. I guess I just didn’t know what you did, so I assumed you stayed here all day and drank beer.”
I put a hand to my stomach. Ya, it was flat; I worked out. The physical therapist emphasized the importance of remaining active as I recovered from my injuries.
“Do I look like I got a beer gut?”
She took the time to look me up and down, it was probably the first time she really looked at me. And I suddenly saw something other than fear or embarrassment on her face. She looked like she liked what she saw. I threw my arm around her, now, pulling her so she was against my side.
“No,” she blushed when she looked up at me. Her hand came to pat my stomach, and it paused as if she tried to assess just what I was packing. “I guess you don’t,” she admitted.
“Well, see you go say something like that now I gotta do something like this,” I tipped her face up with my free hand and leaned down to catch her lips with mine. I restrained myself enough to not overwhelm her, kissing her gently and holding back the desire to taste her, so I didn’t go shoving my tongue in her mouth.
She didn’t push me away, she didn’t pull back. She tensed, the hand that had been on my stomach fisted my shirt. I kept it brief and chaste, though even with just the brush of her lips against mine I knew I wanted more.
“Okay?” I had to make sure that I hadn’t crossed a line and made her uncomfortable.
She nodded, not at all looking embarrassed but like she might’ve liked the fact that I kissed her.
“I’ll see you Saturday?” She confirmed.
Yea, I had her attention now like she had mine. I nodded, considered kissing her again, but I pulled away. We had an audience, after all, and I wasn’t going to do anything dumb to wreck my chances with this girl.
“I’ll be there. Remember, oil and oil filter. I’ll come by early so I can get to work.”
She nodded and went to get into her car, I cleaned up the small mess I had made and closed the hood. I watched her pull out, not bothering with Jimmy and his friend until she was out of the lot. I had a day to wait, but already I was antsy for Saturday.