“Just looking up at old man Brooks lording over us like he’s keeping an eye even when he’s in Italy.”
“ Oh God, yeah, that thing is so ostentatious. There’s one of me and Stefano too, but they took that down after—“
“After your mom passed away?” I finished the thought for her. It seemed like halfway through she realized what she had to say and it probably wasn’t something she wanted to discuss with the likes of me.
I heard their Valley Girl accents, upspeak and vocal fry going strong in the kitchen. I wondered if they spoke like that all the time or if it was just for the TikTok videos. When I came around the corner, both of the girls stopped talking.
“Grabbing some water,” I said by way of explanation. Those three must have passed a million signals through their eye expressions before another person spoke.
“Oh my God, Wyatt, right?” Gianna said. She offered me her turned down hand that was so limp, I wondered if she wanted me to kiss it instead of shake.
“Yeah, Wyatt Dunne. Nice to meet you.” I shook her hand hard with mine that was stained with grease and hardened by years of labor.
"Why hello there," she said, eyeing me up and down like meat. "We were just going for a swim; care to join us?” I knew most of the men who worked at the garage had already had a taste of Gianna Delacourt.
"No, thank you," I said, looking anywhere but her. I knew what it was like to be around women like Gianna. It didn't matter what you said or did around a woman like her. She’d take whatever she wanted and then lie about it five minutes later. She was a user and an opportunist and if Harley had any brains, she’d steer clear of her.
"Come on. It's such a hot day. Don't you think that a dip in the pool would cool you down even more than a glass of water?" She stepped closer to me like she was about to caress me, so I stepped back, not wanting her to get close enough to touch me.
I knew Gianna’s reputation. The daughter of a local politician, the perfect girl, grooming to be the perfect wife for some lucky senator, or at least that was the appearance she was aiming to keep up. The reality of it all was that she was an empty and insecure girl who thrived off of casual sex because it made her feel wanted. All of these girls were raised to depend heavily on their looks and their money to make a name for themselves. Sure, their parents made sure they learned French and rode horses and knew how to ski from attending Swiss boarding schools. But they didn’t have any grit and they were empty inside. All of them were looking for something to fulfill their meaningless lives—if you looked closely, you could see the hunger in their eyes. Gianna used dick and social media followers. We all had our vices and crutches, but I wasn’t about to get mixed up with a soul sucking vampire just for a quickie.
I cracked open the bottle of water Harley handed me and tipped it back, slamming it in one gulp. She quickly grabbed another and twisted the cap off herself.
“Thanks,” I said as I took it from her.
“Oh my God, help yourself. You can totally just come in and grab food or water or whatever if I’m home.”
Maybe little Harley didn’t turn out so bad after all. She still had the same button nose with a smattering of freckles, the same rosy cheeks and thick brown hair.
“If you’re lucky, maybe you can help yourself to more than just water,” Gianna said. She’d leaned over the counter so that her breasts jutted forward out of her frilly top. She was a piece of work, this girl. The other girl was quiet and sort of looked stunned in the headlights.
“You’re Adam’s girl, right?” I asked her. “I take care of his Aston Martin over at the shop. Good guy,” I told her, killing the second bottle of water.
She blushed and took her boobs off of the counter top.
“Probably better he doesn’t swim. You don’t want any grease in the pool,” she said as revenge. The other girl, Alex, looked back and forth like she was afraid a fight would break out. Her momma had told her to never let the help into the house and now some sort of cardinal rule had been broken.
“They're going to fix the air in the garage for you today? My dad should just give you the time off. I swear, it’s not like he needs those stupid cars for anything soon.”
“Appreciate your concern, Harley, but I make my own schedule. Your dad agreed to have a couple of them in a regional show, so I’ve got to make sure they’re purring before transport shows up.”