Rude prick. I give it right back to him. “I’m here for Nicky.”
That pisses him off. If he was a local guy, I’d be bracing myself for a punch in the face, but the pretty rich boy just glares at me like he’s about to call his lawyer.
“Nicky?” he asks. “My Nicky?”
My fists ball at my sides. I’m two seconds from knocking this pansy out.
“It sure doesn’t seem that way, does it?” I ask, flashing him a smile.
“Oh, I know who you are!” he laughs. “You’re the mechanic guy from the little shop over there who’s working on my car. How’s she running? I know you’ve probably never seen a luxury automobile before. Nice, isn’t it?”
“You know what?” I start to say, seconds from blasting him in the face. “I—”
“Chase!” Nicky’s voice rings out from inside. I look over the prick’s shoulder to see her walking quickly toward us. She’s all dolled up, looking like a million-fucking bucks. “You came! So good to see you!”
Her fiancé looks like he just saw Godzilla outside as Nicky brushes past him and throws her arms around me. I have to admit, I’m equally as stunned. What the fuck is going on?
8
Chase
I can’t help but react to Nicky’s body pressed up against mine, and her intoxicating smell in my nose, but I can feel her fiancé’s eyes on me as she hugs me. It’s beyond awkward.
“Bradley,” she says, turning to him. “This is Chase, my mechanic. He’s doing such a great job on your car that I thought I’d invite him for dinner!”
What. The. Fuck?
Bradley looks at her, looks at me, then looks back at her. I can tell he wants to say something, but he manages to put on a polite face and force an unconvincing smile.
“Well, wasn’t that nice of you?” he says condescendingly. He turns to me. “You picked a good night for it. We’re having foie gras, caviar and white asparagus. Do you like foie gras – what did you say your name was again?”
“Chase,” I tell him. “And I don’t know. Never had it.”
“Oh, of course you wouldn’t have,” he laughed. “It’s more of an upscale, city thing. I wouldn’t expect a person like you to have tasted it.”
I’m going to break his face.
“But I’m being rude,” he laughs. “Come in!”
He moves aside for me, but at the same time slips his arm around Nicky’s shoulders. Jealousy flares within me, just like back at the shop when I first saw her and Tucker had his eyes all over her gorgeous body. He doesn’t deserve her. He doesn’t appreciate her. I doubt he’s even had a taste of her.
But I have.
I wonder what the prick does for a living. Probably inherited his money, he doesn’t act like a self-made man. He comes from money and thinks his shit don’t stink. I wonder if he’d even miss the Bentley if I just took it to the quarry and drove it into the water.
I follow them into the dining room, where a woman, who must be Nicky’s mom, is sitting, wearing a thick line of pearls, sipping some red wine. She’s probably pushing fifty, but with all the plastic surgery, she has that smooth, ageless look to her. But I can tell she’s had her tits done. She looks up with surprise when I come in.
“Oh, I wasn’t aware we were having company,” she says to Nicky.
“Ruth, this is Chase. Chase, this is Ruth, my adopt
ed mom.”
“Pleased to meet ya,” I say, extending my hand, which is clean for once.
“Likewise,” she nods, her lips pursed. She’s lying. She’s royalty. I’m trash to her. Nicky didn’t tell her I was coming, and she wants me gone.
Nicky also didn’t tell me these two would be here. What is this? A setup? An ambush? It’s all I can do to keep from driving my fist into her fiancé’s stomach as I watch him grinning with his arm around her.