He was just opening his mouth to say something when Dad asked, “Weren’t you due back in school?”
Apparently, the news train only choo-choo’d quickly with juicy gossip here, because I’d have thought they’d all have known what’d happened as soon as it went down.
“There was a malfunction with the fire alarm system. The alarm started blaring out of nowhere, and the sprinklers in the offices and some classrooms went off. We vacated the school while it was checked to make sure there wasn’t a fire, but then they realized there was a problem anyway—not all of the sprinklers that went off were on the same circuit. We also don’t know why it was triggered, so without a functioning and reliable fire alarm system until it’s fixed, we can’t be in the building.”
“How old is the system?” Logan asked, sounding irritated by it all. “That’s dangerous.”
“Here’s the kicker—it’s eight months old. The school was ordered to upgrade its system last year, so Kirkwood took bids for the work and awarded it to—”
“Lemme guess, a company associated with his friends or family,” Hurst drawled, sharing a look with Bill.
“You should run for mayor, Hurst,” Dad suggested, and suddenly they all started talking again about what a great idea it was even though Hurst said he’d rather pluck his nose hairs with chopsticks.
Using their distraction, Logan leaned in and whispered, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Huffing out a breath, I looked at Pops’ car sadly. “Yeah, just embarrassed and upset that I dinged his vehicle. It wasn’t that bad an accident, but I wanted to keep it the way he’d left it. Every time I drive it, I’m scared I’m going to do something like that, so I was really hoping my car would be here by now.”
“It means that much to you?”
Biting down on my lip, I realized how dumb it sounded, given that either Mom or I could’ve been hurt, but I couldn’t help it. “I learned to drive in his old truck, so when it broke down and couldn’t be repaired, he put it in the garage and made sure rust didn’t set in. He didn’t want to ever stop driving it because of the memories we had in it, so he sort of preserved it to keep those memories.
“Two years ago, I came home one weekend, and we went to find him a new one.” I pointed at the Toyota 4Runner. “That one. We took it out for a test drive together, drove around for a while after he bought it, had a picnic in the back while we discussed my job and plans for the future…” I swallowed back the tears that wanted to come out thinking about the memories. “He didn’t have it long, but he wanted memories of us in it, so every opportunity he got, that’s what we did.”
“I get it,” he sighed, surprising me. “I absolutely get it. The truck I used to drive us around in is in the barn behind my parents’ house. I couldn’t get rid of it when it broke down, either.”
“Well, I’ve got some good news for y’all,” Jarrod Klein announced, having joined us at some point during the aftermath of the incident. “It can be fixed, no problem.”
Okay, I’m not going to lie, every time I looked at Jarrod or his brothers, I got flustered. There was something magical in the water when those men were conceived, and they had the kind of hotness that made your brain just flatline. I don’t know how Katy did anything with him around because all I’d do is stare and drool.
Like I was doing right at that moment.
With my arms around Logan.
Oops.
A glance around showed that my Klein-predicament hadn’t gone unnoticed, so I didn’t dare look up to see what Logan’s expression was. Instead, I tried to wing it.
“Oh my God,” I cried, pulling away from Logan as much as I could with his arms still around me. “That’s just amazing news. You’re a total lifesaver, Jarrod. In fact, I’m going to get you a whole box of them so that every time you eat one, you remember how awesome you are. A lifesaver.” Then, looking at my parents, I asked, “Isn’t he fabulous? He’s a—”
“Lifesaver,” Logan said dryly. “Yeah, we got that, baby.”
Rubbing my lips together, I looked at Mom for help, whose shoulders were shaking enough to move Dad. Then again, a quick look at him showed that was probably because he was laughing, too.
And out of the corner of my eye, I could see that pretty much everyone was doing the same thing.
Fuck’s sake, Bexley.
Changing my expression to plead with her to save me, I stared Mom down. Did she help me? Did she hell. The woman just mouthed, smoothly done.
So, clearing my throat, I focused back on Jarrod, managing to only have a brain fart for ten seconds this time. That didn’t mean I was home clear, though. No, my brain kicked in and told me to make arrangements for the vehicle to be fixed. It told me to ask questions about it and do adult shit like that. But then I started second-guessing all of it.
When you’re in an accident, and a hot guy says he’ll fix it, do you shake his hand as you make arrangements?
Was it bad form to shake his hand?
If the answer to the previous question was yes—was I supposed to hug him?
Would I survive making contact with him?
Did he have deliciously rough hands from his job?
How would they compare to his brothers’ hands?
What—
A small cough interrupted my panicked brain interrogation. “Is it safe to drive to Ren’s?” Logan asked, sounding a mixture of amused and pissed.
How could anyone be two polar opposite emotions?
“Yeah, it’s just the bumper, grille, and light that are damaged. I can call Cole and get him to bring out the tow truck, though, if it’s easier?”
I didn’t trust myself not to say something that didn’t come from either my stupid or my hussy sides, so I stayed mute
