Page 59 of Changing Lanes

“What makes you think she’d listen to me?”

After maintaining a staring contest that borders on uncomfortable, she shrugs and turns away, muttering, “I’ll get Marc to do it.”

Like fuck she will.

“Fine.” Little rat. “What time do you want her there?”

Angie spins with a pleased grin plastered to her pretty face. Coty is one lucky dude even if his girl gives me as much shit as I give her. I wouldn’t have it any other way though. Only the strongest survive around here. And the toughest thrive. Like those two.

She gives me the rest of her orders—I mean, instructions—then disappears back to the wash side.

Marc and I make eye contact after she’s gone and he shakes his head.

“What?”

“She’s back, huh?”

I shrug tightly, squirting some liquid dish soap into my palm. “Looks that way to me,” I say, rubbing the soap over the skin on my hands until it’s dry. It makes cleaning my hands afterward a fucking dream. No mechanic hands for me. Fuck that. I like my shit smooth and moisturized.

Dude just nods thoughtfully.

“You know something I don’t?” Like her fucking birthday that he didn’t bother sharing. I remember her talking about it being this month but she never specified what day. We are starting to run out of days in July so it makes sense it’s coming up. But still…he could’ve said something.

“I already told you, ask her yourself. Quit being a fucking pussy.”

I thought I did. About what I really wanted to know anyway. I came right out and asked Paige if she was hooking up with my boy. And she finally gave me what I was looking for. What I’d been wondering since the day she moved in. The answer to the question I’d been dreading asking but ultimately did for the sake of my mental stability from not knowing. I’d resisted putting my mouth on her long enough. I was done waiting. And goddamn, the kiss was worth the awkwardness of asking at all.

“You heading out to Vega’s?”

“Yeah.”

“To work?”

He gives me a cryptic look then without another word, he jumps in his red BMW and takes off. July being one of their busiest months, his dad’s farm has needed him onsite almost daily and it just so happens that’s where we keep our dirt bikes, too. Can’t say I blame him for taking full advantage from time to time. When we were younger, the three of us used to get lost for hours in his father’s orchards, riding until the sun went down. Just three dejected kids trying to find their happy in life.

The landscape might’ve changed in the past few years but the quest for happiness sure hasn’t. Not for me at least. Watching Marc leave, I’d be willing to bet dude’s still searching, too. He never wants to end up trapped like his dad is to his farm but I don’t know what he actually does want.

Coty’s the only one I can look at and say he’s undeniably happy. Yeah, he wants marriage and kids one day but Angela will give that to him and more. She just makes him prove his worth every chance she gets because she still questions hers.

Fucking bad parents.

There should be a special kind of hell for people that fuck up their kids with their own issues. One with planes full of crying babies and floors covered with LEGO blocks. My dad used to bitch about both. Angie’s mom would make the perfect candidate if it did exist. The damage she caused her youngest daughter will take years, if not longer, to reverse. She’s made great progress so far but once a parent grabs hold with their vile beliefs and toxic ways, it’s hard to shake free from the decay they’ve triggered.

Or maybe that’s just my experience.

Shit, mine’s probably there already, sipping on her favorite white wine, having a grand ol’ time. Anything but be with her son, right? Hell itself holds more appeal to a woman that self-centered than her own family. The one she started, then abandoned.

I shake off the disturbing thoughts bubbling to the surface. Luckily, they disperse as quickly as they formed and I move over to the Sportster still in pieces inside my station from last night. Unable to focus on anything other than Paige and where she might’ve been, I left early.

With the knot now missing from the pit of my stomach, I dig in for a full day’s work with more energy than I’ve had all week.

* * *

“I needed this,” I say as I scan the canyon below. It’s crazy. You wouldn’t even know an entire storm rolled through last night. The wind kicked up after lunch and there’s a thick haze that settled over the trees from the loose dust blowing around. Everything seems…calm.

But isn’t that usually before the storm?

After a gnarly ass ride on some winding back roads, followed by a ripper of a curve, Coty led us to this piece of land near his, just a little higher up on the mountain overlooking the entire area. It’s a cherry spot for anyone who’s into that kind of thing, like a starter family or something.