Nitro Crew Complete Series, page 41
“Because I want to check out the new cars.”
“Is this some form of entertainment for you?” I questioned.
“Yeah. Now get out and keep me company.”
“What’s wrong with this shiny spaceship on wheels you drive now?” Jay’s car was amazing. Even me, not knowing a damn thing about cars, knew it was nice and totally expensive.
“This is a Shelby GT350 with five point two liters of screaming all-American muscle. You are completely right saying there is nothing wrong with this car.”
“Then why are we here?”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the car. “Because there’s always something better, Del.” He shut the door behind me and threaded his fingers through mine. “Humor me?”
“Just don’t ask my opinion on anything. I know zip about cars, Jay.”
“I can tell. You drive a death trap and think there isn’t anything wrong about that.”
“It’s what I can afford,” I mumbled. Sure, I would like one of these shiny, new cars but last I checked, there wasn’t a car fairy who brought you any car you wanted.
We walked around the large lot of cars with what felt like an army of salesmen circling us. Jay had already told the three of them we were just looking, but they always kept us in their sights.
“What about this one?” he asked.
We were standing in front of one of those SUVs that sparkled like a diamond in the sun. It was white and large, but also gorgeous. “I like it.” That was the best answer he had gotten from me the whole time. Again, I knew nothing about these cars we were looking at and didn’t want to seem like an idiot if I said the right thing.
“Ford Explorer. Good looking and pretty reliable.” He walked around the car while I stayed by the hood.
I glanced in the direction we had yet to go, and my eye spotted a silver SUV. “That’s pretty.”
“What’s pretty?” he asked.
I pointed down the line of cars. “The silver one at the end.”
He grabbed my hand and led me to the car I had spotted. “This one?”
I nodded. This one was even prettier than the Exploder or whatever it was he had called it. “I like the front.”
“The front?” he laughed.
“You don’t like it?” How could someone not like what the car looked like? I walked to the car window that had all of the information. “Twenty eighteen Cadillac XT5.” I looked at Jay. “What’s a XT5? Have we run out of words that we now just name cars with numbers and letters?”
Jay threw his head back and laughed. “Only you, Del,” he chuckled.
“Only me what?” I wasn’t sure what the heck was so funny. It was a legitimate question.
“I don’t know why they name them what they do, but I’m sure you’re not the only one who thinks that.” Jay nodded at one of the salesmen who was a row away.
The salesman weaved his way over to us with a big smile on his face. “I see you admiring the XT5. Very nice choice.”
“Thanks, man. Think we can take it for a test drive?”
“What?” I gasped.
“Right away. I’ll just need your license and then I’ll grab the keys.”
Jay pulled out his license, and the salesman headed into the main building of the dealership.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
“Uh, going for a test drive?”
“You don’t need this car,” I insisted. The man was insane.
He shook his head. “The Shelby isn’t exactly the best car to be driving around with a baby.”
I looked at his car that he had parked by the front door. “I think you can make it work.”
Jay shook his head but didn’t argue.
“Here you go, sir. If you two want to hop in the front, I’ll take the ride in the back.” The salesman handed Jay the keys with a huge smile on his face. “Just in case you have any questions.” This guy was totally laying it on thick.
Jay grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the passenger door. “Try not to look like you just sucked on a lemon, Del,” he whispered. He opened the door and helped me in.
“I do not look like that,” I hissed before he shut the door.
He gave me a thumbs up through the window, and I couldn’t help but laugh. So maybe I did look a bit grumpy, but I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t get why Jay needed to test drive this car.
“Test drives are free, Del. Unwrinkle that brow and pay attention to the car. It’s not like I’m going to buy the first car we test drive,” Jay said under his breath before the salesman got in the back.
Jay pulled out of the parking spot, and the salesman droned on and on about all the bells and whistles the car had. I drowned him out because I didn’t need him to tell me. I could see this car had everything you could ever want.
Butter soft leather seats, plush carpet on the floor, a fancy radio, and even a backup camera. I’m sure from where Jay was sitting, it seemed like he was driving a spaceship with all of the knobs and gadgets in front of him.
Not to mention, he looked damn handsome behind the wheel.
Though he seemed to be handsome no matter what he was doing. Driving fancy SUVs or sleeping on my old couch. He looked handsome always.
“What do you think, Delaney?” he asked.
The salesman was still talking even though Jay and I weren’t listening.
“Um, it’s nice. I like the color.”
“And the front,” Jay chuckled.
I slugged his shoulder. “That too,” I mumbled.
“The backseat is roomy enough for the baby seat.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Yup, you can definitely have enough room for the baby and all of the stuff you’ll need to haul around.”
“You have kids?” the salesman asked.
“I…ah…” I stuttered.
“One on the way.” Jay grabbed my hand a pressed a kiss to the back of it.
“Congratulations,” he cheered. He then went into all of the safety specifications of the car and why it would be perfect for a family.
Jay pulled back into the dealership, and even though I was falling in love with the car, I was ready to get the hell out so I didn’t have to hear this guy keep talking.
“Let me give you my card and…”
I wandered away from Jay and salesmen, back to the car. I was getting hungry and didn’t want to be held liable for what I did to the guy if he kept droning on. Hangry was very much a thing.
“You ready?”
I was leaning against Jay’s car and admired the way he moved toward me.
His dark hair slightly blew in the wind, and his sunglasses reflected the sun, though, underneath, I knew there were chocolate brown eyes I could get lost in forever. His strides were long, and with each swing of his arms, his shirt tugged and pulled, exposing more and more of his tattoo that covered one arm.
I had seen where that tattoo ended on his back, and I wouldn’t mind revisiting that area again. Jay may not remember us being together, but I had replayed that night over and over many times before.
“You mean you’re not buying a car today?” I laughed.
He leaned against the car next to me. His arm brushed against mine. “Never buy the first car you look at without looking at everything else first.”
“I guess that is good advice. Though I have to say, that was a nice car as long as it doesn’t come with the salesman that never shuts up.”
“Yeah,” Jay laughed. “Never met a salesman like that before.”
“Ready to go to the store?”
My stomach grumbled, and I closed my eyes. Lord, I hope Jay didn’t hear that. He had taken me to lunch an hour ago, and I was ready to eat again. This baby was making me a bottomless pit.
“Del?” he called.
I opened my eyes and turned my head. “Yup. Never been more ready.” I pasted a smile on face.
He pushed off the car, and I stepped back as he opened my door. “Maybe we can stop at a drive thru on the way. I’m getting kind of hungry. What about you?”
I sat down in the car and shrugged. “I guess I could eat.”
He shut the door with a huge smile on his face.
He had totally heard my stomach growl, but instead of giving me shit about it, he chose to be a gentleman.
A gentleman who was about to buy me a double cheeseburger with a large chocolate shake.
*
Chapter Ten
Jay
“Pretzels and queso are amazeballs.”
I handed her the last pretzel bite and laughed. “You are right about that one, Del.”
She snatched the pretzel bite from me and grabbed the bowl of queso. “What?” she mumbled around a mouthful. “You can’t waste queso, Jay.” She dragged the pretzel bite through the cheese, making sure to get every last drop, then shoved it into her mouth.
I grabbed the bowl and turned to the sink to wash it. “You want some ice cream?” I asked over my shoulder.
“I think the monster inside me is satisfied for the time being. Ask us again in half an hour, though.”
A glance over my shoulder at her and found she was sitting back on the stool with her hands resting on her stomach. “Is that how you two communicate?” I asked. “Maybe I need to have a talk with the kid to tell him to lay off you for a bit.” I had been dying to get my hands on Delaney. Not just to feel the baby, either.
“Trust me, I’ve had many talks with this kid. He already has a mind of his own at two months in the womb.”
I finished washing the dish and grabbed the towel off the bar on the stove to dry it. “Do I get to pick what movie we watch tonight?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
“Del, you were asleep not even ten minutes into that movie last night. At least let me pick the movie so I have something to watch while you snore.”
“I don’t snore,” she insisted.
Right, and birds didn’t fly. “Whatever you say.”
“Hey, you’re just trying to pacify me,” she accused me.
“No need arguing about something I know I’m right about.”
Her jaw dropped, and she scoffed. “You are not right, sir.”
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket. “You can bet your ass I’m recording it tonight.”
She shoved her chair back and stood. “I’m never going to sleep in front of you ever again. Besides, you can’t record me without my knowledge.”
“Pretty sure I just told you I’m going to record you.”
“Well, that's inadmissible in a court of law because I’m not giving you consent.”
Jay blinked slowly. “Are you a med student or a law student?”
“I’m a med student who watches a lot of Dateline and Law & Order.” And that was that.
“Pretty sure that doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about, Del.”
She flitted her hand at me. “I don’t snore, and you can’t record me doing it since I don’t do it.”
I held up my hands. I was not going to argue with her about this. “I hear you loud and clear.”
She huffed and rested her hands on her hips. “You can pick what we watch tonight, but it can’t be a race or something like that.”
There went my idea of putting on the Speed channel. “I’m sure we can find something to watch we will both like.”
“You didn’t like the Herbie last night?” She tried to keep a straight face, but a huge smile spread across her lips.
“Del, you gotta know you tortured me last night with that.”
“Oh please,” she laughed. “It had Lindsay Lohan in it. That’s totally eye candy.”
I cringed and shook my head. “Not for me, Del. Especially since she looked about sixteen in that movie.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like she was actually sixteen.”
“Doesn’t fucking matter. Chick is not what I’m into.” Far from it.
“And just what is your type?” she demanded.
“Look in the mirror, Delaney.”
*
Delaney
I was on the couch.
Jay was on the couch.
We were on opposites ends of it, but we were both sitting on it.
“Pick something.”
Jay spread his arm along the back of the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. “This is the hell you put me through last night. Just paying you back, Del.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed. “I do not do this.” He kept flipping through the channels, stopping every few channels to watch for a minute, and then he would flip the channel again. I was about to go batty and snatch the remote from him. “You passed six shows we could be watching right now.”
“Same thing I said to myself last night before you settled on that ridiculous car movie.”
“Herbie is a classic, Jay. Since you love cars so much, you should know that.”
He flipped the channel three more times before he settled on the first channel he had stopped on.
“Seriously? We could have been watching this half an hour ago.”
He winked and tossed the remote on the coffee table. “Told you today, you can never settle on your first choice until you go through all of your options.”
“Sounds like a philosophy of yours you apply to everything in life,” I mumbled.
“I think you’re talking about more than cars and TV, Del.”
I huffed and folded my arms over my chest. “Shh,” I muttered. “I want to watch whatever it is you settled on.” I had meant more than cars and TV shows. There came my odd jealousy raging back. He obviously used the same theory when it came to women. Though he had yet to settle on one.
He grabbed the remote, pointed it at the TV, and paused the show. “Time to talk again, Del.”
I looked over at him. “No, it’s not.” I focused on the screen of a woman awkwardly frozen and willed it to play again.
“You trying to change the channel with your mind?” he chuckled.
“Yes. Be quiet so I can try harder.” The TV turned off, and I blinked rapidly. “Hey,” I shouted.
“As soon as we talk, you can go back to trying to change the channel with your mind.”
I grumbled and turned to look at him. “You’re never going to be able to control the TV ever again.”
He shrugged and tucked the remote into the waistband of his pants. “Pretty sure as long as I keep the remote here, you’ll be wrong.”
“That’s hardly playing fair,” I complained.
“Talk, and I’ll let you grab it.”
Pfft. Of course he would let me grab it. It was almost tucked all the way into his pants. I was liable to grab more than the remote. “Talk and you take it out of your own pants.”
“Not sure how that is fun for either of us.”
I rolled my eyes and turned on the couch. I tucked my legs under me and rested my elbows on my knees. “What do we need to talk about?” Might as well just get it over with.
“Explain to me what you meant by I run through all of my options on everything.”
Of course, he would want to press that matter.
“You’ve been with a lot of women, Jay. I don’t go to parties often but I could tell just by the way you acted I wasn’t the first woman you decided to pick up.” I also knew from the things my mom had said about him, he was far from a saint.
“And yet you decided to let me pick you up.”
“You didn’t pick me up.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Are you being literal right now?”
“Yes,” I muttered. He hadn’t physically picked me up, and it was completely my choice to go to bed with him.
“You seriously confuse the hell out of me sometimes, Del.”
I didn’t know why. I wasn’t thinking or saying anything a normal person wouldn’t. At least, I didn’t think I was. “Then maybe we shouldn’t talk right now. I wouldn’t want to confuse you anymore.” I was determined to get out of talking about this. My jealousy over the fact Jay was with so many women before me was not high on my list of topics to discuss.
“Oh, we’re gonna talk about this, Del. I know it would bug the shit out of me if I knew you were with a bunch of guys before us.”
“There is no us,” I insisted. “For there to be an us, you would first have to remember the time there was an us.”
He tilted his head to the side. “I’m sorry I don’t remember that night, Del. I’ve laid awake more than a week trying to remember. I can’t, though. I would erase every girl before you just to remember that night.”
I flitted my hand toward him. That was one hundred percent the right thing to say, but I couldn’t let him know that. Not now, and not ever. Partly because I was afraid he was just saying what sounded right and didn’t mean any of the words. “Give me the remote out of your pants. We talked.”
“No, no, no. I talked, and you didn’t.”
“I’m not sure what you want to hear from me, Jay. I’m jealous?” I asked. I nodded. “Yup, I totally am. Is there anything I can do about it? No, because I can’t go back in time to undo us or this or anything that’s going on. Though, I don’t want to undo the baby.”
“Neither do I,” he said softly.
I laughed flatly. “I find that hard to believe. I just completely wrecked your world nine days ago, and you say you’re fine with it. I don’t think so. That is one lie I will not believe.”
He shook his head. “Never said it had completely sunk in, Del, but I know I don’t want to change it. I don’t want to go back and have us never meet. The only thing I want to go back and change is maybe drinking a few beers less so I could remember being with you.”
“I wish the same thing too, Jay, because you really don’t know how it feels to tell someone they’re going to be the father of your baby and they look at you like they’ve never seen you before, let alone had sex with them.” It sucked. It sucked more than anything in the world. I closed my eyes and tried not to feel my soul crush a little bit more. I had given this man my virginity and was going to have his baby, and he didn’t remember one single second of it.
