Racing Hearts (Hollows Garage Book 3)

My day had sucked, and coming home to that mess sucked even more. I was exhausted. Two days of barely talking to her had me sleeping like shit and feeling even worse all day. I couldn’t stand the underlying tension every second until she finally said something. There was a reason I always tried to defuse tense situations. I couldn’t handle them. Years of living in a tension-filled home always made any strained situation immediately fill me with dread.

It made it worse that I had agreed to it. I told her that we needed to keep our distance and I knew I was right, but I was already failing. The crew was here now, all of them sprawled out on the couch, talking as they waited for Carly to finish. Everyone had offered to help, but she was adamant that she didn’t want anyone else in the kitchen. Not that I blamed her. It wasn’t that big of an area.

As I walked back into the kitchen to grab more dishes to carry out, she gave me one more reason why I couldn’t stay away.

I stood frozen, watching as she pulled her finger into her mouth, sucking off whatever sauce she had on it before sliding it back out. My dick jumped in response, and I was beginning to think that everything she did was to torture me.

“Can you stop staring at me and come taste this?”

“No, I can’t stop staring at you, but yes. Taste testing is my specialty.”

“I thought body guarding was your specialty.”

I moved behind her, her long hair thrown over one shoulder, showing off her neck. Great, now necks were turning me on.

“I’m a man of many talents,” I said, leaning down to taste whatever it was she was stirring. “I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like, but it tastes amazing either way.”

“It’s a garlic sauce, and perfect. Everything is done then.” I stayed right behind her, and it was the wrong choice.

I knew it the second I leaned back in and let my hands move down to her hips. I leaned down further, running my nose along the side of her neck up to her ear, careful that my lips didn’t touch her yet. I could feel her freeze for a second before she moved back just enough that I could tell.

It was enough of an opening and I dropped back down, pressing my lips to the side of her neck. I heard her sharp intake of breath and did it again, moving up an inch and kissing her neck again.

“Jax,” she whispered. “Should you really be doing that?”

“No,” I whispered back. “I definitely shouldn’t be, but I don’t want to stop.”

I flicked my tongue out, running it along her ear before pulling the lobe in between my teeth.

“Jax,” she gasped, the cry of my name only making me harder, but I knew it was loud enough that everyone probably heard.

Loud enough that I remembered that everyone was right on the other side of the little wall that hiding us in the kitchen.

“You’re going to get us caught,” I said.

She ducked under my arm, spinning to face me as her chest heaved.“Then we won’t do anything that we could be caught doing.”

Her phone pinged, pulling my thoughts back to reality as I looked at her. She was in another black t-shirt–this one had light purple lips with vampire teeth and said feelings suck—and black leggings that made me stop and lose my focus.

The phone went off a few times, and I glanced at her. “You getting that?”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“Why? Who is it?”

“The only person that has my number and isn’t in this building.”

“Raf?”

“Raf.”

The jealousy erupted, but I didn’t move or make a sound. I couldn’t believe how jealous I was again. It’s not like I didn’t already know I was a jealous person, but now it was showing in the ugliest ways and the most inopportune times. I couldn’t be jealous of another guy talking to her.

She wasn’t mine.

Even if I had just been kissing her neck and making her say my name.

“Playing hard to get?”

“More like playing impossible to want. My indifference to dating and love has become an art form.”

Kye walked in, catching the last of it. “Hey! Me too!” he said as he grabbed a drink from the fridge. “If you ever want to exchange notes on how to keep people away, let me know.”

She laughed and grabbed plates, still ignoring her phone.

“Can I silence that? The pinging is going to drive me out of my mind.”

“Sure. You can just turn it off,” she said with a shrug, telling Kye what to carry and walking out.

Her phone didn’t have a password on it so I reached up, snapping a photo of myself and quickly setting it as her lock screen before shutting it off.

She walked back in, eyeing me as she grabbed more stuff to carry out, and I did too.

I set everything down and quickly filled up a plate, Scout coming up next to me to look over all the options.

“Mmmm, that smells delicious.”

Carly smiled at her. “Good, because I made enough for all of you and didn’t want it wasted.”

Scout looked over my overflowing plate. “Are you sure about that?”

“Hey, I’m hungry. I didn’t even eat lunch. And I’m tired too, so lay off.”

“Alright, don’t bite my head off. I just want to make sure there’s enough for me.”

“I was hoping you guys wouldn’t show and I would have this all to myself,” I said.

“You wanted this all for yourself?” Fox asked. “This could feed the whole fucking block.”

I shrugged. “I would obviously make it last me a day, maybe even two.”

I sat back on the couch with my plate and Kye sat down next to me. “We have a chef move in and you think you get her all to yourself?”

I shot him a glare, biting my tongue before I called her mine. But hell if I didn’t want her all to myself. I was starting to worry that there would be no keeping my distance. That I would be falling for her faster than I could stop myself, and even after getting burned so many times in the past, I was worried I wouldn’t even care now. She wasn’t afraid to tell me what’s on her mind or if she thought I was being ridiculous and that somehow made it all feel better.

“Please, you guys have to understand that I’m not a chef,” Carly said.

“Your food begs to differ,” I said between bites. A thrill ran through me as she sat down close to me. I shook my head, scolding myself. I was being pathetic now. She wasn’t even touching me. It was as close as anyone else in the room would have sat, but yet I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Hey, I wanted to talk to everyone. I had an idea,” Ash said, half of us responding in groans immediately. “Oh shut up, you will like this one.”

“You guys should be thankful for our ideas,” Quinn said. “You all had no manners and at least now you can sit through a dinner without turning into heathens. And Ash was right about that time she said you needed some new clothes. Plus, I didn’t hear any one of you complaining when the girls at the store couldn’t keep their eyes, and hands, off of you all.”

“Very true,” Ransom said. “I didn’t mind that part at all.”

“You didn’t mind another woman rubbing all over you?”

He threw an arm around her. “I didn’t mind you all riled up and jealous.”

“What do you want now, Ash?” I said, not needing anymore of this loving couple shit when I wanted so badly to pull Carly against me.

“I want to go away for the weekend. I thought with Carly all locked up here, it would be fun to get away, plus we really haven’t gone on a vacation together. We could rent a cabin in the mountains and we could go. No one will recognize Carly there so we could actually hang out, go into town, be normal for a long weekend.”

“I’m in,” Scout yelled with a smile.

“Me too. I need a break from life, and that sounds perfect. Carly? Want to come hang out with all of us in another house, but this time in the woods?” Quinn said.

I looked at her, waiting for her to say no, but she smiled. “That actually sounds amazing.”

“Perfect, and don’t worry. I’ll book one with a hot tub,” Ash yelled, dancing as she pulled out her phone.

“And us guys are invited, right?” Fox asked.

Ash patted his arm. “Of course, babe, although now that you mention it, a girls’ weekend could be fun.”

He groaned. “No, it wasn’t a suggestion. We are going.”

I didn’t say anything, but had to agree with him. Leaving Carly to go to a romantic cabin in the woods without me seemed…depressing.

The thought of being alone in my apartment again was even more depressing.

She had been worried that getting closer to me was going to make it harder to go out on her own again, but I hadn’t really thought of what it would be like here when she leaves. Not until right at this moment.

Going back to no Carly and no Riot again, being alone at night and every morning? It sounded miserable.

I tried not to look at Carly, but failed, catching her green eyes that I was surprised to find were looking at me like she was waiting for more of an answer, but I couldn’t give one.

Even if she could find a way to distance herself from me, I wasn’t sure if I could do the same.

“Great,” Ash said. “Keep the garage closed for a long weekend and we will leave in the morning. We’re going on vacation!”

KYE STILL LINGERED HERE, sitting on the couch with Carly as they talked about watching a movie.

It shouldn’t be, but him sticking around was starting to annoy me.

“I’m going to shower. I didn’t get a chance earlier,” I said, grabbing a change of clothes and shutting myself in the bathroom.

I had been so close to kissing her, so close to crossing that line, until everyone interrupted. I was hoping we would pick up right where we left off, but now Kye was staying, and by the time the movie ended, she was going to be passed out.

I know I needed to stick to my word and keep my distance, but it was hard to care about patience when she looked at my lips and licked her own.

I showered and changed fast, but froze when I heard Kye’s voice.

“Finally. I have someone else around here who likes horror movies,” Kye said. “Trying to get them to go see the last one in theaters was like pulling teeth and I’m not even going to tell you who left the theater midway through.”

“I’m guessing Jax?” Carly said, and I smiled. Even if she didn’t want to admit it, she knew me pretty well already.

Kye laughed. “And Quinn. They would cut someone in a heartbeat but not watch a scary movie? I wasn’t even going to attempt to watch this with any of them.”

“With the comments I’ve heard, I’m almost worried if I will sit through this,” Carly said, and that shocked me. I figured she would watch any scary, gory thing she could get her hands on.

“Let’s hope. If you liked the first one, I think you could handle this one.”

“I’m surprised you wanted to watch this tonight. I figured you would have a date or be out racing or something,” Carly said and I smacked my own chest, the jealousy rising up. Was she hinting at learning more about Kye’s dating life? Kye rarely dated, so it hadn’t even occurred to me that there could be something with them. Although, now I could see that they had things in common.

“Waiting on a part for my car, and no, I don’t date, so no problems there.”

“Date, sleep around. You know what I meant.”

“Don’t sleep around either. I’m not a big touchy person,” Kye said.

He wasn’t kidding. The guy hated to be touched unless necessary. We all could hug him and whatever, but he even tried to avoid that. I really couldn’t wrap my head around not wanting someone’s touch, but I knew how he grew up was different from me.

“Yeah, I get that. I’m not either.”

“No, like, I can’t stand being touched. I mean, I’m fine with the crew around and touching me sparingly, but even that makes my skin crawl sometimes. I can’t stand it when it’s someone I don’t know.”

“Oh,” she said, and I was mad that I couldn’t decipher the tone, and my horrible mind went right to thinking she could be disappointed. “That’s really not what I was expecting.”

“Yeah, it makes sleeping around a little awkward. Like, please don’t touch me, but sure we can sleep together. A logistical nightmare. Surprisingly, girls do not find that to be a turn on.” His tone was light, almost joking, and I was surprised Kye didn’t mind her asking. He didn’t really talk to anyone about it. He knew his issues got in the way of relationships, but he really didn’t seem to mind at all. We’ve all asked and offered what help we could, but he made it clear that he truly doesn’t care and doesn’t need it fixed.

The room was silent before Carly burst into laughter. It only made me smile. I knew Kye would appreciate her not feeling sorry for him, and it only made me happy that she could be herself.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s not funny, but the mechanics of that. Have you ever been able to even do that?” She asked. “No, sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”

“I have, but thank you for the concern,” he said, but I could tell he was smiling. “I’ve only told a handful of people, but I can honestly say that no one has ever started laughing that hard.”

“I’m really sorry. But I never expected that from you. You’re the tall, dangerous, handsome type with all the tattoos and piercings, and I know some guys like you, they are complete womanizers. I was assuming you were, too. Sorry for laughing and making assumptions.”

“No problem to both. I know what I look like. It makes it easier to stay away from people when the way you look makes people want to stay away from you.”

Hearing her call Kye handsome was enough for me to pull open the door and stalk out. I left my shirt off on purpose this time, knowing she liked to stare and didn’t miss when her eyes flew to me half naked.

“What are you guys watching? Wait, let me guess. Serial killer at a cabin in the woods?” I asked, seeing the title.

Carly’s smile grew as she turned back to the TV and I saw Riot was draped over Kye’s lap.

“How did you know?” she asked.

“You are a dark little witch and Kye almost exclusively watches horror movies. Most people would not want to watch a slasher film based at a remote cabin when they are the ones going to a similar place, but here you two are.”

She leaned back, getting comfortable. “Well, I think Kye could scare off most people and I’m different. I have a personal bodyguard.”

“True. Although, I don’t know how to feel about having to now protect you from serial killers. That seems like a whole different level of bodyguard.”

“You’re the one who volunteered for the position.”

Kye shook his head. “That was your first mistake. It’s every man for himself in these movies.”

I fell back on the couch next to her, trying to get close enough that I could smell the lavender scent she always had.

“In my defense,” I said, keeping my voice down. “I was hoping you would actually be touching my body more.”

She looked over, her mouth falling open with a grin. “I suddenly don’t think you understand what a bodyguard is and now I’m concerned.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “I do, but I thought there would be more clinging to my body and crawling into bed when the nightmares came,” I said with a wink.

I could see the red bloom across her nose and cheeks and I wished I was close enough to see it mix with her freckles and kiss every single one of them.

She turned back to the movie fast, not looking over at me again, but I still watched her.

Kye asked her something about the movie, and another one they both loved. I was relieved when that didn’t make me jealous, only happy. I wanted her to like my friends. I wanted her to feel comfortable here. Granted, I was a little surprised that she was getting along the most with Kye, of all people, but I shouldn’t be. He was a pretty weird person, and she seemed to like that.

I moved until I was close enough to lean against her, my lips inches from her ear. The small, sharp intake of breath got to me again, and I leaned in even more.

“Leaving for the weekend might set me back a few days on your truck.”

“And?”

“And that would mean you would have to stay longer.”

“Oh,” she said, not looking over at me. I wanted her to though. I wanted to know what she was thinking as her face pinched. I couldn’t imagine that staying here was that bad. “I don’t want to invade your space any longer than I have.”

“What if I said that I like my space being invaded?”

That got me an annoyed eye roll, but I would take that reaction over the pained one she had a moment ago.

“I wouldn’t believe you.”

“Why would I lie?”

“If you two don’t stop whispering about things, I’m going to turn it up to drown you out.”

The door slammed shut behind us as Scout walked in. “Hey. Kye said you were watching a movie.”

“Yeah,” I said, as Scout rolled onto the couch. I was about to be annoyed that they were still there, but it made moving closer to Carly about ten times less obvious.

“Can we stop talking and watch the movie?” she whispered.

“Yes, but for the next hour and a half, you are my bodyguard because I have to watch a serial killer chase people around the woods, all while realizing that will be me tomorrow.”

“Always dramatic.”

“Where would the fun be if I wasn’t?”

“I’m watching my movie, Jax, and if you’re going to invade my space, you are going to do it quietly.”

“Alright, brat,” I said, moving in closer as I leaned back.

I could hear her suck in a harsh breath before blowing it out slowly, and I loved every second.

I wanted to make her breath unsteady like that a thousand more times.

I also loved the way her eyes drifted from the movie to me, over and over

“Jax, I told you —”

“Shhh, I’m watching a movie.”

I knew she was staring daggers at me, but I kept my eyes on the TV, smiling the entire time.