Chapter 10

Kipp

Nolan releases a slightly amused grunt. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“It was either this or watch Tokyo Drift while waitin’ for dinner to be ready,” I promptly remind.

“Exactly.” My best friend readjusts the controller in his possession. “Racing remote control stunt cars ourselves beats watching them do it on the screen.”

“Those aren’t remote control.” Small chuckles precede me swiftly flicking my thumb upward to send the 360 rotating capable toy bouncing off the side of a toolbox. “Those are real stunt cars, driven by real stunt drivers.” Accelerating the machine forward has it racing towards the open, overhead garage door. “I don’t know if F1 driving is meant for me, but stunt?” I bring the vehicle to an abrupt, skidding halt and have it theatrically spin in place. “Pretty sure I could be happy paying homage to Joie Chitwood.”

“Homage?” the man also resting his backside against the checkout playfully prods. “You pass your vocab test?” He tosses me a crooked grin. “That the real reason Rabbit ordered this shit for you? A reward for passing?”

There’s no time to retort courtesy of our woman strolling out of the office towards us, “No, your girlfriend-”

“I prefer Rabbit ,” Nolan pokes.

“And I prefer you not trying to pass off bribes as donations to various communities.”

An indifferent shrug is all she’s given.

“Your books are the type of examples they used to try to scare us away from this industry.”

“Yet you stayed.”

“What can I say?” Bunny sassily shoots back at the same time she tucks her Mickey Mouse pen into her high messy bun. “I love things I can get on top of.”

“Always an option, Rabbit.” He stops moving his car forward to roughly grab his crotch. “ Just say when. ”

The giggling and rolling of her eyes are what lead to me adding, “You don’t even have to say when , baby. Just blink twice if you need us to mercy fuck you.”

“ Or fuck you without mercy. ”

A tiny whimper starts to slip free yet is caught by her chomping harshly down on her bottom lip.

Wouldn’t be the first time we had her today.

Doubt it’d be the last.

Come to think of it…we’ve been going at it pretty constantly since my birthday.

Everywhere.

Any when.

It’s having me get underneath the hoods that are coming in a little slower, but I won’t complain.

I much prefer being under hers.

His.

Both when they’re fooling around between tows or spreadsheets, and I stop to take a piss break that’s instantly followed by me joining.

In spite the dark cloud of exhaust that seems to be hanging over us, doing its best to choke us to death, there’s been some damn good moments of fresh air.

Like getting the shop back in full working order, equipped with a few new tools and tunes to get me through the day.

Another is the footage of those bounty hunters getting arrested and news of them being locked up.

Garcia shared the bodycam feed with us from the officers that participated in the sting operations revealing very similar situations, proving he really does think ahead. They were all put in comparable scenarios so that no matter who snitched or who blamed who , it would simply appear as though someone forgot a detail or misunderstood one versus someone knowingly betraying the group or purposely creating a raid. As Fast fresh as it would’ve been to have an elaborate scene and setup, the red and blues took a more realistic approach. They lured them to different diners – Bunny’s known MO – had plain clothes officers as patrons and used lookalikes as bait, eventually arresting them all for attempted unlawful abduction acts. The threat of felony charges had a successful way of getting them to confess everything and anything they could about McAdams, temporarily shutting him down.

Plus, aside from those wins, Bunny’s constantly been cooking meals that consist of more cheese than anything else.

Including tonight’s bacon macaroni and cheese that I’ve been thinking about nonstop since she mentioned it.

What can I say?

I’m a sucker for homemade mac.

Always have been.

It’s why when my old man was alive and Mom was out of town, he’d break out the blue box to try to cure my blues.

Never worked.

“I bought Kipp these cars as an ‘I love you’ and ‘I hope this takes your mind off the graveyard situation for a little bit’ present.” Her hands casually slide into her back jean pockets. “It’s been such a hellish stretch that…I don’t know.” An innocent shrug bounces her shoulders. “I just…figured…you could use something else besides me sitting on your face as a distraction.”

I momentarily stop driving and swing my stare to her.

“I mean Mutt’s been working on the house renovation plans-”

“I’m really fucking tempted to just build us an entire new place from scratch. We have the property for it.”

“And I’ve been looking over Clothes Valley’s accounting records for Posie to see if I can help sort out of some their finances since she wants to become an upscale boutique while her mother wants to stay more thrift shoppy-”

“When the fuck did you get all girly, girly with Posie?” Nolan swiftly investigates on a turning of his head.

“Is that a problem for you?” Our girlfriend good naturedly goads. “Worried she’s gonna tell me some dirty or embarrassing secret that The Kid hasn’t already?”

He tosses the remote on the counter beside him on mumbled, “ Fuck, I am now. ”

“I figured,” Bunny resumes talking to me with a victorious smirk, “that until you get one of your side business requests where you get to play with cars that look like toys, you might enjoy playing with a toy car.”

It’s impossible not to bashfully grin.

She’s so fucking perfect.

Like the Aston Martin BD5.

Bond had it.

I have her.

His car came with a shit ton of lifesaving tools.

But in my case?

She is the lifesaving tool.

The fact she’s sexy and smart and sweet and sassy and strong are just extra bells and whistles.

Kind of like his twin front mounted machine guns.

“You haven’t heard from Butler?” Nolan curiously questions, arm stretching out across the space behind me. “Or Big Mack?”

I shake my head prior to placing my controller down beside his. “I told ‘em I was on hiatus until further notice.”

“Perhaps now should be until further notice?” Bunny casually suggests, body swaying itself to be stationed directly in front of me. “We’re supposed to be ‘living life as normal’ to prove to Brad he’s not winning and to prove to ourselves that we don’t have to live in fear, which would mean you taking off-the-books gigs again, wouldn’t it?”

On one side of the vehicle, I hate hearing Garcia’s phrasing for the millionth fucking time.

I actually hate hearing his name practically every fucking day.

I hate that he seems to have a perma parking space in our lives.

But on the other side of the vehicle, I’m thankful.

He’s the reason the authorities rounded up all but one of the bounty hunters the day of November’s funeral.

He’s the reason they turned on one another and convinced those moronic detectives that one of them was responsible for the death of the one we know Nolan made disappear as well as the desecration of my mom’s grave – although her body is still MIA.

He’s also the reason those charges against Nolan were dropped, the ones regarding me in all aspects have been closed, and why we’re being given a check with more zeroes than I think necessary to cover the wrongful damages the shop went through.

Garcia is unfortunately necessary at this point in the road trip we call life.

Similar to GPS.

I just… really look forward to the day we can drive without him .

Rather than argue, I do my best to surrender with a smile. “I’ll think about it.”

“Mm,” Nolan lets his thumb lovingly stroke my side, “think harder .”

This time he’s shot an impish smirk. “I’d rather think harder about something else, Sir. ”

“That ass need another pounding, you filthy little fuck?” He wolfishly steals a swipe of his lips. “You just had one when we were putting batteries in the controllers.”

Redness warms my cheeks as I guiltily glance at the ground.

Okay.

Bunny isn’t the only one whose engine rarely seems to turn off so much as idle.

“Is that what you two were doing upstairs while I was trying to decode the disaster you call your finances?” She lets her arms fold across my white t-shirt I usually use for off-the-book jobs that she likes lounging in. “Making more messes for me to clean up?”

“We cleaned that one up,” Nolan lightly chuckles.

I decide to test drive the new information by cautiously investigating, “Is Posie the only one in town who wants you to look at their shit?”

“For now . Annabelle heard about what I can do from Posie and wants to have a sit down.” A small indecisive wiggle of her tongue ring is executed. “And while I know the guy pretending to be getting married wasn’t actually Brad but one of his patsies meant to rattle us – thanks to that photo Jolene flashed us–”

“That guy looked like a shitty Lucas Black,” is thoughtlessly murmured from me.

“Who?” Nolan promptly ponders.

“Sean from The Fast & Furious franchise.”

“Of course,” my best friend grumbles in amusement. “Should’ve been my first guess.”

“It really should’ve.”

“ Like I was saying… ” Bunny reclaims the conversation. “Despite knowing that Brad hasn’t been spotted in town or at that property, I’m still not so sure I wanna interact with Annabelle or her company or Dolly Parton’s nemesis until Zero can one hundred and ten percent confirm they aren’t knowingly involved with Brad in any capacity.” Thankfully, another sprightly expression is flashed. “Please, tell me you didn’t sleep through music class that day and totally understand the reference I just made, Kid.”

“You seriously askin’ me if I’ve heard of the First Lady of Country Music?”

“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa,” Nolan unexpectedly mutters, playful offense piercing his tone. “Don’t go throwin’ that title around like you know shit. Dolly is one of the greats, but I don’t know if she is the great.”

Bewilderment bursting through my expression precedes me arguing, “She’s definitely the G.O.A.T.”

“She’s not a fucking farm animal! What the fuck is a matter with you?”

“Calm down, grandpa,” Bunny warmly snickers. “He means G.O.A.T. as in greatest of all time. Not the adorable little creature he shares a name with.” Two hands swiftly fly into the air. “ Ohmygod, can we have baby goats?!”

“ No, ” the two of us instantly refuse in tandem.

Her jaw dramatically falls to the shop floor sparking chuckles from us. “But we have room for them!”

“ You ,” I gently tug her to me, “are the only ‘baby’ we need around here.” After a chaste kiss to her lips, I suggest, “How about you turn around and take my new toy for a spin?”

“Your cock is so not a new toy.” The juvenile joke is quickly followed by another teasing remark, “ Ohhhh… you meant the car.” Bunny giggles. Winks. Spins around so her back is to my front and teasingly wiggles. “Show me how to drive, Kid.”

“She needs lessons on the road too,” our boyfriend cheekily adds before leaning away to avoid the light tap to the dick she attempts. “ Hey! Hands at ten and two, Rabbit.”

“It’s actually nine and three,” I correct at the same time I position our girlfriend’s hands on the controller.

“Says who?!?”

“The NHTSA.”

He throws a confused hand up into the air prompting me to laugh again.

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”

“The…what…the…fuck…what?” Nolan’s grumbles of irritation are thankfully interrupted by the ringing of his cell, which he doesn’t hesitate to answer. “ Nolan. ”

With one arm tangled comfortably around Bunny, I use the other to repeatedly intervene her smashing the poor little all-terrain vehicle into every surface that crosses her path. Each time she collides into something unintentionally, her entire body jumps.

Twitches.

Her nose scrunches and a hiss is sucked in.

Not smiling over her antics is a lot like not grinning whenever she turns me into a human doodle.

Impossible.

“Got it,” is attached to our boyfriend ending the call shortly after he took it. “It’s official.”

Our attention immediately shifts to him.

“Miss B. Ripley has a clinic appointment for a full body scan and physical with Dr. Valerie Garcia for four o’clock this Friday.” Nolan nonchalantly tucks his device into his pocket and sighs, “Looks like it’s time to go disguise shoppin’.”