16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

JET

The shop was packed today, one customer after another coming in, so when Dad had me call Ruby and Mario in for extra help, I wasn’t surprised. Mario had gotten here in ten minutes, but Ruby was just now coming through the door, darting quickly around the line of customers.

“Hey, Jet. Let me clock in, and I’ll come around and help.”

“Nope, not today. You’re needed in the back,” I called out as I searched the hooks for the right invoice.

Ruby frowned, pausing mid-step. “The back?”

“Yep. I’ve got this covered. They’re short back there.”

“Alright.” She quickly clocked in and took off out the door, the sounds of drills whirring bleeding through until it closed again.

Lucky. Dad wasn’t letting me back there and under a hood until I had my diploma. Just two more weeks. I’ll even be certified, too. Which meant I’d have more jobs I could work on than Ruby could until she was fully certified. Except even then it will only be a couple of weeks that I’ll even have much time to get back there .

It was a wake up call with how fast it was coming. My time here at the shop was limited, and my days would soon be immersed with football requirements at Ridgeside U most of the summer.

In the past, I didn’t mind working the front here at the shop, but knowing how close this chapter was all ending–and on a day like today–right now, I’d kill to get my hands on an engine or even just patch a tire.

Grabbing the invoice I needed, I smiled at the next customer, hoping my mind would stay busy with the hustle of the day instead. “Sorry, sir. Looks like you had an oil change and a tire rotation. Does that sound right?”

It was another couple of hours before we got a lull, and Dad came out from the back, wiping grease from his hands as he looked around. We had two customers in the waiting area, but for now, that was it.

“Do you need a break?” He wiped some sweat from his brow with a rag and tucked it in his pocket.

I shook my head. “I’m good. I’d rather stay busy today.” The busier I was, the less I had to think about Annie and what Izzy had confided in me this morning.

Dad eyed me for a few seconds but then nodded. “I need to make a call to check on a shipment. Let me know if you need me.”

“Will do.”

He went into his office, and I grabbed a container of wipes so I could wipe down the formica between rushes, my eyes darting to my phone under the counter when it lit up next to my sketchpad and some book Nic was loaning to Ruby.

Annie was instantly at the forefront of my thoughts again when I saw her name on the screen. She’d lived there all day, but not in the way she usually did. As soon as she’d left for work this morning, Izzy had called me…

“What’s up?” I eyed her in concern as she led me out to the backyard, quietly pulling the sliding back door shut behind us.

“Sorry.” Izzy turned around. “I just don’t want Mom or Uncle Blake to overhear. Annie’s already going to be upset that I’m telling you .” She pulled a leg up under her as she selected a spot on the patio furniture, and I took the next seat when she gestured.

“You’re making me nervous, Izzy.” I grinned to make it lighthearted, even though my pulse was picking up speed.

“Sorry. I just… I feel like I need to tell you this, but it also feels like I’m betraying my sister’s trust.”

“So, it’s something Annie doesn’t want to tell me, then.” My brow furrowed, lost on what it could be.

“Yeah.” One side of Izzy’s mouth scrunched up, and her fingers ran along the bottom hem of her top, her nerves only making mine set in. “She and I talked last night. I actually stayed in our old room with her, and we got some stuff out. I hadn’t realized how alone she’s been feeling. Which makes me feel awful, but has she said anything to you?”

“About feeling alone? Some, but it was mostly when I first got back from Greece. You’re with Tucker so much, and don’t take that the wrong way because I know Annie didn’t mind you leaning on him. It’s what you’ve needed, and she wanted you to have what you needed.”

“No, I know.” Izzy sighed and tucked a lock of hair behind her ears. “We talked through that. What I’m feeling guilty about is that she’s been struggling so much and I never realized how severe it was. She was so busy trying to make sure I had what I needed that she wasn’t speaking up for herself. I swear, she’s like Mom sometimes.”

I smirked. “Don’t let her hear you say that.”

Izzy grinned but sadness leaked through the surface. “God, she’s going to get mad at me for telling you. I can’t even ask you not to tell her because you’re gonna have to talk to her. She needs us both.”

“Izzy, you’re just making me more nervous. If I need to know, then tell me, please.” I popped my knuckles with my thumb to battle my nerves.

She nodded, steeling herself with a deep breath. “I think she has PTSD, Jet, like me. Except with nightmares.”

My eyebrows shot up so high they were practically in my hairline. “What? I mean, I know she has nightmares sometimes, but PTSD?”

“I researched it some when she finally went back to sleep. She checks all the boxes. And it’s bad, Jet. You may have been with her for one of her bad ones before , but she admitted that they’ve gotten so much worse since then.”

Izzy shuddered, apprehension now clawing inside me at her reaction.

“How bad is bad?” I made myself ask.

“Awful. I woke up to find her gasping for air and pacing back and forth across the room. She couldn’t breathe right, for several minutes, and tears were just pouring down her face. When she finally calmed herself down, she was still shaking. She wouldn’t let me help.”

Izzy brushed away a tear that had welled at the corner of her eye.

I sat still, my hands clasped between my knees as I processed. Trying to understand why Annie hadn’t come to me. Why she hadn’t even told me .

It was the million dollar question that hadn’t left me all day. A gentle hand pressed to my shoulder, sliding down to my upper arm, and I blinked, only half present for a moment, still behind the counter with the container of wipes in my hands.

“You okay?”

Ruby was staring at me, and while I hadn’t noticed it in the commotion of her coming in, I could see the dark ring of bruising around her eye she’d tried covering with makeup. She’d hidden most of it, but I could tell it was deep.

“Uh, yeah.” I pulled out a couple of wipes, catching a glimpse of the book again as I started on the formica. “I’ve got that book you asked to borrow under the counter.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“No problem. I hope it won’t bother you too much to read it after last night. With Annie and all. Sorry about that.” I tapped a finger against my cheekbone as I stared at her black eye, and she looked down, pulling out another wipe to help.

“Not your fault. I’m sure it looked bad from where she stood. Sorry for falling into your lap.” She grinned, but I didn’t grin back, my mood just off today. “You sure you’re okay?” Ruby pressed.

“Uh, yeah, just worried about something with Annie.” I said it absently but took notice when Ruby stiffened. Shit. Sore subject. Good job to bring up the girl that just punched her.

Not to mention Annie was already going to be pissed at me just for talking to Ruby so soon after last night. Something screamed at me to find an out from working with her today, stuck between the two of them every time I came into work. I just wished Annie could trust me about Ruby. She was just a friend.

Not that she’s trusting me with everything lately, anyway.

I shook off the negative thought. If I knew my girl at all, Annie had a reason for holding things back and all of her jealousy. I just wished I knew what.

I looked at Ruby. “They don’t need you in the back anymore?”

“No.” She shook her head, her ponytail swaying across her back. “Rodrigo told me I could take a break.”

“Cleaning counters is not taking a break.” I gave her a look, and she shrugged.

“Maybe I find something out here more interesting.” It was my turn to stiffen when I caught the way she glanced at me under her lashes. But I had to be crazy, right?

“How did your date with David go last night? I didn’t even realize y’all knew each other.”

She shrugged. “We bumped into each other at the last race, and he asked me out. The night was okay until…” She pointed at her eye, and I winced.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Annie has kind of a quick temper.”

“She didn’t like me in your lap, huh?”

I gave her a funny look. “If you were my girlfriend, would you like another girl in my lap? Falling into it or not,” I added as I chucked the wipes in the trash.

“I could be.” She said it so quietly, I wasn’t sure I heard it.

“What?” I looked up, surprised as she took a side step that brought her right up to my side, her arm touching mine on the counter. Two of her fingers brushed over it, stroking.

“You didn’t push me off last night…”

I stiffened, hearing the hope and insinuation in her voice, the way she was now touching me instantly feeling wrong.

Shit… The others had been right. Annie had been right.

A hand slapped down on Ruby’s before I could move. “Get your hand off my boyfriend right now, or I will break your fucking fingers.”

Ruby sprang back and yanked her hand out like she’d been struck by lightning, Annie’s gaze like liquid fury as she stared her down.

“God, you’re psychotic.”

“Test me, bitch, and see how psychotic I can get.”

“Whoa.” Dad came out of the office right as she said it. “Watch it, Annie.” He looked between the girls, their eyes glaring and their fists clenched. Annie still looked like she was ready to fly over the counter. “What’s going on out here?” He looked at me.

“Ask your new hire,” Annie spat. “And your son, for not calling her off. Again. ” She whipped around and stormed out the door.

My eyes locked on her back, panicked, knowing I needed to follow. I glanced at Dad, and he jerked his head in a nod. “Go.”

I raced around the counter, flying outside, and made it to her truck just before she could slam the door.

“Back off, Jet.”

“No.” I shoved myself between her and the door so she couldn’t close it.

“I’ll drive. Just like this.”

“No, you won’t. And you know it. Now, scoot over so we can talk. Please ,” I added when all she did was glare. Those brilliant green eyes were staring at me with a fire they’d never shot my way before. Her chin jutted with her clenched jaw, and her breaths were harsh and short while she debated. She was ready to let heads roll. She was breathtaking. I was nervous as hell. “ Please, sweetheart. If we don’t fix this, she wins.”

Bingo .

I watched the flicker of fury in her eyes at the thought, and with all the attitude I deserved, she scooted to the passenger side.

I climbed in and shut the door.

“Drive,” Annie directed, her fingertips digging into her legs. “I’m not doing this here where she can see.”

I turned the keys, having to do it twice before the ancient ignition in her truck caught. “Where do you wanna go?”

We pulled up at the batting cages in Summer Ridge a half hour later, and I was standing behind the cage, watching in both awe and terror as Annie let her fury fly. Ball after ball cracked against her bat, soaring off into the distance.

This was my fault. All of her anger, hurt, and mistrust were on me right now. Not only had I refused to talk to her this morning when I’d been upset, I’d discounted every warning she’d given me against Ruby. Maybe that’s why she didn’t feel like she could come to me about her nightmares .

It was eating at me to know she’d hidden how severe they’d gotten from me, but the more I watched her. The more I thought about it. It was on me. I wasn’t the safe space she could turn to about it this time.

And that killed me.

I waited until she’d smacked the last ball that came flying out of that machine, and when her shoulders dropped and the bat hit the ground, I opened the gate and pulled her into my arms. Her head tucked into my shoulder, and relief flooded through me. She wasn’t pushing me away.

“You ready to talk?” I ran my hand down her ponytail and rested it at her lower back.

Annie nodded and pushed off of me to go take a seat on the metal benches nearby. I sat beside her.

She scoffed, the sound sardonic. “I was just here with Tucker doing this.”

“Making up?”

“Beating out my frustration.”

I nodded, staring at her while she stared at the ground.

“We need to talk, Annie.”

Her head whipped to look at me, fear flashing in her eyes.

“Shit. No. Not like that.” Why in the hell did I say it like that?

The fear slowly retreated from her eyes, but there was a graveness to her expression that I knew I had to fix. Somehow, I had to make things right.

“You were right about Ruby.”

She scoffed again.

“I know,” I continued. “I was an idiot. I just couldn’t see it. And I’d just kind of figured that even if you were right, she knew I was with you, so it didn’t matter.”

“Newsflash, babe. She doesn’t care that you’re with me. She’s had her eyes on you since the first day she started at the shop. Do you realize that today makes two times that she’s made an outright move on you, and you didn’t push her away?”

I frowned, thinking about that, realizing how last night came across so differently now when I looked back. “You’re right, but what you walked in on today… It wasn’t what it looked like. She scooted close when I wasn’t looking, and I was literally about to pull my arm away when you came in.”

Annie rolled her eyes, the look so intensely annoyed that my brow rose slightly at her reaction. “I mean it. Both times, if you’d given me just a couple more seconds, I would have gotten her off of me. The second she got that close to me it felt wrong. Only you belong by my side,” I said when she looked away, hating the tension I’d caused between us.

“Sweetheart, I’m telling you I know I messed up. I should have listened to you, especially after last night. I was a complete dumbass. I let her become more of a friend than I should have with how much she bothered you, and I didn’t put you first. Please, forgive me.” All I wanted was to reach out and touch her. To know that we were okay.

Annie just stared ahead for several long, tense seconds before she sighed. “Thank you. I needed to hear a lot of that. I just wish you would have put her in her place when I first brought it up.”

“Yeah. In hindsight, me too. I just didn’t want to make things awkward if y’all were wrong and she didn’t really feel that way. ”

Annie grunted through a sigh. “I get that, babe. On some level, I do. I know you have to work with her and that you want to see the good in people, but you should have just trusted me. If you couldn’t see it, I could. Tucker could. Others could. You brushing it off every time just made me feel like shit. It made me doubt myself. Because it wasn’t just with Ruby, it was again that you weren’t putting me first.”

“Again? When else haven’t I put you first?”

She looked away. “Just forget it.”

“No. Don’t ask me to do that.” I took her hand, pulling it over my leg and lacing my fingers through hers.

“Babe…” She warned me with a look, and I shook my head.

“Don’t, Annie. We’ve been at odds off and on since I came back from Greece, and I don’t think either of us like it. Now, talk.”

“Nic.” There was no hesitation when she said his name, and that familiar knot from all the times they’d fought hit my middle.

“Sweetheart, you know–”

“Yes, I know why you have to get to know him. I know why he’s here. I know it’s important to both of y’all, and I know it’s a fucking catch twenty-two. That’s why I said forget it. Nic and I do not like each other, but he’s your family, and I have to deal. Period. I just hate feeling like the odd man out when I do.”

Shit. I scraped a hand over my brow. “I don’t know how to fix that.”

“Exactly.” Annie looked back at me, sadness now prevalent in her eyes over her frustration. “I miss you. I miss our time together where I don’t have to feel tense with your cousin around. We used to be able to find time at my house, but now that my mom and Uncle Blake are there, it’s almost impossible to get any alone time, and we can’t at your house anymore because Nic’s in your room now. And the thing is…I know I sound like a spoiled whiny brat, but I can’t help that it’s how I feel. Nic showing up took you from me in some ways, babe. When I desperately needed you. You were my rock when I gave up Izzy. You were my support. My calm in the storm, and now, I feel like I’ve been washed out to sea without you there to reel me in.”

She tugged her hand from mine and angrily swiped a few tears from her cheeks with her palms. I just pulled her sideways and into my chest as I wrapped an arm around her back. This is what Izzy meant when she said Annie felt alone. It wasn’t just Izzy that had left her. Without meaning to, I had, too.

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and rested mine against hers. “I will always reel you in. You are my priority, and I’m sorry I haven’t been making you feel that way.”

She sniffled and turned her face into my shoulder, shifting so she could tuck her arms against me, and I rocked her back and forth as I held her. As long as she needed me to, I’d keep her in my arms. I needed to be that safe space for her again.

Pressing another kiss to the top of her head, I asked, “Is what you said then the reason you haven’t come to me about your nightmares?”

“Partly,” she said into my chest. “I’ve wanted to, but it’s more like I didn’t want to make you feel bad that you couldn’t do anything to help. ”

“What do you think would help?” I asked, brushing my fingers along her back.

“I’m not sure. They’re just getting so much worse. Running helps calm me down after the fact, but sometimes, all I can think is that I wonder if I’m like Izzy. If being in your arms would drive the demons away. But I couldn’t even test it to see anymore.”

“Because Nic is there,” I realized. Fuck… What could I do? How could I fix it?

I sighed, wishing I knew.

“Izzy thinks your nightmares are from PTSD.”

“I know they are.”

“You do?”

Annie sucked in a breath, inhaling into my chest and sagging against me for a moment before sitting up. “I do. I read up on it enough when we realized it about Izzy. I’ve been pretty fucked up since I found Mom like that. My judgment with everything is off. My stress is through the roof. Especially with us fighting. I’m so overwhelmed, it’s like my emotions are out of control, and my coping mechanisms are barely working anymore.”

“And it didn’t help when you felt like I pulled away, either.”

She gave me a small smile. “No, it didn’t, but unless you’re going to kick Nic out of your room, there’s not much else to suggest for now.” She slapped her hands against her knees, signaling the end of our conversation before she stood. “You ready to go?”

I stared at her, watching her deflect. Wondering how I’d been missing it. I had to do better.

Deciding my next move, I stood and took her hand. “Lead the way, sweetheart.”

I would always follow.