Tuesday the 5th

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"Monday the 3rd and Tuesday the 4th" 

Tuesday the 5th

Tuesday Night Cars

            Alana was managing to leave work at a decent hour, but only because she was exhausted as was her crew so she’d told them all to go home at five. None of them had objected and they’d left her to do some little things for two hours by herself to the one room that they had done and she was happy with the results. Now if only her client liked it half as much as she did.
            Her phone rang and she answered it on the second ring after checking the caller ID and seeing that it was Hanna, “Hey, sweetheart. How was your day?”
            “Long,” Hanna answered.
            “I know the feeling, but I’m getting ready to leave now,” Alana said as she got to her feet and headed over to start turning lights off.
            “Yeah, so am I. I just have to finish up one more thing and then I’ll be packing up and headed home for a nice long hot bath,” Hanna replied with a sigh.
            “Well, if you beat me home don’t hog all the hot water because that was my plan, too,” Alana said.
            “Well, the same goes for you,” Hanna said yawning.
            “Alright, well I’ll see you at home, do you want me to pick anything up on my way home?” Alana asked. Alana usually came from the highway and right past the grocery story while Hanna would come from the other direction and right past the movie store, their favorite Chinese take out restaurant, and the drug store. Usually if one of them wasn’t stopping the other was, so it worked out well.
            “Do we have milk and bread at home?” Hanna asked sniffling another yawn.
            “Yeah I think so. I mean I haven’t finished either, but I haven’t bought any fresh in a few days either.”
            “Then there should be some at home because I bought some of both on Wednesday before I left so I could make some grilled cheese and tomato soup.”
            “What are you making us for dinner tonight?” Alana asked.
            “I was thinking that some steak and corn on the cob sounded good, but if I’m not up to cooking after my bath it’ll be peanut butter and jelly,” Hanna barely got out before she yawned again.
            Alana laughed, “Boy, you sound tired with all this yawning,” Alana commented before she said, “either one sound good to me,” Alana said, “I’ll help with the cooking when I get home,” she promised.
            “I’ll take all the help you’re willing to offer,” Hanna said with a yawn, “and I’ll see you at home. Drive safe,” she told her friend.
            “You too, bye,” she replied.
            “Bye,” Hanna said with one final yawn and then they both hung up as Alana yawned and stretched. She was beat after the past couple of days that she’d had and she was glad that she could go home and get a decent nights sleep so she could do what she’d been unable to do today. Motivate her crew into giving her the 110% that they’d been giving last week.
            As she walked out to her car she smiled to herself and thought about the hot bath that she’d take when she got home, if Hanna hadn’t beat her to it already, but she wasn’t five miles from her job site when she noticed that her car had started to overheat. This was something that had happened with her last car and so she knew that she needed to pull over and check her radiator after it cooled down, but in the mean time she should probably make a few phone calls.
            She pulled into a gas station as she dug her cell phone out of her purse that sat in the passenger seat. Slowly she went down her list of people she had in her phonebook and called most of them. The only ones that she skipped were Hanna, because she wouldn’t be home yet, her suppliers for work, Cary and Blaise, but after she’d had no luck getting a hold of anyone else she went back and called Blaise. He too didn’t answer and she didn’t bother to leave him a voice message as she remembered that tonight was Tuesday and he had something that he normally did with the guys on Tuesday and she reluctantly moved onto Cary. He answered on the second ring.
            “Hello?”
            “Cary?” she asked timidly.
            “Yes,” he said and she could almost picture the evil grin on his face.
            “Hey, I hate to call you like this and if you’re busy I completely understand,” she said as she silently prayed that that would be the case, “but my car is overheating and I’m stuck at some gas station.”
            “What gas station?” he asked and she had no choice but to tell him the truth before he hung up saying that he’d be there soon.
            She hadn’t been sitting their two seconds when her phone started to ring and she saw Blaise pop up on her caller ID.
            “Hey, sorry I missed you’re call it was kind of noisy here for a few minutes. What’s up?” he asked.
            “I’m having car problems,” she told him.
            “What kind of car problems?”
            “It keeps overheating.”
            “I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he told her and then she told him where she was.
            “That’s not all,” she said once he knew where she was and feeling that she should also tell him about Cary.
            “What?”
            “When I couldn’t get a hold of you I called Cary. He’s on his way too.”
            Blaise sighed into the phone, “Be careful, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he said before they said good bye and hung up.
            Fifteen minutes later she was sitting in her car making notes about things that still needed to be done at work when someone knocked on her driver window and made her jump. She looked up to see Cary and she smiled hesitantly as he stood up and tried the door which she had wisely locked as she knew she would get caught up in her notes and not notice a thing that was going on around her.
            She put her note pad and pen away just as he leaned down and said thru the window, “You coming out so I can help you?”
            She smiled and unlocked the door so he could open it for her, “There now, that’s better. Why don’t we pop the hood latch so I can take a look and see what the matter is,” he told her as he reached into the car and did it himself as it was located down between the door and her seat on the floor board. He was gone almost as quickly as he’d invaded her space so she didn’t really get a chance to object and he didn’t really get a chance to see how she’d pulled back from him.
            He walked forward and as he release the hood latch he winked at her before he was able to raise the hood and she realized now how bad of an idea it had been to call Cary. For some reason she didn’t feel that she could trust Cary under the hood of her car alone so thinking that he might do something to her car if she wasn’t there looking over his shoulder she quickly got out and followed him so she too could poke her head under the hood of her car.
            “Well, I’ve checked the radiator fluid, it’s full and you have plenty of oil, so I honestly don’t know what’s wrong,” he said turning to her as she continued to look under the hood of her car. “I will take you home though,” he said pulling her into his arms.
            “Well, I should probably wait for Blaise and the guys,” she said and felt him tense up and watched smile become fixed as he looked at her.
            He raised his eyebrow as he asked, “Why did you call them?”
            She thought fast, “Well, B comes before C so I’d called him and left him a message before I’d called you. No sooner had I hung up with you he was calling me back and telling me that he’d be here soon with the guys.”
            “It’s Tuesday, isn’t it?” he asked with a sneer.
            She thought for a moment, “Yeah, why?” she asked.
            “They’re always over at Luke’s on Tuesday working on their pet cars,” he told her, “They’ll probably show up with a friend of Jarren’s who has a tow truck and tow you back to their shop so they can get you fixed up and back on the road,” he said with a frown.
            “Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?” she asked trying to crack a joke.
            He smiled at her as if he were trying to be cute but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes where she could see that he was angry, “Because every time you and I get together he always seems to be able to one up me and steal you away,” he said as if he were truly upset and disappointed about the whole thing, but the way that he grit his teeth told her a different story entirely.
            “Oh,” she said not sure how to respond especially with the anger that she saw in his eyes, “Sorry,” she told him as she looked past him just in time to see a tow truck and Blaise’s truck pull into the parking lot.
            “How did you get Blaise’s number anyway?” he asked, again trying to sound casual but the intense look in his eyes made her glad that Blaise and the guys were within sight even if Cary hadn’t realized it yet.
            “Oh, the others were all too drunk the other night to help him deliver my couch, so he gave me his number so we could set up another time,” she confessed as Blaise pulled into the parking spot that had been empty next to hers, finally getting Cary’s attention.
            “Hey Alana,” Blaise said as he climbed out of his truck having only taken the time to set the parking brake before he climbed out of the truck and walked over to Alana and gave her a friendly hug, removing her from Cary’s arms and spinning her around so that Blaise ended up between her and Cary.
            “Hey, girl. I brought re-enforcements to see what’s up with your car,” he told her pointing to the others. She watched Dom and his long muscular frame climb out of the back seat and she could only laugh at the trouble that he had twisting and turning to be able to climb out. Once he was finally standing on his own feet he paused, looked briefly at Blaise and then got into the driver seat to turned the truck off and collected the keys.
            Jarren, on the other hand, had parked behind her car and already had his head under the hood of her car, while Brock had climbed out of the passenger seat of Blaise’s truck and was helping Jarren’s friend position his tow truck behind her car so they could tow it to the shop.
            When the tow truck was in position Brock turned and said, “Hey Alana,” with a friendly smile before he walked past her, completely ignoring Cary, and came up next to Jarren under the hood of her car, “What’s the verdict?” he asked Jarren.
            “Don’t have a clue,” he said standing up as Dom walked up to Alana and Blaise, distracting her, and returning Blaise’s keys with a toss that Blaise caught with lightning reflexes before sliding them into his pocket.
            “Hey girl,” Dom said as he gave her a hug, “Natty’s on her way to the garage to see you, so you better not disappoint her,” he said before he looked pointedly at Cary. “Thanks for coming so fast, this isn’t the best area, but I’m sure you’re busy. We’ll see Alana home from here,” Dom said with his arm protectively around Alana’s shoulders.
            “Well, Alana,” Cary said looking around and seeing that they really didn’t need him, “I see that you’re in good hands,” he said as Blaise put his arm back around Alana’s waist and Dom dropped his arm and protective stance since Blaise had taken it up.
            “Yeah, she is,” Dom said bluntly.
            She saw the look that Dom gave Cary and noted the superior look Cary gave Dom and then noted the way that Cary squared his shoulders as if he were getting ready to fight, but instead he turned to Alana and said, “Are we still on for Thursday night?”
            “As long as nothing else goes wrong at work,” she said honestly.
            He cocked his head to one side and asked, “Tough week?”
            She sighed, “You could say that,” she said with a nod as Blaise gave her a friendly squeeze to comfort her.
            “Poor girl, and it’s only Tuesday,” he said sympathetically.
            “Tell me about it,” she told him as Blaise squeezed her shoulders again trying to comfort her.
            “Well,” he said holding her eye, “for our sakes, I hope the rest of this week goes well,” he said before he turned and walked back to his car.
            “I don’t trust him,” Dom said quietly as they watched him walk away and Jarren and Brock walked up to join them, Jarren giving Alana a brief half hug as he was still wearing his work overalls that had dirt, grim and oil all over them.
            Blaise looked at Dom as if not sure what to think about what his friend had just said and then replied, “Neither do I,” as the four guys and Alana all paused to turn and watch him leave. Alana stood watching with Blaise looking over her shoulder, as Cary walked across the parking lot to his flashy car, “Is that his car?” Blaise asked Alana.
            “Yeah,” she said and then added, “Did you ever hear that theory about men that drive flashy cars are trying to hide their lack of,” she paused looking for the right words, “other things?”
            Blaise just chuckled in her ear, “Yeah, I’ve heard that one. Are you trying to say that he’s compensating for being too small?”
            “You said it not me, I wouldn’t know,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
            That comment earned a chuckle from Dom who had over heard the entire conversation.
            “You came to Natty’s with him," was all Blaise said in response as he turned away from where Cary was now pulling out of the parking lot and headed back to her car.
            "Ah, yes,” she said turning and following him, “but I have a defense. It was a first date.”
            "You must not have known him very well," was his reply as he moved to her car and put the hood down before he leaned against it.
            "Nope, not at all really," she said.
            "What’d you two meet at the grocery store?" he asked.
            "Nope, the movie rental place. We both wanted to rent the same movie," she said.
            Blaise smiled and surveyed her for a moment before he said, "Sorry about the way everyone treated you the other night,” and then explained, “we’ve always treat his dates like shit, kind of as a favor to them, so they see his true colors sooner and don't stick around too long unless they like the abuse."
            "It's okay, I survived," she said with a smile happy that he at least admitted that she had in fact been treated unfairly that night, “but in the future, you don’t have to treat them like shit. You just have to egg him on while she’s nearby.”
            He just laughed, “That never worked before,” he said, “but I will say this, you survived better than most all the others have," he said smiling down at her.
            She smiled at him and batted her eyes innocently.
            "Lucky you,” he said with a good-natured chuckle and then was silent for a moment as he studied her face.
            She felt slightly uncomfortable all of the sudden, with him standing so near and looking at her so intently so she said, “Oh, yeah, so lucky that now I either have to call a cab or beg a ride home.”
            Again he just chuckled and shook his head, “You think too much,” he told her looking back over his shoulder to see what the guys were up to.
            “So sue me,” she said with a smile.
            “I just might,” he said getting to his feet, “but I’m more than willing play chauffer tonight if we can’t get your car fixed,” he asked as he crossed his arms and planted his feet in a dominant stance almost over her.
            “Looking forward to the challenge?”
            “What challenge?” he asked raising one eyebrow.
            “Figuring out what was wrong with my car of course,” she said smiling, “what other challenge would there be?” she asked curious.
            “I was thinking you were going to make it a challenge to get you home or something.”
            “No,” she said laughing, “but do you think you guys will be able to figure out what’s wrong with my car?” she asked again.
            “Without a doubt,” he said confidently.
            “I guess the only question left is when?” she asked with a sigh.
            “I guess you could say that,” he said.
            “What other question could there be?” she asked.
            He smiled and she noted an almost evil glint in his eyes, “Only time will tell,” he said mysteriously.
            She couldn’t help but laugh, “What am I going to do with you?” she joked.
            "Now there is something to put that analytical mind of yours to use with. You'd better figure that out soon, and don't worry about your car, I'll put in a good word for you with the guys and we’ll help you out tonight as well as when we bring you your new couch,” he told her and then he added as an after thought, “as long as you don’t want the entire room rearranged," he said with a teasing smile.
            "Aw, man,” she said with a straight voice and sounding disappointed, “and I’ve been wanting to move the baby grand piano across the hall into the setting room and the big screen TV needs to be moved to the other side of the fireplace," Alana said teasing him back.
            “Ha, ha,” Blaise laughed dryly.
            “No, really thanks,” she said seriously, “I appreciate the help. I know I’d never be able to figure this out by myself,” she said motioning to her car.
            “By the time I get done with the guys they'll be putty in your hands and do anything you want," Blaise told her rubbing his hands together and with a mischievous look in his eyes like he thought it was going to be a day at the fair, “within reason of course.”
            "No, they'll be putty in your hands," she corrected him.
            “For tonight,” he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “there’s no difference.”
            “So you’ll be putty in my hands?” she asked and he smiled, “This could be fun,” she said grinning deviously.
            “Oh, and what are you going to do with me?” he asked.
            “I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll keep you posted,” she replied.
            “Well that’s good to know,” he said rolling his eyes.
            She laughed as a thought came into her head, “What are you hoping to get out of this?”
            He smiled and meet her eye, “Who say’s I’m looking to get anything in return?”
            “Why else do it?”
            He thought about it for a moment, “If there had to be a reason,” he said finally, “it would be to make a new friend with a rather attractive and funny woman” he said and her face fell into a serious frown and she fell silent as if thinking for a moment.
            “Okay,” she said with a completely straight face, “I’ll call you when I find one.”
            He frowned, “Is that you’re way of saying that you have too many friends and don’t want anymore?”
            She looked him in the eye and replied, “If you’re too much of a chicken to come right out and tell me that you think I’m pretty and not refer to me and my looks as a third party then yeah, I am.”
            Blaise took a deep breath returned a look to match her own and said, “I just didn’t want to seem too forward,” he said as Dom called for him from the other end of the car, but he ignored Dom for the moment.
            She smiled, “Well, that’s a relief,” she told him as Dom called him again, “You’d better go see what he wants,” she told him.
            “Come on,” he told her, “it probably has to do with your car so you should be there too,” he said taking her by the hand and pulling her after him.
            She followed after him letting him pull her forward to her car and four men, Brock, Dom Jarren and one other who she remembered vaguely, but she couldn’t quite remember where from.
            “Hey, Charlie,” Blaise said as they walked up, “you recovered from the other night yet?” he asked as he greeted the mystery man and reminding her where she’d seen him before. At the party the other night he’d been one of the four that had been fighting in the garage.
            Charlie grumbled his reply that Alana didn’t catch but the guys laughed and Dom thumped him on the back good naturedly and said, “Don’t I know it,” with a smile. Alana just smiled when Charlie gave her the once over before he gave her a dirty look and turned his back to her.
            “Oh, Charlie, let me introduce you to Alana,” Blaise said as he put his arm around her shoulders. Charlie turned back around to face her as he once again gave her a once over.
            “You came with Cary the other night,” he said with a grim smile, “That’s why I saw him here when I pulled up,” he nodded as if it was all falling into place.
            “Charlie, be nice,” Jarren said, “She’s more like Natty then Amanda, so lay off.”
            Instantly Charlie’s face softened and he said, “Sorry, bad day,” with a somewhat friendly smile before he turned around and left her standing with the others and climbed into the drivers seat of the tow truck and started it up.
            “Don’t mind him,” Jarren said with a smile, “he’s just had his heart broke,” he explained quietly.
            “I heard,” she said referring to the conversation that Melinda, Natty and Luke had been having during the fight, “and it’s okay,” she said as if it were nothing.
            “No, it’s not,” Blaise and Dom said at the same time, making her laugh.
            “Yes,” she said, “it is. He’s not the first man to have his heart broken and take it out on other woman. He’ll get over it,” she said with a wave of her hand, “So what’s wrong with my car?” she asked changing the subject.
            “You blew a radiator hose,” Jarren said with a wave of his hand as if it were nothing.
            “Will you be able to fix it tonight?” she asked hopeful.
            “Yeah, we should be able to,” Dom said, “as long as the part store has the hose.”
            “Which they should,” Jarren reassured her.
            “How much longer until we’re ready to go?” Blaise asked.
            “We’re pretty much ready now,” Dom said with a smile, “There’s just one thing before we load up.”
            “What’s that?” Blaise asked.
            “Let me drive,” Dom said crossing his arms as if he wouldn’t let Blaise say no, “That way I won’t have to get anymore bruises from climbing in and out of your cramped backseat and you can sit with Alana,” Dom explained before Blaise could object.
            Blaise looked at Alana as he pretended to think about what Dom was saying, and then said, “You know, when you first said to let you drive I was all set to tell you ‘hell no,’ but the more I think about it, the more I like that idea.”
            She just gave him a funny look as if not sure what to think about the look he’d given her, but before she knew what had happened she was climbing into the backseat of Blaises’ truck next to Blaise, and she started to understand why Dom wanted Blaise to join her in the backseat. They were cramped to say the least. In the end she was sitting in the middle turned with her back to Blaise and her feet behind the passenger seat as he sat behind Dom and was also turned so that his feet were in front of her. At first it all seemed a little awkward, but then she relaxed and enjoyed the short trip to the parts store where she and Blaise stayed in the backseat and Brock and Dom went into the store to get what they needed.
            “Thank you for helping me tonight,” she said again just before the guys got out of the truck.
            “Don’t worry about it,” Brock said as he opened his door to get out.
            “What are friends for?” Dom asked before he too, got out and headed inside with Brock.
            “They really are a great group of guys,” she said as she felt Blaise look over her shoulder at her.
            “You don’t have to tell me twice,” he agreed quietly into her ear.
            She smiled, “Am I making you uncomfortable?” she asked as she was leaning back on him completely. His right arm was on the back of the seat and his left hand was on her left arm.
            “Not in the least,” he said quietly into her ear, “Are you comfortable?” he asked.
            “Yes,” she said as she relaxed a bit more.
            “So, tell me,” he said, “how happy were you when we showed up tonight?” he asked.
            “You have no idea,” she told him honestly, and then they fell into silence.
            At first it was uncomfortable, but then he sighed and stretched a little, moving so that she was more comfortable against him, “That’s better,” he said before he wrapped his right arm around her shoulders and pulled her back against him more fully and then left his arm across her chest, “Isn’t it?” he asked.
            “Yes,” she replied as she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of having another warm body so close. She was lost in thought and enjoying herself so much that she jumped when one of the doors opened on the truck. It was Brock who pulled his seat forward and started placing three bags on the seat next to her, before he put the seat back and climbed in.
            “Where’s Dom?” Blaise asked.
            Brock pointed to a car next to them, “Some women needed help with her windshield washer blades, and you know him,” Brock said with a sigh and a shrug before Dom opened the driver’s door and climbed in.
            Blaise just chuckled, good naturedly and said, “Hey Brock, do you think he’s working for the motor club? Could that be where his extra money is coming from?” Blaise asked giving his friend a hard time.
            “Could be,” Brock was able to say before Dom told them both to shut up, but both Brock and Blaise were still chuckling as they let the incident go.
            Alana smiled and was suddenly envious of the camaraderie and friendship that they all shared. It reminded her of what she and Hanna shared and she smiled. She wondered what Hanna would be doing tonight at home all alone and decided that she should probably call her soon and let her know that she wouldn’t be home soon as she’d originally planed.
            “How much further to the shop?” Alana asked.
            “About five more minutes,” Blaise told her, “Why? Are you uncomfortable?”
            “Oh, no. I was just thinking that I should call Hanna and let her know what’s going on so she won’t worry,” she explained.
            “Is she expecting you at home soon?” Dom asked.
            “What time is it?” he asked.
            “It’s about a quarter after six,” Dom replied.
            “She was probably expecting me about ten minutes ago, but she won’t start worrying for another twenty or thirty minutes, and that’s if she’s even noticed in the first place. When I talked to her before I left work she sounded like she was about to fall asleep just sitting and talking to me before she left for home,” Alana told him.
            “Is she having a rough week?” Dom asked casually.
            “Her grandmother has been sick recently and since she lives about four hours North of here, Hanna’s started killing herself so she can go see her grandmother as often as possible.”
            “I’m sorry to hear about that,” Dom said.
            “I need to be going with her, but this last trip and probably the next one, I’m going to be too busy with work to be able to,” she told him letting her worry sound in her voice. Blaise hugged her closer and she reached up and placed a hand on his arm to reassure him that she was okay.
            “Is there anything that we can do to help?” Dom asked sounding concerned.
            “Only thing that I need is for the rest of this week to go more smoothly. If that can happen then I’ll be a happy girl and be able to go with her with she leaves again Saturday morning,” she replied.
            “Does that mean I need to get you home at a decent hour Friday night?” Blaise asked as if sounding disappointed.
            “No, she likes to drive up there and I like to drive home, so I’ll be able to sleep on the way there. Don’t worry about that,” she assured him as she patted his arm with her hand.
            “Good, because I was hoping to keep you out until the wee hours of the morning,” he told her.
            “Where are you going to take me?” she asked failing to mention that it was suppose to be her taking him out and not the other way around.
            “That’s for me to know and for you to figure out,” he said as she noticed Dom had pulled into a driveway and was slowing down.
            “Well, Jarren and Charlie already have your car pulled into the garage and are probably all ready for the parts we have. You can call Hanna from the house phone if you like or you can use the phone in the shop, but it’s probably going to get noisy,” Dom told her as he parked the truck.
            “Yeah,” Blaise said as Dom turned the truck off, “just as soon as you and I get out of this back seat,” he joked.
            “I won’t have too much difficulty as soon as they take these bags,” she said motioning to the four bags that were piled up next to her.
            “You know it wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place,” Dom spoke up as he turned the truck off, “had Blaise bought the bigger truck like I told him to do,” Dom said half joking as Brock shook his head, opened his door and got out.
            “This truck is just as big as your,” Blaise objected as Brock pooped the seat forward and started removing bags.
            “Then why is mine so much taller?” Dom asked with an evil grin as he stretched in his seat and pushed the back of the seat into Blaise and Alana.
            “Hey,” Blaise said pushing on the seat to keep Dom from smashing he and Alana. “The only difference,” Blaise started as Dom opened the drivers door and climbed out, “between yours and mine,” Blaise went on as Dom moved the seat forward for them, “is the lift kit you put on yours and the color, other than that mine is fully loaded with power everything, a moon roof and a kick ass radio system. Where you’re truck is taller, mine has more substance,” Blaise said as Alana started to slide her way out of the back seat of the truck.
            “You just keep telling yourself that,” Dom said, “but everyone knows that the ladies like them bigger, and substance has nothing to do with it,” he concluded and Alana couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she got out of the truck. She walked around the front of the truck, following Brock who had four, rather full, bags in his hands knowing full and well that had it been any two other men arguing about ‘truck’ size she would think they were serious, but she knew that they were just joking around with each other. She was starting to wonder if Blaise and Dom had ever had a serious conversation in their entire friendship and if they ever had they were very few and very far between.
            “You tell me, Alana,” Dom said as she walked up with Brock, “What do you prefer size or substance?” he asked as he took two of the bags from Brock.
            She stood looking at Dom not sure exactly what he was asking and then looked to Blaise who stood looking at her with an amused grin on his face, “Yes, Alana,” he agreed, “which do you prefer?” he asked.
            She looked to Brock for help who just chuckled and then looked at Dom, “You two are still talking about trucks aren’t you?” he inquired for her.
            “What else would we be talking about?” Dom asked looking at Alana as if he were trying to embarrass her.
            She refused to fall for his tactics and smiled, “Well, I do like big trucks, but I enjoy a smooth ride more than anything, and besides, how is any woman suppose to get in or out of those high trucks with a skirt on and not flash the whole city?” she asked.
            “So what are you saying?” Dom asked, “That you prefer Blaises smooth ride to my big one?” he asked and the smile on his face made her realize that he was trying to play with her mind, “How do you know that my truck doesn’t ride smooth?” he asked.
            “It may,” she conceded, “but I’ve rode in a lot of trucks,” she told him, “and while the ride might start out smooth in those big trucks, after some wear and tear, they start to jar you around like you’re pop corn popping,” she said crossing her arms more out of being cold than anything else and looking Dom straight in the eye.
            Brock just started laughing as Blaise whistled, “Man,” Blaise said, “she’s got your number,” he said as he walked over to Alana, put his arm around her shoulders and started pulling her inside. “Come on,” he told Alana, “It’s too cold to stand around debating over something that’s as obvious as the nose on his face,” he said laughing.
            Brock spoke up, “Especially one as big as his,” he said while trying not to laugh.
            Dom reached over and gave him a friendly hit up side his head before he replied, “No woman’s ever minded my nose before,” he said before adding, “You’re just jealous because you know I’m bigger than you are from my big ol’ feet all the way up to my big head and everywhere in between,” he said with the biggest dose of ego Alana had witnessed since Cary the other night talking about sex in the kitchen as he’d pawed Melinda.
            “Wow, man,” Blaise said as he opened a regular door to the right of the garage opening and allowed Alana to head inside in front of him, “Maybe you should stay out here,” he said as he stopped Dom from walking into the building with a hand on Dom’s chest, and Dom looked at Blaise as he wondered what Blaise was all about, “I don’t want that big ego of yours to hurt the structure of the building and bring it down around us,” Blaise said with a straight face. Dom smiled as he brushed Blaises hand aside and then walked in.
            “If it hasn’t fallen by now, then I think you’re safe,” Dom said as he headed over to where Jarren and Charlie had unloaded Alana’s car in front of the garage door.
            Alana had walked into what she’d thought was just a large two car garage, but as soon as she’d walked thru the door she’d been surprised to see more than a dozen cars at various level of disassemble lined up along the two walls with a long wide area between wide enough for a car to drive thru and the garage door that was centered in the wall next to her. The nearer eight stalls, four on each side, all held just one car, while the next three on the right and two on the left had covers over the top of the cars before the rest appeared to be stalls that held two cars each. One on the lift and the other parked underneath, some were uncovered but most were and because the covers were all off white it made it hard to tell exactly how many cars there were in the building.
            “This is Luke’s garage,” Blaise said coming up behind her, “he’s always loved fixing up old cars and to make extra money, back when he worked full time he’d have two or three cars that he would be working on for people who would pay him top dollar for the repairs and rebuilds that he did. He was always careful not to take on too much until after he’d finally been able to retire about five years ago. Then he built this and started working in here day and night with Kathy, who loves working on these cars almost as much as he does,” he explained. “Ever since then he’s filled up the other end of the garage with cars from people that want him to do the work, no matter how long it takes him to do whatever it is that he needed to do. I think the waiting list is up to a year and so he’s starting to ask people if they would mind if he just supervised some of the work and had some of us do the work,” Blaise informed her with a sigh, “and some don’t mind it at all, while most say that they would prefer him to do the work directly. It’s become something of a joke around here, but Luke knows that it’s all in fun, so he’ll even join in on the joking,” Blaise said with a smile, “We all like joking around and having a great time,” he said putting his arm around her shoulders and turning her toward her car that was sitting right in front of the garage door.
            “I couldn’t tell,” she said dryly which only made Blaise laugh.
            “Yeah, I guess it is pretty obvious,” Blaise said as they reached her car where Jarren and Brock were already at work, “Do you want to hang out here with us or do you want to go on into the house with Kathy?” he asked as he let his arm fall from around her shoulders to letting his hand rest at her waist.
            She thought about it for a moment and since she’d never really met Kathy before she decided that she’d be more comfortable with the guys, “Is it okay if I hang out with you guys?” she asked and then joked, “I mean, this isn’t a no girls allowed thing is it?” she asked as there was a loud crash followed by the sound of female laughter from the other end of the garage.
            Blaise smiled, “No, you’re more than welcome to do whatever you want,” he told her as they turned to watch Natty and another woman, Alana assumed was Kathy, walk up the center of the garage toward them. “Kathy and Natty will show you where you can find chairs to bring out so you can stupervise us,” he said intentionally mispronouncing the word.
            Alana chuckled at what Blaise had said, and then replied, “With as little as I know about cars it would be stupervising.”
            Blaise laughed out loud at this as the two women reached them, “At least you admit it,” Blaise said before he turned to walk away leaving her with Natty and Kathy.
            “I don’t believe that you and I have ever met before,” said Kathy as she held out her hand to shake Alana’s, “I’m Luke’s wife, Kathy,” she said giving a nice firm shake of Alana’s hand.
            “I’m Alana,” she replied, “It’s nice to meet you,” she said fully expecting Kathy to let go of her hand at any second, but Kathy held onto her and started pulling her along in her wake. Using both hands to pull her forward until she was even with and between Natty and Kathy, but she still didn’t let go of Alana. She just moved her hands to either around her waist or holding onto the nearest elbow.
            “Yes, well, I’ve been on my feet all day, what do you say we go find some comfy chairs,” Kathy said still pulling Alana along while Natty walked on the other side of Alana who Alana now looked to for help, but instead all she got was another arm around her pulling her away from the guys and her car and toward a door that Alana had missed earlier that was centered in the back wall.
            “Where are we going?” Alana asked either of them.
            “Back to the house where we can get nice and comfortable while we talk about men and gossip about women not to mention life, love and liberty,” Kathy said without missing a beat almost as if she’d been expecting that question.
            Alana looked toward Natty, who looked perfectly happy to be leaving the garage behind. Then Alana looked over her shoulder as saw only the legs of two men as the rest of them were under the hood of her car while Dom stood laughing about something and Brock stood pointing at something and saying something that she couldn’t make out because Kathy was still talking.
            “Now don’t you worry about your car, they’ll have it working again in no time, but don’t think that just because they get it all done that you have to go rushing off. You’re more than welcome to stay for dinner with the rest of us, there’s more than enough for a skinny little thing like you, so don’t worry about that. Luke is always telling me that I need about four or five more people to cook for when I make my big meals on Tuesday nights for the guys. That’s when I turn to all the guys and tell them to find themselves some women so that I have more company, not that Natty and I don’t have a blast together, why sometimes we even go down and help them out, but not today. Today we’re taking it easy as we make dinner and sit around talking. She’s been in need of some girl time for a long time, so you can imagine how happy I was to hear that she went shopping with you all the other day. She came back here and told me all sorts of funny things about what you guys did, I don’t even think I really believe everything she told me,” Kathy told Alana so quickly as she pulled Alana away from her car and toward the back of the garage.
            “What did you tell her?” Alana asked Natty, but it was Kathy that answered.
            “Did you and your mom really buy a brand new entertainment center, including the TV and everything else?” Kathy asked, answering Alana’s question to Natty.
            Alana smiled, “Yep, and then new curtains, throw rugs, throw pillows, dishes for the kitchen, paint for the walls, light fixtures, new dinette set, new chairs for the breakfast bar, and then tons new cloths. Cloths are my vice,” she concluded with a devious smile.
            “Wow,” Kathy said, “and I thought that Natty was exaggerating.”
            Alana smiled, “Nope, Mom and I have a real shopping problem.”
            “But only when they’re together,” Natty filled in for her.
            “That’s right,” Alana agreed.
            “Wow,” Kathy said, “I’d hate to see you two when you had to shop for your prom dress,” she said.
            Alana laughed, “Oddly enough, Dad saw to it that he went shopping with us that day and pulled us apart right after we narrowed it down to three dresses. Then he bought all three of them for me.”
            Kathy laughed, “I’m surprised that he didn’t call in an aunt or grandmother,” she joked.
            “He tried, but Mom and I wouldn’t hear of it. It almost started a whole war in the house, but in the end I came up with the idea that he should come too. It was the only time that him coming with us ever stopped us from spending a couple of thousand dollars in one day.”
            They all laughed then as they walked out into the cool night air on their way to the house.

Alone again…

            Hanna walked into the apartment and was immediately enveloped in the darkness that filled almost every aspect of her life right now. Including her kitchen, she thought as her stomach growled, ‘but at least I can turn a light on in that area,’ she thought as she hit the switch and light flooded the stark white kitchen that was standard in all the apartments in her apartment complex. She walked over to the cabinets above the counter between the stove and refrigerator and opened the door where she and Alana kept the soups and other canned goods only to find that nothing sounded good. She closed the cabinet door and moved on to the refrigerator only to find that nothing she saw in there sounded good there either.
            Of course the only thing that really sounded good was her grandmas lasagna, but it would probably be a long time before her grandma would be able to be up and around enough to make anything in the kitchen, especially something as complicated as lasagna since her grandma made everything from scratch.
            Hanna sighed as she shut the refrigerator door and headed to her room. It too was full of darkness, but again she could flip a switch and fill the room with light so she could look around and see exactly how empty her life was. She had an entire wall of movies, books and CD’s that she’d worn out, mostly because that was what she did when she found something that she liked, she wore it out. That’s why she and Vincent got along so well, they both had the habit that when they found something that they liked, they would beat it to death. Most days that they spent together were spent reading a book, watching a movie, or listening to music. Now, even the enjoyment of the two of them having sex was starting to die. She had started to realize that the last few times that they’d slept together and that had been over two weeks ago. They had always shared more of a ‘friends with benefits’ type of relationship between them, but she could tell that it was coming to an end and soon, not that it bothered her.
            She didn’t drink, she didn’t smoke and she hated bars because of all the noise and how many insincere idiots there were just sitting around waiting for yet another one night stand, and woman to use. It disgusted her how anyone could just let another person use them like that. At least she and Vincent knew each other and had known each other for years. Not to mention the fact that while they were just using each other, they were monogamous and so she didn’t feel that they fell under that category of people.
            To her there was more to sex than just the physical gratification, but the few times that she’d been with a man, other than Vincent, she’d thought that she had meant more to them than just a roll in the hay, but after only a week or two they had all walked away from her. Before she and Vincent had hooked up she had started wondering after one guy if she was just bad at sex and then a few guys later she’d decided that that must be it, because the last few guys that she’d slept with thinking that they wanted more than just sex had walked away shortly thereafter, and that had been the one right before Vincent, although there had been more than a year between the two and it had taken Vincent more than six months to talk her into trying it out.
            That had been more than two years ago, and she was glad that she had agreed. Sometimes she had regretted that she had waited so long, but then it probably wouldn’t have been as good between them, because in that six months Vincent really got to know her, and realize that she would never love him, and it had given him a chance to get her drunk enough that she’d broke down and told him about that night.
            Things had always been different between Vincent and her. He’d always said that he loved her, and so when she’d finally given into him just over two years ago, she’d set the rules from the beginning. While they were together, there was no one else and if one of them wanted out then that was that. Otherwise everything goes. There had been days when she regretted her decision to start things at all between the two of them, but then there were days when she was happy that she’d agreed too the arrangement. Days like yesterday when she hadn’t wanted to drive all alone up to see her grandma.
            Hanna walked into her room and dropped her purse on the chair by the door as she took her shoes off and kicked them under the same chair. Her body ached and she was exhausted. She hoped that she wasn’t coming down with something because then she wouldn’t be able to go and see her grandma this weekend. She’d have to make sure that she took extra special care of herself, just in case she was coming down with something so that she could fight it and so it wouldn’t stop her from going to see her grandmother this weekend. That would really let the darkness envelope her heart, even more than it was right now because her grandmother was her one bright spot anymore. It seemed like even she and Alana had started growing apart, and while she didn’t like it, there wasn’t much that she could figure out to do about it either. Alana had to live her own life and Hanna didn’t like interfering with that.
            Hanna walked over to her dresser and picked up the bottle of Echinacea, opened the bottle and took three of the pills that were inside without water. Then she returned to the kitchen and made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before she headed to the bathroom where she turned on the water and added some herbs to the bath water that would help her relax and get some decent sleep tonight.
            While the tub filled up she walked back into her room and changed the sheets on her bed before she pulled her hair back in a bun, headed to the bathroom where she got undressed and climbed in the tepid water. She relaxed back into the water and closed her eyes. Between the heat of the water and the smell of the herbs she’d added to the water she could feel herself starting to fall asleep in the tub. If only she weren’t afraid that she’d drowned she probably would just fall asleep here and sleep better than once she got to her bed, but instead she forced herself to stay awake until the water started to cool before she made herself climb out of the tub, dry off and climb into bed as naked as when she’d been in the tub.
            Since she’d just changed the sheets on her bed and just taken a very relaxing bath, not to mention all the worrying that she’d been doing about her grandmother, Hanna fell into a deep sleep almost immediately and didn’t hear the phone ring less than an hour after she had climbed into bed.

Dinner Tuesday

            About an hour later dinner was almost ready as Blaise and Dom walked into the kitchen. “Oh great timing boys,” Kathy said, “dinner’s just about ready, why don’t you run back down and get the rest of the guys.”
            “I’ll go,” Dom said.
            “I’ll come with you,” Natty said getting to her feet.
            Then Dom added as he winked at Alana, “You’re cars done, by the way,” he said.
            “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Kathy said, “she’s staying for dinner with us, now go down and get the others,” she said as Natty followed Dom out the door.
            “Do you want to come see what we did to your car?” Blaise asked, “because we found a couple of other things wrong that we were able to get fixed, but you still need break pads and plug wires,” Blaise explained.
            “What else did you do?” she asked as Blaise sat down next to her.
            “Dom and Brock popped out some of those hale dents, and Luke, Jarren and I looked over your engine, did an oil change, changed your spark plugs, checked the air in your tires, and a couple other little things.”
            “Thank you,” she said sincerely.
            “It was nothing,” Blaise said as he leaned back in his chair raising his arms above his head and yawning.
            “How much do I owe you?” she asked.
            “You’ll have to ask Luke when he gets up here, I don’t have a clue how much any of it costs.”
            “Luke will know,” Kathy said from across the room, “that man knows his cars, car parts and everything in between,” she bragged.
            “That he does,” Blaise agreed with a friendly smile, “so did Kathy talk your ear off all night or did she let you talk some too?” he enquired with a knowing smile as he looked between the two women, ending with Alana.
            She smiled as she glanced at Kathy who just chuckled softly. “Oh we all told stories,” Alana said honestly.
            Blaise chuckled and looked at Alana, “Really?” he asked as if he didn’t believe what he’s just heard.
            She nodded, “Yeah,” she said, “we all had a chance to tell a story or two.”
            “But Kathy did do most of the talking?” he asked as if not believing her and then added, “as usual.”
            Alana just looked away from his probing eyes, which only made Blaise laugh, “Oh, don’t worry about him,” Kathy said with a wave of her hand, “he’s just jealous because I’ve probably learned more about you than he’s had a chance to,” she looking at Alana and winking. It took a second for Alana to realize that they were both playing.
            “Well, I did save a few good ones for a rainy day,” Alana spoke up as she looked back at Blaise, “maybe you’ll be the lucky one to hear them the next time it rains,” she said with an innocent smile as Kathy left the room, leaving them alone.
            “Maybe,” he said returning her smile, “and maybe I’ll get them out of you before it rains,” he said as he leaned toward her and said in a low voice, “because I’m a master at torture techniques,” he said with a serious look on his face.
            “Oh really?” Alana asked deciding to call his bluff, “what kind of techniques?” she inquired trying to sound like she was looking forward to being tortured.
            Blaise smiled and leaned toward her more and indicated that he wanted to whisper in her ear. She leaned closer to him and then felt him brush her hair back away from her ear before he gently whispered, “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
            She turned to look at him and give him an inquiring look before she leaned over and whispered in his ear, “You might as well tell me now and get it over with, because once you do them to me I’ll know them anyhow and then you’ll have to kill me anyway, so why wait?”
            Blaise smiled and folded his arms across his chest, “Nice try, but sorry. You’re just gonna have to wait to find out,” he said with a sigh, “Besides you might earn the security clearance between now and then,” he joked.
            “How do you know I don’t have it already?” she asked.
            “If you did then you would know what my techniques are, so why should I have to tell you?” he asked.
            She smiled, “Well,” she said deciding to continue this joke a little further and placing her hand on his thigh as she leaned over and whispered, “because I’ve learned new ways each time I’ve gone up in my clearance status,” she explained softly in his ear, “so you might as well tell me now.”
            He smiled as the guys started walking into the room. He sighed as he replied, “I guess you’ll just have to wait for a bit now,” he said patting her hand that was still on his thigh as she moved away.
            “Did we interrupt something?” Dom asked raising his eyebrows at seeing the two of them with their heads so close together, “Should we leave you two alone so you can finish what you started?” he asked winking at Alana.
            She wasn’t about to let him embarrass her so she replied, “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind,” she said and then watched Dom’s mouth drop as the other four guys erupted into gales of laughter.
            “Man, Dom,” Blaise said still laughing, “if you could only see the look on your face.”
            Dom stood as if dumbfounded for a moment before he was finally able to say, “Man, Alana, every time I think I’ve got you figured out, you prove me wrong.”
            “Well,” Alana said, “I just like to keep people on their toes,” she replied with a sigh as if board by the conversation.
            Dom, again looked as if he didn’t know how to respond as his mouth moved but nothing came out.
            “Wow,” Blaise said from next to her, “I’m impressed,” he chuckled, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dom speechless before,” he told her.
            “I haven’t,” Brock said before the others agreed that they hadn’t either.
            Alana smiled proudly until she looked over at Blaise and saw him frowning at her, “What’s that frown all about?” she wanted to know.
            He smiled and then dismissed her, “Oh, nothing. Just thinking about nothing special,” he said before he turned to Luke, “So Luke, Alana’s already asked me how much this is going to cost her.”
            Luke, who had been watching Dom from across the room came out of his thoughts and looked from Blaise to Alana as he thought about what was being asked, but more importantly about what had just happened. Alana had made Dom speechless, but that had upset both Dom and Blaise. Luke knew why it had upset Dom, he never liked it when anyone was able to catch him off guard, that was his job. But it took him a minute to realize why Blaise was upset. Luke had a feeling that Blaise was upset because he thought that what had happened meant that Alana was attracted to Dom and that since she could keep Dom on his toes so well that they were more compatible for each other. Too bad Blaise had been busy thinking and not seeing the annoyed look on Doms face or paying attention to the difference in the way that Alana looked at Dom compared to the way she looked at him.
            “Oh just give me thirty dollars for all the parts and we’ll call it good,” he said and then laughed when he saw her mouth fall open in shock at the low price that he’d thrown out.
            “Are you sure?” she asked in disbelief.
            Luke nodded, “Oh, and you are to go out this Friday night with Blaise and show him what it’s like to have fun with someone other than the other people in this room, excluding you, of course” Luke said and then silenced Blaise’s protests by asking, “Other than the party’s you all throw, when was the last time that you went out with someone that’s not in this room?”
            Blaise thought for a moment and then shut his mouth.
            “That’s what I thought,” Luke said before turning back to Alana, “Now don’t get me wrong, he’s a fun guy to hang out with, he’s just fiercely loyal to us, mostly because each of us return that loyalty. He just gets so busy with us that he rarely makes the time for others.”
            “I feel special then,” she said looking over at Blaise and smiling, but she caught the look on his face that told her something was up and then she saw the annoyed look that he gave Dom before he got up and left the room mumbling something about having to go to the bathroom.
            “Man, what’s wrong with him?” Dom asked looking at Alana, “What were you two talking about?”
            She shook her head, “We were really just joking around and being silly,” she said honestly.
            Luke spoke up then, “He’s annoyed with you more than anything,” he told Dom.
            “Me,” Dom said, “but why?”
            Luke smiled, “Think about it for a minute,” he told Dom with a smile as he nodded toward Alana.
            Dom thought for a minute as he looked at Alana puzzled, “But we were just joking around,” Dom said realizing what Luke was saying.
            Alana, having caught on asked, “But did he see it that way?”
            “You were asking to be alone with him,” Dom pointed out, before they all heard Blaise come out of the bathroom, so Alana changed the subject.
            “So my car still needs brakes and plug wires?” she asked looking to Luke.
            “Yeah, and you could do with a new air filter and a new fuel filter too, but those can wait if you don’t have the money for them now.”
            “No, I’ve got the money for them, I’m just not sure when I’ll be able to get to the parts store for it all or go without my car for you to do it all.”
            “Well, we can pick up what you need for the rest of it and you can pay me for that whenever you have the money, and then you can work out the rest with Blaise Friday night. I mean it’s nothing that needs to be done right away, but the brakes do need to be done soon, so just when ever you can squeeze it in.”
            “How much time will you need to do it all?” she asked as Blaise sat back down next to her.
            “An hour,” Luke said with a shrug of his shoulders, “Maybe two if there’s only one of us working on it.”
            She nodded, “That’s not too bad. I could probably free up some time as soon as I finish with this client at work next week.”
            Luke nodded, “We’ll have some free time on Sunday if you want to just stop by.”
            “Any particular time?” she asked looking over at Blaise and seeing that he was still deep in thought she decided to see what he would do if her leg brushed his.
            “No, just whenever,” Luke said as she moved her leg to touch Blaises.
            “Okay, that sounds good,” she said with a disappointed sigh as Blaise sat up straighter and moved his leg away from her and apologized for the incident.
            She began to wonder how she could show Blaise that she and Dom would never be compatible as anything other than friends. As it was she wanted to kill him for some of the things he was talking about as she was trying to eat, not to mention the fact that any man that was proud of the fact that he’d had a threesome with two women, just down right disgusted her.
            “So anyway,” Dom was saying, “you put the chunks of meat in the top of the grinder and turn the crank and out some this nice long tube of sausage,” he said before he took a bite and thought about what to tell about this tube of meat. He swallowed after chewing only a couple of times, “It’s kind of neat if you don’t mind the dripping blood that also happens because it’s such fresh meat,” he said before taking another bite and effectively killing Alana’s appetite.
            “Thank you, Dom,” she said pushing back from the table, “for killing my appetite. Next time I want to go on a diet, I’ll make sure to just eat all my meals around you so that that you can gross me out so bad that the very thought of food turns my stomach,” she said as she stood up from the table and left the room.
            She was halfway down the hall to the door that would take her back to the garage and her car when she heard Luke say, “Why don’t you go check on her Blaise,” then she heard Blaise mumble something, “well, I need to talk to her about something, so why don’t you go get her and bring her back here for me while I talk to Dom about something else.” Again she heard Blaise mumble a reply before she heard, “Don’t argue with me boy.”
            A few seconds later, and just as she had reached the door that lead outside, she heard Blaise’s foot steps behind her, but she didn’t pause. She was hurt and disappointed that he hadn’t wanted to come after her as she had been hoping that he would follow her outside where they could be alone for a few minutes at least, and it was a cold enough night that she might be able to get him to put his arm around her if she timed her shivering right. It was manipulative, and devious, two things she hated but desperate times called for desperate measures, she told herself as she shut the door behind her and moved away from the house.
            It was a cloudy night and without the light of the moon she couldn’t see the door that would take her into the garage, so it was a good thing that she could remember which direction it was to the door. She hoped. If she was right then the door would be straight ahead and to the right a little, so she started walking straight ahead and walking slowly, but she didn’t move toward the door, she just walked straight ahead.
            About a dozen steps from the house she heard the door open and close. She looked back over her shoulder just to make sure that he’d seen her as she was wearing a long navy dress. When she saw that he was walking toward the garage door without really looking for her she slowed her pace and waited. Just as she thought he walked right past her, so she said, “Looking for me?”
            He was clearly startled as he raised his head and looked around. He saw her as she walked toward him, he was easy to spot in his white T-shirt, “Yeah,” he said as he waited for her to join him.
            “I got confused as to where the door was,” she explained as she turned back toward the garage.
            “Luke wanted to talk to you,” he said as he turned to head back to the house.
            “Wait,” she said with a hand on his upper arm, “I was going out to my car to get my purse,” she told him as he turned back to her, “Can you walk with me so I don’t get lost?” she asked almost lamely.
            He sighed and then gave in, “Yeah, sure.”
            She smiled, “Thanks,” she said as she once again took a hold of his arm so he could lead her in the right direction. “I really just had to get out of there with Dom telling his story,” she told him, “or I was going to be sick.”
            “Yeah, that’s Dom for you,” he said with a sigh as if he were upset that she’d brought up Dom again.
            She thought about what else she could say to convince Blaise that she had no desire to even get to know Dom better as they walked in silence. When they reached the door to the garage she was doubly glad that she’d asked him to come with her because they’d turned out all the lights before they’d come over to the house to eat so they’d stepped from the darkness of the outside, to the pitch black of inside the garage.
            “Wow,” she said as she stepped closer to Blaise, “and here I thought it was dark outside.”
            She heard him chuckle and then the soft click before the garage was flooded with light, “There,” he said turning toward her, “is that better?” he asked.
            She smiled and nodded, “Thanks for coming with me. After what Dom had said I probably would have been lost and with my active imagination I probably would have scared myself senseless thinking about bloody dismembered body parts and such,” she told him as they walked together down the long center of the garage toward her car.
            “No problem,” he told her with a friendly smile.
            They walked in silence as if they were both deep in thought. When they reached her car he opened the drivers door for her and then waited while she sat down and dug in her purse for the money that she knew that she had. She found it quickly and then got back out of her car, “Wow,” she said as she stood up, “It’s kind of chilly in here,” she said honestly wrapping her arms around her for warmth.
            “Usually, we really don’t notice,” Blaise said, “We’re either to busy, or we’re sweating so much that if feels good. Occasionally thought, it’s cold enough for us to put on our insulated coveralls, but that’s usually only when it’s below freezing,” he explained.
            She nodded and looked around at all the cars, “So, who do all these cars belong to?” she asked.
            “Well the ones at the far end,” he said referring to the cars that were stacked one on top of the other, “are cars that people have brought for Luke to work on. They know that they’re on a weighting list and they really don’t care, they just want Luke to do all the work their car needs.”
            “He must be good,” she said.
            “That and he’s got one of those personalities that makes everyone love him,” Blaise said with a smile.
            “What about all these?” she said looking around at the cars that flanked her car.
            “Well, the Nova is Brocks,” he said pointing to the car that was on the far side and nearest to the ones that were stacked on each other, “the Pick up is Jarren’s,” he said continuing down the line, “the old Dodge is Luke’s toy,” he said and then turned to the ones that were behind them and across from the others, “the Charger,” he said pointing to the one that was across from Luke’s toy, “is Doms and the Malibu,” he said pointing to the one next to it, “is mine.”
            She ignored all the others and headed straight for the Malibu, “Wow,” she said with a smile of appreciation, “You’ve done lots of work,” she told him noticing where he’d fixed rust in the front fenders.
            “To the front end,” he admitted with a nod, “which still needs some work, and you wouldn’t think I’d done much work if you saw the back of the car, and the engine is still junk.”
            She smiled, “Yeah, but it’s no where near as bad as the others,” she said motioning but hardly looking at the others.
            Blaise smiled, “Yeah, well looks can be deceiving,” he told her with a smile.
            “What am I not seeing?” she asked.
            He chuckled, “Go walk around the car,” he told her.
            She gave him a funny look, “Why?” she asked skeptically.
            “Go on,” he told her, “Come on, I’ll go with you to make sure you see what I’m talking about,” he said leading the way. Since he had his back turned and she still had the money in her hand and no pocket to put it in she slid the money into her bra for safe keeping.
            She followed him around to the back of the car where he stopped and paused until she was with him so she would know to look closely at the car. She almost laughed when she realized that she didn’t really have to look close to see what he was referring to as the paint was peeling off on the trunk so bad that she could have ran her hands across the paint and taken half the paint with it, and the back bumper was bent all out of shape like it had hit a pole or a tree and from where she stood it looked as if one of the tires didn’t sit straight up and down but was at an angle.
            “Okay,” he said as he pointed, “Now look at the back window,” he told her as she followed to where he was pointing, “You see that scratch in the glass?” he asked and she had to squint and move closer to see what he was talking about but she did see a small scratch in the glass.
            “Yeah,” she said puzzled.
            “Well, that tiny scratch just makes this car the worst one out of all of them,” he told her.
            She looked at him in disbelief and then started laughing when she realized that he was just joking with her, “That was bad Blaise,” she told him when she finished laughing at his joke.
            “I thought it was pretty funny,” he said as he started leading the way back to the door and outside.
            “It was, but that’s why it was so bad. You really had me going, thinking that there was something even more wrong than the bumper, trunk and that bent wheel.”
            He stopped in his tracks and turned back around to look at her, “What?” he asked as if she was out of her mind.
            She looked at him, “Isn’t that back wheel on the passenger side wheel tilted out at the top like it slid into a curb or something?” she asked.
            “You mean there’s something else wrong with my car besides the scratch in the window?” he asked in disbelief.
            Again she laughed, “Nope,” she told him, “I was looking at the car next to yours,” she told him.
            “You’re sure?” he asked.
            “Positive,” she told him.
            “Good,” he said with a sigh of relief, “because you really had me worried there for a minute,” he told her before he turned to head for the door again.
            She just followed behind him shaking her head. When they reached the door he flipped off the light without warning and sent her frantically searching for his arm to grab onto.
            “It’s okay,” he said turning the light back on for a moment and looking back at her, “I wasn’t going to leave you here,” he said.
            “I know,” she said, “I was just so worried that you might get cold when we walked outside that I figured I’d help keep you warm,” she joked.
            “Oh,” he said as he turned the light back out, “well then here,” he said as he pulled his arm out of her grip and wrapped it around her shoulders before he opened the door.
            “Are you nice and warm?” she asked him once they were outside. He paused and turned to face her as he released her shoulders so he could shut the door to the garage, but she had her arm around his waist so he was still close enough for her to feel his breath on the side of her face as he answered.
            “Nice and toasty,” he said.
            “Good,” she said as a chill ran up her spine.
            “Now you’re cold,” he said putting his arm back around her shoulders, “are you going to make it to the house?” he asked as they started forward.
            “I don’t know,” she told him, “you might have to give me some mouth to mouth resuscitation when I freeze,” she joked.
            “Well let me know,” he told her as they continued toward the house, “because I’ve heard that if you catch it in time then there won’t be any permanent damage,” he told her as another shiver ran up her spine.
            “I’ll keep you posted,” she told him as her teeth started to chatter, “Uh oh,” she said, “Teeth chattering is the first sign,” she told him.
            “I thought it was those full body shivers you keep having?” he said as he pulled her closer.
            “You’re right, then chattering teeth and then loss of memory,” she told him.
            “Well then,” he said as he paused, “I guess I need to do some mouth to mouth,” he told her as he pulled her in front of him, “or I guess I could take the three more steps to the warm house and open the door,” he told her.
            “Nope,” she told him, “it’s too far away. I’ll never make it.”
            “Are you giving up on me?” he asked her.
            “That depends,” she told him, “on if you’ve given up on me,” she said honestly.
            “You know, I almost did there for a minute,” he confessed, “but something has renewed my faith,” he told her as he lowered his head.
            “I wonder what that could be?” she asked rhetorically.
            “Don’t have a clue,” he said before he brushed her lips softly with his, “Might have had something to do with the car,” he whispered before he kissed her again, but this time he took his time. He was caught off guard when she returned his kiss with passion and insistence, to the point that he didn’t realize how deep the kiss had become until he heard the door open and Dom’s voice say, “Hey, you two, get a room if you wanna do that shit, the rest of us have work to do,” he said as he walked past them.
            “Leave them alone, Dom,” he heard Brock say as he too walked past.
            “Yeah,” came Jarren’s voice, “you’re just jealous that she chose Blaise over you.”
            “I am not jealous,” Dom said his voice sounding more distant as Blaise finally was able to end their fierce kiss by gently kissing his way over to her ear.
            “I don’t think he’s jealous of you, I think he’s jealous of us,” Blaise told her.
            “Good, cause he can’t have me,” she said before she kissed his cheek and then gave him a hug.
            Blaise just chuckled, “Oh yeah he can,” Blaise objected and then quickly added, “he can have all the hard times you can give him, so he can be speechless more often,” he half joked with her. “It was nice to experience some peace and quiet at his expense instead of the other way around.”
            She laughed, “I must agree with you.”
            He backed up enough so he could look her in the eye, “You should probably know that I like to take my time,” he said as he brushed her cheek with his thumb.
            She smiled and nodded, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
            “Some have said that it was,” he told her.
            “They were idiots,” she told him as she put her head on his shoulder and let him hold her for another moment before she asked, “Did Luke walk past with the others?”
            She chuckled, “I didn’t notice,” he said and then added, “I was a little distracted by something, but I can’t remember what.”
            “Here,” she said raising her head, “let me remind you,” before she kissed him again.
            This kiss wasn’t like the one of a few minutes ago, it was slower, and sweeter with less insistence and more tenderness. It was almost as if she was showing him how she didn’t mind taking her time with him as if to tell him that she liked taking her time too. Slowly she let the kiss come to an end before she lay her head back on his shoulder.
            “Wow,” he said as he hugged her closer, “I can already tell that you’re not only going to keep me on my toes but test my resolve.”
            She chuckled, “Then I guess I’ll just have to be careful not to make the tests too hard. I’d hate to have grade on the curve,” she replied as she leaned back to look up at him, but she couldn’t do more than see two dark circles where his eyes would be.
            “Yeah, I always hated it when teachers graded on the curve,” he replied.
            “Are you afraid you might fail the test?” she asked playfully.
            “Doesn’t matter,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
            “Oh?” she asked surprised, “And why is that?”
            “I’ll just do some extra credit,” he said before he leaned down and kissed her cheek.
            “Who said I’d offer any extra credit?” she asked as his kissed moved toward her ear and neck.
            “Well,” he whispered into her ear, “I guess I’ll just have to become the teachers pet,” before he kissed a sensitive spot on her neck and made her shiver again. “Are you still cold?” he asked as he started backing her up toward the house.
            “A little,” she said as she allowed him to back her up toward the house, and when she’d tried to turn around he’d held her closer and made her stay in his embrace as he backed her up to the door, opened it and moved them inside.
            “Better?” he asked as he let his hands fall to her waist. Now that they were inside in the warmth and the light it seemed that they didn’t have a reason to remain in each others arms and they moved apart. Alana was surprised to feel disappointed that he no longer held her, and then even more disappointed that he seemed to put so much distance between them as he moved to head back to the kitchen.
            “You coming?” he asked when he looked back over his shoulder and saw that she still stood by the door.
            “Yeah,” she said as she started digging in her pockets trying to remember where it was that she’d put the cash she’d taken out of her purse to pay Luke for the work that they’d done on her car. Then she remembered as she started to follow Blaise down the hall only to blush when Blaise turned and caught her removing it.
            “I was wondering what you’d done with that,” he said with a mischievous smile before he motioned into the kitchen, “Luke’s in here still,” he told her before he followed her in and sat across from Luke.
            “You missed desert,” Luke said motioning for her to take the seat next to Blaise where there was a piece of pie on a plate waiting for her.
            She smiled, “Yeah, sorry about that. Dom was just grossing me out,” she explained as she sat down and looked at the cherry pie. Her stomach turned over at the reminder of what Dom had been talking about before she’d left and she had to force herself to look away, “so I took the time to go out to my car and get you the money,” she said sliding it across the table.
            Luke just looked at her and then smiled, “Kathy,” he said looking back over his shoulder, “It looks like you’re going to have to skin Dom alive, because I don’t think Alana is going to touch your pie either,” he told her.
            Alana looked down at her hands ashamed but when she heard Kathy say, “I really can’t blame her. It turned my stomach, too,” she said as she came over and took her plate with the full piece of pie still on it, “Can I get you anything else?” she asked, “Water, milk, juice?” she suggested and then added, “A club to use on Dom the next time he pulls a stunt like this?”
            Alana smiled, “Water would be fine,” she replied and then added, “he probably felt that I deserved it after what I’d done to him,” she tried to justify.
            Luke just shook his head, “That boy knows better, I don’t know what got into him tonight.”
            “I’ll talk to him about it,” Blaise said with a sigh as Kathy Alana’s glass of water on the table in front of her before Blaise handed Kathy his plate.
            “No,” Luke said, “I’ll talk to him about tonight. He knows how Kathy hates talk like that at her table. You just talk to him and find out what’s bugging him. If anyone will be able to get it out of him it’ll be you.”
            Blaise nodded and then looked at Alana, “Well, I imagine that you’re ready to head for home,” he said with a smile, “Now that you’re cars all fixed.”
            She smiled as thoughts of a hot bath ran thru her mind again and she sighed, “You don’t know how ready I am,” she agreed.
            “Long day?” Luke asked.
            “Long week,” she replied.
            “It’s only Tuesday,” Kathy replied from next to Luke.
            “And my car is only a small example of all the things that have gone wrong this week,” she replied.
            “Well then how about we move the couches Friday before our date, that way you don’t have to worry about it tomorrow,” Blaise told her.
            She looked at Blaise and thought about it for a moment, “Would you mind?” she asked.
            “I suggested it didn’t I?” he asked cryptically.
            “I guess the big question is, will the guys mind?” she asked.
            “Jarren won’t mind because Natty loves you and Hanna,” he said making Alana realize that she hadn’t seen Natty since dinner.
            “Did she go home?” she asked.
            Kathy nodded, “No, she’s over with Jarren cleaning up. I think they’re getting ready to head for home because she was tired.”
            “She’s not sleeping well again,” Luke said giving both Blaise and Kathy a worried look.
            “Yeah,” Blaise agreed, “I think it has something to do with Dom thought,” Blaise said, “and after the way that he behaved tonight,” he said turning back to Alana, “he better not object.”
            Alana added, “And he better keep his mouth shut and not ruin our night.”
            “Oh, don’t you worry about that,” Blaise said as he reached over and put his arm around her shoulders, “the only one I don’t know about is Brock, but I don’t think he has any plans for this Friday.”
            “He might,” Kathy spoke up, “I think I heard him say something about a date the other day.”
            Blaise raised his eye brows, “Really? That’ll be a first in almost a year,” he said sounding surprised.
            “I know, but I didn’t push him for details, you know how reserved that boy is,” Kathy told them.
            “I still say he’s not over that waitress,” Luke said.
            “Which waitress?” Blaise asked confused.
            “You remember,” Luke replied, “the one that couldn’t remember your name,” he said with a smile.
            “Oh, I remember her,” Kathy replied, “she was a real sweetheart and really pretty with that long blond hair,” she said and the look in her eye made Alana think that there was something that she wasn’t sharing.
            “Oh, yeah,” Blaise said, “she worked at Top Dog with him,” he remembered, “In fact I think she was the reason that he lost that job.”
            “I never heard that part,” Luke said confused but willing to believe.
            “From what I understand some guy showed up and started something with Unity and made Brock loose his temper.”
            “Oh,” Kathy said, “I believe it with how protective he gets,” she said nodding.
            “It wouldn’t surprise me either,” Luke said with a sigh. “Well,” he said pushing back from the table, “I guess we should head over and get to work,” he said looking at his watch, “or maybe we should just clean up and head for bed. I hadn’t realized that it was almost ten,” he said getting to his feet.
            “Oh, wow,” Alana said looking at her watch only to see that it was a quarter to ten. “I really need to be headed for home,” she said also getting to her feet as she realized that she wouldn’t have time for a bath like she wanted tonight. Maybe tomorrow night, she thought to herself as she stretched with her arms over her head.
            “I’ll walk you to your car,” Blaise said as he too got to his feet.
            “I’ll be over in a minute,” Luke said as they headed for the door and he turned to Kathy.
            As they walked up the hall toward the door she couldn’t suppress the yawn that made her right eye twitch and her left eye tear up. She was thankful they were in a hallway and she could place her hand on the wall so she didn’t fall over anything as she’d continued to follow Blaise down the hall.
            When they reached the door he held it open for her and then closed it behind them before he took her hand in his, “This way,” he told her as he pulled her to the right.
            “Sorry, I got confused there for a minute,” she replied falling into step next to him.
            “No problem,” he said and then asked, “Are you going to be okay to drive home? I keep hearing you yawn,” he said before he himself yawned having been cursed with the contagiousness of yawning.
            “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said honestly, “I’ll get my second wind here shortly,” she reassured him.
            “You’re sure?” he asked sounding concerned.
            She smiled, “You don’t know how many times I’ve driven home from work and been more tired than I am tonight. I’ll be fine. I promise,” she told him squeezing his hand for effect.
            “Well, It’s no big deal for me to drive you home and have one of the guys follow us so they can bring me back for my truck,” he offered.
            “I’ll be fine,” she said again, “but thanks for the offer.”
            “Anytime,” he told her and she started to realize how true that statement was from this man.
            “You’re a good man, Blaise. Anyone should count themselves lucky to have you as a friend,” she said as they reached the door into the garage.
            “Thank you,” Blaise said as he opened the door for her, but before she could step inside he caught her arm and pulled her to him, “What about the woman that I’m dating?” he asked. He caught the bottom of the door with the heel of his foot so he could hold her in both his arms, “Are they lucky too?” he asked.
            She smiled, “Considering the fact that friendship is apart of dating, they should count themselves doubly blessed,” she told him before he kissed her.
            It was a simple, sweet and quick kiss but it was enough to make her want more from him so when he let go she didn’t. Instead she gave him a nice sweet long kiss before she ended it abruptly and walked inside the garage.
            She heard him swear under his breath before she heard the door shut and a quick glance over her shoulder told her that he was coming up behind her quickly so she started to walk faster. Just before she reached her car he caught up with her, grabbed her arm, spinning her around so quickly that she ran into his chest rather forcefully, and had his arms not been around her she would have bounced back and fallen to the floor.
            “That was not a good idea,” he growled almost angrily.
            “What?” she asked not sure what he was talking about.
            He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “To kiss me like that,” before he started kissing her neck which she handled quite well until he started to nibble on her ear lobe.
            “Um, Blaise?” she said as she tried to push back on his chest.
            “Shh,” he hissed in his ear, “with all the guys around, do you really think I’ll do anything more than take some sweet revenge.”
            “I wasn’t worried about that,” she told him honestly before she realized that he’d mentioned revenge and as one of his hands took a handful of the hair at the base of her neck and turned her head so he could have fuller access to her neck and giving her chills. “What kind of sweet revenge?” she asked.
            He chuckled in her ear before he backed up and looked her in the eye, “Have I given you chills yet?” he asked.
            She nodded, “more than once,” she confessed.
            His eyes flashed victory before he caught her off guard when he went back to her ear, sucked on her ear lobe for a moment before he asked, “anyplace else as wet or wetter then I’m going to leave your neck?” he asked before he started leaving rather wet kisses all over her neck, shoulder and ear, sometimes sucking ever so softly, while other times she’d feel his tongue before his kiss.
            “That depends,” she said as she had a full body tremor from the chills he was giving her now, “Are you going to use a glass of water or just your tongue?”
            “If I used the glass of water it would be on me right before I walked outside into the cold night air.”
            “I see,” she said as he left very wet kisses all along her collar bone and made her shiver, “yes, there is a spot wetter than my neck.”
            “Good,” he told her before he lifted his head and looked her in the eye, “Next time,” he told her gently, “don’t be so abrupt.”
            She smiled, “What would you have done if I hadn’t come inside after that kiss?” she asked and then smiled at the grin that spread across his face.
            “Good question,” he replied.
            “Now there’s something to stimulate an imagination.”
            “I don’t have much of an imagination,” he said looking at her seriously.
            She raised her eye brows, “You telling me you don’t have a few ideas of things you would have done to me had we been outside instead of in here right now?”
            He thought for a moment and she knew what line his thoughts were taking, before he asked her, “What would you have liked for me to do?” he asked as he leaned down and kissed her neck again.
            She just chuckled as she cupped his face with her hands and pulled him away from her neck, “That’s for me to know and for you to wonder about,” she told him.
            “For now,” he conceded.
            She smiled and shook her head, “You are going to get me in trouble,” she told him.
            “Nothing I won’t be able to get you out of though,” he said.
            “True,” she said as he looked around at the guys, “You even woke me up before you sent me home,” she told him.
            He looked at her and smiled, “And here I was hoping to be able to take you home again.”
            She just laughed before she kissed him gently on the cheek and whispered in his ear, “There goes that imagination again.”
            “You stimulate my imagination like no other person ever has,” he told her.
            She smiled, “You refer to it as your imagination? Now that’s a first,” she said half joking.
            He laughed softly, “No, but you stimulate that like no other has before, too,” he replied before he kissed her cheek and let her go.
            She blushed at the thought and couldn’t believe that she was having this conversation with Blaise when they barely knew one another. She guess it had something to do with how long it had been for her since she’d been in a relationship with anyone, or even attempted a relationship with anyone for that matter.
            He laughed as he stepped back from her, “You should see the look on your face,” he told her.
            “Do you always laugh at people when you embarrass them?” she asked defensively.
            He put his hands up in the air, “I wasn’t laughing at you,” he told her before he reached out and pulled her back into his arms, “I was laughing at the fact that you’re probably thinking the same thing that I am.”
            “What’s that?” she asked stiffly.
            He smiled, “That I can’t believe we’re having a conversation like this so soon,” he told her.
            She smiled, “Yeah,” she agreed with a nod.
            “Not that I regret it,” he said as he leaned down and kissed her gently.
            She smiled, “I don’t either,” she told him.
            “Good,” he said as he again took a step back and let her go, “On that note you should probably be on your way home,” he said motioning to her car.
            She looked over at her car and sighed, but movement on the other side of her car caught her eye and she saw the bottom half of Dom sticking out from under the hood of his car and she blushed as she thought of what she and Blaise had done with Dom, Jarren, Natty and Brock not too far away. She turned to see where the others were only to find that Jarren had his arms around Natty as they too seemed to be having a private conversation while her head was on his shoulder, but Brock was no where to be seen.
            “Don’t worry, Dom, Brock and I are used to ignoring Jarren and Natty,” he said trying to put her at ease.
            “But Natty told Hanna and I that they weren’t really dating,” Alana objected.
            Blaise smiled, “They have a unique relationship and we all know that once Natty gets over some fears that she has they will become even more inseparable than they already are.”
            “Because she was raped?” Alana asked quietly.
            Blaise took a deep breath and then nodded, “Yeah.”
            Alana nodded, “God she’s got to be a strong person to find happiness after something so horrible,” she said looking back at Jarren and Natty as Jarren lay his head down on Nattys and rubbed her back.
            “Not to mention how strong Jarren’s got to be,” Blaise said.
            “I guess she would need a strong man at her side,” Alana agreed.
            “Yeah, but they practically live together,” he told her, “Natty has horrible nightmares and Dom used to stay with her sleeping on the couch in her bedroom, but something happened and Jarren started staying the night. From what I understand they share her bed, but I don’t think they do more than just sleep in the same bed,” he told her.
            “Wow,” Alana said and then agreed, “yeah, he would have to be strong, too.”
            Blaise walked her to her car door and opened it for her, but when she went to climb into her car he stopped her, giving her another kiss before he let her climb into her car.
            “Do you know how to get back to the highway from here?” Blaise asked as she started her car so she could roll down her window and they could continue to talk.
            “I go right and it’s a few miles down isn’t it?” she asked after he’d shut her door.
            He smiled, “Yeah,” he nodded and then leaned down and gave her another kiss, “you drive safely.”
            She smiled, “I will.”
            Blaise backed up as Dom opened the garage door for Alana so she could get out. Blaise stood there and watched Alana drive off into the night and was soon joined by Dom.
            “You better be careful,” Dom said.
            “Why?” Blaise asked looking at his friend.
            “If anyone else sees you acting like that, they’re going to take away your saint hood,” he joked before he thumped his friend on his back and walked away laughing at his own joke.
            Blaise just shook his head in amazement and hoped that his friend would find a woman that would tame his friend just enough to keep Dom from making an ass of himself like he did so often especially when someone else had found the happiness of a good relationship. Not that Blaise had, but he’d watched Dom annoy his friends to death with little comments and cutting remarks when they were with someone, like when Brock had been head over heels for that waitress, or when Reed and Melinda had hooked up. Then Blaise remembered that Dom had found his Hanna and Blaise smiled. Alana was the key to that, and that’s why Dom had been such an ass tonight. It all fell into place as Blaise headed over to start razing Dom about Hanna and to find out what was on his friends mind.



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