Undue Influence by Jenny Holiday

Author:Jenny Holiday [Holiday, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781775376811
Published: 2018-09-03T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Eight years ago

“Whose car is this?”

Adam stood from where he’d been crouched next to Freddy’s Mustang. He was installing new brake pads.

“Good morning to you, too.” When Rusty didn’t say anything, Adam sighed and answered the question. “This is Freddy Wentworth’s car.”

“I thought so. And is anything wrong with it this time besides sabotage?”

Adam rolled his eyes, but warmth spread through him. Freddy had long since admitted that he had sabotaged his own car that day in the hopes of getting to spend time with Adam, but the thought of it still make Adam flush with pleasure.

“I assume you’ll be charging him this time?”

“For the parts.” Which wasn’t true—he hadn’t even been going to do that, but something told Adam that it was better to mislead Rusty a little here. “But not for the labor—that’s why I came in early. I’m not on the clock yet.”

Rusty didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. Like Adam’s mother, Rusty could convey an entire universe’s worth of sentiment with the slightest movement of a nostril.

“What?” Adam asked, uncharacteristically pissy. Rusty’s bad mood had chased off Adam’s good one. Since Adam had been so happy lately, he’d started noticing he was sort of an emotional sponge around Rusty—he absorbed his friend’s moods. He’d start out happy, and then after some time in Rusty’s line of fire, he’d end up grumpy. He tried not to be so easily swayed, but he often couldn’t help it.

“Nothing,” Rusty said.

“It’s not nothing. Why don’t you just say what you think? You don’t want me working on this car for free.”

“I don’t,” Rusty snapped. “But there’s a lot of things I don’t want. For example, I don’t want you here to begin with.”

“Thanks a lot.”

That softened Rusty. “Oh, you know what I mean. There’s nothing for you here, except a shitty family.”

“What about you?”

“A shitty family and an aging queen.”

Adam snorted. It angered him that Rusty could be so dismissive about not only the town, but about his own importance in Adam’s life.

“It’s not too late to apply for spring admission,” Rusty said. “To Cornell, even. You don’t have to go that far away.”

“I’d never get into Cornell.” Adam had done okay in school, but he was far from Ivy League material. He could see Rusty ramping up his usual argument, but damn, he wasn’t in the mood. He wanted to get his workday started. Because the sooner he started, the sooner he’d be done. Which meant the sooner he could drive Freddy’s car back to him. The idea of hanging out with Freddy not in the middle of the night was…strangely thrilling. Of course hanging out with him in the middle of the night was thrilling, too. But they’d decided Adam would drop the car and then they’d grab some dinner.

It was almost like…a date.

He was stupidly nervous, though. Afraid, really. That someone would see them and come to the obvious conclusion and that the news would get back to his family. Or, worse, Rusty. But for once, uncharacteristically, his fear wasn’t strong enough to hold him back.

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