Secrets, Lies, and Summer Skies

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Okay, but that's like, seriously hot."

I was starting to think that Jenny wasn't the best sounding board when I needed to vent frustrations, especially when they pertained to my relationship with Grayson. I took a long sip of my coffee and narrowed my eyes at her over my mug. An app advertising second-hand cars was open on my cellphone screen, which sat ignored on the table. Despite scrolling for hours whenever I was alone at home, I still hadn't found something I liked.

I couldn't justify buying anything brand new, not when my old car had been a wreck even before it was vandalized, but I needed something to get around. Dad wouldn't let me take cabs for the rest of my life, and I didn't want to think about how much they'd cost me already.

I set the cup back on the table with a dull thud. "Did you miss the part where he punched a guy?"

"No, that was the hot part."

"He could've been arrested," I said.

"But he wasn't." Jenny tore off a piece of croissant and flicked it in my direction. "Do you know how many women want a guy who'd knock out a pervert on their behalf?"

"I guess..." I sighed and snatched up my phone. "Whatever. It's done now. He can't go back in time and undo it. As long as Mark doesn't press charges, there's no point talking about it."

"Talking? No," Jenny agreed. "But if you want to send me the doorbell footage of Grayson knocking that creep on his ass so I can fantasize about it, then I'm down for that."

A smile tugged at my lips. "And you call Mark a perve..."

Silence settled between us as we each sipped our coffee. I didn't like to be so detached from a conversation, but when all she wanted to know about was my sex life, it was hard to maintain a discussion with Jenny. I loved her and everything, and I wanted to keep sleeping with Grayson, but niggling feelings had started to creep into my heart. It was much easier to ignore them when I didn't think about him. I'd have taken any other subject. Hell, I'd tried to ask about her date, but apparently, it had been a short meal followed by a quick fumble in the back of a car, so hardly worth lingering on.

"Why don't you just get Grayson to buy you a new car?" Jenny asked. "He can afford it."

I swallowed down the urge to snap at her. Jenny didn't mean any harm, but I didn't like her talking about Grayson like he was an ATM. Sure, he was well-off, but Dad wasn't exactly destitute. I didn't want to be that girl who got together with an older guy because of money. Grayson had so much more to offer than that, and he meant more to me than the numbers on his bank statement.

"I can get a junker, Jen'. Given what happened to the last car, I don't want anything flashy."

"Are you hinting that what happened to your car was my fault?"

"No," I lied. It wasn't entirely her fault, but it was a little. If Jenny hadn't wanted to go out that night, my car wouldn't have been in a rough neighborhood. "Look, we're not even technically dating or anything. I can't ask Grayson to spend that much money on me. Or any money. I can take care of this myself, okay?"

Jenny held her hands up. "Okay, okay. If you say so."

Before I could swipe my thumb over the screen to keep searching, it lit up with an incoming call. The number was withheld. I only contemplated answering for a moment before I sent them to voicemail. The only people who called me privately were telemarketers and I didn't have the patience to deal with them.

"Babe." Jenny tapped the table to get my attention. I set the phone face down on the table and returned to my coffee. "Serious question. Are you gonna tell your dad what's going on?"