Fighting Shadows (On the Ropes #2)(76)

She giggled, squeezing against his side.

“Ash Carson?” the woman droned again.

“Oops. Gotta go.” She patted me on the ass then jogged away.

I looked over at Quarry as I sat down in the chair next to Mia. “You are never allowed to borrow my car again. I don’t care if yours is in the shop.”

“Meh. I’ll survive,” he signed back before scooping Mia out of her chair and settling her on his lap.

I began checking my e-mails on my phone. “Please don’t molest her in here.”

“Huh?” she said and Quarry’s hands translated for her.

Mia slapped my arm to get my attention. You’re one to talk, she signed, not bothering with saying it aloud since Ash was gone. I threw up in my mouth a little.

Whatever. You look like you’re twelve. Q looks like he’s older than I am. Everyone in the room is assuming he’s a pedophile right now, I replied.

Q interjected, Hey! I wasn’t the one getting a sixteen-year-old girl naked in the back of my child molester van.

Yes, you did! That’s why I had to sell it. I don’t even want to know what you two did in that thing before Till bought you a car.

Q laughed. Oh, come on. That’s not why you sold it.

The floor was sticky, you dick. I punched him on the shoulder.

“Damn it,” he cursed, rubbing his arm.

Mia stared into space dreamily and signed, God, I miss that van.

I gave her a disgusted look then went back to scanning my phone.

Quarry asked, “Hey, why didn’t you tell us about Ash’s birthday?”

“It’s not for another month. I’ll let you know when I plan something,” I answered absently.

“Dude, her birthday was last week.”

My head snapped up. “Her birthday is April eighteenth.”

Mia’s hands lifted as her jaw fell open. You idiot! You missed her birthday.

I looked back at Quarry and repeated, “Her birthday is April eighteenth.”

He shook his head, pulling Ash’s birth certificate from the folder she’d left on her seat. “March eighteenth.”

What the f*ck?

I distinctly remembered her telling me that it was in April the first night we were lying in the weeds. “What astrological sign is March eighteenth? Aries?”

They both shrugged, so I picked up my phone and did a quick Internet search.

“Pisces,” I whispered at the screen of my phone. “Why the hell would she have lied to me?”

“This is going to cost you big time. You should buy her a car and pretend this was all part of your plan. Make her think you forgot her birthday on purpose,” Quarry suggested.

Mia excitedly nodded her agreement.

It wasn’t a bad idea, exactly, but I was more focused on why she would have lied to begin with than the repercussions of flubbing the date.

For the next ten minutes, I stared a hole in the DMV’s door, waiting for her to come back inside.

Finally, she bounced around the corner, laughing with the once disgruntled DMV employee. “You just let me know when. You can borrow his car anytime,” Ash told the woman, flashing her eyes to Quarry.

“Hey!” He quickly shifted Mia back to her seat and rushed to retrieve his keys. “You pass?”

“Psh, did I pass?” She gave him a disgusted look. “Tonya didn’t even make me take the test. We just took turns pulling the parking brake and sliding into the parallel parking spot.”

Q snatched the keys from her hand. “Shut up. You did not.”

I pushed to my feet and joined them. “You pass?”

“You’re in a suit!” she squeaked.

“How many more times are you going to say that?”

“You’re in a suit.”

Shifting my weight to one arm, I wrapped the other around her waist. “Are you stuck on repeat?”

“I’m not sure. Get naked and let’s see.”

“Jesus, woman. Just answer the question.”

She grabbed my tie and tugged my head down, whispering in my ear, “I think we should celebrate my brand-spanking-new driver’s license by having sex in your back seat.”

I smiled down at her when she added, “This. Suit.” I let out a loud laugh.

Pointedly nodding toward my zipper, she let me know just how serious she was.

“All right. Keep your pants on,” I said, backing out of her grasp.

The woman at the camera station called her name. “I’ll be right back.” She sauntered away, swaying her ass and ensuring that, as soon as I got to the bottom of the whole birthday lie, I’d be using the suit to my full advantage.





“You seriously took the rest of the day off?” I asked when Flint surprised me by climbing out of the car instead of just dropping me off at home.

He unlocked the front door and swung it open. “Yep. I told you. Big deal.”

“You called in after you saw how much I loved the suit, huh?” I made a show of checking him out before walking inside.

“I mean, that didn’t hurt my decision. But I’m more interested in why you’re lying to me,” he replied with a hard edge to his voice.

I spun to look at him. “What?”

He closed the distance between us, stopping only inches in front of me. “Your birthday is March eighteenth,” he stated definitively. “But I can’t for the life of me figure out why the hell you would lie to me about that.”