Just Kidding (SWAT Generation 2.0 #1)(22)

“I…”

“Here you go, darlin’,” Max said, coming to me with a set of keys.

My keys.

Those were my keys.

I smiled as I extended a shaky hand in his direction.

“Thank you,” I said.

He winked and tossed a look at his son.

“Your mother’s at home, boy,” he said. “If she needs you…”

Dax snorted.

“I was going to get a bottle of windshield fluid,” he said.

His phone rang then, forcibly causing him to take a step back to answer it.

I took that as my cue to go and stop looking so starry-eyed.

“Thank you so much, Max,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”

He winked and gestured to my car.

“You do need new tires soon, though,” he said. “I can order some.”

I was already staring at my tires in annoyance.

“I just got some pretty good used ones,” I paused. “Though, if you’re telling me I’ll need new ones, that probably means that they weren’t ‘pretty good’ like the tire shop guy told me that they were.”

Max scowled.

“Where’d you get them?” he asked.

I groaned.

“Somewhere in San Antonio,” I admitted. “And probably somewhere that I won’t ever get my money back from.”

Max chuckled at my annoyance.

“Sometimes men like to take advantage of women because they don’t know any better,” he said. “Look on the bright side. If they were here, they’d probably get the shit beat out of them.”

I agreed.

My father wouldn’t have been happy to hear that I’d paid good money for some tires that were unsafe.

When it came to his kids, Luke Roberts was a force of nature.

I was just about to reply when Dax cursed, forgot all about his windshield fluid, then started back to his truck.

“Dad,” Dax said as he shoved his phone into his pocket. “You’re gonna have to cancel on Mom for me. Some guy decided to hole himself up inside of a Taco Bell and demand his money back. They wouldn’t give it to him, so he pulled out a gun and is holding the entire place hostage.”

Max winced.

“10-4,” Max said. “Stay safe, kid.”

Dax’s eyes turned to me. “See you tomorrow.”

I felt Max’s eyes come to me and stay there.

Dax left, leaving me with his father staring at me consideringly.

“What?” I asked finally.

“He’ll see you tomorrow?” He grinned.

I shrugged.

“Apparently he has something to do in San Antonio and he can do that with me so I can borrow his truck to move my stuff,” I said.

Max started to chuckle.

“He’ll learn.”

Would he?

I wasn’t so sure that I wanted him to learn.

See, I had a feeling that I could really have a thing for Dax Tremaine if I allowed him to wiggle into my life.

The thing was, if Theo’s dating Shondra had hurt, what would I do if I started to care for Dax and he began to do the same? Not necessarily Shondra, of course, but another woman. What if he found someone, and I was forced to sit on the sidelines and watch?

That would totally and completely suck.

I scratched my head and thanked Max for finishing my car.

“I really appreciate it,” I said. “Unfortunately, I have to go. I need to run over to those duplexes that my brother’s living in and see if they have any vacancies. I tried to do that yesterday, but apparently the maintenance man electrocuted himself and the manager of them, who just so happened to be his wife, was out. After I’m done with that, depending on whether they have any openings, I need to go look at other places. And I need to go buy some essentials. I’m hoping someone has something that I can move into as soon as possible. My parents…” I let myself trail off and shuddered.

Max started to laugh.

I shot him a glare. “It’s really not funny.”

His eyes shone.

“The fact that your parents love each other, even after all these years, doesn’t make you happy?” he wondered.

I frowned.

“Well…” I paused. “They don’t have to love each other so loud. Do they?”

Max ruffled my peach fuzz hair, and I shook my head.

“Be happy, honey.” He paused. “It could be worse. They could be like my parents before they passed away. They didn’t even bother to do it in their room. Do you know how traumatizing it is to walk in on your parents having sex on the couch you spend a lot of your time on?”

I didn’t even want to contemplate it.

Honestly, I had a feeling that my parents didn’t usually contain themselves to just their bedroom. They were at least being considerate for my sake.

But still.

“Whatever.” I laughed. “Have a good one, Max.”

Then, for good measure, I leaned forward and hugged him.

Surprised at first, he took a few seconds to respond.

But when he did respond, he gave a good hug.

“Be careful, darlin’.”

With that, he let me go, patted me on top of my bald head, then sauntered off into the office.

I got into my car and watched him go, wondering if Dax would look that good at Max’s age.