Paxton's Promise (Gloves Off #3)(20)

There was a greasy rag on his desk so I picked it up and threw it at him. “Actually, smart ass, it was your sexy green eyes that got me. The tattoos and muscles were only a bonus.”

He looked back at me and winked. “So anyway, back to the main part of the story. Your brother came into the garage wanting someone to restore his car. Since it was my area of expertise, I took on the project.”

“How did you get the knowledge to do that? Was it from your uncle who owns the race track?”

His lip titled up in a sad smile, but kept his focus on the engine as he worked. “Yeah, I kind of grew up around cars and racing. The whole fighting thing came later. So with that being said, at this point in time I was friends with Kyle, but it was before I got into all my trouble. That all came later, and even then I never did anything to your brother. He knows this. I was out of Kyle’s group before all of that took place.”

Mouth gaping open, I stared at him in horror. I’d never asked my brother about Paxton because I always assumed he was one of the bad guys. I didn’t have a reason to think otherwise. All this time, I treated Paxton like shit when he had nothing to do with Kyle’s deceitful attempts to f*ck over my brother.

“And you tried to tell me numerous times,” I stated sadly.

Paxton shrugged and backed away from the car, wiping his hands on his towel. “It’s not like it mattered anyway. You were too busy with college and your dickwad boyfriend to notice me.”

“Oh, let’s be clear. I noticed you,” I confessed. “I hated myself for it, but I wanted you bad. I just assumed you were part of the plot to sabotage my brother, so I had to hate you. I felt like a traitor being attracted to you.”

“And now?” he asked, peering over at me.

Getting to my feet, I slowly walked over to him and put my arms around his shoulders. “Now I just feel like a coldhearted bitch. I thought you pursued me just to get a rise out of my brother. That’s why Tyler came after you so hard because I told him that’s probably what you were doing.”

He put his arms around my waist and chuckled. “Yeah, Tyler and I are never going to be besties—there’s too much history. And, your brother might not like us together, but I know he doesn’t hate me. We actually talked that night while you were helping Kacey bind up her wrists.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “Ashleigh told me to stop pushing you away and when you basically stopped caring if I came or went, I thought I was too late.”

A sly smile spread across his face. “I had to do something to get your attention. Besides, I needed you to come to me. I wasn’t going to ask for anything you didn’t want to give.”

Smacking him in the arm, I narrowed my eyes. “So it was just to pay me back? Well I gotta tell you, it worked. I was so pissed at you, especially when you left me in the pool.” And we still hadn’t talked about what happened with Cliff. He hadn’t brought it up, but he needed to know that nothing was going on other than wanting his help.

Paxton leaned down and kissed me, holding me close to his body. I didn’t want to break the contact, but I had no choice. “Pax,” I whispered, breaking the trance. “I need to talk to you about last night. About Cliff.”

Clenching his teeth, he huffed and tilted his head back. “Why do we have to talk about that barnacle now? It’s obvious the dude’s hard up for you. And what’s worse, he’s your f*cking neighbor.”

“A barnacle?”

“He’s one of those guys who’s going to attach himself to you. Wait and see. He’s a creep, I know it.”

Laughing, I rolled my eyes. “Not to give you a guilt trip, but he’s kind of helping me out with something. I wanted to talk to you about it, but we weren’t necessarily talking at the time. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Paxton furrowed his brows and stepped back. “What’s going on?”

Sighing, I leaned against his desk and crossed my arms across my chest while he waited, concern etched in his gaze. “Okay, first, let me explain something to you. Cliff is my neighbor. He’s ex military and he’s about to be a cop with the LAPD.”

“Great, give the boy a f*cking medal,” he grumbled.

Ignoring his comment, I sighed and kept going. “Anyway, when I went to my apartment at the beginning of the week, I had a flower by my doorstep.”

Paxton’s gaze grew dark. “Who was it from? Him?”

“No,” I blurted. “It wasn’t him. At first, I wondered if it could be Bradley, but then when I got a closer look I realized there was no way.”

“Why is that?”

“It was black, Pax. The rose was black. I’ve never known a guy to send a black rose to a girl. And the note was kind of cryptic. Well, both of the notes were.”

“You got more than one? What did they say?” he questioned, eyes wide.

I told him and he didn’t like it at all. At first, I thought he would be flippant about it and brush it off as some kind of joke, but he took it the way I did. It was a little creepy and I wasn’t going to lie, it kind of scared me.

“So where does Cliff come into all of this?”

“He took the letters to see if they can get prints off of them. Plus, he’s going to call me if I have any more deliveries. All of this happened this week, so I’m assuming it’s going to happen again soon. I just don’t know how far this person is willing to go.”