Inferno - Chelle Bliss by Chelle Bliss

“I imagine so,” I say with a hint of laughter in my voice. She’s not bashful, and I love this about her.

It’s something I’ve noticed with all of Stone’s female relatives. They’re strong women who take no bullshit, but they sure as hell give a lot of it.

“He was my first client, but the business has grown by leaps and bounds. I have too much now to keep up with it and help here at the garage. Then there’s my kids and family.” She grabs her head, placing her thumb and middle fingers on her temples. “It’s enough to give me a headache or eventually a heavy dose of burnout.”

“I’m sorry.”

She drops her hand away from her face and waves off my words. “It could be worse, right?”

“Yeah,” I whisper, knowing my life definitely falls into the worse category when compared to hers. “For sure.”

“I usually don’t work here at the garage anymore, but Old Man Pete has been out for a few weeks. He had a death in the family and had to go back up north to deal with some family affairs.”

I cover my mouth with my hand. “That’s awful.”

“It is.” Her shoulders sag forward. “I hate this for him. He’s the nicest old man ever, and he does a great job here at the garage. He keeps all those meatheads in line and knows everything there is to know about cars.”

“That’s useful.”

She nods. “Anyway, I was already behind on my own business before Pete left, but now, I’m even further behind and drowning a little more every day. Maybe you can bring your portfolio to my grandparents’ house on Sunday, and I’ll look it over. If I like what I see, you can start work on Monday morning.”

“Really?” I ask, unable to hide the astonishment in my voice. “That soon?”

She nods enthusiastically. “Fuck yeah. I’d hire you this minute, but I wouldn’t even have the time to go over everything with you today. Pete will be back soon, and then I can concentrate on my own shit.”

“I wasn’t planning on going to your grandparents’ house,” I admit without looking her in the eye. “I feel funny.”

“Fuck that,” she snaps. “Don’t feel funny. It’s like a goddamn circus some Sundays, but don’t let that frighten you. You’ll blend in, and you’ve already met seventy-five percent of the people who will be there anyway.”

“I don’t know, Tamara. I didn’t feel like Stone was entirely comfortable with me coming.”

She grunts and reaches into her back pocket, fishing out her phone.

“What are you doing?” I ask her as she starts to tap on the screen.

“Nothing,” she mumbles, pressing away.

I lean forward to try to see what she’s doing, but she bends backward, making it impossible.

There’s one ring and then a hello.

“Stone.”

Fuck me.

No. No. No.

I want to crawl under something and hide, but there’s only a giant stone coffee table that’s made out of a literal boulder and then the chairs around the room that leave no room to slide underneath.

Shit.

“What’s up, T?” he says, sounding like he was asleep.

Tamara holds up a finger to her lips as she stares at me. “Do you want Opal to come to dinner on Sunday? What do you think about Gram inviting her?”

There’s rustling on his end. “Yeah, T. I want her there. I’m glad Gram invited her because I probably would’ve been too chickenshit. I like the girl. Like her way more than I probably fucking should, which is fucking nuts. I can’t get her out of my damn mind. Do you have any idea what that’s like?”

Tamara’s smiling at me, and I do my best to ignore the way my stomach’s doing backflips.

Stone likes me.

More than that…he can’t get me out of his mind.

The feeling is entirely mutual, and that scares the ever-living shit out of me.

“I do, babe. Happened with me and Mammoth. He wasn’t in my plans, but when we met, there was no escaping the pull he had over me. It was some fucked-up, crazy-ass shit.”

“You meetin’ with her today?” he asks.

“Yep.”

“You going to hire her?”

“I think so. If her portfolio is solid.”

“Do me a favor, T. Give her a chance. I need her to stick around for a while, and right now, there isn’t much keeping her here.”

I want to tell him that is a lie. I have him. He makes me want to stick around. In all honesty, I don’t have anywhere else to be. I don’t have family in other parts of the country. I have nothing except the here and now…and Stone.

“You got it, buddy. Anything for you. But you’re going to owe me big-time for this, got it?”

He sighs. “Whatever you want, T. Anything at all. You name it, it’s yours.”

“I could use a babysitter at the end of this month so that Mammoth and I can go away for a night to get some alone time, if you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean, but I don’t want to, cousin. Yeah. Yeah. Fine. I’ll watch the rug rats for a night. How bad could they be?”

Tamara snickers. “They’re angels,” she tells him, shaking her head at me. “Time will fly by.”