Читать книгу Satellite of Love - Christa Maurice - Страница 5

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Maureen dropped her head to the steering wheel in front of Tony’s Garage. She was not going to make that blind date, and depending on the repair bill, might be happy about that. One of these days she had to tell her friend Linda no when she came up with another man. So far they had all been wasted evenings.

She really needed to try to meet some decent men on her own. So far the strategy of school all day and sitting home all night planning for school the next day wasn’t working so great for the social calendar.

At least the screaming brakes gave her a good excuse to cancel. The sign said closed, but when she pushed the door, it opened. The bay to the right was empty, but further back, in the bays behind the building, she could hear clanking and a radio playing. Tony must be working late.

“Hello?” Maureen peered through the short hallway from the obsessively clean waiting area to the back repair bays. The far door stood nearly closed so she could only see a sliver of the room. A tire, a black fender with a piece of masking tape on it, a work light, a black hood propped open. “Tony? Are you back there? It’s Maureen Donnelly.”

Feet shuffled and the radio’s volume lowered. What if it wasn’t Tony? Maybe one of his assistants had stayed late. Rusty or…the high school kid…Eric, that was his name. Did Tony trust his high school work-study assistant enough to leave him alone in the garage after hours? “I’m having some trouble with my brakes. They’re making a lot of noise. You probably heard them when I pulled in.”

What if it wasn’t either one of them? What if it was some total stranger? What if it was somebody dangerous? She fumbled in her purse for her cell phone then stopped.

What was she going to do? Call 911 so they could listen to her screams for help without being able to do anything because they didn’t know where she was? Tomorrow’s headline could read: Second Grade Teacher Slain In Garage, Too Stupid To Know Responders Couldn’t Track Her Cellphone Signal. She should have gotten one of those apps that broadcast her every move. Then she could have just posted to Facebook. Being murdered. Call Police. Tony’s Garage.

The door to the back bays opened and a bulky silhouette that didn’t really fit Tony, Rusty, or Eric filled it.

She took a step back toward the outside door. “Hi, sorry I bothered you. I can come back in the morning.” Teacher’s Body Found Rolled In Rug Behind Convenience Store, Cell Phone Still In Her Hand.

“It’s okay.” The man walked through the dark hall and into the waiting area. His broad, friendly face seemed familiar. He wore his long brown hair in a ponytail and had a smudge of grease on his cheek. “I heard you pull in. You want me to take a look?”

“No.” She bumped into the door. “I mean, you don’t have to. I’ll just leave it for Tony in the morning.” The mechanic didn’t look at all threatening, but adrenalin interfered with rational thought. Memorial Service For Murdered Teacher Tuesday, Local Garages Offering Free Brake Checks. Says Tony D’Amato, owner of the garage where her car was found Friday, “If she’d just gotten that squeaking noise checked when she first heard it, all of this could have been avoided.”

“They sounded pretty bad. You might have worn down to the rotors. Let me take a look.” He crossed the room.

Honestly, he looked about as threatening as the Easter Bunny. If the Easter Bunny had amazing shoulders. “It’s okay.” Before she announced that someone was picking her up, she stopped herself. The neighborhood wasn’t the greatest and calling for a ride meant standing around in it, increasing her chances for ending up in that rug. Better the devil she had just met than the one who might be lurking in the dark. “Who are you?”

He had been reaching out, hopefully to grab the door because his hands were filthy, but pulled back when she asked. “I’m— I’m Michael, Tony’s brother.”

“Michael. No wonder you look familiar. Sorry. I wasn’t sure.” Too much caffeine and too many murder mysteries. She needed to lay off both for a while.

“That’s okay.” Michael pursed his lips. Nice lips they were too. Full, red, very kissable for the Easter-Bunny-slash-killer. “You want me to take a look at those brakes now?”

“Sure. Thanks. I know it’s after hours, but they started to sound really bad.” She held out her keys. “I guess you’ll need to put it up on the lift or something.”

Michael nodded, ripped some paper off the roll inside the door to protect the interior of her precious ten-year-old clunker and crossed the lot to her car. She wouldn’t mind having that body in her driver’s seat. The way he filled out his coverall was a sight. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, nice tight butt. Very nice.

She turned away from the window before he caught her staring. Good thing she wasn’t going on that date in this frame of mind. From murdered and rolled in a rug to sweaty sex on the hood of a car in ten seconds flat, and all she’d needed was his name.

Oh. Date.

Her phone was still in her hand so she located the latest bachelor on her list of calls as she walked through the hallway to watch Michael pull her car in. Tony didn’t like customers in the bay. He claimed it was dangerous. The only danger she could imagine was brain damage from the stench of oil, gasoline and exhaust. Brain damage be damned, she wasn’t going to pass on the chance to ogle.

“Hello?”

“Hi—” Crud, what was this bachelor’s name? “It’s Maureen. I wanted to let you know I can’t make it tonight.”

“Sorry to hear that.” He didn’t sound sorry. Maybe Linda’s sales pitch hadn’t been that good.

“My brakes are making a horrible noise. I’m sure you can hear it.” Michael had just pulled through the door and the squeals echoed beautifully on the cinderblock walls.

“That sounds pretty bad. Um... I guess you’ll need a ride.”

“No.” That was it. No more of Linda’s blind dates. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. I guess I’ll talk to you.”

Not if I recognize your number before I answer the phone. “Yeah. Okay. ’Bye.” She closed her phone. At this very moment she could be at home watching TV in sweats, grading math tests and deciding to bring the car to Tony tomorrow. She’d washed her hair, shaved her legs, put on makeup and dressed up for whatshisname. The sexy dark blue jersey dress she’d selected needed somebody who’d appreciate her effort. Hands on hips to hold her coat open, she sauntered behind the car. Michael was operating the lift, but he gave her a once over when she passed.

“Well?” she asked.

“They aren’t supposed to sound like that. I’ll have to pull the tire off to see how bad it is, but it’s not going to be good. Does Tony do all the maintenance on your car?”

“Most of it. He told me to go to the quick lube places for my oil changes.” Lube, hehe. She really needed to mix with adults more often.

“Has your transmission fluid been clear?” Michael walked to the front driver’s side tire, so she followed him.

“I guess so. The guy at the lube place said I needed to have it flushed next time I go in. Why?”

“Felt to me like your transmission was slipping.” He popped the hubcap off and used a loud tool to loosen the lug nuts.

When she flinched away from the noise, she bumped into the car he’d been working on. It was black except for the trunk, which was orange. Just sitting there, hood up and orange trunk lid, it seemed to say, “Hey, baby, wanna ride?” She sidled toward the front. On the fender a strip of masking tape said Satellite of Love. “Is this your car?”

Michael looked over his shoulder, yanking the tire off as if it weighed less than a duvet. “Yeah. That’s my baby.”

“Satellite of Love?”

“My sister-in-law’s idea of a joke. It’s a ’72 Plymouth Satellite.”

As if that meant something to her. As far as she could tell, it was a car that might or might not run. She leaned on the Satellite’s fender. Her car always looked so helpless up on the lift. More so now that it was missing a tire.

“You headed someplace tonight?” Michael asked.

“A date.”

“Sorry.”

“Naw, if I’d really wanted to be there I could have continued to ignore that squealing.” She grinned, but he didn’t turn around to see it. Another wasted effort. “So what are you doing here?”

“I’m visiting my brother and his family.” Michael glanced over his shoulder frowning, clearly absorbed with the car thing in his hand. Men and their obsession with inanimate objects. “This is bad.”

“What’s bad?” She stepped forward.

“This piece?” He held up a dirty, holey piece of who knew what in his large, strong-looking hand. “This is the shoe. This is what stops your car and it works best when it isn’t full of holes.”

Her grimace, such an attractive expression, he did see. Of course. “Is it expensive?”

“Expensive?”

Why did he sound like money was no object to him? “Yes, is it going to cost a lot to fix?”

“It’s not cheap, but it’s a lot less expensive than plowing into a wall or another car.” He shrugged. “Tony’s pretty busy tomorrow, but if he can’t get to it, I’m sure we can do it Sunday so you can have it back for Monday.”

She clenched her fists behind her back. As if that would keep the money from flying out of her wallet. “Will somebody call me and tell me when to bring it in?”

“Oh no.” Michael dropped the worn brake shoe on the floor. “You can’t drive out of here like this.”

“If you put the tire back on, I can.”

“No, you can’t.” Michael folded his arms, which accented those fantastic shoulders and did incredible things to the muscles in his upper arms. “I can’t let you drive this car in good conscience. You’d be a danger to yourself and anyone else on the road.”

“Great.” Maureen stared out the bay door into the waning light, thoughts of fantastic shoulders ebbing. She’d have been better off going on the stupid date. A whole weekend without a car? The price was too high. “How am I supposed to get home?”

“I can give you a ride or you can call a cab.”

Her stomach growled. On the top of her To Do list for tomorrow was buying groceries. Until she could get out to the store, she was eating oatmeal and crackers with jelly. “Great.”

“You know, if you’re hungry we could stop for pizza on the way.” Michael smiled. He had a warm, playful smile that gave her a glimpse of the little boy in this big hunk of man. “My treat since I know Tony is going to gouge you on the repair. I’ll even kick in a ride in the Satellite of Love.”

Well, that did make the bill a little more manageable. “You had me at pizza.”

He nodded. “I’m known for overplaying my hand. Let me clean up and we’ll get out of here.” Switching off the work light hooked to the Satellite, he set it aside and closed the hood. Then he headed toward the little hallway. “It’ll only take me a minute.”

This had to be one of her more irrational moments. Fifteen minutes ago she’d been convinced he was going to murder her and dump her body in an alley and now they were headed out to grab a pizza? In his car yet. Insane much? “Hey, you aren’t going to turn out to be a serial killer, are you?” she called after him.

He turned at the mouth of the hallway. “A what?”

“Never mind.”

He chuckled, a deep rich sound. “Don’t worry. I’m not a serial killer.” Then he ducked through a door in the hall that was always closed.

She should probably be concerned about the way he emphasized the word not, but somehow couldn’t summon the desire.

No, she was busy desiring something else.

* * * *

Bear stripped off his coveralls and hung them on the door of the extra locker. He’d been hoping to get a little more work done on the Satellite, but this was a lot more interesting. Pulling on the Tesla t-shirt he’d worn in this morning, he wished he’d dressed a little better. Of course, Maureen Donnelly thought he was an auto mechanic, so the old concert t-shirt and jeans might be a better way to sell the illusion.

His phone had five messages. One from Sandy, one from Candy, one from Jason and two from Marc. Sandy was probably mad he hadn’t called in since last week. Going off the radar like he had, especially with a tour looming, must be driving Sandy nuts. Candy wanted him to do some publicity thing. Her job was getting them publicity, but she never had understood the word vacation. Jason, if Jason was still acting the way he had been for the past couple of weeks since he’d gotten dumped in People, was just calling to bitch. He called Marc and pinned the phone between his shoulder and ear while he scrubbed grease off his fingers.

“Yo.”

“What?”

“Nothin’. When are you coming back?”

“Ten days.” He checked his watch as if it measured days. Ten short days, until he was stuck in a room, and then a series of rooms, with the rest of the band and their melodrama.

“Good. Jason is selling the New York apartment.”

“Beautiful, so he’s going to be in Malibu all the time now?”

“I guess. Ty has taken up grass boarding.”

“What the fuck is that?”

“Just like snowboarding, but on grass.”

“He can still sing when he falls and fucks up his wrists. Did you call for a reason or just to give me a newsy update?”

“Why? You got a hot date or something?”

Bear didn’t answer. He’d hoped to already be tooling down the road with Maureen Donnelly headed for a simple pizza between two people who’d just met. Two totally normal people.

“The suits just want to make sure everything is on track,” Marc said. “The album is still moving up the charts but the single is slipping. The next single is coming out Tuesday and it would really help if you would pick up a little promo.”

“I’m. On. Vacation.”

“I know, but we owe the company a fortune and if this record tanks, we are never going to record another one. The label will drop us and we’ll all end up managing a fast food joint.”

“Yeah, I know. I took Rock Star 101 with you.” His head started to throb. “We did all that promo when the album came out. The thing for MTV and that Canadian show. And we’re doing that casino to kick off the tour. All I asked for was two fucking weeks.”

“And all I’m asking you to do is take two hours out of your vacation and hit a radio station.”

“Marc, they’re getting the next ten months of my life.”

“It’s the job, man, and it’s the best fucking job in the world.” Marc’s tone remained pleasant and even.

“I know. Is that what Sandy wanted?”

“No, Sandy wants to know where you are and that you’re healthy.”

“Tell him I’m right where I was the last time he talked to me and in about the same shape.”

“Great. Jason has been busting his ass on promo.”

The last thing he wanted to hear about was what a superhero Jason was. Not with a sweet thing like Maureen Donnelly waiting. “I gotta go.”

“Oh, that’s right. The hot date. See ya in ten days.”

Bear snapped his phone closed as he pulled on his leather jacket. He should have skipped this whole music thing and gone into business with his brother.

Then both of them could be trying to scratch a living out of this little three bay garage.

He snatched the keys off the locker shelf and hurried out to see if Maureen Donnelly had hung around while he was getting scolded.

She stood in the filthy repair bay behind her car, holding her purse with both hands. Cocking her head, she gave him a little smile.

For about ten seconds, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. The minimal makeup she wore accented the simple prettiness of her features instead of them being obliterated under raccoon eyeliner and some wild shade of lipstick. Her brunette hair was cut in a bob and pulled back off her face. He hadn’t seen what with yet, but he bet it was a bow or some kind of flower. The dark blue dress crisscrossed over her perfect, unenhanced bust, creating some really intriguing cleavage.

Really intriguing. He couldn’t see her legs around the bumper of the car, or her shoes. He wanted to check out her shoes and, more importantly, the legs that led into them. As he recalled, the hem fell right to her knees.

“Sorry I took so long.” He tore his gaze away from where he could have seen her legs if he had x-ray vision, and met hers. She didn’t seem to be on to him. “I had to make a call.”

“No problem.” She shook her head and her cute little bob bounced around her shoulders.

“I’ll lock up and we can go.” He ducked into the waiting room to lock the door and turn off the lights. The sooner he got out of here, the sooner he was going to get a look at her legs. “Which pizza place do you like better? Napoli or Mama Lena’s? I like Napoli’s.”

“So do I, but I don’t like to eat there.” She sounded sorry as she followed him to the car door.

He glanced over his shoulder. Her pretty, small mouth was drawn into a frown. “Why?”

“They’re always screaming at each other, did you notice? The food is wonderful, but the brothers who own the place are always arguing or yelling at the kids waiting tables.” She shivered. “It just makes me uncomfortable.”

“Tony always gets carry out. I guess there’s a reason.” He opened the passenger door of the Satellite. “Mama Lena’s it is.”

She sat down on the seat sideways and twisted forward like a lady. His mom used to get into cars that way when she wore a dress and he’d never seen any other woman do it. Swallowing at the unfamiliar rush of mixed heat and uncertainty, he opened the bay door so he could back out. This woman was not a score-seeking groupie. Maureen Donnelly qualified as a nice girl.

And he was already lying to her.

Not lying really, but not filling her in on a few details. Like he wasn’t an auto mechanic and in a couple of weeks, he’d be off on the one ring circus currently known as the Bayonet Ball Tour. Like the next time she saw him after this, he’d probably be on MTV. If she even watched that. She struck him as a History Channel type.

Did it really matter? He was taking her out for a pizza, not marrying her. For one night, he could just be Michael, the guy who was buying her a pizza, taking her home and maybe getting a kiss on the doorstep instead of Bear D’Amato, drummer for Touchstone.

He backed the car out and closed the garage door. “So what is it you do?”

“I’m a teacher. I teach second grade at Wilson.”

“Really?” Teacher. Little kid teacher yet. That fit. “You like it?”

“Yeah, it’s great, but I’m looking forward to summer vacation.”

“Oh?”

“February is kinda long and Spring Break is late this year so we’ve had this really long stretch with no days off. It gets a little tiring, for the teachers and the kids.”

“I always thought the teachers were annoyed when we had days off.” He glanced at her. She had half turned toward him with her purse in her lap, as if she were interested in the conversation, not as if she were amortizing him.

“Nope. We’re all shooing the kids out the door and making plans for our days off.”

“And what do you like to do on your days off?” What did regular people do on their days off? Most of his time was spent in the studio, on tour or in between and in between was only a couple of days here and there. Not that it was bad, he did have the greatest job in the world, but it was a twenty-four seven gig. Even last year’s sabbatical had been spent analyzing what had gone wrong with the previous album so they could avoid it this time.

“The usual stuff. I read, watch TV, garden a little.”

“Go out on blind dates.”

She groaned. “Yeah. I should have given that up for Lent. My friend Linda means well, but she’s not very good at it. I think next time I’m going to be washing my hair or something pressing like that.”

“So it is an excuse.”

“Like you’ve ever gotten it.”

“Once or twice.” A long time ago. Now all he had to do was pick a girl from the line up, which was frustrating in its own way.

Her laugh was light and musical. “So what do you do, other than fix cars?”

Damn. How to answer this question without flat out lying? “I travel and play music.” That sounded good. Like they were two separate things.

“Travel. I’ve always wanted to travel, but never had the money. Where have you been?”

“All over.” He clenched the steering wheel. He’d never seen much of the places he’d been. Travel, perform, sleep, repeat.

“That sounds wonderful.”

Not the word he’d use. “So you have a garden?”

“Yeah. I bought a house last year so I spent last summer gardening. I’m really looking forward to my tulips and daffodils coming up this spring.”

He pulled into the parking lot of Mama Lena’s. The place was jammed. Great, now he had to use his fame to pull a few strings for a table, blowing his cover, or stand around like a jerk waiting for one. “Here we are.”

“Wow, they’re busy tonight.” She checked her watch. “Let’s hope the theater at the mall has a showing time soon so we don’t have to wait long. I don’t know about you, but I’m starved.”

Oh yeah, she would expect to wait for a table. She wouldn’t be disappointed when he couldn’t magically make one open up for her. Man, he was so out of practice for this regular dating thing.

She climbed out without waiting for him to open her door and strode toward the restaurant, giving him the chance to fall back and check out the rear view, what he could see of it above and below her black raincoat. Her calves were slender and well shaped, practically insuring fantastic legs. The three-inch heels she wore put a beautiful glide in her stride. Her hair clip wasn’t a bow or flowers. It was a gold Mickey Mouse. Mickey freakin’ Mouse. This woman was so real, she was surreal.

He pulled open the door. Nobody lingered in the tiny waiting area and a blonde in a white t-shirt and black pants with a little red waitress’s apron wrapped around her waist bounded over before the door even fell shut.

“Hi, Miss Donnelly, you need a table? Benny’s clearing one now.” The waitress’s gaze shifted over Maureen’s shoulder and her eyes went wide. He had about ten seconds before his cover went up in hysteria.

“Thanks, Tara. How’s your sister doing?” Maureen scanned the restaurant. When she returned to the waitress, the girl’s gaze pinged back to her, still wide eyed.

“My sister? Um, Ellie’s fine. Um... I’ll, um...check on Benny.” The waitress spun around and all but sprinted for the back of the restaurant. Probably headed for the kitchen where she would tell the entire staff he was here.

“Tara’s little sister was in my class two years ago.” Maureen turned and frowned. “You have grease on your face.”

“I do?” Bear watched over her shoulder for the kitchen staff to come boiling through the swinging doors to check out the visiting celebrity.

“Yeah. Do you want a Kleenex?” She dug in her purse.

“No, I’ll just go wash it off in the bathroom.” He lunged past her in the direction the waitress had gone, crossed the dining room without touching the floor and burst into the kitchen.

The entire staff huddled around Tara. They turned as a unit to stare at him. All of them in Touchstone’s target audience range.

“I told you!” Tara shrieked.

“Hush,” an older man hissed. The only one not in the crowd. “The customers will hear you.”

“Listen, I just want to have a nice quiet dinner.” Bear held up his hands. “I’ll sign all the autographs you want in here, but out there I’d really appreciate it if you treated me like anybody else.”

“But you’re not anybody else,” a girl with black hair and black rimmed glasses whimpered. “You’re Bear D’Amato from Touchstone.”

“You know Brian Ellis,” another girl said.

“And Jason Callisto.”

That broke their spell and they rushed him, order tablets out for autographs, babbling about how much they liked the album and the single and were they going to be doing a show anyplace close? He started signing. “I’m going to be in town for a few more days and I really want to keep it quiet. I just want to have dinner like anybody else. If everyone could just keep this between us until I leave, maybe I can talk the band into swinging by here while we’re on tour. But seriously, if there’s a breath of a rumor that I’m here, I can’t promise anything.”

The whole group gasped, exchanging conspiratorial glances. Hopefully, it would be as easy to arrange as it had been to promise. Sandy was going to murder him.

Tara stood in front of him with bright eyes. “Are you dating Miss Donnelly?”

“I’m having dinner with Miss Donnelly.” Eventually. If he ever managed to get back to her. He’d been gone a really long time and still had grease on his face.

“I bet she doesn’t even know who you are.” Tara clutched her autograph to her chest. “She’s so tragically unhip. I’ll go seat her.”

“Not a word,” he cautioned as she scooted through the door. Now he was lying. Flat out, no doubt, lying.

But if he told her, she’d either run screaming or latch on tighter for all the wrong reasons. He just wanted one night. Not even the whole night. For the next three hours, he wanted to be nobody special.