Amelia’s pov

After getting somewhat ready I let the dogs out and made breakfast. Saturday’s were Rosa’s day off, so it was the one day that I made myself breakfast. Today I was making a turkey and cheese omelet. My dad came down as I was finishing up and it took everything I had in me not to walk away and not say anything, but I needed to be normal even though it felt like my world was shrinking more and more.

“Morning, dad” I said, putting my omelet on my plate.

“Morning, sweetie. Did you sleep okay?” he asked, grabbing a cup of coffee. I grabbed my plate and sat at the bar to eat.

“Yes about as well as I sleep every night” I said, hoping my blush wasn’t too noticeable. Truthfully, last night was the best sleep I’ve had in ages, but I can’t keep sneaking Kam in just so I can sleep.

“Good. Whose hoodie are you wearing?” he asked, looking at me.

“One of Pat’s that he left behind” I said, eating a bite of my omelet. No way was I telling him I had a guy over overnight and this was his hoodie. He was so quiet that I was afraid that he knew I was lying.

“Oh, I didn’t realize he left anything behind” he finally said. I just nodded my head not trusting myself to say anything. He left a little bit later and I finished my breakfast as mom came down.

“Good morning, honey” she said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“Morning, mom” I said, washing off my plate and put it in the dish washer.

“Did your dad ask about the hoodie?” she asked, pouring herself the last of the coffee. I felt my whole body freeze.

“Yes” I finally managed to get out, but I still couldn’t look at my mom.

“Your secret’s safe with me. Don’t worry about your father. He’ll accept one day that his little girl is growing up.” she said, smiling at me. I smiled back at her, but the nagging thought was still there.

“Thanks, mom” I said, hugging her before leaving the kitchen.


Declan’s pov

So I do have competition, but that will change. For now I’ll keep that little secret to myself. I can’t show Kaden all my cards yet.

“Time to get to work” I don’t have to work, but I needed to keep up the front I have and I don’t mind because I like the people I have working for me. By the end of the day I was ready for a drink and some fun. After getting home I found Tori waiting for me.

“Glad you got my text” I said, smiling at her as I unlocked the door.

“Of course, darling” she purred and it went straight to my dick. I smiled and couldn’t get the door opened fast enough, but I’m a gentlemen in some aspects.

“Would you like a glass of wine while I cook us some dinner?” I asked, helping her out of her coat.

“That would be amazing” she said, sitting on one of the chairs in the living room. I fetched her a glass and got to work on dinner. Thirty minutes later I was on my knees having dessert.


Kamryn’s pov

I did not want to leave Amelia’s bed this morning. That was the best sleep I’d had since losing my parents. The best part was Amelia stayed on my chest the whole night. Then when she texted me the picture of her in my hoodie I was done for. I was already close to the edge, but that one picture pushed moe over and we haven’t gone on a date yet. Thankfully I didn’t mess up as I kept the picture and night on repeat. After we closed for the day Connor came up to me.

“Hey, Kam. We’re all getting together for a drink tonight. You joining?” he asked, catching me as I locked up. We were finally caught up on all the cars we had.

“Sure” I said, grabbing my backpack from the ground.

“Great. The Tipsy Mermaid at eight. See you there!” he said, walking to his car. I waved as I walked to my truck, more like the shop’s truck. My actual truck, a sky blue ‘67 Ford F100, is at home in my garage under a tarp waiting for me to finish her up. That’s my Sunday project, at least until she’s finished. Then the house renovations start up again. I bought a fixer about a year after I bought the shop from Kevin. Between the truck and classes the renovations have been slow. My schedule is so packed that I’m surprised I have time to sleep. After I got home I changed my clothes and got to work on the cleaning and organizing that I’ve been neglecting. When that was done I had enough time to shower and change and I was only a few minutes late to the bar, plus I’ve been texting Amelia pretty much all day in between jobs at work and things around the house. I was sending a text to her as I walked into the bar.

‘I promise I’m getting a cab home’

‘Good. You don’t strike me as the drinking and driving type’

‘I’m not. If I go out and drink, which is rare, I get a cab, but I mostly drink at home’

‘I know admitting this can get me in trouble, but the only time I’ve had alcohol I didn’t like it’

‘What did you have?’

‘Some kind of beer. It tasted cheap’

‘It probably was. I shouldn’t offer this, but I’ll make you a real drink some time’

‘That sounds great. Let me know when you get home. Enjoy your night :)’

I smiled at her text as I pocketed my phone and ordered a drink. I got my drink and found Connor and the other guys from the shop at a booth in the corner.

“Hey, Kam. We were beginning to think you weren’t going to come” Connor said, raising his glass to me.

“Nah, had some shit to get done at the house” I said, grabbing a chair and dragged it to the table.

“So, you want to tell us about the girl that’s been hanging out around the shop?” Scott asked, looking at me. He was one of the ones I knew for a fact Amelia’s father has in his pocket. The guy had way too much nice stuff for what he makes.

“It’s none of your business who she is. She can hang out anytime she wants to” I said, sipping my drink. I haven’t told Connor about Amelia, yet. Not because I don’t trust him, but because I know that if he needed the money he wouldn’t turn Kaden down on his offer. No one said a word about her after that. I only had two drinks, but Scott’s comment pissed me off, so I decided to head home earlier than I had planned. I was waiting for my uber when Connor walked up to me.

“You didn’t have to leave because of me” I said, facing him.

“The guys were starting to get too rowdy for me anyway” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Are you going to ask me about her, too?” I asked, knowing that he wanted to, but wouldn’t in front of everyone else.

“Nah. You got your reasons for keeping her to yourself. I’m not going to pry” he said, which surprised me.

“Thanks, man” I said as my driver pulled up.

“Need a lift?” I asked, pointing to the car.

“No, I’m not too far away from my place. I’ll just walk” he said. I gave him a bro hug and went home.


Amelia’s pov

After I left the kitchen I decided to walk the dogs. I didn’t have much homework left, so I popped on my current audiobook and set out with three dogs. Two hours later I was back home with two of the dogs with me. Kamryn and I have been texting almost non-stop today, well since he got off work. This feels so natural to do with him and it just makes my feelings grow more with each conversation. We stop texting so he can have a drink with his buddies. After finishing my homework I put on an ambience that matches my current read and dove back into my book for the rest of the night. A few hours later I felt my eyes starting to droop, so I placed my bookmark on the page I was on and put my book back on the nightstand and turned the ambience off. I was just finishing my night time routine when my phone went off.

‘Hey, I made it home safe and sound’ I looked at the clock and noticed it was only eleven.

‘You’re home earlier than I thought you would be’

‘Yeah. One of the guys asked a question that was too personal, so I called it a night’

‘What did they ask?’ it took so long for him to answer that I thought he fell asleep.

‘They asked about you. I told them it wasn’t any of their business’ the honesty in his text made my heart skip a beat.

‘Why were they asking about me?’

‘They noticed you’ve been hanging around and wanted to know who you were’

‘Which is why you said it wasn’t any of their business. My dad probably has them in his pocket.’ I let out a sigh and just shook my head. I love my dad, but he was too over protective sometimes.

‘I know he does. Some of them aren’t smart enough to hide it.’

‘Are you one of them in his pocket?’ I didn’t want to ask, but I had to because I had to know. My phone lit up and when I looked at it expecting to be a text, but instead Kamryn was calling me.

“Hello?” I was a little scared as to why he was calling me.

“Hey, there, darling. Sorry for the impromptu call, but I felt like this was a conversation that needed a phone call and not a text” I could hear him moving around and I assumed he was also getting ready for bed.

“It’s okay. I agree with that statement.” I said my heart rate starting to climb.

“Good because if this were to turn into more I wouldn’t want it to start off on the wrong foot with assumptions” I swear my heart stopped all together at that statement.

“Yeah” was all I could manage and I felt stupid because that’s all I could get out.

“Good, so I’m just going to say it. Your dad did offer me the same deal as everyone else when I bought the shop, but I turned him down because I’m not going to spy on someone. There’s not enough money in the world to make me do that, but I wasn’t going to do that to you.” he said. His words made my heart melt because I knew the other reason my dad paid off everyone else.

“He also did it because of Pat” I said, quietly laying down on my bed.

“Yeah. He said as much when he stopped by the last time he was in town” he said. Pat must have stopped by Kamryn’s shop before he met us for lunch.

“Yeah, Pat would know more than me. I’m pretty much in the dark with everything” I said, rolling over on the side that doesn’t have my phone pressed to my ear.

“Yeah, but I just wanted you to know that you have nothing to worry about. I’m not reporting shit to your dad.” he said, causing me to laugh a little.

“Thank you, Kamryn” I said and I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.

“Any time, darling” he said. We stayed on the phone for another thirty minutes until we hung up. As I got comfortable in bed my phone buzzed with one last text.

‘Good night, beautiful. It was great talking to you and getting the air cleared before it became a problem down the road.’ I smiled at the text and took a minute to think of my response.

‘Thank you for taking the time to call me and thank you for being honest with me. It’s the sweetest and nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. Goodnight, Kam.’ I smiled at my response and hit send. I placed my phone on the night stand and turned off my light and went to sleep with a smile on my face.