Vero’s door flew open. She shrieked as someone grabbed her by the arm and hauled her out of the car. I threw open my door and scrambled out, clutching my heart in relief when I saw it was only Javi.
His eyes raked over every inch of her. “Jesus, Veronica! You could have been killed.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, muffled by his jacket when he dragged her against his chest into a bone-crushing hug.
My legs felt like Jell-O as I leaned against the trunk. “I’m fine, too, by the way, in case anyone was wondering.”
Vero wriggled out of Javi’s arms, hiking up her belt and pushing up the huge sleeves of Ty’s uniform.
“What the hell are you wearing?” he asked her. “And where the fuck did you get this car?”
“I borrowed it,” she said.
“You borrowed it,” he repeated, as if that might make sense of any of this. “From who?”
Vero put her hands on her hips. Ty’s sleeves sagged around them. The hem of his shirt had come loose from her waistband, hanging almost to her knees. “None of your business.”
Javi stared at Ty’s name badge and gritted his teeth. “Do you mind telling me what that was all about back there?”
“I do, actually.”
A bitter laugh burst out of him. “I was this close,” he said, bringing his thumb and forefinger together, frustration sparking in his eyes. “This close to closing the deal on the Aston.”
“Didn’t seem like it. Looked to me like they were balking.”
“Because I was trying to get a few thousand more for you! And if you hadn’t shown up when you did, they would have come around. After your crazy light show back there, I’ll be lucky if I can talk them into coming back.”
He raked back his hair as he paced the side of the car. He shut Vero’s door, shaking his head at the paint job. “We should get this off the road.”
“We need to get it back to the training center before sunrise. Preferably without the … you know.” I gestured to the penis.
Javi’s sigh was heavy as he opened the door. He frowned at the steering column and turned slowly to Vero.
“I lost the key,” she said defensively.
He fought a reluctant grin as he held the door open for her and watched her get in. “Help me push it,” he said to me.
Vero put the car in reverse and Javi and I leaned against the hood, giving it one final heave until the car climbed over the grass onto the shoulder of the road. Javi got in his Camaro and followed us the short distance back to the garage. He unlocked a bay, ushered the cruiser inside, and closed the door behind us.
“Paint thinner’s on the shelf,” he said. “I’ll go find some more rags.” Vero watched him disappear through the office door. When he was gone, she switched on a single light over her cousin’s workbench and rummaged in his cabinets.
“Here,” she said, passing me a rag and a bottle of something that smelled like nail polish remover.
I knelt beside the car and poured some on the cloth, leaning away from the fumes. The garage was creepy in the dark, disturbingly reminiscent of the night Feliks Zhirov and I had first met in this very spot. I scrubbed fast, eager to be gone. Vero took a second rag from the workbench and knelt beside me. She chuckled to herself as I rubbed circles in the paint.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“This might be the closest you get to a penis this week. You do realize we’ve only got two days left of police camp, and you still haven’t jumped Nick’s bones yet.”
“Jumping Nick won’t fix anything.”
“Neither will ignoring the fact that you want to.”
“You’re one to talk,” I said, gesturing to the door Javi had disappeared through.
“Javi and I are ancient history.”
“I don’t buy it. The guy’s obviously still in love with you.”
“He’s just a flirt. It doesn’t mean anything. It never did.” I detected a hint of melancholy in this last bit, as if I’d pulled a bandage from a festering wound.
“What happened between you two?”
“Who the hell knows?” she said, scrubbing harder. “It was the summer before I left for college. We were together, and then the summer ended and suddenly we weren’t. He disappeared the week before I left for school. Just … poof. No texts. No calls. Ghosted me without a word. Didn’t speak to him again until I came home for Thanksgiving break. I got home a day early and surprised my cousin at the garage where he was working. Javi was there.”
“What happened?”
“He pretended everything was fine. Like nothing had ever happened between us. He showed up for dinner the next night at my mother’s house with Ramón, but my mom wouldn’t let Javi through the door.” She laughed quietly as she remembered it. “I’d never seen her so angry before. She told him he didn’t deserve me. That he wasn’t good enough for her daughter.” Vero’s smile faded. “I didn’t have the heart to tell her it may have been the other way around.”
She stood back and surveyed our work. I could still make out the faint outline of a penis where we’d scrubbed and blue paint clung to the treads of the tires. I hoped there would be a healthy film of road grime to cover it up by the time we got back to the training center.
Javi returned through the back door, carrying a handful of rags and a used Goodyear tire he must have pilfered from the salvage yard. He peeled off his coat and unbuttoned his flannel, stripping down to a thin white undershirt. Vero and I stood back, giving him room. He worked fast, the dark shadows of ink on his back and shoulders visible through the fabric as he set a jack under the frame and cranked the rear of the cruiser off the floor. He stripped the blue tire off the car and rolled it aside, fitting the gently used one in its place. When he finished, he knelt beside the front panel, rubbing out the last of the blue paint. I glanced over at Vero, but she was too busy watching Javi to notice.
When he finally stood, sweat dampened his hairline and his shirt. He peeled it off, using it to catch a bead of perspiration at his temple before dropping it on the hood and reaching for his flannel. Javi was covered in ink. Hardly an inch of bare skin remained on his arms or his back, but his chest was a blank canvas with the exception of a single tattoo. A small V adorned Javi’s left pectoral, close to his heart, the tip of it just visible as he buttoned his flannel closed. It was suspiciously similar to the J on Vero’s backside.
I turned to her, drumming my fingers over my smirking lips, holding back every I told you so I badly wanted to utter.
“So what now?” Vero asked him, her cheeks flushing.
Javi used his undershirt to wipe the tire grime from his hands. “I’ll call the buyer and offer him ten percent off our original deal. Maybe I can convince him to come back.” Vero opened her mouth to protest. “Relax,” Javi said as he tossed his shirt on the workbench, “I’ll take it from my cut.”
“I don’t want any handouts from you.”
“Then what do you want, V?” He stared her down, the dark fire in his eyes mirroring the intensity in hers. She was in denial if she thought for one minute Javi didn’t still have feelings for her.