Bad Company (Seven Deadly Sins #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Ten: Rules of the Road

Rules of the Road... 

 

“Eliza, you’re going to Hermann with Dante today. Do as he tells you, and for the love of Pete, don’t break nothin'. You ain’t nearly half as valuable as some of them things I got coming in.” Aunt Celeste turned to face Dante, pointing a gnarled finger at him. “You, don’t let her drive 'cause she’s a menace on the road, and don’t let her touch nothin’ either ‘cause if she breaks it, it’s coming out of your pay this time. We clear?”

Dante didn’t say anything, he just nodded once like he’d heard her loud and clear. When I looked over at him, he was glaring at me like this was somehow my fault. Please, as if. It wasn’t like I’d woken up that morning and convinced Aunt Celeste into letting me tag along on another one of his stupid errands. Heck, I didn’t even want to leave town today – not since I was secretly hoping to see Chase later on.  

All night I’d thought about his goodnight kiss. It was a small thing really – just a gentle press of his lips against mine, but it had raised small goose bumps along my arms and sent a nervous bubble of energy through my belly. It wasn’t the first time I’d ever been kissed, but it was definitely the first time I’d ever been kissed by a boy like Chase. He was sweet and funny and so cute – it was all just a little bit overwhelming. I was hoping he’d come by the shop or maybe I’d find some excuse to go back down to the hardware store later, but it was clear Aunt Celeste was having none of that today.

At first I was worried she may have heard me sneaking in, but as I’d walked through the store the night before I’d found my note right where I’d left it. It was still unopened. If she’d heard me going up the stairs and into my room, she didn’t say a word about it to me this morning, although I kept catching her glancing sideways at me from the corner of her eye.

To make matters worse, Dante was in an even fouler mood than usual – and that’s really saying something all things considered. As he stormed his way downstairs, I thought maybe he’d be a little friendlier this morning. After all, he’d been almost civil to me the afternoon before.

Sometimes my weak attempts at idealism were pretty pathetic. No wonder I kept it suppressed under my pragmatically bleak outlook on humanity in general (Dante specifically). If possible, he was even more hostile towards me than before – though for the life of me I couldn’t imagine why. It wasn't like I was intentionally trying to cramp his style. It wasn’t like I was getting all personally ticked that he was cutting into my Chase-flirting-maybe-even-asking-me-out-again-time, right?

A part of me wondered if that’s why Aunt Celeste wanted me to stick with him today. Did she want me under Dante’s hostile scrutiny in an enclosed space because she knew what I'd been up to last night? Did she think overexposure to her moody, ill-tempered errand boy would make me confess to some kind of wrong doing? Obviously she’d never been on a downtown train during rush hour on black Friday – no amount of cramped exposure to hostile individuals would get me to crack at this point.

“Let’s go,” Dante barked, pulling the shop door open and taking his special brand of happy outside. I looked back at Aunt Celeste but she was already going up the stairs. Sighing, I took after Dante.

Chase was going to have to wait until my day with Dante, the talking wonder, was over.

Awesome.

~~ ~

 

By the time I stepped outside, Dante was already in his black Ford truck waiting for me. He didn’t say a word as I climbed into the passenger seat and put on my seatbelt. His jaw was clenched so tight, I didn’t think he could even spit one out at this point, even if he really wanted to.