Riley’s POV:

“Babe, can we do something tonight?” I eagerly glance at Heath while he drives. I have a work meeting in ten minutes and he’s actually agreed to drive me instead of always saying he was too tired and telling me to just walk. I’m probably only getting a ride because it’s Friday and he always has his weekly business meeting in the city today, but I don’t complain and just appreciate the gesture.

“My meeting is going to run longer than normal tonight so I won’t be home until late.” I sink back into my seat and cross my arms over my chest, staring at the scenery going by. I can tell he noticed my frustration and he heaves an irritated sigh.

“C’mon, Ri! You can’t be mad at me for work! That’s so unbelievably selfish of you. I mean, you’re already making me late because I have to drop you off at work, so I should be the one that’s mad, not you.” I turn to him and open my mouth to say something, but think twice and close it quickly before he notices. Last time I argued with him, I had to wear cover-up on my cheek for an entire week.

I sigh, and think about what he said and realize that maybe I am being too hard on him.

“You’re right, babe. I’m sorry. That was wrong of me to be frustrated with you.” He smiles and glances at me through his Ray Bans.

“I’m glad you know when you’re in the wrong, babe. Even though I had to point it out to you.” I give him a half-hearted smile and stare out the window again.

He pulls up to the club and I take off my seatbelt before leaning over to kiss him. He puts his hand up quickly to cover my face.

“Babe, you know how much I hate it when you get your lip gloss all over my face.” He puts his hand down and I sit back and look at him.

“Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot. Thanks for the ride.” I start to get out of the car before he stops me.

“I need you to go over to that detail place on your walk home and check and see how much longer on my baby. Daddy wants to drive her soon.” I inwardly cringe after he finishes; I hated when he talked about his car like it was his girlfriend. I barely get half the love he shows that car and I actually AM his girlfriend.

I get out of the car and bend down to look at him. “Okay. I’ll see you later tonight. I hope your meeting goes well.” He gets a smug grin on his face before he answers me.

“Oh, I know it will.” I say goodbye and shut the door behind me before walking into the entrance of the club. I curse myself when I realize I forgot my jumper in Heath’s car; Larry always has the air conditioning set on to the lowest possible temperature because the he liked watching the female bartenders get T.H.O because we weren’t permitted to wear jackets behind the bar. The guy was total scum, but he paid us under the table and I needed the money.

Ever since Heath made me start paying him rent to live at his flat, I’ve been running extremely low on funds. I didn’t quite understand why I had to pay him rent because his parents paid for the apartment themselves. But when I brought it up to him once, he yelled at me and said I was being ungrateful and roughed me up to make sure I never asked again.

I know maybe at times Heath could seem a little harsh, but I knew he loved me and I also knew that sometimes I could be difficult and ask silly questions. So I guess I deserved to be put in my place every now and then when I stepped out of line.

I rub my arms briskly to try and stop myself from getting goose bumps, but it isn’t helping much. I probably should’ve rethought my outfit for today. I walk over to where the other bartenders are sitting and take a seat next to some guy whose name I couldn’t remember.

After twenty minutes of waiting, Larry finally comes out of his office, another skank slinking by his side to no surprise, and approaches the group. His nasty comb over is all mussed up on top of his head, no doubt a result of the office sex he just had with Ms. Skankface standing next to him.

“Alright everyone, listen up, I just did the numbers and profits are down. With that being said, everyone is going to have twelve hours cut from their work schedule each week to even it out.” We all start yelling at him, shocked by how ridiculous his plan is to fix his business.

“This is crazy! You’ve already cut our hours this month when you hired two new bartenders that you didn’t need!” The nameless guy next to me spits at Larry. He isn’t even paying attention to our outrage as he grabs his skank’s ass and places wet kisses all the way down her neck, already covered in love bites.

“Larry! You can’t do this to us! We all have expenses of our own we need to cover! You’re taking out twelve hours’ worth of money we all need!” He finally looks back at us as his bitch playfully kisses the side of his face and down his neck.

“Sorry, guys. This is how it’s got to be. If you’re that upset about losing a little money, then don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” He pointed with his boney fingers to the entrance and started walking back to his office.

What the fuck was I going to do to make up for that lost money? Heath was not going to be happy about this. My mind was racing at a ridiculous speed as I exited the club and began making my half hour walk home.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I almost forgot to stop in at the car shop. Butterflies began to formulate in my stomach as I remembered I might see Harry working. It had been almost a week since he knocked that guy out at the club. I had been thinking about him on and off and was wondering when I would see him next. Thank you, Heath! Now I have a reason to bump into him.

I walked up the parking lot to the shop’s main office but was distracted by a quite hilarious site unfolding before my eyes. A cute, blonde boy was buffing the headlights of a black Audi while shaking his bum to Single Ladies by Beyoncé. I stopped and watched as he shook his cute little butt along to the song and sang the lines with such attitude that I almost confused him for Bey herself.

He starting doing a hybrid running man/booty bounce dance but stopped dead in his tracks when he made eye contact with me. I covered my mouth to hide my laugh, but my shoulders started to shake as he began blushing furiously before giving me a quick wave and going back to work.

I chuckled as I walked into the office and straight up to the front desk. There wasn’t anyone seated at the desk, so I rang the little bell in front of me and waited for someone to assist me. An attractive boy with tousled brown hair and stunning blue eyes popped his head out of the office door behind the desk and smiled at me. I saw from his tag on his shirt that his name is Louis.

“Hello there! What can I help you with today?” I stared at him for a second, realizing that he looked extremely familiar. It then came to me that he was at the club that night with Harry. I shake out of my thoughts and smile back at him.

“Hi, yes, I just wanted to check the status of a car here under the name Heath Long?” He nodded and grabbed a large filing book on the desk, flipping through it before stopping on a page.

“Yes! Of course, the Aston Martin. I believe one of our detailers are working on it as we speak so I will go and check to see how much longer it will take! Will you give me a second?” I nod and he turns on his heels and walks out the door into the garage.

I watch Louis as he walked over and begins talking to someone who appears to be underneath one of the cars. I see him step back a bit so the person underneath the car can get up. My breath catches as I look at the person he was talking to.
Harry.

My heart starts to pump fast as I see Louis jab his thumb over at the office. Harry looks in my direction and I panic and whirl around so I’m facing a different wall. I could feel my palms getting sweaty as I pictured him walking over to the office to talk to me. Why was I getting so nervous? It’s not like he likes me or anything. And besides, I’m happy with Heath. I shouldn’t even be looking at other men.

I hear the doorknob click and feel a gust of air hit my back as the door swings open. I turn around and am at a loss for words as I take in the figure standing in the doorway.

Harry is wiping the grease from his hands and forearms with a towel as he smiles at me. I attempt to smile but can barely help my jaw from dropping on the floor as I take in his upper torso; sweaty and covered in patches of some sort of black substance. He must’ve wiped his face with a dirty hand too because there’s a slight black shadow on his right cheekbone.

He’s so breathtaking.

“Hello again, love.”

///

Harry’s POV:

Sometimes it astounded me how people with enough money to buy cars this nice were so incredible idiotic when it came to maintaining it. I was on my back underneath a Mercedez Benz SLR Roadster sweating like a pig when I felt someone kick my left foot.

“I’m a little busy, if you can’t tell.” I grunted as I attempted to tighten a loose bolt.

“You’re going to want to stop for this. There’s someone here you will definitely want to help.” Louis? What was he talking about? Hopefully it wasn’t one of my hookups coming to tell me I’m a father or something. I wheel myself out from underneath the car and stand up to look at Louis.

“What are you talking about?” He jabs his thumb at the office window and I look up to see Riley Gray staring at me from behind the glass. My eyes go wide as she turns quickly from my glance and walks to the other side of the office.

“She’s here to get an update on her jackhole boyfriend’s car.” I don’t even look at him while he speaks. I just stare at the pretty blonde with her back turned to me. I start to make my way over to the office, grabbing a towel along the way to wipe some of the gunk off my hands.

As I open the door into the air conditioned room, she spins around and I almost flatline. She looks so damn pretty with her white cutoffs and black crop top. Her blonde hair is situated in a messy ponytail atop her head and her lips are stained with some sort of berry lip gloss, making them extremely enticing.

I smile and stare at her as she awkwardly shifts from one foot to the other.

“Hello again, love.” She blushes at the word choice and mumbles a soft hello.

“So you’re here about the Aston Martin, yeah?” She nods her head in approval as I throw the towel over my left shoulder.

“I believe Zayn is putting the finishing touches on it right now, so if you don’t mind waiting here for a little bit, you can drive it home once he’s done.” She looks up at me and gets a scared look on her face before speaking.

“Oh, um, no, I can’t drive it home.” I tilt my head with confusion while she continues.

“Heath doesn’t let me drive his cars. He doesn’t trust me.” Just hearing his name gets my blood boiling. I drop my head so she doesn’t notice the anger stamped on my face. I can’t believe this narcissistic twat doesn’t even trust his girlfriend to drive his car fifteen minutes down the road to his flat.

“He doesn’t, does he? Well, okay. Why don’t you tell Heath he can come pick it up any time today or tomorrow.” I can tell she’s embarrassed and I instantly feel bad. I look outside to see if she has a cab waiting for her, and I’m confused when I don’t see one.

“Did you walk here?”

“Kind of. I had a work meeting today and Heath dropped me off because he had a meeting in the city today. And I don’t have a car of my own, so I have to leg it back to his apartment.” I could tell she wasn’t thrilled about the idea of walking home right now and I could also tell that something was bothering her; it almost looked like she was about to cry.

“Okay, well, I mean, if you want I can drive you back to his flat? I’m about to go on my break anyways.” Riley glanced up at me with grateful eyes and made me inhale a deep breath as the sweetest smile stretched her lips.

“Really?” Just hearing her melodic voice makes me want to wrap her in my arms and keep her there forever.

“Sure! It’s really no problem at all. I know I wouldn’t want to walk that far.” She sighed and nods her head in agreement. I walk around the desk and open the front door, allowing her to exit first.

“Shall we?” She smiles and walks out. We make our way over to my car and get buckled in.

“Wow, this is a really great car.” I can feel my stomach get excited after she compliments my 1969 Boss 429 Mustang and I turn to flash her a huge grin.

“Thank you, it was my stepdad's. He gave it to me as a gift when I moved to London and I fixed it up so it’s running like new.” She slides her hand across the smooth dashboard and looks at me with those stunning blue eyes. I put the key in the ignition and gas off out of the parking lot.

After she gives me directions to the flat, Riley falls quiet and lays her head back on the head rest, closing her eyes.

“I’m sorry if I’m out of line, but are you doing okay? I know it’s strange, but I kind of have a 6th sense about noticing when something’s wrong with someone.” She keeps her eyes closed and doesn’t answer for a few seconds, so I glance over at her pretty face and am surprised when I see a tear rolling down the side of her cheek. I wait patiently for her to respond.

“I-I just had a really bad day at w-work. My boss cut a c-crazy amount of hours from our schedules and I just don’t know what I’m g-going to do for m-money.” I watch her as she leans up again and places her head in her hands, sobbing silently. Fuck, I just want to kiss every tear from her face and hold her tight until she’s calm again.

“I’m so sorry, Riley. That is absolutely terrible.” She chuckles and speaks into her hands.

“And n-now I’m crying in the car of s-some person I barely know. Wow, way to go Riley.”

It pains my heart knowing that I have to watch her cry and there isn’t anything I can do to make her feel better. I know if she asked me to, I’d go and give that boss of hers a piece of my mind and my fist. As I pull my car in to the flat complex she directed me to, I see her sit back up to compose herself; she wipes her eyes and sniffles loudly a few times before unbuckling her seatbelt.

I expect her to open the door and get out, but she waits for a few seconds and turns her stare to meet mine. Her eyelids are slightly puffy and red from crying, but she still manages to give me a small heart-wrenching smile before speaking.

“Thank you. For the ride. And listening to me and my sob story.” I can tell she’s embarrassed by the fact that I just witnessed her cry, so I wave her off and shoot her a huge grin.

“Hey, no problem. Everyone has days like this. But from what I can assume, you seem to be pretty smart, so I know you’ll figure something out.” She blushes even more from my compliment and begins to wring her hands in her lap. After a couple seconds she looks up at me again.

“Thank you. I appreciate it. I don’t want to keep you any longer so I’ll be on my way.” She opens the door and my stomach does a few flips when she leaves her spot next to me. I haven’t even left yet and I already miss her.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a lightbulb goes off in my head.

“Whatifyoucameandworkedforme?” I see her bend down from standing just outside of my car and stare at me with bewilderment.

“What?” I inwardly kick myself for being so un-smooth with that question as I clear my throat and say it again.

“What if I offered you a job at the shop? We actually need someone to help with some things at the front desk. And you would only have to work the hours that you lost from the club.” I waiting anxiously for her response, my heart pounded hard inside my chest cavity.

She jumps back down to sit in the passenger seat and looks at me with huge eyes. “Are you serious? That…that would be incredible! Ohmygoodness, thank you!!” She stretches over the console separating the two chairs and wraps her arms around my neck in a vice grip.

I chuckle as I manage to swing one arm behind her back and pull her in to me. I feel my stomach become warm with arousal as I breathe in her heavenly scent. She finally lets her hands fall from my neck and grins widely.

“Yeah, sure, no problem. If you want to just come around the shop next Monday around 10:00, we can get you started.” She jumps up and down in her seat and thanks me a couple more times before getting out of the car and rushing to the front gate of the complex.

I sit and watch as she waits for the gate to open and I am overwhelmed with contentment as she turns and waves at me before jogging up to the entrance. I wave back and slowly sink in to my chair, an extremely large smile starts to hurt my cheeks as I try to calm the butterflies in my stomach. Now I get to see her every day and begin my plan to get her out of that miserable so-called relationship.

I was ready for the challenge.

Notes

OMG I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO UPDATE THIS STORY!! :( :( :(

I was working on updating my other story, and I needed to make sure to get two chapters out relatively close to each other, so it left me with little time to update this one!! But it's here now! :)

Questions for this update..

What do you think of Heath? Total asshole, right?

OR

How do you think Harry is going to try and win over Riley?

Send me your answers! I hope you liked this update! And as always, vote, comment and subscribe! :)

LOVE YOU ALL!
-Natalie Xx