Chapter Six (Vic's POV)

"Isn't it wonderful, Vic? I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees his Christmas present! Do you think he'll like it?" Cherri asked worriedly as I sat in my office at the shop I owned. I leaned back in my seat, balancing my phone on my shoulder as I scanned a few files for the newest vehicles in our care before I smiled at her worry.

"Calm down, Cherri. I'm positively he'll adore it." I assured as I set the files down, leaning over my desk as Cherri sighed with relief on the other line.

"Thank goodness. You know, I don't know what happened the other night, but when I came home, it was like Ace had grown up a little more. He's even talking about having a Christmas party at our house, you and all the boys are invited too! He's also mentioned something about Devin and Danny moving back in, if they want of course. I know how close they've gotten to Blake and Rick." She explained. The delight in her voice was on the verge of exploding and I laughed.

"That so? Sounds like a good idea to me. I'm sure Danny and Devin would be happy to see you guys again. I'll talk to them tonight and have them give you a call." I said, not mentioning anything about what had changed Ace. Of course I knew what happened, but I wasn't about to ruin their happy ending with details about Ace's drunken scene and hissy fit and total life changing situation from that night.

What happened in my house, stayed in my house.

So long as Rex kept his mouth shut.

"Hey, Mr. Patterson." I looked up as my office door opened and one of my employees, Roger, came in with grease caking his blue overall uniform, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his blonde hair sticking up in a mess.

"Hold on a sec, Cherri." I said. She okayed and I looked at Roger, who shifted a little, running a hand through his hair and smearing grease in it. I was gonna mention something, but knowing he was rather timid and easily embarrassed in the first place just led me to stay quiet.

"There's a client at the front desk. He looks important. He's driving a 2011 Jaguar C-Z16 Concept Hybrid." He said quietly, pointing a thumb out the door. I blinked and rose to my feet.

"Hey, Cherri, can I call you back in a bit? I have a client."

"Sure thing! Ciao for now!" She hung up and I placed the phone in its cradle. I straightened my blue button up shirt and black tie before I glanced at my reflection in the window that looked out to the garage before I followed Roger out of the office and we headed down the stairs to the front desk in another room.

The secretary, Melinda, was standing behind the desk, her cheeks pink and her red heels clicking together nervously and I could tell by. Standing on the other side of the desk had to be one of the most attractive guys I'd ever seen- Since Ace anyway, which is quite a feat to beat.

He was tall, taller than me, with light brown hair that seemed to frame his face and curl at the ends, his eyes a green-hazel as a pair of sunglasses sat on top of his head. He wore a beat up leather jacket under a Columbia jacket, a white dress shirt poking out and a pair of black jeans finishing off his attire. He looked like he had money, I thought flatly.

"Can I help you?" I asked. He smiled and I caught sight of the dimples in his cheeks, his teeth showing as he tilting his head toward me.

"Actually, yes. I think there's something wrong with my car. It's making a weird chugging sound. You know, like when a train is putt-putt-putting along." He replied. I nodded slowly.

"All right. Well, part it in the garage and we'll take a look at it." I answered. He smiled again, flashing those cute dimples of his. He was rather young, probably younger than me in his early thirties. No where near forty, I thought enviously, then mentally slapped myself.

I thought the mid-life crisis didn't happen until age fifty. I was early.

I headed into the garage as the client drove in, settling in place as the other workers backed up to gape at the Jaguar. Yea, it really was something to gape at. The sleek gray-silver glittered car sat there, purring as its owner got out, closing the door behind him.

"Roger, get Rick and you two can check under the hood." I said. Roger nodded and went off to fetch Rick from the Volvo he was working on. I studied the Jaguar that sat there in its silent beauty as its owner stood beside me.

"My name's Anthony Stewart, by the way." He said suddenly. I blinked and looked at him, then shook his hand awkwardly.

"Victor Patterson," I greeted, "Call me Vic. That's a nice car you got there." Anthony smiled and glanced at his vehicle with only a slight interest before he looked back at me.

"I suppose. It's just a gift from my sister. She's always sending me the strangest things."

"I'd kill to have your sister."

"When she's giving gifts anyway," Anthony laughed, "Otherwise, she's a serpent. She's really good at ruining the reps of big time celebrities." Now that sounded vaguely familiar. I cocked a brow.

"Stewart. Are you talking about Tracy Stewart, the reporter from Channel 3?" I asked. Anthony grinned and I mentally cursed his dimples.

"That's her, the she-devil herself." He answered.

"Well, that's nice, at least she's making big time money in ruining the lives of my clients." I replied dully. Most of the people who came into my shop were big time people. We'd even had Leonardo DiCaprio stop in here once for a tune up. Greatest day of my life to see the second sexiest man in America.

"Could be worse," Anthony exclaimed, "She could ruin your life, but you helped fix her husband's transmission for a good price, but she owes it to you keep you in the spotlight."

"Thanks." I deadpanned. I was itching to get back to the office to call Cherri up again, but work was work and I had no choice, but to stand there and watch Roger lean over the hood and Rick slide underneath.

"Hey, man," Rick said from under the car, "Would you be pissed if I had sex with your car?"

"Rick, don't be immature." I scolded, feeling my cheeks grow hot. He was such an embarrassment sometimes. What happened to the curious little boy he used to be? Oh. Right. Puberty.

"Haha," Anthony grinned, "It's fine. And do what you want, kid, just don't jizz on the seats. I'm not the only one who drives this thing."

"Sweet." Rick breathed and he didn't move from under the car, even after Roger slammed the hood down, studying it for a second thoughtfully. I cocked a brow before Roger glanced over at me, shaking his head and holding up two fingers. I looked at Anthony, who was still looking at me.

Wow, his eyes were almost pure green if it weren't for the occasional gleam of brown and gold.

"Your oil needs to be changed," I told him, "We can have it done soon. We'll just go into my office and have you sign some papers." Anthony nodded and I led the way back to my office, leaving the work to Roger and Rick. Once inside, I shut the door and had Anthony sit down as I handed him the papers. I paused to look out the window into the garage.

I winced as Rick stroked the hood of Anthony's car, saying something that suspiciously looked like an obscene recount of his sickest fantasies. Roger and a couple of the other guys were laughing. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Anthony, who was smiling toward the window, then he looked at me.

"Cute kid." He said. I shrugged.

"He's my nephew. He stopped being cute once he hit the teenage years." I said. Anthony laughed. He had a nice laugh, it was throaty and loud. I bit my tongue to keep from saying it out loud as I took the papers and looked them over before placing them in a file and writing his name on it.

"So, Vic, this is a really nice shop. My sister was right about it."

"Thanks. I try."

"You got any plans for Christmas?"

"Family friend's having a get-together."

"Sounds good," He paused, staring out the window at Rick and the others before he looked back at me, "You married, Vic?" I cocked a brow for a second with a sour expression before I forced a smile.

"No." I answered shortly. Anthony nodded slowly, looking a bit surprised.

"Join the club. Only been married once and she was probably the biggest mistake I ever made. Women are so complicated. Say one thing wrong and they try to castrate you for it." He mused aloud, drumming his fingers on the armrest of the chair. I sat down in my mine, lifting a brow.

"I wouldn't know." I said. Anthony glanced at me curiously.

"Yea? I'm surprised. I'd figure the women would be crawling all over you. Or do you have some kind of personality disorder? Or are you just pretending to be nice to me?" He asked. I couldn't stop myself from really smiling now. Wow, he was nosy, but it was a cute, curious sort of nosy.

"Just not interested." I replied. Anthony studied me for a second, then a grin broke across his face.

"Ohh. I get it. Cool, that's fine with me. I couldn't agree more. Men are so much easier to deal with than women." He agreed. I flushed and picked the pen up to fiddle with it for a second. It obviously didn't hide the fact that he embarrassed me as he smiled, leaning on the desk.

"Hey, we're both handsome single men. You free this Friday?" He asked. I stared at him.

"We just met." I stated. Anthony practically pouted, tilting his head to rest on his fist.

"That's the fun part. We'll have so much to talk about. Come on. Just one night out and if it goes wrong, I'll never ask you again." He urged.

I wanted to say no. I didn't know him and he was way younger than me with a dashing smile, and those goddamned dimples that just teased me. Something about him both turned me off and turned me on and I hated to admit it. Though, another part of me was hissing that if I accepted, I'd be cheating on Ace.

Even though Ace was already back together with Cherri and they were living their happily ever after. I could faintly hear Rex chiding me in the back of my mind for it. It wouldn't hurt to just go out for a night, right? I could just make dinner before I left so the boys didn't starve. It'd probably just be somewhere quiet and we'd just talk and he'd just be another friend of mine. I didn't mind that.

"All right," I agreed at last, studying him closely, "But we're taking my car. There's something seriously wrong with yours and I don't think it's just the oil like Roger said."

"Are you the Car Whisperer?" Anthony teased.

"At your service." I replied. Anthony flashed me a wicked grin before I led him out of the office and out to his car. He started it up and it hummed gently. He rolled the window down and handed me a slip of paper with his number and address on it.

"See you Friday, Vic." He beamed, then shut his window and pulled out of the garage, driving down the street and out of sight as the doors closed down behind him. I glanced at the slip of paper, then looked up to see Roger and Rick staring at me.

"What?" I demanded. Roger blushed.

"Nothing." He lied. Rick snorted.

"My ass," He retorted, taking a step forward to peek at the paper, but I stuffed it into my pants pocket, making him glare at me, "What was that about? I thought you made it a rule not to flirt with the clients."

"I'm not flirting." I answered flatly.

"Then why'd he give you his number?" Roger asked. I stared at him and he blushed again, ruffling his hair awkwardly and turning away.

"Oh, look. Someone needs a new muffler." He exclaimed and hurried off. Rick, of course, stayed behind to fold his arms over his chest, his black t-shirt smeared with grease and his overalls pushed down to his wist with the sleeves tied.

"You're not going to go, are you?" He asked me. I rolled my eyes and brushed past him toward my office, but he was right on my tail. As usual.

"Vic, you just met the guy and he's just a rich bastard trying to buy you." Rick chided. I laughed.

"You're lecturing me? You've got nerve, Rick. He's just a client and we're just getting together to talk. I'm not at all interested in him like that. It's just another friendship."

"Like the one you have with Rex?" Rick snorted. I had my back to him and hid my flinch of irritation as I pushed the door open and walked in, slamming the door shut behind me, but Rick was throwing it back open and walking in after me.

"Don't bother me now, Rick. I have work to do and so do you. Go out there and order a new bumper for that Volvo." I ordered. Rick studied me suspiciously, then rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Fine, whatever, but don't blame me when he turns out to be a creepy groping gross pervert thing." He responded, then stormed out of the office, slamming the door shut. I sighed and plopped down in my seat, staring out into the garage as Rick made his way to the Volvo. His bad mood just spread as he shoved a couple of employees, Jake and Todd, aside so he could work on the Volvo on his own.

I rolled my eyes and swiveled back around to my desk. I sat there, staring at Anthony's file. Without thinking, I pulled the slip of paper out of my pocket to stare at. I recognized the street name from just a couple blocks away from the high school. It was part of a small neighborhood with big old houses that seemed to go on forever.

I tucked the address and number away, eventually calling Cherri back. We just talked about the Christmas party and gossiped. I didn't mind. Cherri was a sweet, talkative woman and there was hardly a thing wrong with her, save for her occasional swearing. I could see where Danny picked up on that. It made me smile.

I didn't mention anything about Anthony. I wasn't about to give her the impression that I liked him, because as much as I should, I just didn't love him as much as Ace.