Going Full Throttle

Chapter 41 - Tyler's POV

"For fuck sakes," I growled under my breath. My room was a mess of clothes thrown all over the place. When I was in California packing for a summer on the beach, I never once thought I'd need clothes for a date.

Let's be honest though, even if I had known this would happen, I still wouldn't have known what to pack.

I couldn't remember the last time I had asked a woman on a date. Realistically, it probably hadn't been a woman. I'd most likely been a bumbling teenager asking some girl to go get ice cream or something. I had gone on dates over the years, but usually, they were just random women Isla had found me for public events. Sometimes it was even Isla herself if she couldn't find someone in time.

This was so different. Everything with Pia this far had been easy—natural even. I didn't have to think, I just acted on instinct and usually, it seemed to be the right move. Now, I was stressing the fuck out.

"Good lord," Beau muttered behind me. I turned to see him scanning my room with his mouth slightly ajar. "Ooooooh boy, Twyla's going to kill you," he teased. "Don't think she won't tan your hide for keeping a messy room."

"It wasn't like this an hour ago," I mumbled as I slumped onto my bed. "And I'm a grown man," I whined quietly under my breath. Then I made a mental note to clean my room first thing tomorrow before Twyla saw it.

"Big plans?" Beau asked as he walked further into my room and leaned against the dresser.

"Yeah actually," I coughed to clear my throat, "I asked Pia to go on a date with me tonight."

"Well it's about damn time," Beau nodded with approval.

I rubbed the back of my neck, fully aware that my next sentence was incredibly embarrassing. "I can't figure out what I'm supposed to wear."

A tiny smile creased Beau's weathered cheeks but he did his best to fight it off. His innate kindness won over in the end and he stopped himself from laughing at me. "It's O'Hara, so I wouldn't overthink it. The nicest restaurant you could choose would still not hold a candle to most places back home."

"Okay, good start. So casual. Where should I take her?" I hadn't even considered that I had no clue what restaurants this tiny town had.

"I think the nicest restaurant in town is that new Japanese place. Honestly, Pia's a pretty simple girl though. Her favourite restaurant always used to be this tiny diner on the highway toward the Tahltan Reserve. It doesn't even look like a restaurant from the outside, but she says they make the best fried chicken."

"Can you give me directions?" I asked. Beau nodded then went to my closet and scanned the mess I'd made. He reached down and grabbed a plain white crewneck and tossed it to me.

"Don't overthink it," he winked as I caught the sweater in the air.

"Aren't you going to give me the talk?" I asked hesitantly. "You know, 'respect my baby or I'll kill you.'"

Beau dropped his head back and laughed outright at my imitation. "Oh god. I've never had to worry about Pia like that. From the time she could talk she could defend herself. I'm more worried about Scotty getting disrespected than Pia. If you don't respect her, you'll have to deal with her which is so much worse than me."

"Don't I know it," I agreed. Angry Pia was a scary Pia. Sexy, obviously, but scary.

"In all seriousness though, I like you two together. You both balance each other out somehow."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Beau nodded with a small smile. "You're both such big pains in the ass. I can't imagine either of you doing well with people who couldn't take it."