After the Boys of Summer

Chapter 6- Brand New Cadillac

"Nice car man. Who'd you steal it from?" Max joked with the stranger.

"My stealing days are over young Maxamillion and I'm insulted that you would even ask that. This baby is a legit, classic, American made, 1977 Cadillac el dorado and she's all mine." He rubbed the side of the door affectionately. The whole scene was comical and I would have laughed if I wasn't drooling over the car myself. The black paint shimmered subtly and the top was dropped, giving me a nice look at the leather interior.

The guy inside, I had to admit, was pretty drool worthy himself, and probably more dangerous than the car he sat in. He was dressed in black chinos, converses and a plain white tee shirt with the sleeves rolled up exposing a bit of a tattoo that I couldn't completely make out.

He sat up on the top of the drivers seat and lifted his black ray bans to the top of his brown, styled hair and lit up a cigarette. He was clearly bad news, which meant I needed to keep my distance.

Max did the "bro shake" with the stranger and then started feeling up the leather seats. I was quickly forgotten.

"Seriously, where did you get her?"

"Remember the friend I told you about?"

"The one in the band?"

He nodded. "He had this thing parked in his garage collecting dust. The idiot didn't know what he was sitting on." The stranger pushed Max's hand away from the seats. "I don't want your grubby hands messing with the interior. Took me forever to clean her up."

"So you can smoke in the car but I cant touch it? How does that make sense?"

"Doesn't have to make sense. Just is."

"When can I driver her?"

"If you even think about taking her for a drive, I will cut you." His words were harsh but there was a teasing tone to it.

"You can try."

"Oh yeah?" the stranger went for Max as he tried to move out of the way. The stranger was out of the car now and putting Max in a headlock. Since he was an inch or two taller than Max and was muscular in a lean way, he had the upper hand.

I was completely over the whole show of testosterone and tired of being ignored so I cleared my throat to catch their attention. Max was still struggling in the strangers clutches so I cleared it as loud as I could. This time their heads looked up at me. Realization came to Max's face when he saw me standing in front of him while the other guy's face remained unreadable.

"I'm going to go now Max. Thanks for helping out earlier."

Max pushed the stranger off and stood straight up. His neck and ears were red from the choke.

"I am so sorry Layla! I forgot you were here."

Obviously. "It's not a big deal."

The stranger leaned against his car and crossed his arms in a defensive position. What did he have to be defensive about?

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I just got distracted. This is my buddy Jesse Hayden, Jess this is Layla St. James. She's been training me at the yacht club."

He eyed me up and down and I had to fight my sudden urge to shiver. "She doesn't look like a robot. She's more of an ice princess." He said to Max when he was done surveying me.

My cheeks heated in anger.

"Ignore him. He's a socially inept asshole."

"My socializing skills are fine Maxamillion, I just meant that I can see what you meant about her."