Polished Rust (Wilkins Brothers Book #4)

Chapter 22

ROSEMARY

“Brake. You need to brake, Mercy. You can’t make this turn without braking! MERCY!”

Mercy slams her foot on the brake and even though I’m buckled in the backseat, I am jerked forward and have to brace myself against the front seat to avoid my face smacking into the front row.

“What the hell was that, Merc?”

She turns around and glares at me, “That was me brake checking you to get my backseat driver to shut the heck up!”

“You were going to take that turn way too fast and swerve off the road.”

“I was not! You’re being so freaking dramatic, Rosemary.”

“Ladies…” Tate, bless his heart, has been playing peacekeeper all morning between my sister and me. For the life of me, I can’t understand his process in teaching her how to drive. She’s been out here for almost a half-hour and she’s still taking all of these turns too quickly. At this point, it seems like he’s trying to teach her how to drift instead of drive.

“She’s going to crash the car, Tate. This is your mom’s car, are you really willing to let her total it?”

“I’m not going to crash it if you’d just be quiet and let me concentrate!”

Georgia was nice enough to let Tate use her car to teach Mercy how to drive. There was no way I was letting her use my car, it was too expensive. Tate wanted her to learn in a car first, rather than his truck and there was no way he was letting her touch his baby. I’m not sure anybody is allowed to drive that thing besides him. The more we drive around this property, the more I’m worried about ruining this great relationship I have with his mom. Not that I can’t afford to pay to have her car fixed, but I’d rather not.

“Rosemary, gorgeous, you know I adore you but she’s doing just fine.”

“See?” My snotty sister retorted. “I’m doing just fine!”

“Mercy, don’t egg this one even more.”

“Fine.”

“Even if she drifts off the road, there isn’t anything out here that she’s going to hit. We’re far enough from the storage units and the scrap yard. I’m also right here.” He turns his body even further and reaches for my hand, “You trust that I’d never let anything bad happen to your sister, right?”

I nod my head, “I know, but what if your mom hates us because she messes up her car.”

Mercy starts to talk again, but Tate shakes her off. “Rosemary, if something happens to my mom’s car, I drive it a quarter mile down the way and fix it myself. Did you forget what I do for a living?”

“I guess you have a point.”

His smile is cocky and if he wasn’t so attractive it would probably piss me off. “Gorgeous, why don’t you check to see how my mom and sister are doing?”

“Are you kicking me out?”

“I’m giving you a break.” He glances at Mercy. “I’m giving us all a break.”

“Fine, but just know that I’m really mad at you right now.”

He gives my hand a gentle tug, pulling me between the seats and close enough to kiss me. Mercy pretends to gag, but I know there was nothing inappropriate about the gesture. I also know that Mercy really likes Tate and doesn’t mind how close we are. I give my sister one more glance, admittedly nervous about getting out of the car with her, but I have to trust Tate and trust this process of teaching her how to drive.