Days Go By
~Sequel to Better Days~
2nd Part to Days Trilogy

Chapter 1

Bills were sprawled everywhere across her kitchen table.

Jasina pinched the bridge of her nose, letting a breath out and began cutting checks for them. She hated the beginning of the month, though her job compensated well, so Jasina had no worries financially. Mark had come up with the idea for them to split the cost of a car for Arielle's seventeenth birthday, which was coming up in a few short weeks. Of course Jasina couldn't turn down the opportunity.

Her and Arielle were extremely close, they were practically best friends and told each other everything. An open, honest relationship between mother and daughter...Jasina couldn't ask for anything better. Then again, maybe she could when Mark popped into her head.

"No I'm not thinking about that right now." She muttered, cutting the final check before sealing the envelopes.

Deciding she would make a trip to the post office instead of putting them in her mailbox, Jasina had to get out for some air. Grabbing her keys and cell phone, Jasina slipped the bills in her purse and walked out, locking the door behind her. The post office was closed, but that didn't mean she couldn't drop off the bills in the big blue mailbox and go for a drive in the process.

After dropping the mail off, Jasina contemplated going to the shop to see what Mark was doing, knowing they didn't have much time to find Arielle a car. Mark wanted to find a beat up piece of junk to fix up while Jasina would rather get Arielle a brand new car that was safe and reliable. She was leaving for college in a year and she knew Arielle was looking at a college at least a few states away.

Did Mark understand her point of view? Of course not! Jasina put her foot on the gas and headed to the shop, knowing they were closing soon, which was the perfect opportunity to talk to Mark regarding the car issue. Unbeknownst to her, Mark had already chosen a car for Arielle without her opinion or approval.

Finding a car for Arielle had turning out to be a bigger pain in Mark's ass than he originally thought it would be, but Mark finally had. Given that he was a mechanic and owned his own garage, he refused to let some dealer talk him or Jasina into buying something off a lot. He would select a car, make any necessary repairs...his daughter wasn't going to be riding in a death trap. He smirked, recalling the car Jasina had brought into the garage before he had been aware of who she really was. That thing had been a coffin on wheels.

Mark had finally decided on an SUV.

What was under the hood worked fairly well, it was the body that needed work and between him and Steve, they'd have it pristine and purring like a kitten in no time. He had made arrangements with the current owner to bring it over in the morning and he would buy it. He had already cleared his and Steve's schedules for the next few days to devote on the vehicle, delegating the regular work to the other three mechanics he now employed. He wasn't hurting for money so if he had to turn down a job or refer a customer to someone else, it wasn't going to overly hurt his wallet. Feeling pretty pleased with himself, Mark whistled as he started locking up shop, ushering everyone out the door.

"Why not get her a motorcycle instead?"

"Steve, if I wanted your damn opinion, I would've asked Trish for it." Mark grunted, knowing Steve didn't fully approve of the SUV idea, but Arielle was his daughter and there was no way she was getting a motorcycle at her age. "You can't stay here, you have to go home."

"Please no, Trish will make me look at napkin patterns."

"That is the joy of getting married and having a big, fancy ceremony, dumbass."

"Hey man, why don't we have a double wedding?" Steve's blue eyes widened when Mark choked and snorted the water he had been drinking. "What'd I say?"

"A double wedding eh?" Jasina tried not to laugh because she saw Mark snort the water, covering her mouth with her knuckle, eyes sparkling in amusement. Steve was smirking like a Cheshire cat, though the desperation in his eyes told a whole other story. "Why don't you tell Trish you're going out for a drink tonight..."

"With me of course." Now it was Steve's turn to snort the beer, which sprayed out of his nose, burning the nostrils. Both women giggled uncontrollably, hearing his curses. "I am NOT planning this wedding by myself, Steven. Now get moving, we have to go pick up little Stevie from my mother's and she wants to go over the different cakes with you."

Jasina waved as Steve mouthed 'HELP ME' while Trish ushered him out of the shop by his ear.

When Steve had been dragged out by Trish, Mark began laughing. He couldn't help himself. Steve was his best friend and all, but the man had been dominated by his soon-to-be wife so badly...Mark figured Trish kept Steve's balls in a box and only let them out when holiday season rolled around and she wanted to display them on the Christmas tree. The look on Steve's face had been...hilarious as hell; he reminded himself to feel bad for his buddy later when he wasn't having a good chuckle at the other man's expense. After wiping water off his face and clothing, he reached out for Jasina and pulled her up against him.

"I wasn't expectin' to see you tonight, darlin'." He purred down at her huskily.

"I know, but I had to talk to you." Jasina's mind instantly became cloudy, chewing her bottom lip and tried not let this man's voice affect her.

When his lips sealed to her neck, Jasina knew she would be a goner if she didn't push him away, but it felt amazing being in his arms and feeling his touch. She smiled softly when he pulled back, only to capture her lips in a fiery kiss, causing her heart to skip a beat and her knees weaken. Jasina felt her feet leave the ground and suddenly her ass was planted on something hard, which she could only guess was his desk, their lips never leaving one another's. She finally broke the kiss, the smell of gasoline and cologne intoxicating her, but Jasina had to talk to him about the car before it was too late.

"The car!" She finally rasped out, cupping his face in her hands, forcing their eyes to meet. "Mark, stop for two seconds and talk to me about the car. We have a decision to make and fast before Arielle's birthday."

What the Hell was she talking about? It took Mark's lust filled mind longer to make sense of what she was saying than it had to get revved up. When he finally realized she was talking about the car for Arielle, he shook his head and stepped back between her open legs, bending down to kiss her again.

"Don't worry about it, Jas, I got it taken care of." He murmured, more intent on continuing what they had started instead of on a car they couldn't do anything about until the morning.

"Wait..." Jasina took two handfuls of his dirty shirt that had oil stains on it to push him back, looking confused. "What do you mean you got it taken care of?"

Before Mark could try attacking her again, Jasina managed to hop off of the desk, walking around it to put space between them. She knew Mark had something planned and Jasina couldn't believe he would try doing it behind her back, remembering he had been the one to come to her for help with the car issue. Jasina pushed all the naughty thoughts away, her clouded mind clearing, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"Mark Calaway, you tell me what's going on right now. We were supposed to do this together, what do you mean you got it taken care of? How could you take care of it if WE haven't even gone looking for ONE car together?" She demanded somewhat angrily, teal eyes narrowing at her boyfriend, wondering if he was screwing with her or if he was genuinely serious.

Mark was confused that she was pissed off. He racked his reluctantly clearing mind for a reason as to why she would be pissed. He had asked her help in going half on a car, mostly because he figured she'd be hurt if he went ahead and did it without her, trying not to maim her tender feelings. He didn't recall asking her to help him look for a car though.

"I found an SUV for her. It needs only a little body work and a tune-up, of course I'll flush out the system anyway and do new tires. Steve and I are planning on working on it tomorrow." He explained, honestly not seeing what the big problem was.

"That's fantastic." Her teal eyes filled with hurt and Jasina decided it was time for her to leave, knowing she had no plans with Mark tonight. "I have to go."

How could Mark stand there and act like nothing was wrong? He basically went behind her back, with Steve no less, and picked the car out for Arielle without even asking if she approved or not. That was fine though. Mark could do whatever he wanted because Jasina obviously wasn't needed or wanted in the decision. She loved Mark so much, but sometimes the man was blind to the error of his ways and Jasina wasn't about to point it out to him.

"I'll see you and Arielle tomorrow. Good night." Jasina walked out of the shop, knowing Mark was clueless and things were better left that way as she headed toward her car, trying to keep her emotions in check.

Mark followed after her, having absolutely no idea where he went wrong and it was obvious the woman wasn't going to tell him. She was sneaky like that. If he screwed up, she would get huffy for a few days and not tell him where he had gone wrong so he could avoid doing it again.

"Jasina, wait a minute." He caught her by the hand and whipped her around when she ignored him, staring down at her, the confusion in his emerald green eyes obvious. "What's wrong? What'd I do?" He asked, watching as she struggled to keep her emotions from pouring out.

"Nothing, I was just...I'm an idiot that's all. I thought you wanted to pick the car out together and I was wrong. I'm glad you found her a car."

Jasina was a master at controlling her emotions, especially ever since her and Mark got back together, if one could even call it that. They lived separately; as far as Jasina was concerned, they'd been doing nothing except dating for the past four years. She was tired of it and ready for the next step, knowing she'd more than proved herself that she was trustworthy and not going anywhere.

There was no way in hell Jasina was pushing Mark into something he clearly didn't want though. There had obviously been a communication error and Mark automatically knew it was on his end for not making things clearer when asking her to help him find a car. He had just assumed she would leave it to him since he was the car savvy one in their cozy little relationship.

"I didn't realize you wanted to help me look, I haven't bought it yet. We don't have to get it." He offered, knowing he had already screwed up and his offer wasn't going to change it.

Jasina shook her head with a gentle sigh, hearing the resignation in Mark's voice and knew he would do it if she really wanted him to. "No, it sounds like you found her the perfect car. I misunderstood when you came to me and asked me to help you buy a car for Arielle. Then again, you didn't say anything about going out and actually looking for one, but being as you asked me for help buying one, I figured that's what would happen. My mistake, sorry." Jasina didn't want to be here right now, feeling like crawling in a hole and never coming out again, pulling her keys out of her purse. "Just go with the car you're gonna work on tomorrow."

Jasina didn't agree with the SUV idea because those cars ate up gas like there was no tomorrow and they had blind spots the size of Jupiter, but she wasn't about to go against Mark's car savvy either. Mark really knew he made a serious mistake, wondering how that had happened. He figured an SUV would be perfect for Arielle.

It was big enough to fit everything she liked to lug around, would handle tough weather since they tended to get all kinds down this way, and it came with a built in GPS system that was also linked to a second, 'mother' GPS that he would possess. That had been the main reason he had been interested in the SUV. The price was right, the ride was sound minus some bodywork, and the GPS. He figured it was a steal. Mark probably should have mentioned all this to Jasina.

"Why don't you come to the house and we'll talk about it?" He suggested gently, not wanting her leaving this way.

Half of Jasina wanted to go with him and the other half just wanted to go home, suddenly feeling exhausted about this whole car situation. Why did Mark have to even ask for her help if he honestly didn't need it? Maybe he wanted to include her, but there were other ways to do that, such as the planning of the birthday party. Of course, Arielle was turning seventeen and all she really wanted was a car, having talked about it constantly for the past six months.

"Alright, but I can't stay long. I have to be in the office earlier than usual because Trish is training me on her job for when she goes on maternity leave." She informed him in a softer voice.

Mark didn't bother to counter that with an argument about eating. Jasina tended to sometimes become distracted and not eat, so he and Arielle tended to 'fatten' her up at every opportunity. Or maybe she did eat and they just didn't know about it; either way, she was having supper with them.

"You want me to drive and I'll bring you back after?" He offered innocently, knowing that was a surefire way to get his wish.

Jasina knew damn well if she let Mark drive her to the ranch, she wasn't going back home for the rest of the night. Her whole body tingled from head to toe, knowing exactly why Mark wanted her to stay over and it wasn't just to 'fatten' her up as her daughter so eloquently put it. She smiled when Mark kissed her lips soundly, one of his strong tattooed sleeved arms wrapping around her waist, pressing their bodies together and Jasina couldn't help responding.

His lips were too addicting.

Hell, Mark was too addicting...period.