*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.


Chapter 2 -

The altercation with the crazy woman on the side of the road had set off Barry's nerves more than he cared to admit. She was just another high maintenance rich girl who wasn't interested in basic car care and so had gotten herself into an easily avoidable problem. It hadn't been the first time one of her type had talked over him as if he wasn't really there, or as if he was beneath her because of his uniform and salary.

Yet somehow it ate at him. He couldn't pinpoint why, but it did.

He only wished there hadn't been another 20 minutes before he arrived at the shop for work. He could've put her and the whole situation out of his head if that hadn't been the case. But it was.

And with no radio station playing anything but love or break-up songs, he decided to drive in silence, windows down and warm air drifting through his jeep; the memory of that dark-skinned, petite female ever present before his eyes.

He thought about her without the hurling insults and accusations. He thought if she had been nice and had sweetly accepted his help. He thought about offering her a business car or asking if she wanted to use the shop he worked at to get her car fixed up if needed.

And thinking about the situation in a different light, if her character was different; her personality, her morals, her attitude…he'd be attracted to her. Her hair was effervescent, her eyes wild and beautiful, her figure held the curves of a goddess. Hell, under different circumstances – and if she was capable of being kind – he'd probably have found a way to get to know her better on a date.

He shook his head, eager to get the idea out of it. It was completely hypothetical, and really impossible, because this woman wasn't kind and sweet. She wasn't a girl he could take home to his mother or even tolerate for more than five minutes. She was the exact opposite of everything he wanted in a woman, even if she was physically attractive.

Parking at the shop roughly 15 minutes later – he must've been speeding, oops – he tried not to look or sound aggravated when he walked inside and swiped his card. But his co-worker saw right through him, as he tended to do. Said co-worker also had zero problem hooking up with women strictly based on physical appearance, so he knew he'd tried to get under this irritable woman's skirt if he saw her. They had relatively the same taste in women, after all. Relatively.

"What's got into you?" Oliver asked, clearly amused as spoke his tone of voice and raised voice.

Barry tried to shrug it off, then caved almost immediately.

"Tried to help someone on the road. They didn't want my help."

"Car trouble?" he asked.

Barry nodded.

"Well, you can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped."

"Oh, she wanted to be helped," Barry sneered. "Just not by me."

"It's a she, is it?" Oliver smirked, and Barry sent a glare his way. He laughed. "Relax, man, she's all yours."

Barry's brows narrowed.

"I don't want her. I can't stand her. She's…"

"Entitled? Prissy? A bitch?"

Barry nodded, but only half-heartedly this time. For some reason he felt defensive about all those descriptors being used to describe her. Bitch just seemed a little…harsh.

"Well, those things wouldn't hold me back." He wiped his face with the rag draped over his shoulder. Barry shot hit another glare. "Just saying."

"They wouldn't hold you back because you aren't looking for a relationship, just a one-night stand."

For some reason the tone in Barry's voice stung.

"What's up with you? Did something happen? Other than this chick ruffling all your feathers, apparently."

Barry shook his head and tried to shake off his attitude. Oliver was right. He'd always known what type of man he was, and he never held that against him when it came to their friendship. Oliver knew Barry didn't approve, but since Barry didn't make it an issue, neither did he. So, what had caused him to lose his cool all of a sudden?

He didn't know, and he didn't have time to find out, because his name was suddenly heard coming from the front desk. It was Felicity, and her tone sounded off too. Rattled was maybe the better word.

He wiped his hands on the rag he'd snatched up a few minutes earlier and wiped his hands. Then he set the rag down on the car he'd been about to start repairing and headed for the front desk, which was a little more than a corner cubicle at the front of the shop.

He would've asked Felicity what was up, but the moment he saw the 'customer' standing on the other side of the partition, there was no need.

"This is Iris," Felicity introduced to him.

Iris.

The name was pretty. It suited her.

"West," Iris interjected. "Iris West."

And that was when Barry's eyes widened and jaw dropped briefly, and Iris was immensely satisfied.

"West, as in-"

"Joseph West," Iris said proudly. "Multimillionaire residing in Central City with me, his daughter."

With him?

"You don't have your own place?"

Iris bristled. Felicity turned in her seat to give him an incredulous look.

"Sorry, I just –" Felicity raised her eyebrows. "Nevermind." He lifted his gaze back to Iris. "What are you doing here? Last I saw, you were flicking me off on the highway." Felicity raised her eyebrows again, this time in Iris' direction with curiosity. "I thought you'd never want to see me again, much less show up at my work."

"Yes, well, unfortunately for me, Triple A referred me here to get my car fixed. Apparently, you're the best." She rolled her eyes. "And the closest."

Barry's brows furrowed. "You mean, it's not just empty of gas or with a dead battery because you left your brights on in broad daylight?"

Felicity's eyes widened, but she was beyond amused. Both at what his assumption had been and how audacious Barry was being.

"It was towed here right before you arrived," Felicity answered for him. "Bobby checked both things. The car still wouldn't start."

Barry thought about that and contemplated for the first time what else could be the problem.

"Could be the alternator then."

"I thought about that," Felicity agreed, having made a point to keep up on car knowledge in case a customer needed something explained to them about their vehicle in words they could understand.

"I don't know if we have parts for that, though…"

"It would probably take a week for them to get there if I ordered them now…"

"Wait, a week?!" Iris asked, scandalized, and Barry and Felicity finally turned their attention back to her. "No, no, no, no, no. I cannot be here a week. I'm supposed to be –" She stopped herself. "Well, not here." She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she looked around her.

"You don't have to stay here," Barry said, eager to get rid of her. "Why don't you call your daddy to come get you, and Felicity will call you when it's ready to be picked up. One of the guys might even come drive it to you."

Felicity took note of how he didn't volunteer himself.

Iris scoffed. "No. I'm not having some dirty mechanic touching my car."

"Except to fix it," Barry said dryly.

Iris opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She was clearly angry though at his audacity.

Felicity stood up suddenly as a barrier between them. She turned to face Iris.

"Ms. West, you need to decide if you want us to work on your car or you want it towed to someplace else. If you want us to fix it, then we can look at it today-"

"Well…" Barry hedged, and Felicity remembered.

"We can take one of the cars out of the garage for her, I think, Barry." She glared.

Barry shrugged, struggling to appear unaffected.

Felicity turned back to Iris.

"We can look at it today. If it's not the alternator, and we have the parts for it, then it'll be ready by tomorrow. But if it is the alternator, and we do need parts in order to repair it –"

"Then I'll be stuck here for a week," Iris spat.

Felicity winced. "I'm afraid so."

Iris sighed, annoyed.

"Okay. Fine. Just fix it."

Felicity glanced at Barry who shook his head adamantly, but Iris saw it.

"And make Barry here do it."

His brows narrowed. "Now, wait just a minute."

"Since he was the one to assume so quickly there was nothing that seriously wrong with it."

His mouth fell open.

"She has a point, Barry," Felicity added, which he did not appreciate, but he was too in shock to send her a dirty look.

Iris smiled smugly.

"Fine," Barry ground out.

The silence could be cut with a knife, but it also radiated with heat. Felicity needed to put a stop to the tension before things escalated out of control.

"There's a Bed and Breakfast on the outskirts of town that you might want to look into, Iris." She pulled out a pamphlet for it and handed it to her. "The couple is real sweet, and last I checked they're completely vacant right now."

Iris flipped through the pamphlet suspiciously.

"The Allens?"

"Mhmm," Felicity answered. "Barry's parents."

Iris froze, then look up and shot a piercing gaze at both of them.

"Barry's parents?" she fumed.

Felicity nodded, but warily now.

Iris sighed and closed the pamphlet.

Of course they are.

She was obviously annoyed, but she also suspected there was nowhere else to go unless she went to the next town over. The closer she could be to her car, the better.

She summoned a brilliantly forced smile.

"You guys have a cab service around here?"

Felicity smiled and nodded, warming to the topic. She pulled out another brochure.

"Francisco Ramon, but he likes to go by Cisco. He's very friendly too."

God, is everyone in this town 'very friendly'? She thought, disgusted.

"Thanks," she said dryly, taking the brochure from the blonde.

"He's right across the street." Felicity pointed helpfully and Iris turned to look. "I'm sure he'll be happy to help you."

Iris sighed.

"We'll call you with an update later this afternoon."

"Okay then."

And without another look, Iris turned and trudged across the empty street, stopping abruptly when she saw the dark, shoulder-length hair on a man who looked much younger than he probably was.

"Are you Cisco?"

"Yes, I am," he said, standing up fully from his lean against the building. He took his sunglasses off. "Do you need my ser– Wow, you are hot."

Iris suppressed a groan.

Great. Just great.