Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss)

move in quickly and plant a big fat kiss on my lips, crushing me to his chest and palming my ass in the process. Mace moved back just as quickly, leaving me stunned and breathless. “Go on, I know you missed her. Go for a spin.” He told me with a glint in his eye.
    “Thank you,” I whispered. As mad as I was with Mace, I couldn’t be that rude. He knew what my car meant to me, which I figured was why he called in a favor to have it rushed. I jumped into the driver’s seat as Teeny opened the passenger door and burst out laughing. At the look on my face, or the reason I had a foul expression going on, I wasn’t sure. “What is wrong with him?” He knew I hated the color pink, yet he’d put in fluffy pink seat covers with a matching steering wheel cover and pink fluffy dice hanging from the rearview mirror.
    Shaking my head, I put the keys in the ignition and turned. That rumble, God, I missed the purr of her engine. Teeny sat holding her stomach still laughing when music started to blare from the speakers. “No, no, no, no, no! JUST NO!” Pressing the skip button on the stereo, song after song turned my stomach. “He’s trying to send me crazy!” I growled, pressing the button to eject the CD he’d put in. Written on the top, in thick black marker, it read ‘Love for my love!’
    “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. None of this is funny. Why is everybody laughing? I hate love songs. I hate pink and he put both in my car!” Throwing the disk full of gross love songs on the back seat. I put the car in reverse. Mace, Trip and Remy were all standing at the front door of the shop in various states of laughter.
    Pulling back up to Needle’s Kiss after Teeny and I cruised around in my baby for a while, just enjoying the purr of her engine and the girl talk, I could see Mace standing by the counter through the front glass windows.
    I missed him.
    I missed him something fierce.
    All his annoying attempts to woo me back were crumbling my resolve.
    “You gotta give the man props, Scar. He’s gone all out. I mean, I’ve never seen so much cheese; he’s making a fool of himself to get you back. If you don’t, it’s only gonna get worse. Imagine what he’ll do next! Just take him back already. We both know you still love him. Give him another chance already!” Teeny made sense. I hated when she did that. I wanted to forgive him, and he was proving he wasn’t going anywhere. Damn, he was proving he was going to annoy me until I gave in.
    “Not you too? Everybody’s ganging up on me. Am I meant to just walk up and say, ‘Oh, gee Mace, I forgive you for ripping my heart out and stomping on it while you walked out the door?”
    “Yes. I don’t even think you’d have to say anything at all. That big hunk of a man is head over heels in love with you. He’d take you anyway he could have you.”
     

     
    I pulled into my driveway to a very dark house and an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was my birthday. Nobody had mentioned it all day. I waited for just one person to say, “Hey, Scar, happy birthday!” But nothing, not a damn thing. Trip and Remy both went about their day talking about mundane crap and joking around. I mean the shop had been really busy, but even Teeny hadn’t called or stopped by. I hadn’t heard from Mace since he offered to return my rental car while I followed him in my now un-fluffy car the day before. Everybody had forgotten.
    Feeling disheartened and a little unloved, I trudged up to the front door and unlocked it. Pushing forward, I searched out the light switch on the dark wall, flicked it on and nearly died of shock, my hand coming up quickly to cover my mouth.
    “Happy birthday!” was yelled in unison.
    Balloons hung down from the ceiling, streamers were thrown around everywhere, and everyone was wearing a party hat. Mace stepped forward. Grabbing onto my hands, he pulled me further into the room, and dropped my bag down onto the entryway table.
    “Happy birthday, baby,” he whispered.
    “Mace, you did this? All this for me?”
    His hand came up to frame my face. Looking down at me with nothing but love in his eyes, he whispered, “The day you were born is worth celebrating, baby. Teen and the guys sorta helped me put it together though.”
    His words made my heart melt. Just when I was feeling alone and forgotten, Mace made me feel special and cherished. He surrounded me with family and friends; that’s who these people were to me;