TWICE SHY (A SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE)

by Ivy Spears

  The guy looked down at the computer in front of him. “What’s the name?”

  “I don’t… I don’t know the name exactly.”

  “Okay,” the guy looked skeptical. “What’s the make and model?”

  “I don’t know that either. If I could just…”

  “You don’t know what kind of car you’re looking for or the name?”

  “If I could just take a look around back there, maybe see what’s been brought in recently, I know I would recognize it if I saw it.” I took a deep breath. “Please, I… I’m trying to help my dad out, he’s been in an accident and he really needs to find out what happened to his car.”

  Okay, so it wasn’t the total truth, but it wasn’t a total lie either. My dad did need to know what happened to the car, even if it wasn’t exactly his. This guy didn’t need to know the specifics.

  “I’ll be in and out, I swear,” I pleaded.

  The guy glanced out the side glass window where a bunch of his buddies stood in a circle, smoking and talking loudly with one another. “Okay, you can sneak in through the side door over there… but if you get caught, I didn’t see you and I don’t know you… got it?”

  “Thank you!” I reached out and tapped the top of his hand. “Really.”

  He waved me off. “Make it quick, if my boss catches you it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” He picked up the phone and hit the answer button, taking one of the four calls he’d put on hold since I walked in five minutes earlier.

  I didn’t need to be told twice, I moved past him fast, ducking down when I passed the window just in case any of the other guys happened to be looking, and opened the side door a crack, squeezing through and hurrying down the hallway until I was in a cold garage filled with cars.

  Not just a few cars, either, twenty or thirty of them. Rows and rows of cars lined the walls, waiting to be worked on. Some had covers on them and some didn’t, some were raised off the ground and some were settled on the ground.

  This was going to be harder than I thought.

  I got to work, starting with the cars that weren’t covered so I could eliminate them from the possible cars that crashed into my father. All of them were different sizes and colors but none of them had the kind of damage it would have taken to crash into the truck that was the size of my dad’s and totally wreck the car. If it was here, it had to be under one of the tarps.

  I hurried toward the front of the garage again; desperate to start looking under the tents that hid the cars I hadn’t gotten to yet. I didn’t know how long I'd been back there but I could assume time was adding up faster than I realized. Sure enough, just as I was about to pull back the first piece of coverage a large hand yanked on my wrist, pulling me backward.

  “What are you doing back here?” The guy standing in front of me looked furious, his eyes blazing red. “How did you get back here? You shouldn’t be back here!”

  I pulled my arm away from him. “Oh, I’m sorry… I must have got turned around, I was looking for the bathroom.” I planted my best damsel in distress look on my face and looked up at him helplessly.

  He wasn’t buying it.

  “Uh huh, you can tell it to the sheriff, missy.”

  “The sheriff?” I asked, taking a step away from him. “Is that really necessary? I mean… I just got turned around for a second.” The more distance I tried to put between us the less success I had.

  “Now you listen here,” he snapped. “Someone’s been sneaking around here for months stealing scrap metal to bring to the old yard across town for an extra profit and I think you look just like the type of girl the boss would like to have a word with about something like that.” He put his arm on the back of my shoulder and started to push me toward the front of the garage again.

  I pushed his arm off me. “Don’t touch me!”

  “Oh,” the guy said, grinning. “We got one with a smart mouth, huh?” He grabbed me again, harder. “You can do all the talking you want in the back of a cop car, missy.”

  “Honey, there you are!”

  I turned around, startled to find Asher walking toward me with an easy smile on his face. He was wearing dark jeans with a button up navy blue sweater; dark tan boots lined his feet.

  He untangled me quickly and pulled me toward him protectively, pushing me into his chest and tucking his hand around my waist. “I was starting to get worried about you.” He leaned down and kissed me hard, holding my head in place as he ran his tongue over my lower lip a single time.

  Not that I would have pulled away.

  Asher backed away, his eyes lingering on mine a second longer. “Sorry about that, Tony, I just can’t seem to keep track of this one.” He patted me on the back of the head, nuzzling me like I was a lost puppy he needed to keep track of.

  I tried to not roll my eyes.

  Tony looked back and forth between the two of us. “You know this girl, Asher?” He let his eyes linger on me, seeming unsure. “She doesn’t seem like your usual type.”

  “Hey!” I said, not sure if I should be offended or not.

  “She’s with me,” Asher said, moving me away from Tony. “I just came to see what you guys have for me today and when I came back into the waiting room, this little darling was nowhere to be found.”

  “I was looking for the bathroom,” I said sweetly. “Sorry, baby.”

  Acting like I was Asher’s girlfriend wasn’t a hard task considering my legs were pure jelly at just the touch of him. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, even for a second, being in this arms like that felt right.

  Tony rolled his eyes and huffed out his chest. “How many times do I have to tell you to keep your little girlfriends out of the garage, Asher?” He looked at me like I was a piece of meat. “This is no place for a woman.”

  I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind but Asher cut me off, moving me toward the back door of the garage. “I know, I know, it won’t happen again, Tony.”

  Asher pushed the door open and slapped me on the ass as I passed through.

  I punched him in the arm when the door slammed shut and pushed him, though it barely made him budge. “Such a jerk.” I kicked a spare bottle of beer that was on the ground and sent it flying into the side of the building. “Damn it!”

  “Is that any way to thank the person who just saved your fine ass?” He raised his eyebrows and looked me up and down, letting his eyes linger over my butt as he licked his lips.

  “Oh, shut up.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I was doing just fine.”

  “Yeah, you looked real fine,” he agreed jokingly.

  “I was this close,” I mumbled, shaking my head back and forth and running my hand through my hair. “There was something in that garage, something was wrong… I could, I could feel it.”

  Asher stuck his hands into his pockets. “You’ve clearly never broken in somewhere you aren’t supposed to be before, most of the time you don’t do it in the middle of the day when everyone is there and anyone can see you.”

  I brought myself out of my own thoughts and remembered where I was and who I was talking to. “Forget it.” I moved past him and started to walk toward the front of the warehouse. “It’s really none of your business.”

  “Oh, really? So you aren’t here looking for the car that hit your dad?”

  I swung around. “Jesus, what have you been doing? Following me?”

  “If that’s what it takes,” he told me matter-of-factly. “Are you going to keep running away from everything that gets a little messy your whole fucking life, Bella?”

  “When the hell did I run away, Asher?”

  “You aren’t right now!” he spat out, gesturing to the open space between us with his hands. “Just like you did five years ago and just like you did last night!” He pointed at me. “The second things get a little tough you run screaming for the hills, like everything worth having is supposed to be this easy thing. News flash Bella; easy isn’t real!”

  My veins felt like th
ey were about to burst through my skin I was so upset. “Oh, last night… you mean when I threw myself at you, AGAIN? And when you pulled back from me and shut me down, AGAIN? Excuse me if I didn’t feel like reliving history with you, Asher.”

  “No, I mean last night when you freaked out because I didn’t want to take your virginity on the floor of some fucking barn with your pants halfway between your ankles!”

  I gasped, opening my mouth but no words came out.

  Asher blew out a cloud of air and ran his fingers over his temples. When he opened his eyes again, he looked calmer, more determined. “It had nothing to do with it being your first time, okay?” He moved closer to me and ran his finger up and down my check. “Are you joking? Do you even know how fucking sexy that is?”

  I flushed and tried to keep my feet on the ground. Why couldn’t I be around him for two seconds without turning into a middle schoolgirl? “Are you always going to have this effect on me?” I whispered out loud.

  “Probably.” He didn’t pretend to be confused about what I meant. “I hope.”

  I bit down on my lip and buried my head into his chest.

  I could feel his breath on my neck, filled with mint and a hint of whiskey. “I want to be the first person inside of you, Bella, trust me. Just not like that, not for the first time.” He pulled my head back and made me look up at him. “I want to be the only thing inside of you.”

  I cleared my throat from a lack of words. What could I say to that? Everything that popped into my mind sounded absolutely ridiculous. I backed away from him and turned my back to him, taking in the view of trees that lined the scenery in the back of the garage.

  Asher didn’t speak for a few minutes but I could feel his presence, not rushing me to say anything or do anything before I was ready. Just having him near me felt right, it always had.

  “I thought if I could find the car then I could find out who hit my dad… I just… I want him to have something good to wake up to. Not just with the barn but with justice, too. Whoever did this…” I trailed off and inhaled deeply, letting the rest of my sentence get lost in the trees laid out before us.

  “Deserves to pay,” Asher finished for me, anger laced his tone.

  I turned around. “Yeah, they do.”

  Asher nodded. “Well then, you’re going to need my help because you have no idea what you’re doing,” he pointed out. “I mean; the old I couldn’t find the bathroom line?”

  I laughed loudly. “That was pretty lame, wasn’t it?”

  “Just a little.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and started to back away from me. “Tonight, midnight, the dirt road at the end of Main, you remember it, right?” The wind blew his dark hair in ten different directions as he moved.

  “You’re going to help me?”

  “Of course, I’m going to help you.” Asher stopped mid-walk. “Just one thing, Bella… no more Josh Parker.” Anger clouded his face for a split second as he met my eyes. “Period.”

  What was it with this guy? Why did Asher hate him so much? I wanted to push him on it, find out what had happened between the two of them, but I knew now wasn’t the time or place for that conversation.

  “That won’t be a problem.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Joshua Parker tapped on the window of my rental car.

  I jumped about ten feet in my seat. Crap.

  “Sorry,” he called out, gesturing for me to roll down the window.

  I cut the keys on and hit the down button, bringing the glass half way down. I was in the parking lot of the garage, getting ready to pull out when Josh had popped up out of nowhere.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He had a huge smile plastered on his face. “I thought that was you, thought I would come over and say hi.” He tapped his fingers up and down on the side of my door.

  “Hi.” I forced a smile. “I was just on my way out.”

  Asher’s words echoed in my mind. I glanced around the parking lot, praying he was long gone. The last thing I needed was him seeing Josh at my car window after he had just told me to stay away from him.

  I had no idea what had happened between the two of them but if Asher wanted me to stay away from him it had to be for a reason. And even if I didn’t know what the reason was yet, I still had to respect it. I didn’t even know Josh, Asher and I had a history. Even if it was a complicated one.

  “Why don’t you hang out a minute? We can talk some more about your father’s case if you want?” He nodded toward the garage in front of us. “I’ll just be a second in here.”

  “Oh, that’s nice of you, but I’m actually kind of in a hurry so…”

  “You know,” he said, leaning in closer to the window. “I’m actually kind of tight with the owner of this place, I bet I could get us back there to take a look around and see if we see anything that might shed some light on what happened that night.”

  Something seemed off about him, something I didn’t place the first day I had met him. He seemed too eager to help me, too concerned. Had he known my father well? Or, was it possible he was interested in me in more than a helping hand kind of way?

  Asher definitely wouldn’t like that.

  “I appreciate it, really, I do.” I started to inch the window up. “But, like I said, I’m really in a hurry.” I put my hand on the shift, ready to throw the car into reverse and leave him in the dust.

  “Sure, sure.” He inserted his hand into the opening, forcing me to take my hand off the button to keep from crushing his fingers. “Just one more thing, Bella… I hope you don’t let what Asher says about me stop you from getting to know me.”

  His words stunned me; shock flew through my body.

  “Why would Asher have anything to do with me getting to know you?”

  He titled his head back and forth like he was trying to decide if he should say anything or not. “I really shouldn’t say… it’s just I would hate for him to try and turn someone else in this town against me, especially if they don’t know any better.”

  “Look,” I said, growing frustrated. “I’ve known Asher since we were…”

  “Oh,” he cut me off, “so you already know how he is when it comes to the opposite sex then.” He moved his hands away from the window and let them rest on the top of my car as he looked down on me. “The guy is unbelievable, right?”

  Unbelievable was exactly how I would describe Asher.

  Although, somehow I felt like Josh meant it in a different way than I did.

  “Like,” he continued, choosing to ignore the unsettling look on my face. “The guy sleeps with my wife less than three years after our marriage and then has the nerve to drag my name through the mud all over town? That takes a different level of sicko if you ask me.”

  The thought of Asher with another woman, any woman, sent a sick feeling shooting up and down my body. Of course, I knew Asher hooked up with a lot of girls in the past but it was the last thing I felt like having a mental picture of in my mind.

  “Josh, whatever happened between you and Asher is just that, between you and Asher.” I shifted the car into reverse, determined to get the heck out of there before he could say anything else. “So, if you have an issue with him, I suggest you take it up with him and leave everyone else out of it.”

  Anger flashed through his eyes and he swung my door open so hard that for a split second I feared the door was going to fly off the car. “Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me what I should or shouldn't do, huh?”

  For the first time, I saw the side of this man that Asher had been warning me about. It was like a switch had flashed through his mind and he had turned into his true self again. The kind go lucky man from the diner was gone and replaced with eyes that were as black as his soul.

  “Josh,” I said slowly. “Get away from my car.”

  He shook his head but made no sign of moving away. “You’ve got some nerve, you know that? You think you can just come back into town after all this time and act like you still know
right from wrong? Act like you still know who’s good and who’s bad around here?”

  I forced myself to look him in the eyes. “Get the fuck away from my car or I swear to God I’ll scream so loud that everyone within a two-mile radius will come running.”

  The blackness in his eyes faded a few colors and Josh sprung back, looking around. He had a confused expression on his face like he was just realizing where he was for the first time.

  When he looked back down at me, the same cool and collected look was plastered on his face that had been there the first time I met him and again when I’d first come into contact with him minutes earlier.

  How could he turn it on and off so fast?

  “Look, Bella, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. It’s just…”

  “Stay away from me!” I reached out and pushed him away from my car with one final surge of energy before I slammed the door shut, hit the lock button, and reversed out of there as fast as the gas would take me.

  Fucking creep.

  ***

  “You see your dad today?” Asher tapped his hands on the steering wheel of his black truck and kept his eyes locked on the garage in front of us. A red and white flannel hung loosely on his body and light blue jeans replaced his dark ones from earlier.

  I took in his wet hair and aftershave smell, trying to not give away the fact that I was undressing him with my eyes. Asher had been here at 10 on the dot, waiting in a shiny black truck I had never seen before and looking fine as hell. “Yeah, all afternoon.”

  “Any change?” He kept his eyes locked on the front doors, watching one guy after another come out and get in their cars to leave for the night. He had cut his lights and engine, making us invisible in the darkness.

  I shook my head and looked forward. “Not yet.”

  I had spent hours with my dad today, talking and reading to him. It killed me not having any updates for him, not knowing what he was feeling or thinking. I was putting on a brave face but the truth was that I was scared. I was a nurse, I knew what the odds were that he would never wake up again, and they weren’t good.