The Bad Boy's Forever Girl

by Jessie Gussman

  “I think we’re done,” he said. “And I think it looks pretty good. Thanks for helping.”

  She was standing with her arms crossed, the rag in her hand, looking around the room in satisfaction, her head nodding.

  She’d worked beside him, doing everything he’d asked her to and more. Because he’d certainly wouldn’t have scrubbed it. And he had a good time with her. He figured he could give her what she’d wanted earlier. Especially since she hadn’t seemed to be holding a grudge or any kind of ill will that he hadn’t done what she wanted.

  “Hey, Libby?” he said softly. This wasn’t something he was used to doing. Certainly wasn’t something he would do for anyone. But he had to give Libby a grudging amount of respect.

  She turned to him, her brows raised. “Yes?”

  “I’m sorry I was mean to you.”

  It was almost worth it when her brows raised way up and her mouth hung open.

  He couldn’t stop the curling up of his lip—one side anyway. He loved that expression on her, loved that he had been able to take her off guard.

  “You sound sincere, but you’re laughing at me,” she said.

  “I was sincere,” he said. “And I’m laughing at your flummoxed expression.”

  “Flummoxed? Really? Flummoxed?” She shook her head. “I do not look flummoxed. I was just a little surprised, that’s all. That conversation was hours ago. And I didn’t really expect you to apologize in the first place.”

  “Well, you sure gave a good imitation of it,” he said, holding the door open for her while she limped out. He’d been working with that scent that hit his nose all night. He couldn’t quite place it, but it suited her. Something light that reminded him of sweet sunshine, maybe a happy summer day. Free with no troubles and no worries. Seemed like forever since he had one of those. But that’s what her scent said to him.

  He breathed in deeply as she passed by him, aware that he might not have the opportunity to be this close to her again. Typically, there was at least the counter between them. And she didn’t wear her scent like body armor, like a pungent herb that floated around her to keep evil spirits away, like a lot of women’s perfumes seemed to be.

  “I was teasing you. You seem like you could use a little laughter in your life.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke, walking by him. Her words were said lightly, and he knew he was supposed to take them that way. But they struck at something a little deeper in him, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

  It sounded a lot like pity. And he’d never been able to handle pity.

  Still, the entire time they’d worked together tonight, and actually any time they’d spent together, she’d never been anything but sincerely nice. It seemed a little petty of him now to get upset over something she didn’t mean to be an insult.

  “And here I thought you were the one that needed to loosen up.” He shut the door with a click and followed her to the counter, carrying the bucket around toward the back door while she grabbed her purse.

  “If you just hang on for a second, let me dump this and I’ll walk you home.” Blade could not believe he said that. He hadn’t thought about it at all. But it was dark out, and he did not want to send her out the door by herself.

  Actually, that was a lie. He hated to have this night end. He did enjoy spending time with her, and he wanted to prolong it.

  Of course, he wanted to protect her too. But he could be honest with himself and admit that that wasn’t the biggest reason.

  His stomach cramped and twisted while she paused. He didn’t want to examine what he would do if she said no. He hadn’t really asked her.

  Actually, he hadn’t considered until just now that she walked home by herself every day. Their garage wasn’t exactly in the safest part of town, and he didn’t know where she lived, but maybe this was something he should look into doing on a regular basis.

  Still, she hadn’t said yes.

  Finally, she shrugged a shoulder. “Okay.”

  Chapter 8

  Libby shouldn’t let him. She already had too good of a time with him tonight. It would be wise to put some distance between them. She wasn’t completely naïve, but she knew she was in a lot more danger than he was.

  He’d turned out to be a really nice guy.

  He just hid it well.

  Still, she’d already told him yes, so she made sure everything looked tidy just in case the inspection got started early tomorrow morning and limped around the counter.

  Even though it was dark, she wasn’t afraid. She’d lived in this town her whole life.

  Sure, like small towns across America, they had some crime. In the last decade or two, they had drugs as well. Regardless, she always felt safe, even if she wasn’t in the best part of town.

  With Blade, there would be no question about her safety. She had every confidence that he’d make sure of that.

  Plus, turning him down would require a little more self-control than what she had. She wanted to spend more time with him. She’d had fun.

  And of course, he was easy to look at. That was nice. Well, maybe he was a little rougher, a little more rugged looking than what was typically considered handsome by most women. But Libby found that to be extremely attractive.

  Well, it probably wasn’t his looks that were attractive. It was just Blade.

  She started toward the door, thinking she’d wait by the exit, when he came back in with the bucket, setting it down by the desk.

  “Impatient to get home?” he asked as he strode to her. “Big date, huh?”

  He’d said it like the idea of her having a date was the most ludicrous thing he could think of. But she tried to tell herself not to take umbrage. After all, it was a weeknight. Most people didn’t have dates on weeknights. That could be what he meant. Not that she was completely undatable.

  She’d just been marginalized like that all her life. She was the nice girl. Not the sexy one. That was Justice. Mariam. But not Libby.

  That was fine. Most of the time, she didn’t mind.

  So she shoved any irritation that his words caused aside, determined to assume that he was referring to the night of the week and not as an insult to her.

  “I’m hungry. Maybe I want to get home so I can eat. You’re kind of a slave driver that way. Most bosses would let me have at least fifteen minutes to shove a sandwich in my mouth.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye as he held the door open for her and they stepped out into the cool night air.

  “So the lady wants me to buy her a sandwich. You don’t have to beat around the bush about it. You can just say ‘hey, Blade, buy me a sandwich.’ You don’t have to give this big lecture about how you’re hungry, and I wouldn’t let you eat, and now you need to rush home and eat.”

  He was grinning the whole time he was talking, so she knew he was messing with her. She didn’t think he was actually going to be like “let’s go get a sandwich.” But just in case, she needed to clarify.

  “That was not a hint for you to buy me a sandwich. That was an answer to your question about why I am in such a rush to get home. Have you not heard my stomach growling for the last two hours? Surely, you felt a little pity for me.”

  Normally, pity was a bad word. Normally, people looked at her leg with pity. And she hated that. Because she could do everything that anybody else could do. Except maybe run. Well, she would never be a world-class gymnast, but that wasn’t exactly something the rest of the world aspired to either.

  “After the way you yelled at me when I held my hand out to help you? No way. I wouldn’t dream of pitying you. I would be far more likely to work you until you dropped than to have one shred of pity for you. Not getting yelled at like that again.” He shuddered, big enough that anybody could tell it was fake.

  They stepped together onto the sidewalk. “Are you going to tell me where you live? Or am I just gonna kinda walk around town until you’re no longer beside me?”

  “I would tell you before I left you. Since you’re walking me
home.”

  “Okay. So if I look over and you’re no longer there, I can assume someone took you. Is that right?”

  “Normally, assumptions are bad. But that would be accurate, I believe.”

  He smiled a wicked smile that made her heart flip and her insides curl. “Then I guess I’d better hold your hand. Then I’ll know if you disappear. Might not be paying attention.”

  Thankfully, her feet kept moving as his hand reached down and wrapped around hers. His was warm, and hard, and unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She’d held a guy’s hand before. Of course. Her ex-husband, even if they’d only been married for a year, they’d held hands.

  But his hand hadn’t felt anything like Blade’s.

  But the way his hand felt didn’t negate the thought process that she was having. Because it almost seemed that he had conspired to be able to hold her hand. Like he wanted to.

  That was as shocking as anything. That someone like Blade would want to hold her hand.

  The breeze was soft and sweet, with just a faint scent of honeysuckle lingering. The night was warm enough to not be cool, and the streetlights cast illumination on the sidewalk. They walked in silence.

  They’d been talking all evening, and this was a comfortable silence. Their hands swung loosely between them, and that felt natural too. Odd, considering how different they were. Something like that really shouldn’t feel natural.

  Maybe it was the way he pretended that he was only holding it so he’d know if someone took her. Of course, they both knew that was a joke. But it made it look a little less serious, a little less that they might like each other, and a more practical thing. Maybe that didn’t exactly explain why it felt natural. But it made sense to her.

  They crossed Rhylund Avenue and went down Chickery Street. There were a few people standing around outside the bar, and if there were any place there was any danger for her, it would be here. Actually, if she was walking home by herself tonight, she would’ve taken the back alley past it. But Blade didn’t hesitate, and he continued down.

  One of the guys in the group looked up, saw him, and called out his name. She should have known. Of course, he wasn’t afraid. These were the kind of people that he hung out with.

  More than anything that had happened so far that night, hearing that man call Blade’s name almost like they were friends emphasized the differences between them. Not that there was anything wrong with him having friends that hung out in bars, but it was such a far cry from her, and her friends, who hung out at church.

  There were so many miles between Blade and her it wasn’t even funny. They could live on different continents, as much distance as was between them.

  “Hey, Chad,” Blade said. “Get kicked out?”

  “Nah. Haven’t gone in yet. Ashley’s late, and after that guy grabbed her on the street last time, she wanted me to wait for her out here.” Chad shrugged his shoulders, like he wasn’t too worried about a guy grabbing Ashley.

  The idea made Libby’s eyes widen. She wanted to ask if they pressed charges and if the guy was still running around grabbing women. But she didn’t.

  Blade hadn’t pulled his hand away, but she kinda felt like he’d moved slightly away from her, if not in body, in mind. The distance between them wasn’t easy anymore. It felt a little complicated.

  There were two women and another man in the group, and they greeted Blade as well. The women gave Libby an extra look. But it was the other man who said something.

  “That why we haven’t seen you around lately?” the guy said, nodding at Libby. “Got yourself a chick who’s got religion, huh?”

  “Thought that was you that was decked out in that fancy suit when I drove past the church on Sunday morning. You’re coming out in your finery,” one of the girls said. They both giggled.

  If the words upset Blade, Libby couldn’t tell.

  They upset her. They weren’t exactly being nice. In fact, it seemed a lot like they were making fun of their friend. At least, she had assumed Blade was their friend. But again, it was just another difference between them. Another reason why she should’ve told him “no” when he asked to walk her home.

  “Think I hear wedding bells in your future, Blade,” Chad said.

  “Not likely,” Blade replied.

  He hadn’t stopped walking, and they were almost past them. Just a few more steps.

  “So you didn’t answer,” one of the girls called.

  “And you didn’t introduce us,” the other said. “Is that your girlfriend?”

  That was the first thing they said that got any reaction she could discern out of Blade. His fingers twitched and then tightened on her hand. “No.”

  “If it’s not your girlfriend, you guys sure look cozy,” the girl said.

  “You guys could join us if you want to,” Chad said. “You know you’re always welcome.”

  “Not tonight.” Blade’s voice was a little subdued. It didn’t have the traces of humor, and his face had no hint of a smile. He almost seemed like a different person than the person that she’d been working with all night.

  She wondered which one was the real Blade.

  She supposed it was possible for both personalities to be the real him. But she kind of doubted it.

  And she hoped the way he was when he was in the parts room with her was what he truly was.

  By that time, they were well past them, and Blade said without turning around, “See you guys later.” He raised the hand that wasn’t holding hers and waved.

  It was only five more minutes until they reached her house, and they were quiet that whole time.

  Her house was dark, which didn’t surprise her. Justice taught a yoga class, and she would have already left for it. She would have walked Casey, and she might have even made something for supper.

  The front steps weren’t far from the sidewalk, and Libby tugged at his hand. “This is my house.”

  His head jerked up, like he’d been lost in thought, not even thinking. He looked around, finally finding her. She nodded at the house, and he turned, studying it like there were secrets he needed to know.

  “You walk by the bar every night when you walk home?” he asked softly, like she hadn’t just said that was her house. He also hadn’t let go of her hand.

  “If there are people sitting on the sidewalk, I take the back alley behind it.” It wasn’t any safer, and she knew that. But it felt that way, rather than walking by a gang of people.

  “I’ll walk you home from here on.”

  If he’d asked, she would have agreed, without question. In fact, she definitely liked the idea.

  But the command, the announcement that he would walk her home irked her. She didn’t think she was a controlling type of person or unreasonable, but she was an adult. And he didn’t exactly have the right to tell her what she was going to do. Even if he had announced that he was doing it. Implicit in his announcement was her agreement. She could correct that misassumption.

  “No.”

  His face didn’t change, like her announcement didn’t surprise him. He shoved his free hand in his pocket and shifted on his feet. Something in the way he was moving made her feel like the run-in with his friends had helped him to see that the two of them were pretty impossible.

  Or maybe she was getting ahead of herself. Maybe he hadn’t been thinking that way at all. And his restlessness signaled something else.

  “Listen, Liberty.” He paused. “I know I’m not the kind of person you normally hang around. Honestly, I’m not even sure why you’re working for the Richmond Rebels. We’re not your type at all. Regardless, it’s dangerous for you to walk down the street by yourself, and I won’t let you do it.”

  “You don’t have the power to allow me to do anything,” she said very clearly and distinctly.

  He’d been looking over her shoulder at some point off in the distance. But with her words, his eyes slanted toward hers, and they narrowed slightly, like he was thinking.

  His jaw
ticked. And his back teeth ground together. He swallowed twice. Finally, his jaw jutted out.

  “Would you, please, allow me to walk you home after work?”

  She almost smiled. He sounded so much like what he was saying was distasteful. But he’d figured out what her problem was, which, to be honest, impressed her. And he humbled himself, just a little, to ask her. How could she say no to that?

  She shouldn’t agree. It was like womanhood 101 or something. She should make him sweat. Wonder whether she was going to give him what he wanted, now that he had asked instead of demanded.

  But she could never play those games. She’d never been able to be anything but straightforward. Being coy or coquettish had never been her.

  She answered him immediately. “Yes. I like talking with you. Thank you.”

  She could’ve gone on. But she thought it was best that she didn’t. Because she really did appreciate him walking her home. She appreciated the protection that he provided. Normally, if she wasn’t scared, she was a little anxious, at least for a few moments, on the way home. Today, it had been nothing but pleasant. Unless one counted the little pang of irritation when she’d realized how incompatible Blade and she really were.

  “I’m gonna stand here until I see you disappear into the house.” Blade had turned to face her, but he hadn’t let go of her hand. Still threaded together, they were twisted a little awkwardly.

  “Okay.” But she didn’t make any move to leave. His fingers didn’t loosen their grip.

  “You make me want to be a better person.” It was almost a mumble as the words came out of his mouth.

  She had to say she wasn’t expecting that. And then she didn’t have to worry about pulling her hand away anymore, because he loosened his grip and stepped back. “Go on. Get in your house. See ya in the morning.”

  She started away, thinking of the people on the sidewalk. Was Blade lonely?

  “You will let me know that you got home okay?”

  That was a new level of boldness, one of several that had surprised her tonight. She couldn’t take the words back; she didn’t really want to.