The Bad Boy's Forever Girl

by Jessie Gussman

  Blade had pulled away, just a little, from Libby as the words registered. He knew he’d look sappy and weak, but he couldn’t stop from dropping several small kisses on her cheeks and forehead before he lifted his head, keeping his eyes on Libby.

  He didn’t need to talk to her. And he wouldn’t.

  Libby blinked up at him, a dreamy smile lifting her slightly swollen lips.

  “I can’t believe you’d make a spectacle of yourself here like this.” Mariam stood with her well-manicured hands planted on slim hips. For the first time Blade noticed a slim man standing behind her wearing tight pants, casual loafers and a polo. His hair combed neatly to the side and an expensive watch on his hand. He seemed to be watching with casual disinterest.

  Blade focused on ignoring her, but her words seemed to penetrate Libby’s happy haze. Her eyes lost their dreamy look and they narrowed as her mouth tightened.

  She turned to her sister, pulling away from Blade and standing slowly. “And I can’t believe you have the gall to come in here and speak like that, when we both know you lied.”

  Mariam gasped.

  Blade could only assume that Libby had never confronted her before.

  “You don’t have proof.” Mariam’s voice now sounded more like Rapunzel’s wicked step-mother.

  “No. But Blade denies it, and he’s never lied.”

  “I can’t believe that you would downplay the fact that I was sexually assaulted. I’ve spent years in therapy, recovering.”

  Libby pulled both lips between her teeth, like she was trying to keep from saying any more. “It’s funny you don’t seem to be having any problems standing this close to him, isn’t it?”

  Mariam’s eyes widened and her mouth opened before she spun, grabbing the arm of the man behind her and practically dragging him away with her.

  Libby stood until they were out of sight, then she sunk slowly back down on the bench. She trembled beside him and he put his arm around her, pulling her close.

  “I’m sorry about that,” she whispered.

  “Not your fault,” he whispered back, unsure how to tell her that the big, hard ball in his chest was because of her defense of him and had nothing to do with Mariam. He couldn’t believe how good it felt to have someone believe in him.

  But he couldn’t find the words, so he just held her close to his heart, lying his head on hers and wondering if this was what love felt like.

  “There you guys are.” Thad walked around the edge of the bench, followed by Foster and Bram.

  He tried to hide his disappointment as he lifted his head and faced his brothers.

  They didn’t have to speak for Blade to know they hadn’t gotten the contract. But that knowledge wasn’t on Libby’s face when he looked down at her, and he didn’t say anything.

  They didn’t have to wait long. Bram didn’t beat around the bush. “We just got a telephone call. We didn’t get the contract.”

  Libby gasped. “Why not?”

  Bram shrugged. “They didn’t say. And I didn’t expect them to. But they did say that it went to the new garage that just opened across town. Just outside of Peach Bottom. I’m sure they’re intending on serving Richmond too. And that’s not anything unusual. Except this garage is run by all women.” Bram didn’t really have any inflection in his voice, but Blade figured the same thing was going through all of their minds.

  “So you think they gave the contract to that garage because they’re all women?” Libby asked carefully.

  “Considering all the hoops that we had to jump through, and we were an established garage, there’s no way that they could’ve done everything that the GM was expecting us to do. Not when they just opened. So yeah, it does kinda look that way to me. But I don’t have any proof. So that’s speculation.” Leave it to Foster to be dead honest.

  They didn’t really have too much to say after that, although Blade thanked them for coming out and telling him. They left shortly after and walked somberly back toward the garage.

  They’d been really counting on that contract to bring them extra work to keep Richmond Rebels afloat.

  Blade wasn’t sure what they were going to do.

  But even that couldn’t put a damper on Blade’s good mood. Well, it could. Because if anyone lost their job at the garage, for lack of work, he would be the first to go. And maybe he should walk away himself, to ease the stress on his brothers, because it was never easy to tell someone they lost their job.

  And that actually did dampen his good mood. Because he could hardly move forward with Libby if he didn’t have a job with which to support her.

  He wasn’t sure how she felt about moving. There definitely were welding jobs around, but he’d have to move away from Peach Bottom.

  Still, no decisions had to be made today. And he was going to enjoy this time, just holding her hand and sitting in the sun.

  LIBBY WALKED UP THE attic steps behind Justice. Steps were kind of hard for her, and these were rather steep. Their parents’ house was a big old brick one, built in the early 1800s. Beautiful woodwork, large rooms, and big halls.

  But the builders had kind of skimped on the staircase to the attic.

  Still, Libby had been up them plenty of times as a child, and she knew she could do it.

  They hadn’t been allowed to play in the attic, but they went up to bring down decorations for Christmas and other storage items. It’s where they’d put the things that were valuable and the things they didn’t want to throw away but didn’t want to keep out. Elementary schoolbooks, 4-H crafts, and art projects.

  She had a box that was all her own. It contained dolls that she’d outgrown but couldn’t bear to part with, clothes she loved as a teenager and couldn’t bring herself to give away, and more personal items, like notebooks and diaries.

  Her sisters all had a box too, actually, and Mariam had several.

  Because of all the personal things in the attic, her mother hated to have the cleaning lady go up and usually had her girls clean several times per year. Sweeping the floor, rearranging things, and straightening up.

  It wasn’t Liberty’s favorite job, but it kept her mother happy.

  “At least it’s not sweltering up here,” Justice said as she grabbed the broom.

  “Yet.” Liberty carried the bucket she held over to the end windowsill so she could wipe the dead bugs off it.

  “We’re not drawing this out, so we’ll be out of here before it gets too warm.”

  Liberty hoped Justice was correct. The attic was not insulated, and as the day got warmer, the temperature would rise. She didn’t know how hot it would actually get, but it would definitely be uncomfortable to work in.

  She kinda figured that Justice would be asking her about Blade, and Liberty wasn’t sure she was ready to talk about him. They’d been seeing each other for over a month, but everything still felt so new. Maybe because Liberty had never felt this way before.

  So she was kind of thinking about what she might want to share with her sister and what she might want to keep to herself.

  Thankfully, Justice had started sweeping, as though she maybe had things on her mind, too. And they worked in silence for a while.

  By the time Liberty had wiped all the windowsills, Justice had the first side of the attic swept. She started moving the boxes across so she could sweep the other side.

  Liberty wasn’t paying much attention since she was wiping and lost in thoughts about Blade.

  She wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen with the garage or where he would go. And he hadn’t said anything. It worried her a little, because he might decide to leave. And she, of course, was staying. Although, she might lose her job, she supposed. Still, she’d been working on her flowers and had some sales. Nothing huge, since she didn’t have a cooler to keep a stock of flowers on hand, but this time of year, there were plenty of wildflowers, and she’d been doing okay.

  The idea of opening her own shop had kind of been growing on her. Maybe she’d talk to Bl
ade about that tonight.

  Suddenly, the smooth scraping sound of a box moving across the floor was interrupted by a yelp from Justice, a muted bump, and then a spreading crash.

  Liberty spun around in time to see Justice spread out on her stomach on the floor and a box of stuff scattered all around her.

  Liberty hurried over. “Oh, honey, are you okay? You hit the nail, didn’t you?”

  They’d all done it at times. There was one spot where a sneaky nail stuck up, and every year, they swore they would take a hammer and pound it in, and they always forgot. Liberty had spilled her share of boxes on it, although never this bad, since she couldn’t slide the boxes as fast as everyone else. This year, it was Justice’s turn.

  “I did,” Justice said, smacking the floor with her hand, annoyance clear in her voice.

  “Goodness, I know how frustrating that is. I’ll help you gather the stuff up.”

  “At least it was Mariam’s box,” Justice said with a smirky grin.

  Liberty laughed a little. It truly had made a mess, with clothes, jewelry, ribbons, and beads strewn across the floor. Some kind of book had flown apart and scattered with handwritten pages everywhere. It was on Liberty’s side, so she knelt down carefully, favoring her leg just a little, and started gathering them up, while Justice began with the clothes that were on the other side.

  Liberty didn’t mean to read anything on purpose; she was just watching what she was doing, picking things up, and the date caught her eye. August of six years ago. That was the summer that Mariam had accused Blade of molesting her behind the grocery store.

  Even then, knowing it was the date that everything had gone down, Liberty believed she wouldn’t have stopped to read if she hadn’t seen Blade’s name. She wasn’t normally nosy; this was a diary. She hadn’t gotten to the cover of the book yet, but it was obvious from the dated entries and from the first line which said in loopy teenager scrawl, “Blade Truax is the hottest guy in Peach Bottom.”

  At that point, Liberty wouldn’t have put it down even if commanded to do so at gunpoint.

  By the time she had read that page and found the second page, she had everything she needed to confront her parents.

  “What are you doing over there?” Justice asked. “If you don’t want to help, that’s fine. And if you’re reading Mariam’s stuff, that’s weird.”

  “Maybe you should read it.” Liberty handed the page that she had first seen over to Justice.

  Thirty seconds later, Justice said, “Oh my goodness. Our parents, dad, needs to see this.”

  “That’s my thought exactly.” Liberty gathered up the rest of the diary, along with its cover, and took the page that Justice handed her back. “I’m not sure, even with this, that they will believe Blade is innocent. But it’s worth a try.”

  “How could they deny it? It’s right here. In her own handwriting. In her diary!” Justice had stood. She smacked the diary like she was an old-time Bible-thumping preacher. Her voice had raised until she might have been preaching fire and brimstone as well.

  Liberty smiled a little at the image, even though her chest burned hot at the injustice that she’d known all along had been done.

  Justice paced. “I don’t know exactly how it would work; he’d probably need a new trial, but he’s obviously innocent. He shouldn’t have to register anymore.”

  That thought had been running through Liberty’s mind as well. Blade never talked about it, but it had to be something that weighed on his mind. Having been innocent all this time, and yet having to register as a sex offender, like he had actually done something wrong.

  Justice stopped pacing. “I’m sorry.” Her voice held sincere apology. “I’m truly sorry I didn’t believe him, and I argued with you.”

  Liberty met her eyes. “Thanks. Forgiven, of course.”

  Justice sighed, her lips downturned. “I’m going to have to apologize to him.”

  “That would probably be right. A lot of people owe him an apology.”

  “He’d better get one from our parents. From dad. From Mariam.”

  Liberty doubted that last one would ever happen. “I can’t wait to tell him.” It would have to ease his mind. Just the very fact that there was evidence that proved his innocence.

  “I’ll finish up your work. I think you should rush off and let him know immediately. Don’t wait.” Justice gave a huge grin as she handed the diary back to Libby.

  Normally, Libby would turn that down. She would work until the work was done. But in this case, she couldn’t wait to go.

  “Thank you.” She took the diary, returned the smile, and hurried down the stairs.

  Her parents were both at work, so the house was quiet as Libby walked through. It was Saturday morning, and she and Blade were planning to meet later at the church, but for now, he was in the shop by himself.

  She had ridden with Justice, and she had been so excited about the information, and thinking about how Blade was going to react, that she hadn’t even remembered that she didn’t have a ride.

  She could walk. It wasn’t that far. Still, she took her phone out of her pocket and texted Blade, knowing he was at the shop by himself anyway.

  Would you be able to pick me up? I’m at my parents’ house.

  He didn’t ask any questions, and his text came back in less than thirty seconds.

  Be there in five.

  He was as good as his word. Actually, he might’ve made it in less time.

  It was one of the times in her life that she wished she could run.

  When he pulled into the drive, she got off the swing on the porch where she was waiting and went at her fastest pace, reaching his door before he could even get out.

  “Whoa.” But that’s all he got out of his mouth, because she jumped up and threw her arms around him, kissing him with everything she had.

  Later, she often wondered what exactly he had thought. Maybe he was curious about what she was doing, why she had called him over, why she was so excited. But he didn’t ask.

  After just a moment’s hesitation, probably from the surprise, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, long and hard, like it didn’t matter and all he cared about was holding her.

  Finally, she pulled back, and he let her slide down his body to the ground. She knew her smile was all over her face, but she couldn’t control it.

  “I don’t know what we’re celebrating, but I’m all for it.”

  She waved the book in her hand. “This is Mariam’s diary from the summer when she lied about you.” The smile faded off his face, but she continued to talk. “She totally admits everything in this. She admits exactly what happened behind the grocery store, and she says that she lied about you because she was angry that you weren’t interested in her. That you resisted her and wouldn’t do what she wanted and she was going to get the last laugh.”

  He didn’t look angry, but he wasn’t smiling either. “I see.”

  She kept going. “I don’t know exactly how these things work, but we should be able to get your conviction overturned. You won’t have to register anymore. And surely my parents will believe you now.”

  “I don’t really care if they believe me. It doesn’t really matter.” Blade looked over her head but kept his arms around her. “But I would like to have my conviction overturned. It sucks to have to register when I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Liberty’s heart hurt a little, since he didn’t seem to care whether her parents accepted him or not. Maybe that meant that she was just a fling for him.

  The relationship was real, but he wasn’t going to make it into anything permanent. Just a summer romance. Yeah, that definitely hurt her heart.

  But she didn’t say anything and continued to look hopefully into his eyes. “Obviously, we can’t do anything today. But on Monday, we can start everything, the whole process, whatever we need to do.”

  “Yeah, I guess. We’ll see.”

  “What’s wrong?” She searched his face. He didn�
�t seem to be nearly as excited about it as she thought he would be.

  “There’s nothing wrong. I guess it just makes me a little bit upset that now you found the diary, and she confessed in it, apparently she said what she had done. And now everyone will believe me. Like they wouldn’t believe me on my own.”

  Libby could understand a little bit of his anger and bitterness. She’d never had anybody disbelieve her on that magnitude.

  He stuck his chin up though and seemed to make the effort to shove those thoughts aside. He ran his hands up her arms. “I know you know the real reason I was there. And you believe me. That has to be enough.”

  Liberty’s brows drew down. “I’m so sorry.”

  Immediately, he shook his head. His hand came up and pulled hers away from her lips. “Don’t be sorry. Wasn’t anything you did. I just...we...we’d only talked a bit, but I wanted to get to know you better. When you wanted to meet me, I could never turn you down.”

  “I just hate that I was involved in it at all.” She didn’t get anything else out, because a car drove slowly down the street and pulled into the drive.

  A red sedan. Her parents.

  She wasn’t so naïve as to think that her parents were going to get out of their car, hear the truth, and jump for joy. But she did believe that they would finally recognize, or be forced to recognize, that Blade was innocent.

  “I guess I got here just in time,” Justice said from behind them. “I can be a witness. That we found that,” she pointed to the diary, “in Mariam’s box. Of course, it’s in her handwriting, but just in case anyone tries to say that someone tried to forge this, you and I both know that’s not what happened. I’ll back you up.” She crossed her arms over her chest and faced the garage.

  Liberty turned grateful eyes to Justice. “Thank you so much.”

  She put her arm around Blade and watched as her parents walked out of the garage.

  Chapter 18

  Blade was too stunned to be happy. Or maybe he was happy, but for some reason, he just couldn’t show it. Because it felt like the other shoe was going to drop. Or maybe he’d just been told he was guilty for so long that he was in shock thinking that he was innocent.