by Thia Finn
One leaned forward and whispered next to my head, “What’s the matter, babe? Worried we’re gonna do something you might like?”
No way would I answer him. He wanted to goad me into responding. My eyes found the back of the driver’s balding head and never cut to see what they were doing. When one tall guy came and sat next to me, crowding me against the wall, my sweat glands went into overdrive. What could I do? He had me trapped. The driver seemed not to be paying attention to the scene.
The young men all continued speaking to each other. The more they said, the more nervous I became. The one sitting next to me finally turned to me and ran his finger down my arm. I sucked in a breath hoping that’s all he planned to do.
He leaned over even closer. “We can give you a real sweet ride, puta.” The others started laughing when I didn’t respond. He turned to them and said something, making them laugh even more.
“What’s the matter, puta? Don’t know what we’re saying?” he asked.
I looked at his dark eyes as the bus came to another stop. The door whooshed open. Please don’t let more get on the bus. What would I do? Two police officers stepped on the bus, and I let out a sigh of relief. They spoke to the driver a minute and looked like they were going to stay on. The young men all got up and lumbered to the other doors half way down the bus. I leaned forward, my hands at the railing separating the driver and me, taking a deep breath.
By the time I finally changed busses twice, my eyes drooped. I never realized the first stop didn’t have a bus that went near my place, but I finally made it. The great night turned into a disaster because of my stubbornness.
I stumbled in as quietly as I could and laid down on my bed after only taking off my shoes. My head hit the disposable pillow they provided me, and sleep overtook before I moved again.
When I woke up around noon, the shelter had emptied out. I needed to get moving since I had a shift to cover. I slept fitfully probably from the near disaster of how my night almost ended. I managed to piss off Hayden, but I didn’t know why. I felt like he knew more than he let on, but there was no way he knew I didn’t live in those apartments.
Oh well. I didn’t have time for a man at this point in my life. I needed to let this go. He knew important people, wealthy people. His pockets probably brimmed with gold for all I knew. If his friends were any indication, our lifestyles would never match up. So many other things in my life needed to be worried about at this point. A guy and all the problems that came along with him needed not to be on my radar.
Jenna picked me up at the curb. She rarely ran late, but today I paced up and down the street waiting for her.
“Where have you been? We’re going to be late if there’s any traffic at all.” I glared at her as I buckled my seatbelt.
“Girl, we’ve got plenty of time. I left a nice warm body in my bed. I’m not happy about it at all.”
“Eww. I didn’t need to know that.” Thoughts of my miserable night returned.
She stopped at the red light and stared at me. “Are you telling me you didn’t let him take you back to his place? I mean, I know you couldn’t bring him there, but are you saying he wasn’t interested enough to invite you home?”
“No, and even if he had, I wouldn’t have gone home with him. I don’t even know him.”
“What difference does that make? He’s hot, and I bet under that snap-front shirt he’s ripped. I like a guy with nice abs, don’t you?”
“I guess. I don’t really have an opinion on it since I’ve never actually touched a guy that you’d call ‘ripped.’” I refused to look at her after I admitted that.
“All the more reason why you should’ve made sure you went home with that fine specimen then. I bet he could make you feel things you’ve never felt before.”
“That’s probably true, but it’s never gonna happen.”
“Why do you say that? Did you do something wrong last night?”
“No, yes, hell… I don’t know,” I huffed and let out a long breath. “He might have been mad when he left.”
“What did you do, girl?”
“Nothing.” I didn’t want to go into details with her.
“Then that’s your first problem right there. You should’ve made him see what he would miss by not taking you home with him.” She turned into the parking lot a few minutes before our shift started. Turning toward me, she put her hand on my arm before I could get out.
“Timbre, I don’t know what your story is, and I understand if you don’t want to share. Damn, girl, we all have our share of skeletons hiding around. Just know I’m here for you if you need anything. Remember that, anything.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” I looked at the door. “We better go. The last thing I need is for Ford to fire me.”
“Okay, let’s do this. Put your best smile on and tighten up that shirt. We’ve got tips to make.” We both laughed as we made our way inside.
“Well, we’re glad you two decided to come in today,” Ford greeted us with his smart-ass comment.
“Did you think we wouldn’t?” Jenna asked with a smile on her face.
“I had my doubts. Always have my doubts, Jenna.” He continued lining up beer in the cooler.
We both smiled at him as we walked around the bar and dropped our purses in the office. I needed this shift to go quickly. I wanted more sleep and the idea of working until midnight didn’t appeal to me today.
“Ugh. This is going to be a long night.”
“At least we close at midnight… best thing about Sunday shifts.”
“True, but I need to make as much as I can. I don’t want to live in the shelter forever.”
“It’ll happen. I lived through it.” She patted me on the back as we walked out to the floor.
After a while, I glared at Ford as I rounded the end of the bar. “Could this night get any longer?” We’d only had the barest minimum of customers. “Why are you even open on Sundays? No one comes in.”
“Yeah, it’s been a little slow for football season. Maybe we should serve some snacks for the football crowd.” I turned and stared at him trying to decide if he was joking or not.
“I vote no,” Jenna told him as she came to get a few longnecks for two of the men playing pool in the back.
“Good thing you don’t get a vote then,” Ford spoke without moving his head away from the TV. “Hey, one of you can take off for the night. We don’t need two waitresses with this few people. You can flip for it.”
I looked at Jenna. If she left, how would I get home? A repeat of last night’s horror story still weighed on my mind. She wanted to leave as badly as I did but only one of us got the option.
“Timbre, you can stay. I know you need the money worse than me.” She came out of the office ready to leave. “Oh, how will you get home, though?”
“It’s fine. I can take the bus or Uber. It’ll be great. Go on home. You look beat.” My mind turned the two ideas over in my head. An Uber would be less than ten, but a bus would be a buck.
“If you’re sure? I don’t want to leave you stranded.”
“No, I’m good. Get out of here. Ford and I can finish out the shift, no problem.” I smiled at her to try to look convincing.
“Okay, if you’re sure. I’m so ready for this night to be over.” She headed for the front door in a hurry in case Ford changed his mind. “See y’all tomorrow.”
I turned and looked at Ford, who had never taken his eyes off the game. It looked like it would be up to me to get the place ready to open tomorrow, if I wanted to get out of here anytime close to closing.
“Hey, Ford.” The familiar voice caught me off guard. Why would he come in here ten minutes before closing?
“What’s got you here so late, Hayden?” Ford responded to him. Wiping down the empty table tops, I listened the best I could.
“I needed to talk to Timbre and figured she finished about this time. Thought maybe I’d give her a ride home.”
“You’ve got some per
fect timing since her ride left a few hours ago,” Ford spoke out of turn. He had no right to tell Hayden that information. I’d find my way home. I didn’t need this tonight.
“Good thing I’m here then,” Hayden said loud enough for me to hear. “You going to let me take you home, Timbre?”
With my back to him, I rolled my eyes. Damn, I didn’t want to deal with this again. Once was more than enough.
“That’s okay. I told Jenna I would take an Uber, so no need for you to bother. I’m sure it’s out of your way.” Slowly moving the bar rag around the table tops, I continued what I was doing trying to make it appear as though I had it all arranged already.
“Is that so? Well, I happen to be going over in that direction tonight, and I don’t charge for rides like they do.” He walked toward me as he spoke.
He stopped directly behind me close enough that when I stood up straight, I felt the warmth of his body and the scent he wore. Damn, he smelled good. Why did he have to be here looking too hot and smelling like heaven?
“It’s fine, Hayden. I can get home on my own.” I should’ve never looked up at him. The burst of gold in those brown eyes sucked me in. He overloaded my senses when he stood this close to me. He had no right to have so much going for him. Most men didn’t affect me at all, but something about him called to me on every level. Standing this close had bad written all over it.
Maybe Jenna was right. Maybe I did need a man after all. It’d been a long time since I had anything spark my interest in that department, at least enough to act on it. Somehow the guys I chose never met my expectations to accomplish the screaming orgasm. Maybe I couldn’t with a guy. Maybe only my magic wand held that pleasure. So what about Hayden setting my sex-o-meter on rage mode when usually it hovered around non-existent?
“Look, I came here to talk to you. Just give me a chance, please?” No way could I turn that please down. The look he gave me burned all the way down through my panties.
This time I rolled my eyes while facing him. I needed him to believe I sacrificed everything to give in instead of rejoicing in my undies. “All right. I’ll let you take me but no arguments tonight. I’m not up to it.”
If my panties weren’t already on full-melting mode before, the smile he gave me sent them into total meltdown. Damn this man. His body, face, and smile constantly emitted stud to the opposite sex. What would happen when he combined words to go with it?
Doomed—I. Was. Doomed.
Thank God for small victories. She gave up, finally. As I walked through that door, I expected her to ignore me after the way we parted last night. I knew I overreacted to her insistence on where she lived. She didn’t need to know I might have stalked her because I knew she’d freak out. There had to be more going on with this girl. Nothing was what it seemed.
“Great.” I smiled at her. “I’ll have a beer and wait for you then.”
Ford walked out from the back and saw me. “Did you want something to drink?”
“Yeah, Timbre’s getting me a beer. I’m going to wait for her to finish up.” He nodded, and I pulled out my billfold.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ve closed the register already. We’ll catch it next time.” He looked at Timbre and then back at me. “I’m guessing we’ll see you again soon?”
This time I nodded at him. I didn’t know what might happen between us, but if I had my way, he would see a lot of me in the near future.
Ford turned to Timbre. “Hey, when you’re finished with that table, shove on off. Your ride’s waiting, and we can’t let a paying customer sit around now, can we?”
She looked up at him and then at me. Her facial expression puzzled me. I wanted her to be happy she didn’t have to find a ride, but I needed her to trust me to tell me the truth. Why did she feel the need to lie about it before and where she was living? Was it so bad that it embarrassed her?
Hell, I’d lived in a lot of interesting places when I lived with my mom as a kid. People did what they had to do to survive. I damn sure knew that. I’d slept in my truck in a park close to where she now lived the first night I rolled into Austin. I’d have been there a lot of nights if Ryan hadn’t insisted I move into his apartment.
That happened years ago. So much had changed in my life because I trusted others to help me. Maybe Timbre needed to take a page out of my book and lean on a few people when life forced her to. She seemed like she let pride stand in the way, again.
When she headed my way, I chugged the beer and sat the bottle on the bar. “See ya later, Ford.”
“Sure man. Get our girl home safely.” He waved as he walked back in his office.
“Our girl?” She made a little noise as she repeated his line.
“Just an expression, Timbre. Don’t start out mad before we get in the truck.” I chuckled. I needed her in a good mood tonight.
Holding open the truck door, I held out my hand to help her in. She wavered a split second before taking it. Not a good start. I shut the door behind her and made my way around the front thinking of all the things I wanted to say to her before the night ended. She needed to see I could be trusted, I wasn’t her enemy, and I wanted to spend more time with her.
As I started the truck, I looked over at her. “I wanted to talk to you about last night, Timbre.”
“Why? You took me home. You obviously expected more from it, and when you didn’t get invited to my place, you were pissed. End of story.”
“What? That’s what you thought? That’s so far from the story, Timbre.” I backed out with a little more of my foot on the gas than I intended, but now I was the pissed one.
“Yeah. I sure as hell do. What did you think was going to happen? Just because Jenna picked up a guy in a bar doesn’t mean I’m like that, Hayden, even if I did know you from before.”
“You are so wrong on all accounts, Timbre, so wrong.” I pulled into the parking lot of a fast-food place, so I could have a real conversation. The motor stopped when I turned the key. I shifted so I looked at her.
“I never expected you to ask me up or to hook up with you. I didn’t have any expectations other than taking you home and some conversation.” Actually, I hoped for a little more, but I didn’t want to put that out there.
“Then why did you make such a big deal when I told you to drop me off?” She stopped staring out the front window and looked at me. Her voice got quiet, so I could barely hear her. “It wasn’t a date or anything. I never expected you to walk me to my door. You offered me a ride just like tonight, and I took it. I didn’t want you to feel obligated.”
“Obligated? Walking a woman to her door, especially living where you live isn’t an obligation, Timbre. It’s the right thing to do.”
“So we’re back to that damsel-in-distress thing? I can take care of myself, Hayden. I’ve been doing it for a long time.” She turned to stare out again.
“I never said you couldn’t, but why should you feel the need to go it alone all the time? You don’t have to, you know?” I reached over and laid my hand on hers squeezing her fingers. The need to touch her ate at me. When she didn’t jerk it away from me, I prayed for the progress.
She finally looked up at me, and I could see her eyes floating in tears. She looked down at our hands instead of holding contact with mine. Well, shit. Not the reaction I’d hoped for when I held her hand.
“Timbre?” I wrapped my hand around hers to hold on. God, I wanted to pull her to me and offer comfort in my arms instead, but I knew I had to go slow. “What’s going on, babe?”
As the tears spilled over and made a slow crawl down her cheeks, she finally looked me in the eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s been so long since I had someone I could trust. I’ve been completely alone since my roommate moved off to L.A. He left and took all our friends with him. It was bound to happen because when we met, he told me their dream of all going out there together. They even begged me to go, too. Moving’s expensive, and I didn’t have a job that made any money so I couldn’t go. I jus
t never realized I would be so alone.”
I hurt from the pain in her face. The loneliness she felt killed me. The fact that she finally decided to come clean about her life made me feel like I’d made some progress with her, but this progress seemed wrong.
I slowly pulled on her, and she came willingly to meet me in the middle over the console. If I moved my seat back and pulled her into my lap, the safety I offered might scare her and that’s the last thing I needed to do at that point. I settled with holding her there as long as she let me.
She finally backed away slowly, and I let her ease out of the embrace.
“Thank you. I guess I needed to finally let it all out.”
“I’m here for whatever you need, Timbre. Please remember that. You can count on me. I’m a reliable kinda guy.” I smiled at her, and she gifted me with a brief one in return.
“Yeah, thank you for that. I appreciate you letting me cry on your shoulder.”
“Anytime, babe. Anytime.” I put the car in gear and entered the road. Now the hard part would begin again. She would either trust me enough to tell the truth or lie again which would make me mad, but I had to keep it reigned in this time. Since she didn’t easily trust, I knew to take it easy on her tonight. “So, where am I taking you?”
“Uh, well.” She began to think about it. I could see it on her face. “I don’t exactly live in the apartments where you took me.”
“Thank God.” She might tell me the truth this time.
Her head whipped around to look at me. “What? Why do you say that?”
“I’m just glad you don’t live there. That place looked like shit, especially in the middle of the night like it was. I formed all kinds of bad scenarios in my mind when you left me.”