The Good Guys Box Set: TRUCKER, DANCER, DROPOUT, and A Trucker Wedding

by Jamie Schlosser

  Our faces were so close together that I could feel each puff of her breath against my lips. Just as I was about to close the distance, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

  Colton stood beside me, and he had an apologetic look on his face.

  “I’m sorry, dude. Check your texts,” he said cryptically, before walking away.

  Without letting go of Angel—who looked just as confused as I felt—I took my phone out of my pocket.

  Colton: Alert. Alert. Tara and Kendra are on their way here.

  Colton: I repeat. Kendra Mc-Pukes-A-Lot is coming

  Colton: Check your ducking phone

  Colton: Fuck

  Fucking great. Just as I slipped my phone back into my pocket, I felt a hand on my other shoulder.

  It wasn’t Colton this time.

  “Hey, Travis,” Kendra purred as she rubbed my shoulder. “I was hoping I would see you here.”

  I felt Angel stiffen in my arms. Her hands fell away from my neck and she tried to step back, but I held onto her.

  “Hi, Kendra,” I greeted her. I decided I might as well get the awkward introduction out of the way. “This is Angel. Angel, this is Kendra, Tara’s best friend.”

  Hurt flashed through Kendra’s eyes and I felt bad. My intention wasn’t to hurt her, but she needed to know there wasn’t going to be a romantic relationship between us.

  My momentary guilt didn’t last long though, because her glare turned hard and I could see the hurt turn to anger. I’d seen Kendra have a pretty nasty attitude in the past, but it had never been directed at me before.

  “I see you’re dancing tonight,” she observed as her eyes briefly flitted to Angel. “You gonna save one for me?”

  I sighed, and suddenly wished I’d been more straightforward with her earlier in the week instead of avoiding her. I knew that was going to come back to bite me in the ass.

  “Hey, give me sec, okay?” I asked Angel. “I’ll meet you back at the table.”

  She nodded. “Sure.”

  She didn’t look sure.

  Before walking away, she paused. “It was nice to meet you, Kendra.”

  She was so fucking sweet. Even with some strange girl staring daggers at her, Angel did the right thing. It wasn’t lost on me that Kendra didn’t return the sentiment.

  The smug look on Kendra’s face gave way to disbelief when she realized I wasn’t going to dance with her. I walked off with her to an area where she could hear me better.

  Because I needed her to hear me loud and clear.

  “What the fuck, Travis?” she screeched.

  “Listen,” I started. “There isn’t going to be another date for us. I should’ve been honest with you about that, and I’m sorry.”

  “Is it because of her?” I realized the shrieking might be something she did often.

  “No,” I told her honestly. I’d already known there was no future with Kendra even before I met Angel. Hell, I hadn’t wanted to go on the date with her in the first place. “I just don’t have those kinds of feelings for you. I’m sorry if I misled you,” I said, trying to let her down gently.

  “What kind of name is Angel anyway?” she sneered. “Where the hell did she come from? Is she even old enough to be in here?”

  Her rapid-fire questions about Angel pissed me off. If Kendra was thinking about trying to get her kicked out of here, we were going to have a serious problem.

  “Angel isn’t your concern. Neither am I. You and I had one date, but that’s where it ends.” My tone was hard, and she blanched.

  Kendra’s eyes narrowed into slits and I was afraid she was going to cause a scene. Instead, she huffed and stomped away.

  I hoped that was the end of it, but I should’ve known getting rid of Kendra wouldn’t be that easy.

  When Travis asked me to go back to our table, I thought maybe he was actually going to dance with that girl. A sigh of relief left me when I realized that wasn’t the case.

  But now I was stuck in some kind of limbo, standing between the dance floor and our table, because Colton and a blonde (who I assumed was his girlfriend) were having an argument in the booth.

  I glanced over to where Travis was standing with Kendra, and he seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion as well.

  Since I didn’t have anywhere to go I tried to act nonchalant, but it wasn’t working very well.

  The biggest problem I had when going for aloof?

  I never knew what to do with my hands. On the hips? Clasped behind my back? Resting casually at my side?

  Inwardly groaning at how painfully awkward I was, I sagged against the wall, hoping I could blend in with the rustic wood panels.

  While trying to maintain a cool demeanor, I overheard some of the conversation Colton and his girlfriend were having. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to overhear because she was practically shouting.

  “I can’t believe he’s being such a douche!”

  “He’s not being a douche. I told you he never wanted to go on that date,” Colton said, his voice much more calm than hers. “She upchucked on his shoes, Tara.”

  “It didn’t stop him from sleeping with her! I know she stayed over at your place last Friday night,” Tara said.

  Colton’s voice got too low for me to hear what he said next.

  Travis slept with Kendra last weekend?

  I suddenly felt kind of sick to my stomach as reality came crashing down. Maybe Travis really was a player. Obviously, what he did before he met me wasn’t any of my business, but it reminded me he had a life here.

  One that wasn’t going to include me after I left.

  Glancing over at Kendra, I studied her. Honestly, she was everything I wasn’t. Dark hair, brown eyes, and she was at least five inches taller than me. Her bright purple top was tight over her breasts, which were probably a cup size bigger than mine. Or maybe she just had a really good bra.

  Her short black skirt showed off her long, lean legs. With her strappy high heels, she almost matched Travis’s height.

  Travis looked good tonight and he did it so effortlessly. He wasn’t wearing his hat, and his hair looked like he’d just run his hand through it a bunch of times. The perfect combination of messy and sexy. It was so unfair how guys could pull that off.

  His plain sage-green T-shirt hugged his arms and chest, showing off the definition underneath, and his worn jeans fit his narrow hips just right, accentuating his backside. I never knew I could be so attracted to a guy’s butt.

  Grudgingly, I had to admit Kendra and Travis would’ve made a good-looking couple, and that churning feeling in my stomach returned at the thought.

  This was either the bitter taste of envy, or the nachos were bad. I was going to go with the former.

  I’d really hate to be the second girl to throw up on Travis within a week.

  I was snapped out of my small pity party when Tara stormed off to the bathroom and Colton went up to the bar for another drink.

  Just as I slipped back into the booth, I saw Kendra head to the bathrooms after Tara. Travis went up to Colton at the bar and they exchanged a few words before he came to sit down next to me.

  “Sorry about that,” he said with an apologetic look on his face. “I went out on a date with Kendra last weekend and I think she got the wrong idea about us. There isn’t going to be a second date.”

  Well, she probably would get the wrong idea if you slept with her.

  I was insanely proud of myself for keeping that thought to myself. It wasn’t my business what he did last weekend. Or who he did.

  I tried to smile, but it probably came out more like a grimace. “You know, I’m actually feeling kind of tired,” I lied. “So I’d be ready to go any time you are.”

  I looked down at the table and picked at a napkin.

  What made me the worst liar ever? Yet again, I didn’t know what to do with my freaking hands. I picked at the napkin some more, tearing it up into little pieces.

  When he didn’t say anythin
g, I glanced up to find Travis studying my face. He stared at me for a beat, his dark green eyes burning into me, then nodded his head. “Yeah, okay,” he said, his tone a bit defeated. “I’ll just use the restroom real quick, then we can go.”

  I gave him a tight smile. “Thanks.”

  A minute later, a different waitress than the one we had before stopped by the table and set a pink-tinted drink in front of me. A cherry floated among the ice and it had a little yellow striped umbrella coming out of the top.

  “Someone bought this for you,” she told me with a smile.

  “What is it?”

  “A kiddie cocktail,” she answered, then walked away.

  I glanced over at the bar to see who might have sent the drink, and I didn’t have to look too hard. I made brief eye contact with Kendra and Tara before they turned away, busting up with laughter.

  My eyes narrowed at them. It was an obvious dig at how young I was.

  The part that pissed me off the most is the fact that I loved kiddie cocktails. It’s basically a cherry flavored 7-up. With a cherry on top.

  Seriously, what’s not to love?

  I kind of wanted to drink it. Wanted to slurp it down while staring at Kendra, showing her I was enjoying every last drop.

  But I wasn’t stupid enough to do that. There was a real possibility she put something in it. Like a laxative. Or cyanide.

  “What’s that?” I glanced up, and Travis was pointing at the offensive beverage.

  “Nothing,” I said, climbing out of the booth. “You ready to go?”

  I was seeing another side to Angel. She answered me when I asked questions, but her responses were short. This Angel was quiet. Closed off.

  I didn’t like it.

  Clearly, what went down with Kendra bothered her. Even though she tried to act like everything was fine, I knew she was lying. Angel had the worst poker face I’d ever seen.

  The whole ride back to my place was silent. She chewed her bottom lip—the same bottom lip I’d had between my teeth just hours ago—while looking intently out the window. There was nothing to see out there. It was pitch black outside and all we passed were fields and a few farmhouses.

  For once I’d just wanted a date to go well, but bad luck and my own stupidity had interfered again.

  Hoping to finally end my streak of disaster dates, I’d wanted tonight to be perfect. Wanted to start things off right with Angel. And everything had been going great until Kendra showed up.

  Sighing, I glanced over at the girl on the other side of the bench seat, wishing I could know what she was thinking.

  Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long to find out. We’d just pulled up to my apartment when she spoke.

  “Travis,” she let out a breath and speared me with her crystal eyes. “I didn’t come here to interfere with your life.”

  “You’re not—” She cut me off by holding up her hand.

  “I don’t know what this is—” she stopped and waved her hand back and forth between us. “—what this was with you and me… But maybe it’s better if we take a step back from it.”

  Her use of the past tense in reference to us left me with an unfamiliar ache in my chest. We’d barely gotten started. I didn’t want it to end before it could even begin.

  “I don’t want to take a step back from it,” I told her, my voice gruff.

  When she looked at me again her eyes held so many emotions. Confusion. Hurt. Lust.

  “It’s not any of my business who you slept with, I know that. It’s just—”

  “Whoa, hold up.” Now I cut her off. “Who did I sleep with?”

  “Kendra?” She probably meant it to sound like a statement, but her voice got higher at the end like it was a question.

  I couldn’t help it—I laughed. “Who said I slept with Kendra?”

  Looking down, she toyed with the hem of her dress. “I overheard Colton and his girlfriend arguing. She said you and Kendra had sex last weekend after your date.”

  My eyebrows went up. “She said that?” I asked, wondering if Kendra lied about what went down after our date. “What were her exact words?”

  Angel’s face scrunched up in thought, causing an adorable wrinkle to appear on the bridge of her nose. “She said that you slept with Kendra. That she spent the night here with you.” She thought for another second. “Oh, she also called you a douche. Her words, not mine,” she said quickly and held up her hands. “And Colton said she up-chucked on your shoes.”

  “Kendra did spend the night here after our date,” I confirmed, and Angel’s face fell. “But I didn’t have sex with her. She didn’t want to go home because she was wasted and she didn’t want her parents to see her like that. I let her crash on my bed. I slept on the couch.”

  “Oh.” Angel looked relieved, but also a bit embarrassed over the whole conversation. “Well, that makes me feel a little better about it then. I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. And like I said, it’s none of my business who you’ve slept with.”

  “Yes, it is your business,” I said, and she looked surprised. “You like me. And I like you. There’s something here between us and I want to figure out what it is.”

  Her mouth opened like she wanted to say something, but no words came out. She looked speechless, so I decided to get everything out in the open while I had the chance.

  “Angel, I’ve never slept with anyone. I’m a virgin.”

  “What?” She jerked back, disbelief written all over her face. From her reaction, you’d think I told her I had bodies buried in my backyard.

  Being a virgin isn’t that weird, right?

  “I’ve never had sex before,” I repeated.

  “Are you fucking with me right now?” she asked, and I almost jerked back from her use of the F-word. It seemed dirtier coming from her pretty little mouth.

  Part of me wanted to tell her she shouldn’t say that word. The other part of me wanted to ask her to say it again.

  “I’m dead serious. You can ask Colton if you don’t believe me.”

  “But… but…” she sputtered. “You’re so… I mean, you know you’re really good-looking, right? How is that even possible?”

  I just shrugged. I could tell her my entire dating history, but I didn’t want to talk about other girls right now. “It just never worked out. And now I’m at the point where I want it to be with someone I really care about.”

  Angel nodded like she understood. A brief silence fell over us as she processed my confession. “Did Kendra really throw up on your shoes?”

  I grinned. Not because it was a good memory—it was actually pretty fucking gross. I just found it highly amusing how Angel wanted to confirm that random detail of the story.

  “She did.” I grimaced. “It took me an hour to get them clean the next day.”

  Angel snickered at the unfortunate incident before covering her mouth. She struggled to wipe the humor from her face, but failed. “Sorry. Totally not funny.”

  I reached over to unbuckle her seat belt and motioned her over. After scooting across the bench seat, she snuggled into my side as I put my arm around her.

  “I still can’t believe you’re a virgin,” she said, shaking her head. “But since you were so forthcoming about your history… I guess I should let you know I’m a virgin, too.”

  I hadn’t even thought to ask. It didn’t really matter to me if she was or not. But now that I knew she’d never been with anyone that way… something akin to relief flowed through me. The thought of anyone else touching her was unpleasant.

  Since meeting Angel, I felt like I was learning new things about myself. I’d never been the jealous type before. There was just something about her that made me feel possessive. Protective. It was both exciting and disconcerting.

  I hugged her to my side and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry our date sucked.”

  She laughed lightly and squeezed her arm around my middle. “It wasn’t all that bad. Actually, I was having a really nice time until Ken
dra showed up.” She glanced up at me and her face suddenly held a hint of outrage. “Did you know that wench sent over a kiddie cocktail?”

  My laughter bellowed inside the truck. “Did you just say ‘wench’?”

  “Yes. Wench. It was mean.” She pouted.

  “Aw, baby…” I cooed teasingly.

  I was mildly surprised by how easily the term of endearment slipped out. I’d meant it to be playful, but as soon as I said it, the word felt more intimate. When she didn’t object to it, I was glad. Knowing Angel, if she didn’t like it she would tell me. Her straightforwardness was becoming one of my favorite things about her.

  Her lips were still slightly pouting when I brought my mouth down to hers. Slowly, I kissed her top lip, nipped at her bottom lip, then finished the kiss with one more soft peck on her full mouth.

  As much as I wanted to go further, I knew we needed to ease into whatever this was. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin it by rushing into the physical stuff. We were both in uncharted territory.

  Cupping her face with one hand, I ran the tip of my nose down the length of hers. I’d done that on the couch earlier today. I had no idea what made me do it then, and I didn’t know why I did it now. I’d never done that to anyone before.

  It just felt right with Angel. Natural. Like it was an act of affection meant just for her.

  Holding her tighter to my body, I placed another kiss on top of her head. She melted further into me as her fingers drew lazy circles over my ribs. We sat like that for a few minutes in comfortable silence, the only light coming from the glow of the clock on the dash. The darkness outside made me feel like we were in our own world inside the cab of my truck.

  Although it wasn’t really that late, I couldn’t help the yawn that escaped. Since yawning always seems to be contagious, Angel followed right after me and I chuckled.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m beat,” I said.

  She simply nodded, her eyes looking heavy.

  Once we got inside my apartment, Angel excused herself to the bathroom to change into her pajamas. I went to my bedroom and started to build a pillow wall in the middle of the bed that could rival any impenetrable wall ever built.