I’d never heard Beverly sound so passionate about something before. And the words she was saying… I had to admit it was great advice. No one had ever said that to me before.
The problem was, disappointment was something I’d gotten used to over the years. I wasn’t the kind of person people went out of their way for. I once saw someone make a Facebook post declaring they had a case of the sniffles and fifteen people commented, offering soup and home remedies.
That kind of stuff didn’t happen to me. And I didn’t expect it to. But I felt like I was getting some sort of priceless wisdom, so I absorbed her words and nodded my head.
“Good.” She turned back to the cake. “By the way, my birthday is April twenty-fifth and I expect a card and a phone call, at the very least.”
I laughed, even though I knew she was completely serious.
Then I had to swallow around the lump in my throat when I realized a card and a phone call was probably all she would get from me, since I wouldn’t be here. I was going to miss her so much after I was gone.
Maybe I could teach her how to Skype.
Pushing all thoughts of leaving aside, I forced myself to live in this moment. Thinking about moving on was just too painful.
After cutting two giant pieces of cake, she handed me a plate and we went to sit on the front porch. As we were getting settled, I quickly filled her in on all-things-Kendra, and lamented about the fact that my panicked trip to the train station was all for nothing.
“Sometimes women are bitches,” Beverly stated very matter-of-factly.
I nodded in agreement. “It never even occurred to me that she was lying. I’m too gullible.”
“I like you just the way you are.” She waved her fork at me and her expression got soft. “Don’t ever change. Especially not because of the Kendras of the world.”
We sat quietly, enjoying the cake while I mulled over some of the thoughts and feelings I’d been plagued with lately, most of them revolving around Travis.
The way I felt about him… I’d never felt that way about anyone before. I thought about him constantly and I loved everything about him.
It didn’t hurt that he looked really hot driving a semi. Scratch that—he looked hot all the time.
It wasn’t just his looks, though. Yeah, the physical attraction was off the charts, but he was funny and protective and kind. He was fiercely loyal to the people he loved.
He was a truly good person. I might have been naïve about the world, but I knew people like Travis were rare.
And it wasn’t all about the way I felt about him, but the way he made me feel about myself. When I was with him, I felt special.
Important.
Loved.
Even though he hadn’t told me he loved me, there were times when I felt it. It came through in the way he looked at me, when he touched me.
I didn’t plan on telling him, though. Just the thought of it made me uncomfortable. Love was one thing my filter insisted on keeping inside.
I knew it was a modern world, and women could be the first to declare their feelings in a relationship. But much like physical affection, I love you wasn’t something we did in my family. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d uttered those words—or the last time they were said to me.
My insides felt all twisted up and I needed someone to confide in. Since Beverly insisted on hanging out with me, she was pretty much volunteering. ‘Confidante’ fell under the job description of friends, right?
“I think I’m in love with Travis.” The words ran together as they rushed from my mouth.
Beverly guffawed. “Well, of course you are. Like I said—fine piece of ass.”
“Beverly!” I scolded while laughing. “I’m serious.”
“Well, what’s the problem? You sound like you’re complaining.”
“I don’t know.” I wrung my hands together while I tried to think of a way to explain how I was feeling. “I’m leaving in a week. I didn’t expect this and it just happened really fast.”
“Despite what you might believe, love doesn’t adhere to a schedule,” she said wisely. “And sometimes it pops up when you least expect it.”
I nodded, but I didn’t really get it. I had zero experience with this type of love. “I guess I always thought when I fell in love it would be a slow, gradual process. One that made sense and had some sort of timeline. I thought the term ‘whirlwind romance’ only happened in movies or books.”
Beverly sat back in her chair and folded her weathered hands in her lap. She was silent for a minute as she gazed out into the distance, unfocused, as though she was lost in thought.
“I knew my William for two weeks before he asked my father for my hand in marriage. I was seventeen and he was twenty-three. My daddy didn’t like that.” She chuckled. “Said I was too young to know what love was. He made a rule that we could send letters back and forth, but we weren’t allowed to see each other until I turned eighteen, which was three months away. Seemed like a lifetime to me back then.” She smiled and shook her head. “I think my daddy thought he was being sly. Thought one or both of us would lose interest. But guess who showed up on my doorstep with a ring on my birthday?”
“William,” I sighed, because it was so romantic.
“You bet your ass,” Beverly confirmed. “I may have been young, but I wasn’t inexperienced. Before I met William, I’d already been in love once. Already had my heart broken.”
“Ernie,” I said knowingly as I glanced at the house next door.
“He told you about that, did he?” She chuckled.
“He still has a thing for you.” I swung my eyes back to her.
“Oh pssh. It’s been over sixty years.”
“Weren’t you the one who just told me love doesn’t adhere to a schedule?” I asked, putting obnoxious air quotes around her words of wisdom.
“Touché, my dear, touché.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to try out the showers?” Travis teased as he tugged on the ends of my hair.
“I had one this morning, thank you very much,” I replied with an exaggerated pout and he made it better with a kiss. “Maybe on the way back, though.”
In all honesty, I really was curious about these truck stop showers. Apparently, they were super nice.
It was Friday afternoon and we were at a truck stop somewhere in Kansas. We still had a couple more hours of driving before we stopped for the night, then we would arrive in Denver late tomorrow morning.
After we picked out some snacks, Travis said he was going to pay then use the restroom, so I could just go wait for him in the truck. I was walking around the back of the building through the parking lot when I noticed my shoelace was untied.
I’d just finished tying it when a shadow fell over me. Thinking it was Travis, I stood up to face him.
It wasn’t Travis.
The man standing before me was the epitome of trucker stereotypes.
He was probably twice my age, with a scraggly beard and a dark mullet streaked with gray. The red plaid shirt he was wearing had the sleeves torn off and his arms were covered in faded tattoos. His big stomach hung over the belt of his beat-up jeans and dark sunglasses concealed his eyes.
“Well, hi there, sweet cheeks. I suppose it’s my lucky day.” He grinned, revealing brown-stained teeth.
“What?” I whipped my head around to make sure he wasn’t talking to someone else. We were the only people in this part of the parking lot and a feeling of unease came over me.
“You come on back to my rig. I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”
I started to back away because—creepy—but he wrapped his large hand around my forearm and started pulling me along with him.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I protested. “Wait.” I tried to pull my arm free from his grasp but he just held on tighter, completely ignoring me.
We were probably about forty feet away from the blue eighteen-wheeler he was dragging me toward, too far for me to make
out the company name on the side of the driver’s door.
I dug my heels into the ground but my shoes skidded on the asphalt, causing me to stumble.
Thirty feet away.
My heart started to pound, my body kicking into fight or flight mode. I kept trying to yank my arm from his grasp, but he wouldn’t let go.
Twenty feet.
I remembered something Claire told me. She said if I was ever attacked, to scream as long and loud as I could. Be loud, she’d said. The louder the better. Most attackers won’t want the attention drawn to them and they’ll run away.
“Stop!” I yelled in the most commanding tone I could muster.
The man’s footsteps faltered, but he didn’t loosen his grip. He started to turn around to face me but before he could, he was tackled to the ground.
I saw a blur of bodies colliding and it took me a second to realize Travis was on top of the man, raining blows to his face. My hands flew up to my mouth as I gasped in shock.
Travis got three or four solid punches in before he pushed off him and stood up. The fight—if you could even call it that—was over before I could make sense of what was happening.
“Don’t touch my girlfriend, you sick fuck,” Travis said in a voice I’d never heard him use before. The muscles in his arms and back bulged and strained against his white shirt.
“Fuckin’ shit,” the guy moaned and grumbled before rolling over and spitting blood on the ground. “What the fuck.”
He managed to sit up on his knees and he swayed a bit while trying to regain his balance.
My heart was still pounding, and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath as the man pulled a red bandana from his back pocket and held it up to his bleeding lip.
Body tense and fists clenched, Travis was still braced for a fight as the man wobbled to his feet.
“I didn’t mean no harm,” the man said as he backed away in defeat and spit more blood off to the side.
His sunglasses had been knocked off in the scuffle and I could tell his left eye was already swelling shut. He tried to glance my way, but Travis stepped in front of me.
“Don’t even fucking look at her,” he growled.
“I thought she was a lot lizard,” the man explained, as if that should be enough to clarify why he was dragging me off to his truck caveman-style.
“You thought wrong.” There was a finality to Travis’s tone and if this guy knew what was good for him, he would walk away.
The man made the right choice. He bent over to pick up the broken pieces of his sunglasses off the ground and staggered towards his semi, seeming dazed.
I’d never seen Travis violent before, but it was obvious he knew how to throw a punch. I’d also never seen him so angry. So threatening.
The aggression seemed to leave him immediately as he turned to me and hugged my body to his. After picking up the bag of our snacks, he quickly steered me toward his semi at the other end of the lot.
When he stopped with me by the passenger side, a mix of emotions painted his face—fear, anger, guilt.
He ran his hands over me as if assessing me for injuries. “Are you okay?” he asked, sounding distressed. “I leave you alone for two minutes… Fuck! I’m so sorry, Angel. I should’ve been there…”
“I’m okay.” I finally found my voice. “I’m just really confused. What happened back there?” I motioned with my thumb toward the empty parking lot.
Instead of answering my question, he continued to search my body with his hands. “Did he hurt you?”
“Not really. I mean, he grabbed me…” I rubbed at the place where he’d had his meaty fingers wrapped around my arm. It didn’t look like there would be any bruising, but there was a red streak on my skin, probably caused by the friction when I tried to pull away from him.
Travis’s face turned murderous when he saw the mark on my skin. “Motherfucker. I should’ve hit that sick bastard a few more times,” he growled.
When he started to look around like he was trying to find the guy again, I brought my hand up to his face to make him look at me.
“It’s okay. I’m okay. Let’s just get out of here?” I pleaded.
He nodded and briefly touched his forehead to mine before opening the passenger door and helping me up into the seat.
That sack of shit touched Angel. When I saw him manhandling her, saw her struggling against him, my vision went red.
My hands were still shaking from the adrenaline and rage as I started the engine.
I didn’t think she would run into any trouble here. The big-name truck stops got a lot of traffic and usually had parking lot surveillance, which discouraged the customers from certain behaviors.
I knew what he planned to do with her. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.
“Hey, you’re bleeding.” Angel pointed at my bloody knuckles with a trembling finger.
I flexed my hand, noting that it would be sore, but my skin wasn’t broken.
“It’s not my blood,” I said, looking over at her and noticing she looked a little pale. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “We should clean it. Do you have a first aid kit?”
“Glove compartment.”
She found the small square case then tore open a few alcohol wipes before passing them to me.
“What’s a lot lizard?” Angel’s curious voice piped up beside me as I thoroughly disinfected the back of my hand.
I hated that she had to see this side of the business, but there was no way to sugarcoat it. “A hooker who hangs out at truck stops.”
“He thought I was a prostitute?” she gasped. Sounding insulted, she sat back in her seat and looked down at her clothes.
She was wearing skinny jeans, and her Beach Boys shirt. Nothing about her outfit suggested she was for sale.
“He made an assumption based on what he wanted. You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?” I made eye contact with her, wanting to make sure she heard me loud and clear.
“I told him to stop.” She paused, then shivered as she quietly asked the sickening question I’d been wondering myself. “Do you think he would have taken no for an answer?”
“I don’t know,” I said, wanting to be honest with her. “I’m not sure if he was concerned about how willing you were.”
We didn’t talk much after that. Angel fiddled with the radio stations while I tried to concentrate on the road. Usually, driving was calming for me. But after what happened—or almost happened—calm was the last thing I felt.
I drove for another two hours before deciding on a rest stop.
“Are you sure you don’t want to get a motel room?” I asked her after shutting off the semi. “After what happened back there… Maybe it’s a better option.”
“No,” she said stubbornly. “This is where we spent our first night together. I want to do it again.”
Well, okay then. I couldn’t argue with that.
The truth was, I couldn’t wait to sleep with her on the tiny sleeper bed again. I’d been looking forward to it all week and I didn’t want to let some asshole ruin our trip.
After we got changed and ready for bed, I snuggled in close to her on the narrow mattress.
Angel didn’t waste any time, hungrily consuming my lips with hers. Usually, I was the one to initiate the physical stuff, so I loved it when she made the first move.
Unfortunately, I was distracted and she could tell. I was still pretty shaken up by what happened back at the truck stop. My head spun with the ‘what ifs’, replaying all the different ways it could have gone.
Her kissing slowed, and she pulled back to look me in the eye.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just can’t get it out of my head—what could’ve happened to you back there if I’d been one minute later. Just one minute.” I shook my head. “It’s on replay in my mind and I can’t get it to stop.”
“So let’s replace it with something else,” she suggested quietly as she ran her fingers through m
y hair.
“Like what?” I closed my eyes at the soothing gesture, the feeling of calm seeping into me with every gentle sweep of her hand.
“Let’s make tonight a good memory.” Her hand trailed down my chest and her fingers lingered suggestively at the waist of my pants. “Travis, how long do I have to wait?”
I knew what she wanted from me. And I wanted to give it to her.
I wanted Angel to be my first and I wanted to be hers. Although, somewhere deep down, I knew it wasn’t going to be enough. Truth was, I didn’t just want one part of her—I wanted it all.
I wanted her to be my first, my forever, and everything in between.
And even though I knew she didn’t plan on staying, I was willing to take whatever she was willing to give, consequences be damned.
“I don’t want to wait anymore either,” I proclaimed.
A relieved breath whooshed from her and a huge grin spread over her face. “Good. Now take this off.” She tugged at my shirt and it made me chuckle.
“Someone’s impatient,” I teased as I slipped my shirt over my head. “And bossy.”
She ran her hands over my skin while licking her lips, and my dick instantly hardened.
Fuck. This is really happening.
After removing her shirt and bra, I came over her, loving the way her bare skin felt against mine. She eagerly clawed at my pants, pushing them down over my hips, and my erection bobbed impatiently between us.
A chuckle left me when she started using her toes to pull my pants all the way down to my feet. It was like she couldn’t get me naked fast enough.
The feeling was mutual.
Next, I peeled her jeans off, revealing smooth, creamy skin. We’d been naked together before, but this time it was different.
Tonight, we would claim each other in a way no one else ever would again.
I melded my mouth with hers and a quiver ran through my body as the underside of my cock brushed against the short hairs over her center. I could feel the heat and wetness between her folds.
The Good Guys Box Set: TRUCKER, DANCER, DROPOUT, and A Trucker Wedding Page 18