by Bella Jewel
“That’s so super sweet. So he like, took care of you?”
“You could say that, yeah.”
She smiles. “How come you’re not throwing yourself at him? Is he hot? Is he married? I don’t get it.”
I roll my eyes, adjusting the dress on my body once again. I’m not used to wearing dresses. Hell, I haven’t worn one since I was probably fifteen years old. Jo picked the tightest, sexiest dress she could, claiming that I needed to get my freak on sooner rather than later. Apparently, I don’t get a choice in the matter.
“It’s not like that with Ethan and I. He . . . I don’t know, he was kind of my protector. He helped me through some of the worst moments in my life. I couldn’t have gotten through it without him. He’s like my best friend. He’s not married, he’s incredibly good-looking, but I don’t know . . . it just isn’t like that.”
“Seriously?” Jo gasps. “He sounds like a damned hero. I’d be climbing him like a tree.”
I giggle. “Of course you would. No, Ethan and I? It just won’t happen.”
I mean, I did have a crush on him for a few years. I can’t deny it. When you’re alone in a prison, and there is a gorgeous man taking care of you, you can’t help but develop some sort of feelings for him. But, I don’t know, I never saw it as anything more than that. Not that Ethan wouldn’t be an incredible partner; he would.
I just don’t think that he’s for me.
“Well, let’s hope this new guy is something to brag about. Here goes. Are you ready?”
I nod, and stare at the massive garage in front of me. It’s huge, like the biggest damn garage I’ve ever seen. It has easily ten bays for cars, as well as another three on the end filled with motorcycles. The office building is bigger than our apartment.
“This place is huge,” I whisper, staring at it.
“It’s amazing. I’ve heard of it; but I’ve never seen it. Wow. Super-cool name, too.”
I glance up at the big sign that’s made out of chrome calligraphy letters. Heels and Wheels. There’s a catch phrase below it. We’ll get your wheels on the road again so the heels will be over your shoulders again.
Ballsy.
I like it.
“That’s pretty funny.” I laugh, shaking my head.
We walk farther in and see the place is really filled with people. There are jumping castles for the kids, and food stalls set up in the large parking lot. Some show cars, including race cars, are out on display, and people are milling around looking at them. The smell of food and beer is wafting out, and my stomach rumbles. I’m still not over being able to eat what I want. At this rate, I’ll end up bigger than this garage, but I’m totally okay with it right about now.
“So, show me this gorgeous man you told me about?” Jo asks.
I glance around, and when I notice him, my throat goes a little dry. He’s standing by the makeshift bar, talking to another man. He grins, and then nods, and oh, my poor heart. It does a stupid little flutter, and I turn to Jo and whisper, “There. By the bar.”
She glances where I point, and her eyes get wide. “Holy fucking shit. The hot one with dark hair?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh. My. Lord. Honey, if you don’t ride that all the way home, I will.”
I smother a snort with my hand, and shove into her with my shoulder. Tanner turns more toward us, and his eyes find me, locking onto mine and giving me a shiver that runs up my body. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Suddenly, I’m very much ready not to be a virgin, and more than ready to taste the man currently walking towards me and Joanne.
“Ladies,” he murmurs in that low, thick, husky voice as he stops in front of us. “Real glad you could make it.”
Good lord. Someone make him stop with the gorgeous.
“Joanne,” Joanne says, throwing her hand out.
Tanner takes it, curling his big fingers around her tiny little hand. “Tanner.”
“Even your name is hot,” she murmurs under her breath.
He grins. I nearly die.
“Come on over and have a drink. I’ll introduce you to my friends and co-owners of this place.”
Jo hooks her arm through mine and announces, “Lead the way!”
Tanner grins again, and then turns and we follow him back over to the bar where a group of men are standing.
I’d thought Tanner was the hottest man I’d ever laid my eyes on, that there could only possibly be one of him in existence. I’m wrong. There are six, to be exact. Six incredibly breathtaking men, men you wouldn’t believe were real unless you were standing right where I am, staring at them. I blink a few times, just to make sure I’m not seeing things.
I’m not.
Holy lord.
Jo’s sharp intake of breath is loud enough to stop their conversation.
“Tanner, you got some friends,” another tall, dark, and handsome man says.
The two are similar-looking, except this guy has slightly longer hair, curling at the ends in a way that looks incredibly sexy. His eyes are the lightest damn blue I’ve ever seen, and set amongst his olive skin, he looks like a freakin’ god of some sort. He’s got a beard, which is so damned sexy it makes you want to pounce all over him. Tattoos run up his arms, disappearing under the shirt that’s rolled up to his elbows, just like Tanner’s.
Hot.
“I do,” Tanner tells the man. “Ladies, this is my best friend and brother for life, Tatum.”
Sweet Jesus. He has a T name, too.
“Oh boy,” Jo whispers.
Tatum looks to her, and smiles a slow, sexy smile that honestly would drop the panties off any woman. “What’s your name, darlin’?”
Oh my god. Someone make him stop.
“Joanne,” she whispers, her voice clearly unable to make an appearance. She clears her throat, cheeks burning red, and man, she looks so pretty, it’s not a wonder Tatum is eyeing her off. “Nice to meet you.”
“Pleasure’s all mine, believe me.”
Then his eyes move to mine, and something kind of flashes through them. I don’t know what, to be exact. It’s a fleeting moment, and he smiles and says, “You must be Callie. Tanner told me about you.”
I nod, extending a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
His grip is firm, a little too firm. He shakes my hand and lets it go.
Tanner turns to the rest of the group, and introduces them one by one. It takes me a moment to process each and every one’s hotness. Seriously.
“This is Chad,” Tanner says, pointing to a gorgeous sandy-blond-haired man, with the most incredible steel-grey eyes I’ve ever seen. He’s also tall, huge, except he has clean skin. Not a drop of ink on him. At least that I can see.
“Hi . . .” I wave awkwardly.
“And Garrett,” Tanner goes on, pointing to the next man. He’s like your very own mountain man. He’s tall, muscled, and has the best beard I’ve ever seen. His hair is somewhere between light and medium brown. He has emerald-green eyes that you could honestly get lost in, they’re so piercing. He’s absolutely gorgeous, and he looks like he belongs in a cabin in the Rockies somewhere, chopping firewood.
Hot. So hot.
Jo and I both give him a wave.
“Then you’ve got Logan and Luka.”
I stare at the other two men. Logan is native American, and lord, he’s beautiful, in an exotic, mysterious way. Long dark hair disappears somewhere down his back—I have no idea how far. He has deeper, darker, brown eyes than Tanner, and the softest brown skin I’ve ever seen on a man. He’s absolutely gorgeous.
Luka is something else entirely, with the darkest red hair I’ve ever seen, so dark it almost looks like it could be brown in the wrong light, but at present you can see the flaming undertone of red in the thick locks. His eyes are the most gorgeous steely grey color.
All the man are tall, all the men are built like stone walls, and all of them are so gorgeous in their own way, it’s hard to say which one you’d pick if given the choice.
My eyes flitter back to Tanner, of course, because man, he does something for me.
Jo’s eyes flitter back to Tatum, and I know if she could pick a man, it would be the gorgeous, rugged one who is staring at her equally as hard as she’s staring at him.
Poor girl.
I wonder if she’s going to break it to him that she’s married. I wonder a lot of things after meeting these men, really.
Mostly, I wonder, how the hell I’m going to keep my panties on for a whole night.
First world problems, if you ask me.
THE PARTY IS FUN, AND I’ve had way too many drinks.
Not too many that I’m concerned I’m going to slur my words and do something stupid, but enough that I’m laughing freely, which I haven’t done for so long, and forgetting that my world ever turned upside down. It feels nice, for just a moment, to not think about how the last six years of my life played out.
“Honey,” Jo says, sitting down beside me on the comfortable chairs we found near the bar. She hands me a drink and continues, “I have to go. Patrick’s car broke down, and he needs a ride.”
I frown. “Oh no! We were having so much fun!”
“Everything okay here, ladies?”
We both look over to see Tanner, Garrett, and Tatum all striding our way. God, my poor body. It feels like every time Tanner is near, it wants to throw itself all over him.
“I have to go. My, ah . . .” She hesitates. For the first time in her life, she hesitates, then she exhales and mutters, “. . . husband’s car broke down.”
Tatum doesn’t seem surprised. Instead, he tips his head to the side and murmurs, “Need a hand with it?”
“Oh, no,” she says quickly, “I mean, thanks, but he’d bust a nut if I showed up with you . . .”
She’s right. He would.
Tatum smiles, just a slight tip of the lips. Man, he’s fine. Poor Jo.
“So, anyway, are you coming now or did you want to catch a cab home?” Jo asks me.
“I, ah . . .”
“I’ll give her a ride,” Tanner says, meeting my eyes.
Oh my.
Jo grins, and then picks up her purse from beside me and says, “Well, that’s that then.” She hugs me, and whispers in my ear, “Make him remember you, honey. Don’t be shy.”
She waves goodbye to the men, holding Tatum’s eyes just a little longer than the rest, and disappears off into the crowd.
I look up at the three men currently watching her go, then they all turn and look down at me. I smile nervously and say, “Well, I guess you’re all stuck with me.”
“Could be a lot worse,” Garrett says, and then grabs Tatum’s shoulder and they turn and walk off.
Tanner sits down beside me, leaning back in the chair, stretching his legs out and crossing his ankles. Oh, my. Why is it that everything he does is so damned attractive? I’m virgin-struck. I just made that up, but it seems like a thing. My body has never experienced a man, but it’s more than ready to, and Tanner sitting there, smelling the way he smells, and looking the way he looks, is making it very hard for me not to imagine all the things he could do to me.
I know he’d be experienced, without a doubt.
“Tell me somethin’ about yourself, Callie.” Tanner’s big hands curl around his beer, and he brings it to his mouth.
“There’s not much to know. I’m just a girl. You know, the same old story.”
He turns and glances at me. “I very much doubt you’re the same old story. There’s somethin’ about you that tells me you’re a whole lot more than that.”
I swallow.
He would love to know more, I’m sure, but I’m certainly not about to tell him just how right he is. I’m not the same old story. I’m a goddamned nightmare, the one nobody wants to hear about. It changes everything about who I am. I tried very hard to leave that Callie in the prison when I stepped out of those doors.
“I think you’d be wrong,” I whisper, and then change the subject. “What about you, Tanner? What’s your story? Family? Friends?”
He shrugs. “You know, the usual. Two sisters, parents still together, got my group of friends to run this place with—I’d say life is pretty good. Life all comes together just how it’s meant to.”
He’d be wrong about that. Life is a big fat asshole.
“Yeah,” I say carefully, then continue, “What kind of cars do you work on in there?” I nod in the direction of his garage.
He stands and extends a hand. “I’ll show you.”
My heart races, and I want to scream and jump and freak out all at the same time. We’re going in there? Will we be alone? God.
I take his hand, and I can’t help but inwardly shiver at the way his fingers feel curling around mine. His hands are that of a mechanic, so masculine, with little callouses on his palms. They’re big, too. One of his hands could probably take over two of mine.
We walk past all the people, and I notice a few of his friends watching us with strange expressions on their faces. Is this something he doesn’t usually do? Or are they in the know about what’s going to happen? Either way, they’re watching, and it makes me a little uncomfortable. I sip my drink again, figuring if I can get a little more drunk, I won’t care.
Yeah, right.
I’m so damned anxious.
We walk into the massive garage, and Tanner flicks on the lights. I stare around, eyes wide, mesmerized by the very sight in front of me. Polished black concrete floors line the huge space. The lights are brilliant, bringing it to life, and there is bay after bay filled with cars being fixed, or being pulled apart. It’s incredible. Absolutely spectacular.
“Wow,” I breathe. “This is amazing, Tanner. What a beautiful place.”
He makes a half chuckle, half snort sound from his throat and says, “I’m not sure if beautiful is the look I was going for . . .”
I laugh. “You know what I mean. It’s amazing.”
He gives me a small grin, and asks, “Do you like cars?”
I swallow.
No, I do not like cars. I drive them only if I have to, and when I do, I feel anxious the entire time. I don’t like being in them if I don’t have to. I don’t like anything to do with them, to be honest. If I tell Tanner that, though, he’ll ask why. I don’t want to answer that question.
“Sure,” I lie. “I like them.”
He studies me, as if he can hear the lie in my voice, then he says, “Come and have a look over here then.”
He leads me down past a few bays and through a door, and we enter what could only be classed as a showroom. It’s incredible and filled with all kinds of vintage cars that have been restored, or are currently being restored in the bays surrounding the showroom floor. I stare in awe at the beautiful old vehicles.
“Wow,” I breathe. “This is amazing. You restore old cars?”
He nods. “We do, yeah, but those three in the middle? They’re mine.”
I stare at the three cars in the middle on the showroom floor. There is a Ford Mustang, that much I know, because when I was younger, I always wanted one. It’s red and convertible, and absolutely gorgeous. It would have to be around the 1965-mark in age, and it is pristine. The second car I don’t recognize, but it’s absolutely spectacular as well. Then there is a green race car, decked out for speed and power.
“You race?” I ask him, walking over to the race car and staring at it. It’s amazing.
“Yeah, I enjoy taking it out to street races.”
Street racing. That’s awesome and totally hot. “That’s amazing.”
“Climb in. It’s even better inside.”
I give him a look. “Are you trying to get me in your car so you can take full advantage of me?”
He gives me a look that makes me weak at the knees. “I guess you’ll just have to find out.”
Is this the moment I’m supposed to tell him I’m a virgin? Or do I just go with it, get it over and done with, and move on?
I don’t know.
I don
’t know what I’m supposed to do right now except get in the car.
So, that’s what I do.
Come on, fate. For once, give me what I need.
9
THEN – CALLIE
“I got you these,” Officer Corel says, handing me a pack of books.
I stare at them for a moment, and then take them from him, glancing down. Harry Potter. I’ve never read these books, but they’re big, and they’ll no doubt take me a while. I don’t know why he got them for me. Does he feel sorry for me?
It’s safe to say, things haven’t been going well for me in here.
Trisha didn’t like that I told on her, and so she’s made my life a living hell, tormenting me in every way she can. Officer Corel is with me most of the time when I’m out, so as yet, she hasn’t been able to get to me again, but she’s waiting. I know she’s waiting. He knows she’s waiting. She’s going to get her revenge on me, and I’m terrified for the moment when that will come.
Until such time, she does nothing but throw threats at me. She’s going to beat me until I choke on my own blood; she’s going to cut my hair off; she’s going to make me wish I was never born. I’m not sure how I’m ever going to get away from her. I can’t avoid her forever, and Officer Corel can’t be by my side every second of every day. I’m sure soon, he’ll be assigned somewhere else, and I’ll have a new, less sympathetic guard on duty.
“Are you allowed to give me these?” I ask him, taking the books from his hands.
“Yes, I am. They’re cleared; I’m not sneaking anything in for you. You’re allowed to read, and I thought you might like to read these.”
“Thank you,” I say, incredibly grateful. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re very welcome. Share them with Madeline; she seems like a nice girl.”
Madeline is a nice girl. Although rough around the edges, she’s a good roommate and she helps me when she can. She told me off when Trisha first got to me, and told me I shouldn’t have said anything. She thinks I should have said nothing happened and let it be. She’s probably right, but at the time, I thought not backing down was the best option. Madeline told me, in here, it is absolutely not.