Chase’s megawatt smile returns. “I’d like that.”
What about Jordan? Shouldn’t he be included in that affirmation?
Shut the hell up, conscience.
Chapter 10
As soon as I’d pulled into the driveway of the house I used to frequent daily for years, I’d almost backed out, thinking I was at the wrong residence. I hadn’t been there in over five years. Not since I ended things with Amelia.
Overgrown grass. Flower beds that were more weeds than anything else. The pale yellow paint on the wood siding was faded and chipping off. And I swore I could see part of the roof sagging in over where I remembered the kitchen was located.
I forced myself to get out of my car and made my way up the sidewalk and onto the front porch. Each step was measured, and the urge to turn around and get back in my car was all-consuming. But it didn’t stop me from raising a hand and knocking on the front door. Then I waited. And waited, before realizing the ugly Toyota Douglass had been driving last night wasn’t parked in the driveway, nor was Natalie’s beater of a Cadillac.
Those are the thoughts currently taking up space in my head as I drive with no destination in mind with the music cranked up and the windows rolled down. On the outskirts of Woodspire are a network of picturesque county roads lined with evergreens and tall hardwoods common to the east Piney Woods region of Texas. Woodspire sits on an ecological transitional border between pine forests and Gulf prairies.
As a child, Mom would often take me for ambling Sunday drives in the convertible. We would sing horrible country music and talk about frivolous things of unimportance.It’s the enjoyment of the journey, not the destination, she would say.
As sudden as if the land were carved in half by a knife, the trees give way to buildings as I pass over the county line into Hopper Springs. The large black and gold sign for Golden Peaks Gentlemen’s Club comes into view. The last time I stepped foot inside that particular establishment was the night of my bachelor party. Even though the wedding had been called off, Mike had convinced me to go with him and our friends since the VIP room had already been booked and couldn’t be canceled. I don’t remember much of that night. It was the first time among many I woke up in a stranger’s bed next to a woman I didn’t recognize. The beginning of my fall, I guess you could say.
Something at the gas station has me looking over, and I slow down to a crawl when I recognize Douglass’s Celica and the woman herself as she gets out of the vehicle and proceeds to kick the crap out of the front tire.
My foot slams on the brakes, and my hands turn the steering wheel before my brain can catch up. I choose the parking spot two over and park my Tesla. With my windows rolled down, I catch the flurry of insults she flings at the car, and my eyebrows raise. Who knew sweet, quiet Douglass had such a dirty mouth?
Opening my car door and getting out, I rest my forearms across the top of the vehicle and give myself a moment to study her before announcing my presence. A smile crooks my mouth as I watch her, and I berate my stupid high school self for never asking her out. I had been more concerned about my popularity status back then, which was the reason I pursued Amelia in the first place.
“Useless rental piece of garbage,” Douglass grumbles, slapping her hands to her hips.
“Problem?” I innocently ask.
Douglass whirls around, irritation heating her hazel eyes, making the green in them glow. “Oh, great. Just what I don’t need. Thank you so freaking much, universe,” she throws back her head and proclaims to the blue sky when she sees it’s me.
“Car won’t start?”
She’s scowling at me like she did last night. The grin already on my face grows ten times wider the more flustered she becomes.
“Not that it’s any of your concern, but yes, Captain Obvious.” She turns and kicks the tire again. “Stupid budget rental.”
“Have you called the rental company? They’re supposed to arrange for a tow and bring you another car to replace that hideous one.”
Douglass growls. “My phone died.”
“Wow, that is really bad luck. A broken car and a broken phone.”
She gives me one of the narrowed-eyed death stares she seems to like throwing my way.
I look through the window of the convenience store. “Did you ask to use theirs?”
She pulls at the ends of her long hair and sends me another glare. Those plush lips of hers are curled in a sneer that shouldn’t look hot as hell but does anyway. “I was about to.”
“Want to use mine?”
“No, thank you. I’ll just go inside and ask the guy at the Subway counter if I can use his. I should’ve stopped Cha—” She snaps her mouth shut.
Douglass spins around and leans through the open driver’s side window of the Toyota, retrieving her purse from the center console.
Under the dim lighting at Mickey’s, I never did get to appreciate all the changes in Douglass, so I make sure to do so now. Her cheeks are flushed a rosy pink, hair up in a messy bun with loose tendrils hanging down, and goddamn that ass.
There must be something very wrong with me to get turned on by a woman who’d love nothing more than to run me over a few dozen times with her broken-down rental. It’s even more wrong for me to be turned on bythiswoman. If there ever was a case of hands off, don’t touch, it would be her. Then again, I apparently did much more than touch her five years ago.
