Page 14 of Don’t Look Back

“I’m just tired.”

“Have you eaten anything today?”

“Yes,” I lied.

She gripped my good hand to tug me to my feet. “Go home.”

Collecting my phone from the floor, I made a feeble attempt to argue. “I can’t let you run the shop by yourself.”

“And I can’t let you stay here and get hurt even more,” Charlie defended. “I don’t know that Grace is the whole problem here, but if you don’t want to talk about it, I can’t force you. What I can do is manage things here for a day. Go home, run that hand under some cold water, and get some sleep. You won’t be any help around here if you don’t take care of yourself.”

She was right, but I couldn’t let her know that. That was encroaching on dangerous territory. I opened my mouth intending to tell her I’d stay, but instead said, “You’ll call me if you need me to come back?”

“I’ll see you Monday,” was the only response I got.

Feeling completely and utterly defeated, I trudged out of the shop and to my truck. Not only had I let Grace get under my skin, but Ryan had somehow wormed his way under there too. I’d never been so out of my element, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

I drove home on autopilot. I remembered leaving the shop and the next thing I knew, I was in my driveway. My left hand had already begun to blister, and I struggled to dig my house key out with my right. That engine was so hot that cold water wouldn’t have saved me. Instead of treating it—or making a doctor’s appointment—I slammed the front door shut and went straight to bed.

Stripping down to nothing, I crawled under the blanket. That bed had never been so comfortable. I laid on my right side, resting my injured hand on my stomach and easily drifted into a deep sleep.

“You think you’re alone sweetheart, but you’re not.”

Gentle fingers tickled over my side and across my stomach. As they slipped beneath the hem of the blanket, I squirmed, blood rushing south. A warm body pressed flush against my chest, feeding a hand between us to wrap around my thickening cock. My body responded before my mind did, hips pumping forward to force their hand over my shaft. I turned my head, seeking out their lips. As our mouths met, I raised a hand to touch them, to feel more of them. Instead of the silky soft skin I expected, my palm brushed a chiseled, stubble-lined jaw. My eyes snapped open, and I broke away from the kiss to see a familiar pair of golden-brown eyes gazing back at me.

“I told you so.”

I bolted upright, gasping for breath. The bed was empty. The clock on the bedside table told me I’d only been asleep for half an hour.

Nothing made sense. I’d heard that voice clear as day. There was no mistaking it. My hand brushed over my heated skin. I’d felt his hands on me, and the erection throbbing beneath the blanket only made it more real. I leapt out of bed, inspecting every dark corner of my house. Just as I feared, I was alone.

Completely alone.

PART TWO

SUCKER PUNCH

“For what it’s worth:

It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be.

I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not,

I hope you have the strength to start over.”

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

CHAPTER SIX

Ow… ow… ow… Fuck! Ow!

I winced, biting down on my tongue to keep from cursing out the poor nurse who was only trying to help me.

“You should have come straight in,” she said. “This is a nasty burn. How’d it happen?”

“I’m a dumbass.”

She laughed, a refreshing noise that would typically make my heart race. She was gorgeous. Prior to recent events, I may have even said I was attracted to her, but in that moment, that was all I could say about her: She was really pretty.