Crash Ride (2 page)

I heard the noise of the engine close in behind me, the beast of a vehicle picking up speed. Okay, okay—I prayed to whatever deity who would have me—I’ll buy Birkenstocks, just let me not die. It was too late; tires screeched as the truck mounted the curb and cut me off. I was a goner. I didn’t even get to kiss him. Life was so unfair.

“Megs, what the fuck are you doing and why are you running?” Troy jumped out of the still idling truck and grabbed me around the waist.

He pinned me against the warm hood as I stared at him in confusion. “Huh? You drive a VW Baha.” The most intelligent thing I was able to utter.

“I have other cars; I blew the transmission in my VW last week. I haven’t had a chance to replace it.” He moved his face closer to mine. “How do you know what kind of car I drive?”

“Google. It’s a sickness. Don’t hate me.” The uncontrolled words spilled from my lips. His eyes were like truth serum. I couldn’t lie when I looked directly into them. Which is what I was doing. He had such amazing eyes.

“You Googled my car?” He laughed, a big throaty laugh. “What
else
did you Google?”

Look away, don’t look into his eyes, it’s a trap. It’s a TRAP. “Shoe size, favorite food, taste in women.” I swallowed as my subconscious self cowered in horror. Now I actually
wanted
to die.

“Size thirteen, Mexican, as for women—varied. I don’t have a type. Anything else you want to know?” His face was inches from mine; I could feel his breath tickle my neck. The sensation intoxicated me further, awaking every cell of my body as his frame pressed against mine.

I closed my eyes, saving myself before I asked him,
why won’t you kiss me
and shook my head.

“Okay, let’s get you off the street before you hurt yourself or someone else.” His fingers wrapped around my arms and peeled me off the hood. “I flashed my lights at you, to let you know it was me.”

“Gangs do that. I’m sure I’ve read it somewhere,” I explained as I righted myself on my feet. “They flash their lights at you so you think they’re friendly and then they kill you. I am pretty sure it’s for initiation.”

“Do you realize how crazy that sounds? Why would they warn you if they are going to kill you?”

“I don’t know, Troy Harris; do you see me flashing gang signs? They’re gangsters. I wouldn’t argue with them.”

Troy chuckled as he moved to the passenger side door and opened it. “You are so funny when you’re drunk.”

I stared at the space between the doorframe of the car and the floor. It was so high up. Was I supposed to take a running jump? “Do you have a ladder?”

“Here.” Troy smiled and tapped the black steps along the outside of the car. “One foot here and the other here. I’ll stand behind you, just in case.”

It wasn’t pretty, but I managed to haul myself into the beast without incident despite contorting my body into a weird angle to get into the cab. Why I made things harder than they had to be, I’ll never know.

Once I was safely inside and buckled in, Troy moved to the driver’s side and hopped in. He was able to do so in one swift, graceful movement —something I had been unable to do—and I couldn’t stop myself from staring.

He cocked his head to the side. “You good?” He fastened his seatbelt.

I nodded slowly as he dismounted the curb and pulled back onto the road.

Suspended reality was the best way I could describe it. The surprise and the shock of the situation I found myself in stunned me momentarily. Had I ever been alone with him before? I’d imagined it so many times but now that I was sitting beside him, I had no idea where to even start.

It was quiet. His stereo was off and the only noise to break the silence was the hum of the engine.

“Hey, so I never thanked you for your help.” It was the first thing that came to mind. “With Dan and Ash. I know you were skeptical about stepping in, but they needed us. So thanks.”

Troy didn’t take his eyes off the road as he answered me. “I’ll admit getting involved in Dan’s business was not high on my agenda, but you made a solid case. Doesn’t mean I want to play interference on a regular rotation though.”

“I think they are going to be fine now.” Ash and Dan would no doubt have their ups and downs like any couple, but I had faith they were in it for the long haul. “You can probably go back to playing drums and being sexy.” Did I actually say that last bit out loud? I wasn’t even looking at his eyes this time. I had no excuse.

Troy glanced at me and laughed. “I think I’ll just stick to the drum part of your proposal, being sexy sounds like too much work, but thanks.”

Little did he know, he didn’t even have to try. Oh no. In fact, the only thing the man had to do was show up and sexiness took care of itself. It was in him. The way he walked. His I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude. The haphazard fashion sense—no other man over thirty could wear a
Hershey’s Chocolate
tee and rock it. It all cumulated into a simmering vibe. Like one big melting pot of
yum,
I involuntarily licked my lips.

“Soooooooo,” I fumbled, twisting my hair nervously around my finger. My mind and my mouth were at odds as to which statement would come barreling out next. “We should go out and celebrate. Both of us returning to our respective fields of expertise.” It was worth a shot. Not like I had a lot to lose. My dignity had checked-out a while ago.

The truck stopped in traffic as we approached a red light. My eyes kind of stared off into the distance in a state of semi-disbelief. Was I really in this car or was it just a dream? Having him close felt like a fantasy. I wonder if I just reached out and… The loud blaring of a cab’s horn punctuated that it wasn’t a dream.

“Megs, do you really think that is a good idea?”

“What idea?” I tried to untangle the lock of hair that was cutting off the circulation of my finger as I mentally retraced the steps in the conversation. Oh. Right. I had asked him out. This was the part where he gave me the gentle brush off. It’s not like I hadn’t alluded to my interest for weeks. We had been playing this little flirty game since I met him and while I’m not the hang-from-the-chandeliers kind of girl, I’m certainly not a wallflower either.

“Us, going out.” He took a breath, the playful vibe of the conversation evaporated, taking along with it any chance of the two of us dating. “Megs, you are an amazing girl. You’re funny and beautiful, and when you aren’t repeating my name five hundred times, I dig spending time with you. But Dan and Ash. They just got back together. I know you and Ash are tight, and I think it goes without saying that Dan and I are… well he’s my brother. I just don’t want to complicate things, you know what I’m saying?”

I pushed back my errant hair and bit my lip; forcing myself to look at him and smile sweetly. “Troy Harris, it was just a night out. It didn’t have to be complicated.” I didn’t bother trying to hide my disappointment. It wasn’t a maybe, it was a definitive no.

“Megs. What happens if we go out and I do something stupid like not call you or some shit? Then it gets awkward and people have to choose sides. People we both care about. Before you know, it’s like we’re on a fucking reality show. No matter how many times people say they won’t let shit get complicated, it ends up complicated. I like you, I think you’re awesome and I don’t want to screw it up. I want us to be friends.”

Wow. Friend-zoned. He was pretty clear. Perhaps he was looking for a commendation, for his honesty and all, but rejection is still a rejection. Even one that made sense. It still stung. He was right about one thing. If we did go out, and things went bad, either for us or for Dan and Ash, then it would inevitably spill into a big cesspool of suck. Of course, common sense didn’t ease the disappointment of the situation and solidified the fact my nighttime illicit fantasies would be staying just that…fantasies. Can’t blame a girl for trying.

My teeth toyed with my bottom lip as I closed my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was being so brazen. “Can we at least be friends with benefits?” It couldn’t hurt to put it out there, even if I assumed the answer was probably going to be a no. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I was still stunned I was having this conversation and I wasn’t sure if I was thankful I had alcohol to blame or I was going to hate myself in the morning. Probably a little of both.

“Wow, Megs,” Troy laughed. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that, ’cause we’ve already established I think you are awesome and that situation would not be a hard sell. Maybe we could just be
regular
friends.”

“Okay, Troy Harris. Let the records show that you
had
the opportunity to sleep with me, and you turned it down.” Who the hell says that? If he hadn’t turned me down before, that sure as hell would be the nail in the coffin. Crap. That freaking punch I’d been drinking had a lot to answer for.

“Noted, your Honor.” He pulled up to the curb beside my apartment. “Do you think you are ever going to just call me Troy?”

My heart sunk, my excuse for being in the car was over as we stopped in front of my building.

“We’ll have to wait and see I guess. I should let you go, thanks for driving me home.” I knew I had to get out and go up into my apartment, even if what I actually wanted to do was try and convince him further. I wouldn’t be one of those desperate girls who asked him to come upstairs, even though I wanted nothing more than to throw my self-respect out the window and beg. Beg for one night with him. Toe-curling red-hot sex. That’s what that body promised and I was going to have to walk away. It sucked. Big time.

He let out a long steady breath, and if I didn’t know better I’d assume that maybe it hadn’t been so easy to turn me down. “Yeah, you should be safe enough from gangstas and uneven sidewalks from here.” His voice softened. “Oh, and Megs …”

My heart pounded so loudly I was sure he’d hear it. “Yeah, Troy Harris?” I looked into his eyes. Throwing caution to the wind with the powers they held over me.

“Just ’cause we aren’t sleeping together doesn’t mean you can’t call me sometime. You know. If you need something… or if you just wanna hang.”

I closed my eyes and smiled. The intonation of his voice was so seductive it hurt, even if the words weren’t sexy. “I’d like that. Can you sometimes take your shirt off?” I laughed as I slowly reopened my eyes.

His chuckle reverberated through the cabin. “Ha. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Bye, Troy Harris.” I turned and jumped out of the car, my feet landing heavily on the sidewalk.

“Bye, Megan Winters.”

6 Months Later/Present Day

“So you wanna come
up with me, maybe have a drink?” She smiled, not even trying to hide what she had on her mind, and a beer was not it.

“Thanks, but I’m going to pass.” The engine idling should have been a big tip off. Not going there. There were many places my dick was not going tonight and inside of her was at the top of the list.

“Oh? I can go down on you right here if you like?” She didn’t take the hint, her hand sliding up my thigh. Seriously, what did I need to do to clue this girl in I wasn’t going to fuck her?

“Going to have to pass on that, too. Thanks for the offer though, that was sweet.” Or desperate, we could go either way. The asshole in me was leaning toward the latter, but I didn’t care to find out. No point. Getting her out of my car and gone were my priority right now, not working out the finer points of this chick’s seduction technique. If my dick was any less hard I was going to need to pop a Viagra just to take a piss.

“Well… I guess I should go then?” The look of surprise on her face floored me. Seriously? She hadn’t joined the dots yet? Clueless. Fucking perfect.

“Yeah, I need to meet Dan. We have a band thing.” A lie, but an easier let down than
I have no interest in you, please get out of my fucking car
. Being an asshole was one thing, being unnecessarily cruel was something else. “See ya, Lacey.” The I’ll-call-you or let’s-do-this-again-sometime wasn’t tacked onto the end. There was no chance I’d do either of those things.

“Okay… Thanks.” She leaned in and kissed me, no doubt in a last ditched effort to change my mind. She was persistent, I’ll give her that but still no cigar.

“Yep. Thanks.” My hands tapped on the steering wheel as I pulled my mouth away.

If Lacey wasn’t up to speed before, she sure as hell was then. Her fingers snatched her purse from the console and stormed out of my ride. The slamming of the car door behind her, muffled the “fuck you” as she left. It was deserved and yet I couldn’t make myself care. At least she was gone, even if it meant I would probably lose a friend on Facebook. Once again, care factor, zero.

It was nine-thirty on a Friday night and I was heading home. Living the fucking dream.

****

My fist tapped against the big wooden door. “Douchebag, Open up.”

“Hey, asshole.” Dan smirked as he cracked open his front door. “Nice shirt. Brings out the color of your eyes.” He stepped aside so I could walk in.

“I’m glad you approve. I wore it especially for you.” Wiseass. I hadn’t bothered to change, still wearing the bullshit button down and jeans I’d worn to dinner. “You and Ash got plans? I’m so fucking bored, taking a nap looks like a good time.”

Ash moved into Dan’s apartment pretty soon after they got back together. Not that there was any doubt of what their zip code was going to be, her place had been a shit hole in a bad part of town. So being that Dan and my real estate shared the top floor of a high rise, it meant I was now kicking it with a new female neighbor.

“Didn’t you have a date?” Dan looked over his shoulder as we walked into the living room. He silenced the dipshit on his large screen television before tossing the remote onto his fancy, new distressed wooden coffee table. His pad recently overhauled at the hand of his girl.

“Yep, Lacey. Masturbating with a cheese grater would’ve been less painful. I called time early and bailed.” It wasn’t an exaggeration. I was so done with airhead bimbos, I didn’t give a fuck how well they sucked dick.

“Sounds like a fun night.” Dan laughed as he disappeared into the kitchen, emerging a few moments later with a couple of ice-cold long necks. “Beer?”

“Hell, yes.” I snagged a bottle out of his hand. “So, you never answered my question. You wanna do something tonight?” The leather of the couch creaked as I sunk my ass into the chair.

“Ash is going out. With Megs. Just the two of them.” He took a swallow of his beer, but his face said it all. He wasn’t cool with his girl hitting the town without him in tow. I’m convinced Dan missed all those classes in Pre K when we all were taught to share.

“Interesting.” My grin widened. I couldn’t help myself. He was too much of an easy target.

“Don’t even fucking start, Troy. This whole girls’ night out thing is fucking bogus. I just know some motherfucker is going to try and hit on my girl. I’m not cool with this, not at all.” Dan planted his ass in the opposite matching leather two-seater. Edgy was the understatement of the century. Poor bastard, looked like he was ready to gut some poor SOB.

“Earth to neanderthal, she’s coming home to you. Even if some douche hits on her, you know she’s probably going to tell him to go fuck himself or knee him in the nuts. Don’t you remember how
charmed
she was when you hit on her?” I hated to admit it, but Dan pussy-whipped was kind of fucking nice. He had given James and Alex so much shit when they’d done the ball and chain thing. It was poetic justice that he was tied up in knots.

My pep talk fell on deaf fucking ears as he continued to sulk like a two-year-old. “You know, we could go out too,” I suggested, knowing he was going to be a moody asshole whatever the location was.

“You want to go out?” Dan lowered his beer, carefully placing the bottle on a coaster. Yep, well and truly whipped!

“Sure, why not? We can go shoot some pool, or go see a band?” It had been awhile since we’d been out. The band had been holed-up in James’s studio for the last three months while we laid down the new album.

“Dan, can you zip me?” Ashlyn appeared in the doorway, wearing a tight blue dress. “Oh, hey, Troy.” Her eyes widened, as she grabbed at the material exposing her back. I couldn’t help noticing the amount of skin she was flashing. No wonder Dan looked like he had swallowed glass.

“Hey, Ash, what’s shakin’?” I tilted my beer in greeting, unable to suppress my grin. “You look great.”

“Shut up, dickwad.” Dan got to his feet and yanked at Ashlyn’s zipper. His effort to hurry the process made it snag. “Fuck!” He shook his finger, obviously coming off second best against the teeth of the zip. “Babe, seriously, why don’t you and Megs hang here? We’ll go to Troy’s if you want have a girls’ night. I’m pretty sure there is a Zac Effron movie on
Showtime
, and there’s ice cream and cookie dough in the freezer.”

“Aw, Dan, are you jealous?” Ash smiled as Dan finished fucking around with her dress. “You are just going to have survive without me for a night. Megs is working some tough cases and she needs a night out. You understand don’t you, baby?” Ash wrapped her arms around Dan’s neck and it didn’t take a genius to work out where this was heading.

“I don’t want some asshole trying to touch what’s mine.” Dan tipped Ash’s chin and he clocked her with a look that claimed her more than his words.

“No one is going to touch anything.” Ash moved in closer, her mouth getting cozy with the side of his face. I wondered if I shouldn’t leave the room and give them a moment. Not that either of them seemed to give a shit I was still around.

Like the big guy upstairs was listening to my silent prayer, there was a knock at the door that gave me an out. I’d seen enough of Dan getting busy to last me a lifetime and even though I dug Ash, I preferred to leave some shit unseen.

“I’ll get it, anything is better than listening to you two clowns.” I don’t think they even noticed the knock or me leaving. I moved off the couch and made for the door, hoping the lovin’ feeling wasn’t going to spill into the hallway as I walked out of the room.

My gratitude went to whoever was on the other side as I grabbed at the solid wooden door and yanked it open. And there she was, the five-foot-four blonde bombshell that made my dick twitch every time I saw her.

“Megs.” My grin got wider as I looked down at her next-to-nothing outfit. I didn’t have to imagine too hard to guess what was underneath her tight black dress, her perky tits straining against the material. Once again, I was throwing my thanks to the man upstairs.

Megan Winters was straight up beautiful. Long, wavy blonde hair that went half way down her back with the sexiest, clearest, blue-green eyes I’d ever seen. Topped off with a knockout fucking smile. Her body was nothing short of perfection, with the right combination of tits and ass that would force even the strongest man onto their knees. Add to that her wicked sense of humor and her ridiculous fucking IQ, and you had a girl that most men would give their left nut to call their own. Not that it would ever go beyond the silent appreciation I had for her, still it was hard not to notice. No matter how many times I saw her, it did nothing to diminish the punch in the gut I got every time I laid eyes on her.

“Hey, Troy Harris.” My name rolled out of her mouth with a smile, and damn if it didn’t make me stand up a little straighter. Her little quirk of tacking on
Harris
after
Troy
didn’t bother me anywhere near as much as I pretended. Her eyebrow lifted as she moved through the doorway, “Dan and Ash making out again?” Like me, it wasn’t her first rodeo with those two boneheads.

“I’m sure they’ve moved on to dry humping by now.” I stepped aside so she could stride past me, which also treated me to the most superb view of her ass. Total scumbag move, but I couldn’t help myself. I had already decided she was a no-go zone, a decision I was having a hard time reconciling with at the moment.

“Ha, remember the good old days when they could be together in a room and not be all over each other like a rash?” She glanced back at me as she made her way to the lounge room.

“Preaching to the choir, Megs.” My eyes glued to the sway of her hips as she moved in front of me. Yeah, not creepy at all. I shook my head as I tried to focus on something other than trying to imagine what kind of underwear she was wearing.

Putting the brakes on the chance to bed Megs was not an easy task. At first, I considered it —more like my dick demanded it— but I wasn’t going to be a douchebag. I knew too well what it was like to get caught up in the misery that came with fucking around with a friend of a friend.

High school, junior year, I had dated Quinn Sinclair who happened to be the best friend of Kim Evans. Kim and Dan hadn’t only shared the same last name but they also shared DNA. And while I would never have dated Dan’s sister, Quinn seemed like fair game.

Shit had been fine and dandy while things were going well, but it all went to hell the minute we broke up. Kim constantly gave me the stink eye anytime I went around and saw Dan, and Dan was catching heat from his sister, and from Quinn. What I had thought was a mutual break-up, Quinn had seen as me breaking her heart. Enter drama, stage right. Needless to say, I avoided the Evans house like the plague for a solid three months and Dan threatened to kick me in the nuts if I even looked at one of his sister’s friends again. Granted shit died down eventually, and last I heard Quinn was still in the old neighborhood, happily married to her accountant husband with her two-point-five kids, but that pact I made to Dan, still stood.

“Why don’t you two just make a porno already?” Megs laughed as we walked into the lounge room; Dan and Ash still lip-locked like a pair of freshmen.

“Don’t encourage him,” Ash giggled as she rubbed lipstick off Dan’s mouth.

“Megs.” Dan tipped his chin as he looked over at us. “You know I’d never share my girl with anyone. And I got all the footage I need locked up here.” He tapped his noggin with the hand that wasn’t wrapped around his girlfriend.

“Ever the romantic.” Ash rolled her eyes. “It’s a good thing I love you.” She squeezed Dan’s chin in another loved-up exchange. Fuck, at this rate we’d never get out the door.

“Right, so if the two of you are done being adorable, maybe we can get out of here. I have had the worst week at work, if I don’t get to lose myself in a good time in the next thirty minutes, I’m going to be rocking manically in a corner.” Megs smiled but I could tell there was something else underneath it. Something in her tone didn’t sit right, made me all kinds of uncomfortable.

“Is everything okay, Megs?” I had to ask. Rationally I chalked up my concern to Megs being a friend. While technically not part of this circus of crazy, her connection to Ash justified me taking notice.

The excuse also meant I didn’t have to advertise my other interests. The ones that were less about who she was friends with, and more about the woman standing in front of me. The whys of the situation were still unclear, but it wasn’t just about her ability to get me hard. Nope, it went deeper than that, and if there was something going down, then I wanted in on that intel.