No Regrets (Bomar Boys #1) (3 page)

With the last of her strength, and her phone’s battery, she called information. If she was lucky, the auto shop in Old Settlers was still open. She didn’t know the number, didn’t have any idea who was running it these days or if they even still offered towing service, but it was her last chance. If she couldn’t reach anyone at the shop she would have to take off walking with her thumb out and pray somebody came by before she passed out of heat exhaustion and dehydration. Nobody had passed her in all the time she’d already been on the side of the road so she held her breath as she waited for somebody, anybody, to be her guardian angel and pick up the phone on the other end.

Finally, after a quick conversation with an operator and a half dozen long and endless rings she heard, “Auto’s Garage. Can I help you?”

Her breath rushed out in relief, “Oh thank God… I hope so.”

“Whatcha need honey?”

“My car broke down outside of town so I need a tow.”

“Hmm…” The scratchy voice on the other end harrumphed, “How far out of town are we talkin?”

“Uh… about fifteen miles.”

The fact that laughter didn’t greet her was a good sign. Silence hung over the line for a long moment and she closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer that whoever it was on the other end had a heart. She was down to her last hope so she laid it all on the line when the silence went on.

“I’m just trying to get home and I’ve been driving all day. It’s only fifteen miles and I’ll… I’ll double your fee if you send someone.”

It wasn’t a lie. Not really. She would happily pay double and she had more than enough in her account to cover it. Unfortunately, she didn’t have access to her bank right now and she was too scared Hoyt would see the charges to use the credit card. She would pay double, just not today.

“Double?”

“Double.” She confirmed to the interested party on the other end of the line. “Send someone east on the highway. I’ll be sitting in the black Jeep on the side of the road with the hood up. You can’t miss me.”

“Hmm…” There was another harrumph, “You got a phone number we can reach you at?”

She pulled the phone from her ear, glanced at the quickly fading light and frowned, “No. My phone is about to die. Just send someone, please.”

“Okay. Okay. You hold tight and we’ll get to you just as soon as we can.”

“Thank you. I really apprec…” The line went dead before she could finish her sentence and she sighed as she stared at the phone.

Dead and she’d just barely gotten what she needed. The auto shop in Old Settlers was sending a tow truck. She hoped. She hadn’t given them her name or a number to reach her at. All she could do now was wait and pray that her guardian angel woke the hell up and decided to take an interest in his job tonight.

It had already been a long day by the time Auto sent him out to haul some broke-down Jeep off the side of the road right at closing time. Cash had only just received a text from his twin confirming the time and place for tonight’s fights when the call came in. He’d have to rush to make it there before his twin’s match but he’d never turned down a job his uncle offered and he didn’t intend to start today.

Auto Bomar was Decker’s brother in almost every sense. He was not a good man. He wasn’t even a likeable man. But he was the only adult in the family Cash could recall ever giving a shit if he lived or died. Like his kid brother, Auto had done time in prison for crimes against humanity and he had a violent temper that terrified grown men, him included. Unlike Decker, he had a moral code that didn’t allow for that temper to ever touch women or children.

He would never forget the day Auto had shown up and found him locked in a closet with an unconscious Colt in his lap. They’d been thirteen and Remy had been gone less than two months. Two months where Chrissy hadn’t come out of her fog long enough to even remember she had two other sons and two months where Decker had gotten drunk and beaten them daily.

Colt had taken the brunt of it that last day, trying to shield his twin as he always did, and Decker hadn’t stopped swinging until his son went limp. When he’d stumbled drunkenly away, Cash had dragged his brother’s body behind the nearest door in the hopes that Decker would forget they existed. If Auto hadn’t eventually shown up, he and Colt would have died of starvation in that closet before Cash dared come out and face more abuse.

The next time he’d seen his father after that day, Decker had been black and blue and limping. He’d kept his mouth shut and a good distance between himself and his sons too. It hadn’t lasted long, it never did, but for those few brief weeks Cash and Colt had known peace and for that, he would owe Auto forever.

He knew it wasn’t the only time Auto had intervened on their behalf. Auto had dragged Decker away when he raised his fists more times than Cash could count. He’d been their only protector after Remy left and he’d stepped in time and time again until they were old enough and big enough to protect themselves.

Giving Cash a job was above and beyond as far as he was concerned. He assumed Auto had done it because they were family but also because his own sons wanted nothing to do with the legal side of the family business. The job had started as sweeping up the garage for spare change when he was a kid and become a full-time profession the day he graduated high school. There was never any other path for him, at least not one that was legal, and so he’d latched on to it with everything he had and refused to let go.

That was why he was driving out of town as the sun set behind him. That was why he was squinting, trying to spot a black Jeep on the side of the highway. That was why he was silently cursing his uncle for not getting any information that would help him find this girl.

All Auto could tell him was that he’d gotten a call from an out of state number and the girl said she was stranded on the side of the road in a black Jeep. Oh, and that she’d pay double if he sent someone. That was the real reason his uncle had pulled him out from under a car and told him to take the tow truck and head east before the shop closed for the night.

Cash swiped a hand over his face and checked the clock on the dash again. He’d just passed the fifteen mile marker which meant little miss double or nothing had lied. She was further out than she’d told Auto. So, either she was lost and had no idea where she actually was or she was a liar. He was never going to make it back to town in time to make the fights if she was much further out.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the first number that popped up. He didn’t expect Colt to answer. He rarely did. Almost every single time he called his twin, he got voicemail and then a call back, sometimes within minutes. He’d never asked why that was, didn’t think he’d like the answer, so he was surprised when his brother picked up after only two rings.

“Well if it isn’t the man in black…”

He felt an old, familiar smile rise at the nickname only his twin could get away with, “Hey, what’s going on?”

“Just cleaning up a little and then I’m headed out to the meet. What’s up?”

“Not sure I’ll be able to make it. We got a call for a tow and Auto sent me to do a pick up out of town. Looks like it’s going to take me longer than I expected.”

“Well, hell…” Colt groaned, “Abel’s had this set up for weeks. The line on it has been crazy and it’s all going our way. We’re set to make a bundle off this fight, now you’re bailin’ on me?”

“I’m not bailin’ on you. I have to work. It’s not the same.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

He sighed when he heard the sarcasm in his twin’s voice, “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Try to delay and if they won’t let you, reschedule okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Colt…” He tried to get another reaction, any reaction other than that solemn acceptance that said he was accustomed to being let down but his twin wasn’t having any of it.

“I said its fine Cash. Do your job. I’ll be fine on my own. Just call when you get back and I’ll see you tonight.”

The line clicked dead before he could respond and he thought about throwing his phone. He restrained himself and tossed it on the seat beside him instead. He did curse openly since he was in the privacy of his own truck.

There was nothing in the world he hated more than letting his twin down. They were all each other had. It had always been that way. The fact that they were grown men hadn’t separated them in any way. If one of them needed something, they called the other. He worried about Colt, about the demons his twin carried and the scars he wore. He knew Colt worried about him just as much.

He didn’t like the idea of Colt crawling into the cage without him being there to back him up. Colt would take his place in the cage, the fight would go on, and Cash wouldn’t be there to peel his brother off whatever sorry bastard got put in with him.

“Shit.” He grumbled as his eyes finally found what he was looking for.

He needed to make this quick. He had to get back to town before that fight started. Colt had been covering for him since they were kids, always stepping in to take the worst of the punishment, the worst of the beatings, but they weren’t children anymore and he wasn’t going to let Colt step into that cage without him there to back him up.

Thankfully, he’d found the car in need of a tow. He did a quick drive-by, taking in the popped hood and ensuring all four tires were still intact as he made a U-turn and pulled around in front of the SUV. The sun was still setting so if he hurried he could get back to Old Settlers, drop the girl at her house, the Jeep at the shop and head straight to the meet before it got too late.

He threw the truck into park and slid out. The figure behind the wheel tossed the door open as well and jumped down to the ground. She was a tiny little thing. That was the first thing he noticed. The second, a flash of red hair, stopped him in his tracks.

A petite, curvy little redhead? He had to blink twice to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. She’d raised a hand to her forehead, attempting to block the sun that was at his back, but when she stopped cold he knew that she’d recognized him as easily as he recognized her.

“Cash.”

His name. Not a question. She knew it was him. She hadn’t confused him for his brother for even a second. She’d taken one glance at him from ten yards away after half a decade and known it was him with pinpoint accuracy.

“Jemma?” He managed through a tight throat.

Just saying her name hurt. That shouldn’t have surprised him. Thinking about her always hurt so of course coming face to face with her would feel as if he’d been split open by a sharp blade. When she took a wary step back, away from him, the knife in his chest twisted.

They stared at one another for a long moment, both of them silent. A thousand questions ran through his head, questions he had no right to ask, questions with answers he didn’t deserve. He didn’t even deserve to look at her, not after what he’d done, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

He’d told himself that he would never see her again. He’d resigned himself to that fate. Hell, he’d all but guaranteed it but here she was and he couldn’t stop staring at her, afraid if he blinked that she would disappear again.

She looked the same. She looked just like he remembered. Five years older and yet, just as beautiful as she’d always been.

Her long, red hair piled on top of her head in a messy ponytail exposed her delicate neck and shoulders. The simple t-shirt she was wearing did nothing to disguise her generous breasts and the denim cut-offs made her short legs appear miles long. A pair of sunglasses shielded her face from him but he didn’t need to see her eyes to know that her beautiful hazel gaze was taking him in as well.

“I can’t believe it’s really you, of all people… of course it’s you.” She finally muttered, “That’s just my luck.”

He had no idea what she was talking about so he only shrugged, “What in the hell are you doing here Jemma?”

She wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near here. Last he’d heard she was somewhere in Texas, living in one of the cities and building a good life for herself. He’d never asked for that update, had come by it through the kind of gossip that was as close to verifiable as existed in a small town like Old Settlers.

Colt had given it to him, said it came from Skylar, her best friend, and he’d asked never to be informed of her whereabouts ever again. That had been two years ago. Not long after that, Colt had broken his promise never to speak her name and told him that she was engaged. Cash had responded by getting black-out drunk. Two days later when he sobered up to find his truck buried in a tree and the apartment torn to hell, his brother had learned not to bring her up again.

“I’m allowed to come and go as I please, Cash. You don’t have rights to Old Settlers just because I was the one that left.”

Her saucy tone snapped him out of his reverie and he sighed, “Of course not, that’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t really give a shit what you meant.”

He deserved that. He deserved worse. So he bit his tongue and simply nodded when she put her hands on her hips and tilted her chin up. Her feisty redhead personality had always been one of the things he liked most about her. It was nice to see she hadn’t lost that fire even if he was the one she burned.

“If I’d known you were working at the garage, I wouldn’t have called.” She huffed, “I hate the idea of asking you for help but I need a tow and you’re here so I guess I’ll just have to take it.”

“You didn’t give Auto your name.” He shrugged when her head cocked, “You didn’t give him your name when you called. I didn’t know it was you either. If I did…”

“You would have sent someone else to deal with me?” She snapped.

“No.”

Hell no. He wouldn’t have let anyone else come in his place. Maybe he should have. She obviously would have preferred to deal with someone else. But if he’d known it was her, he would have broken the speed limit to get out here to her and he’d have told Colt to do whatever he had to because he wouldn’t be hurrying home for the fight tonight either. But he couldn’t tell her any of that.

“Look, I’m sure you never thought you’d see my face again and I can promise you I’d hoped to never see yours so let’s just get through this and do as little talking as necessary huh?”

If that was the way she wanted it, then that was the way it would be. He owed her that much and she didn’t owe him anything. He wouldn’t add any more strikes to his ledger where Jemma Buxton was concerned so he simply nodded and held his hands up in a show of surrender.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” She repeated with what he thought was relief. “Okay, good.”

He forced himself to only ask the one question he had a right to ask, “What’s wrong with the Jeep?”

“I don’t know. I’m not the mechanic here.” She shrugged, “It made a loud banging noise and then black smoke started billowing out from under the hood. I barely got it off the road before it died.”

“Hmm, well that don’t sound good.”

“No shit Einstein?”

His lips thinned but he didn’t take the bait, “You tried to start it since?”

“Nope, just figured I’d camp out here on the side of the road and wait for a big, strong man to come and remind me to try the key because my tiny girl brain couldn’t possibly think to do that.”

“Shit, Jemma. Cool it, would ya? I’m here to help.”

She snorted when he snapped at her but shut her mouth. He slammed a hand through his hair and tried to think about what he would be doing if she were any other customer. There was no way he was going to forget who she was but he still had a job to do and he didn’t need her sassy mouth distracting him any more than it already had.

“Go and turn the hazard lights on for me.” He swallowed a growl when she didn’t budge, “Please?”

“Fine.” She huffed but spun on her heel to do as he asked.

“And stay in the Jeep until I tell you to get back out.” He added as he watched her curvy little ass walk away from him in those tiny excuse for shorts.