The Lost Trucker (The Trucker Saga) (10 page)

It must have been love…. But it’s over now…

  I stopped stomping toward
s Ryder’s rig when I heard him coming towards me. “Faith, hey, wait. Please.” He was saying while he hurried towards me.

  “What? I just asked you out on a goddamn date and now you want to talk about something.
Really? Can we just please get out of here. Now are we taking your rig or my car?” I turn to stare at him straight in the face. I continue to stomp to the garage and pull the door open and hit the alarm button on my keys. Yes, I know small town and I have an alarm on my car. Well, you can bet your sweet ass that I do because this car is my pride and joy.

  I walk in and rub my hand on the roof of the car; “How you been baby? Momma’s missed you!” Thi
s car has been with me through everything, I know it is strange to say something like that but when you don’t have many friends and you have no one to talk to, you kind of find comfort in the little things. And rebuilding this car was my way of getting through hard times in my life. Beau helped me with it a lot when we were together.

 
“Faith, grab me that socket wrench over there, no, not that one, this one.” Beau says as he reaches around me into the toolbox. “Ya know, baby. One of these days you’re going to have to actually do some work on this car. It’s your pet project why not work on it with me.”

“After looking at this beauty I think we will take your wheels.” Ryder says as he looks over my car from front to back. Lily is her name. She’s a 2 door Honda Civic Si with a B18 supercharged engine. She is a beauty and I love her. I started working when I was 16 and saved for a whole year to buy her. I look up at Ryder and smile.

“Then get in, sit down and shut up. No bitching about the way I drive.” My cockiness doesn’t go away with emotions if anything it gets worse.

  
Ryder starts to shake his head but he gets in the car and puts his seat belt on. I start up my baby and she starts to purr instantly like I never stopped driving her. I slip her into reverse and pull out of the garage. Once I am clear of the garage I slip her into drive. I slowly drive down the long bumpy driveway then once we hit the pavement I shift into second and start catching speed.

  “Whoa! Are you sure you know how to drive at high speeds like this babe?” Ryder asks as he grabs a hold of the ‘oh shit’ handle.

  “Relax, I have been driving for years! I have never been in an accident that was my fault.” I wink at him while giving him my sexy cocky smile.

  Ryder reaches over and puts his hand on my thigh and slips his finger along the seam of my jeans that makes me instantly wet. “So what are we doing tonight? Since it is so nice outside, what do you have planned for this date you’re taking me on?” He squeezes my thigh and I reach down and rest my hand on top of his. I am up to speed now so I won’t have to shift for a few minutes.

   “Well, have you ever been to a truck pull?” I ask him with the biggest grin on my face. “I know it sounds a little country, okay… It sounds A LOT country.” I laugh a little bit. “But I think you will have a lot of fun. Trucks, girls, loud trucks and hot girls. Umm, what else can I say?” A truck pull is where you have two trucks that basically play a game of tug a war. Big trucks with beefy engines try to pull the other one along, a game of whose got the bigger balls.

  They are honestly a favorite past time of mine, Beau and I used to go to truck pulls and mud bogs all the time. That was before our life blew apart. When we were in love I guess. But I lov
ed Beau up until the day I left. He was the one that ruined us.

  “Sure, sounds like a lot of fun. Let’s go! Besides I get to see you in your element.” He squeezes my leg again and I move my hand to start down shifting to get off the speedway.

*****

  So far we have watched a big ol’ lifted Dodge truck get pulled around by a beefy Chevy. I won dinner off that race.

  “Babe, you think that Dodge will kick that Chevy’s ass? That Dodge is pretty mean sounding. I think he is gonna smash on that Chevy!” Ryder says all excited, he is really digging this truck pull and I am glad.

 
“Nah, that Chevy is going to smash on that Dodge. Mark my words!” I say to him as I wrap my arm around him again. We have been standing here like this for a few hours now and I feel like I am home. Like I am destined to be here, wrapped up in his arms.

   “Well, if the Dodge wins. I will take you wherever you want t
o go for dinner. And if you win, then you have to cook me dinner at home.” He says with the shit eaten grin on his face.

 
“Okay, big boy! You’re on!” I stand on my tippy toes and give him a big fat kiss to seal the deal. Everything when it comes to Ryder feels like it is something that is meant to be. Like I am meant to be here kissing him, in my hometown, on my old stomping grounds.

*****

   We hang out at the truck pull for a little bit longer and run into a few people from school and I start to get nervous. If they are here, what are the chances of running into Beau or Peggy Sue? It is a small town after all and one pee and the whole town know what you have done.

   Ryder and I decide to start walking back over to the bar so we can get another drink before we decide to take off for the night. “So this is what you used to do when you lived here?” Ryder asks as we walk over to a crowd of people around a fire.

   I am getting ready to answer him when I hear a laugh that stops me from speaking or breathing. My heart and brain seem to stop in their tracks. I turn and standing about 10 feet away from me is, Beau. I can tell from his back that he is still in really good shape, he is a little bit taller than he was the last time I saw him and I instantly notice that Peggy Sue is hanging off his arm. They are both laughing and then I see that Peggy Sue is pregnant.

   Peggy Sue is the first one to notice me standing there and I am still in too much shock to realize that they are now walking over to me.

   “Faith Anne, is it really you?” Peggy Sue walks over to me and tries to give me a hug but I step back and look down at her stomach.

  
Are you fucking kidding me? Is she really pregnant? Who the hell, and how, but why?
I scream to myself and bite my lip so that I don’t let my inner thoughts out. “Babe, you okay?” I feel a comforting arm go around me and I look up to see Ryder standing there. I don’t get a chance to answer him because Beau is now standing in front of me.

 
“Faith! How you doing? You’re looking…well. How has…life been?” Beau asks but you can tell that he feels awkward talking to me.

  I start to shake a little and Ryder squeezes me a little bit tighter and makes me feel safe. “Well, to be honest. Now that all the trash,” I empathize the word trash, “is out of my life I actually feel better. I have a life, a job, my own place and I have a man that wants to be with me for me.” I look up and smile at Ryder.

  “Ryder Porter. And you are?” He says as he sticks his hand out to shake Beau’s hand. I grab his hand back before Beau is able to grab it and shake it.

  “This is Beau and Peggy Sue.
My EX-boyfriend and my EX-best friend.” I say through my teeth and you can just hear the hurt and anger coming off my voice.

  “Awe, come on Faithie. Do you really need to be like that?” Beau says as he shifts from heel to heel. He always did that when he was in a situation he didn’t know how to get out of.

  “Fuck off Beau, you have no right. NO right at all calling me ‘Faithie’ or even thinking that we can begin to be friends. Not after what you two did!” I spit at Beau. “And you! You were my best friend, my best fucking friend. We were going to grow old together and travel the world after our husbands passed away.” I look at Peggy Sue with tears starting to run down my face.

  Something told me that I would run into them, but I wanted to show Ryder how we did things down here in the south, so we came anyway.

  “Faith, I am so sorry. I honestly thought that you knew. I was made to believe that you knew and you were fine with it.” Peggy Sue says to me.

 
“How could you ever think that?” I walk right up to her and want to slap her across the face but think better of it as she is pregnant but tell her this “Oh Peggy Sue, what comes around goes around.  I wish you all the luck in the world” and then look at Beau, “You’re both trash and you deserve each other.” I slap him across the face and with how I am feeling he gets Peggy Sue’s slap too.

   I turn and run towards my car. The tea
rs start the instant I reach it, I am trying to unlock the doors so that I can lock myself inside in safety. That’s when I feel Ryder come up behind me and grab the keys from me.

  “Get in.” He says as he hits the unlock button on the key fob, the second my ass hits the seat I start crying even more.

  When you have so much pent up aggression and feelings and everything seems to happen at once, good and bad, something triggers you off and the flow of tears in my secure environment with Ryder and bam ‘cry me a river’ isn’t just a song anymore. Ryder hands me a tissue and I start to try to make myself look like a human being but every time I start to clean myself up I start to think about everything and I just breakdown more. “Can we go to the beach?” I ask Ryder.

 
“Wherever you wanna go babe. I will take you.” He says as he puts his hand on my leg and squeezes a little bit to let me know that he is here for me.

      As we pull up to the beach I kick my sandals off and leave them in the car. Ryder also takes his shoes and socks off and gets out of the car. I walk towards the front of my car where Ryder has his hand extended out for me to take.

   “Feel like talking about it babe? Who were those people?” He asks with a concerned tone to his voice. God, this man is so gentle, charming, perfect and amazing. He knows what to say and when and there is never any pressure.

What did I ever do to deserve him?
I ask myself as I walk down the beach a little bit further and pick a spot in the tall grass by the sand to sit down. It’s pitch black outside and the only thing giving off any light is the moon.

  As I get ready to sit down I notice that Ryder has grabbed the emergency blanket out of my car. “Wait a second babe, lemme put this down for us to sit on.” He flings the blanket open and I give him a little smile to show that I notice how sweet he is. Again it is the small gestures that make me feel for him even more. I am awarded with his sexy little smile with dimples that he gives only for me.

   I sit down and take a couple of deep breaths and try to steady myself and reassure
myself that I will make it through this, I have Ryder here who will support me no matter what.

 
“I had been friends with those two ever since we entered elementary school. Peggy Sue was the first girl that I talked to and became friends with and Beau was the first boy that either one of us ever talked to. We were all amazingly great, close friends. I had this idea that Beau was the one for me, I wanted to be with him and only him. So our freshman year, Peggy Sue talked me into telling Beau about my feelings. Well, I was ecstatic to find out that Beau felt the same way about me. So we started dating, my dream was to date him all through high school and then get married. It was what my parents did so I thought it would be amazing to follow in their footsteps.” I sigh on the last part.

This might not be as hard as I thought, to tell him everything. He looks like he isn’t judging me, but there is one part that he might judge me on but I am not sure. I hope he doesn’t and he can look past it.

   “That doesn’t sound like a bad dream. But I can see that things went sour since Peggy Sue is pregnant and I am going to bet my money on it that it is Beau’s baby. Right?” He asks me as he pulls me close to him in between his legs. I lean back and am greeted with a hard warm chest to curl up against.

  
“You guessed it! Beau and I had a perfect relationship or so I thought at the time. He was the captain of the football team, he was popular and I was the hot awkward girlfriend who supported whatever he wanted to do. Well, 9 months before I showed up at Layla’s…” I feel myself start to choke up a little bit so I take another couple deep breaths.

  
“9 months before I showed up in Kentucky I…. I…I walked in on Beau and Peggy Sue. There was no denying it; I saw full on that my boyfriend was fucking my best fucking friend.” I start to shake again because I am a bit hurt, I am as furious as hell.

“All that I could do when I caught them was stand there and watch them. I stood there and watched him rub her tits just like he rubbed mine. I watched him reach down between them and flick her clit just like he did mine. He pulled her hair just like he did me. He was fucking her every way that he used to do to me. I couldn’t stop myself from watching.” I started to cry now because I realized that I tortured myself by standing there and watching them.

  “Awe, fuck. Babe, why didn’t you tell me? We wouldn’t have come out tonight if I knew there was a possibility of us seeing them.” He drapes his arms over my shoulders as I hold his arms tight and turn into him a little bit and start to cry again. All you can hear is the sound of me sobbing while the waves crash on the beach.