Veer (Clayton Falls) (2 page)

“It’s not as bad as yours.”
Molly had made fun of my Boston accent more than a few times over the years, and I’d always thrown the taunting right back at her.

“I don’
t have an accent
,
”
he said indignantly, as if
I’d slapped him.

“Okay, whatever you say
,
Mr.
Southern Drawl
.”

“Now I
remember why I hate northerners,
”
he grumbled
.
His once friendly expression darkened
.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. You’re all the same.”

I coughed. “Please tell me you’re joking.” Great, I hoped I wouldn’t be dealing with the northern
er
junk all summer.

“No. I’m just wondering what made you come down here. You’re going to be a fish out of water.”

“
Are you done?”
I wasn’t going to listen to more of his condescending attitude.

“Maybe
. A
re you?”

“What? All I did was mention you had an accent to
o
.”

“Mr.
Southern Drawl
? That’s just mentioning it?”

“Okay, let’s just agree to drop it. No more talking about accents.”

“Fin
e
by me.
” He nodded. “We’ll be there soon
,
anyway.”

“
Good
.
I just want to get to Molly’s.”

We rode in silence.
I still wasn’t sure how I’d managed to set him off, but evidently he was se
nsitive about the accent thing.

I glanced over at
Gavin
a few times, but he just
stared
stiffly straight ahead. For such a good looking guy
,
he had a horrible personality.

He
pulled off the interstate and onto a small highway.
With
no lights or any other
cars
, t
here
was som
ething kind of eerie about it.

I felt the urge to break the silence. “You’re not from here, right?”
I remembered Molly mentioning something about it.

“Nope.”

Add wonderful conversationalist to his
long
list of good traits.
“Is there any reason why you
’
r
e
being rude to me?”

He laughed dryly. “Rude to you?
I’m giving you a ride, aren’t I?”

“Sure, but you’ve barely said two words.”

“I’ve said more than two.”

“Oh, does everything have to be literal with you?”

“Does everything have to be a question with you?”
His hand tightened on the wheel.
“Listen, you’re Molly’s friend
,
so I’m taking you to her place. I never agreed to provide any entertainment.”

“Okay
…
”

I took out my cell again.
T
his time I had service.

Molly picked up right away.
“Becca
?
H
ey
,
where are you?”

“I’m
almost there
, but I had to get a ride from someone. I’ll fill you in when I
get to your house
.”

“Wait, who gave you a ride?”

“Gavin.”

“You’re with Gavin? What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later.” I didn’t
want to go
into details with Gavin listening
.
H
e’d probably find another reason to
argue with
me.

“Okay, see you in a few minutes.”

I hung up, replacing the phone in my bag. Gavin never glanced over.

Gavin
drove around a square
that looked
as if
it came straight out of a 1950s sitcom or something.
The stores still
appeared
to be mostly mom and pop places
.
I
hadn’t thought
those stores were still around.
We moved
into a residential neighborhood
, and
I looked out the window rather than at
Gavin
.
Rows of modest
,
but well-kept homes lined the streets.

He pulled into a driveway,
and before I could even register we’d arrived,
Molly
had my door open.

“Becca!” I jumped down and let her pull me into a hug. I heard some light laughter and looked past
Molly
to find her husband.

“You must be Ben.”

“Yes, and you must be Becca
. I
t’s nice to finally meet you.” He smiled warmly, and I understood immediately what it was about him that
appealed to Molly.
He had such a genuine feel about
him,
like what you saw was what you got
.
I prided myself on being able to read people. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read Gavin at all.

As soon as
Molly
released me,
Ben
went
to help Gavin pull out my
bags.

“Okay,
now do
you want to explain to me why
you’re
with Gavin?” Molly asked.

“My car broke down.”

“Old
Faithful
broke down? Never.” She failed to suppress a smile as she spoke of my
beat-
up
,
old VW
b
ug. I refused to giv
e it up no matter how often parts broke
. Of course
,
it
had
almost strand
ed
m
e in the middle of nowhere
. It
might have been time to reconsider
.

“And Gavin just happened to come up on you…”

“Come on
,
Mol, would I ever turn my back on a damsel in distress?” There was an edge to his words
,
and I didn’t know how much of it was sarcasm and how much was hurt.

Molly brushed off his comment.
“Well, thanks. Did you call
for a tow truck
or should I?”

“
I’ll take care of it
.”

“Thanks
,
man
,
” Ben said politely. I knew there was no love lost between the two of them. Gavin hadn’t been happy when Molly decided to make things permanent with Ben.

“All right
. G
ood night then.”

“Thanks.” I realized I hadn’t said it yet.

“You’re welcome.” He actually smiled at me before getting back in his
dark green
SUV
.
I’d originally thought it was black, but in the light I could see
its true color
.
There was something genuine about the smile that made me wonder if the rudeness was just a knee jerk response.

Chapter Two

Gavin

Becca’s
scent
lingered
in my
Yukon
as I pulled away from Molly and Ben’s house
.
S
omething about that last look s
he gave me—the small thank you—
threw me off.
I’d been a jerk to her
,
and yet she
’d
still bothered to say thank you. It didn’t fit.
It was like her bags
:
they were all worn and mismatched. They matched her car, but not her.
I doubted I’d ever figure her out, but I shouldn’t have cared.

What was
it about
the
girl that I couldn’t get her out of my head?
F
rom the north
and
just
i
n town for the summer
,
she was
the opposite of what I needed in my life. T
he last northern
er
I’d fallen for had pummeled
m
y heart
into something barely recognizable
. I
refused to even think about Dawn
.

I was running late
,
but I could still make it to poker night if I went straight over to Matt’s house
.
I figured a night with the
guys was exactly what I needed
. M
aybe it would at least
get me to stop thinking about
Becca
. I needed to forget her.

I parked along the curb out front of Matt’s
blue
split-level. We always met at Matt’s because he had a nice setup in his basement. I made sure to go around back so I wouldn’t wake his kids by ringing the bell.

“What the hell took you so long?” Tom greet
ed me
as
I
stepped through the door
. We’d been meeting a few times a month to play for as long as I’d lived in
town
, and if anything
,
I was always early.

I grabbed a beer from the mini fridge.
“You know
,
just a typical day in my life
:
helping a girl who was stranded on the side of the road.”

“You really never take a break
,
do you?” Matt lean
ed
back in his folding chair.

“I couldn’t just leave her there.”
When
I first saw
the car on the side of the road
,
I knew I’d have to stop.
There was no way I could drive past
. I figured it had to be a woman. No man would drive a faded yellow bug with
flowery initials
on the back window—at least not around Clayton Falls.
It’s not
as if
I’d ever leave anyone on the side of the road, but a woman? Forget it.

“So was she hot?” Greg
tossed around a few of his
poker
chips, trying to
act disinterested
.

Hot? That was an understatement. When I’d knocked on the driver’s side window
of her car
,
I
’d
expected a woman, but not a face like that.
I noticed her large
,
chocolate brown eyes first
, but it was the whol
e effect that got my attention
, and that long brown hair
.
She was beautiful
,
and beautiful women were always the most dangerous.
I thought about how good Becca’s
ass looked in her tight jeans—not something I needed to be focusing on.

I avoided the question. “Isn’t that supposed to be Ronny’s line? Where is he anyway?”

Matt
shuffled a deck of ca
r
ds
.
“He isn’t coming
. S
omething to do with work.”

“Really? Is he suddenly getting responsible on us?”

Tom laughed. “Maybe, but you never answered Greg’s question about the girl.” Leave it
to my
best friend and partner to bring it back to her.

“She was attractive, but that wasn’t the important part.
She’s
Molly’s friend from Boston.”

“Seriously? You just happened
upon
her? How random is that?”

“I know. That reminds me, I need to call in a tow eventually.”

“To Dale’s?” Greg
finished off the last of a bag
of
Doritos
.

“Where else?” I don’t know why Greg even bothered to ask
. H
e worked at the only garage in town.

“So what was she like?” Matt
set aside the cards.

“What do you care?”
I took a seat next to Tom, throwing a twenty down on the table and grabbing my chips.