Hah…the great pretender. That was Billy. Pretending to be everything he wasn’t. Even at the ripe old age of twenty-two and recently graduated from college, his true identity, his very soul, stayed hidden behind a shield that he rarely let fall. That shield had protected him over the years. Sure, it had some dents and scratches now, and the energy required to lift and hold it up daily was almost more than he thought he could give sometimes, but it was his only defense against a world that didn’t often understand him.
Tonight wasn’t about wallowing, he reminded himself. Tonight was about celebrating his graduation andhanging with his younger sister, Carolyn. His heart felt lighter just thinking about her, and he couldn’t wait to meet her at Max’s Diner over on Main Street. She was so full of joy that nobody could ever feel sad around her. Besides, Max’s had the best chocolate malts on the planet. Rich. Frothy. Perfection. His mouth salivated.
An advertisement followed the song, so Billy reached over again and dialed the sound down, his green eyes off the road for only a second. At the edge of his peripheral vision, he thought he saw movement in the trees lining the road.
He jerked his gaze back to the street as something darted out, just before it flashed in front of his headlights. Instinctively, he slammed his foot on the brake pedal and turned the steering wheel to the right, swerving to miss it, but immediately realized he had turned too far. Desperately, he tried to correct his steering as his car aimed for the shallow dip in the ground to the right of the road. The carjostled him as it jumped the curb, tires tearing up grass, still wet from an earlier shower, before sliding down the slanted terrain.
The car shuddered and groaned as the grill smashed into a young tree at the bottom edge of the ditch. Billy’s hands flew in front of his face, the impact flinging him forward into his steering wheel.
Dazed, he slowly pulled back into his seat and eyeballed the scene. He shifted in his seat, searching his body for injuries and heaving a sigh of relief when he found that he was still in one piece. A jinglefor a local restaurant rang out from the speakers and he turned the car off, removing the keys before leaning his head back, trying to gather his wits about him and figure out what his next move should be.
A loud rumble caught his attention and he glanced behind him to see someone climbing off a motorcycle and moving in his direction. Billy squinted into the darkness.
“You okay, bud?” the stranger called as he got closer. “I saw you fly over the curb, probably trying to miss that opossum, huh? Damn thing ran off after you took a nosedive.” He walked around to the front of the car, squatted to look over the damage, and whistled low. He popped back up and moved into the moonlight, allowing Billy a better view.
His breath caught in his throat as his eyes drank in the sight before him. Damn, he’s tall. Probably lots of muscles hidden under that leather jacket, he considered, cocking his head to the side. Probablyreally strong, too. The guy’s mouth was moving and he tried to focus on the words, but Billy couldn’t tear his eyes from the man’s full lips.
“Did you hear me?” The guy waved his arms in front of him, trying to get Billy’s attention. “You okay?”
Billy shook his head and slowly pulled himself from his haze. “Um, sorry…what did you say?”
“I said, you creamed it man; grill’s gone. Done for,” he announced as he paced around the car.
That shook Billy from his stupor and he straightened, alarm etching his face. “It’s bad?”
The greaser in the black leather jacket finally stopped walking and talking long enough to look him in the eyes. His gaze softened and, for a moment, Billy’s panic began to subside.
“Well,” he started, his eyes fixed on Billy’s, “it’s fixable. At least you’re okay, right? Hell, it’s probably drivable as it is, but you’ll need to get it pulled out of here.”
Anxiety filled Billy as he thought about what his father would say. It certainly wouldn’t be anything like, “Glad you’re not hurt.” More like, “Idiot. Loser.” And of course, he would let everyone knowthat he had known that Billy would wreck the car within days of getting it. His eyes fluttered closed as he pictured his father seated in his favorite wingback chair in the living room, surrounded by his rich, stuffy colleagues.
“I knew giving my screw-up son a car for graduation was a mistake. Should have saved the money.”
He raked his hand through his short, sandy blond hair and bit his lip, fighting back the tears and waves of panic. For fuck’s sake, he was an adult now! When was he going to stop being afraid of his father?
“You okay, little man?”
Billy startled at the deep, husky voice near his ear and turned to see his new acquaintance leaning intothe car, watching him closely. He swallowed and tried not to focus on the musky scent rolling off the dark haired stranger. Fighting the urge to lean in and breathe him in, Billy’s eyes swept over the chiseled jaw, dark stubble and, oh God, those full rosy lips, before rising back up to meet his gaze. Deep chocolate eyes peered into his green ones, searching for something. Wait…He asked something, right?
“Umm, what did you say?”
A smile spread across his face and Billy trembled. God, he was the sexiest man Billy had ever seen.