Authors: Eve Carter
“Honey, it’s time to wake up.”
A sweet voice was interrupting my dream. “Grammy?”
A sharp cackling chuckle rang close to my left ear. “Not exactly, honey. I hope I don’t look old enough to be your grandma, just yet. I know I have a few wrinkles but I use face cream diligently every night. That’s the key to youthful skin…” The invasive chatter continued as my awareness of reality came back to me. I opened my eyes to find Lucille, the passenger sitting next to me, beaming at me while she held a small foil package of peanuts in her hand. At least that’s what I had learned her name to be, twenty hours ago, and regretted hearing it ever since. We still had about four more hours to go. I anticipated the bus ride would take at least that long to get to Charleston. As she chewed on her salty snack and rattled on, I felt a chill run down my spine.
I shook it off and sat up straight in my seat. “What time is it?”
“Almost noon. We’re stopping for a lunch break at the next town. It should come up in about ten minutes.”
“I must have been beat. I can’t believe I slept for over five hours. What town is it?”
“Summersville. It’s a pretty little seaside vacation town. Have you heard of it? I stayed there once years ago with my first husband, Leonard. He was just out of the army and…well you don’t want to hear that story.”
I sighed and rubbed my temples. “No, can’t say I have. It’s my first time in South Carolina.”
I had spent the last twenty hours on this Greyhound bus with Lucile’s incessant chatter and my ears were bleeding. She could be the CIA’s new torture method. Just put the chatterbox in an interrogation room and the suspects would reveal everything just to get her to stop talking. Lucille’s short gray hair and glasses reminded me of a distant, sixty-year old aunt I had been avoiding for years.
The whole experience of riding the bus was not foreign to me. I had ridden buses to school, college and work most of my life. I didn’t mind. It was a little low class and some of the people who rode buses were definitely, well, unique to say the least. However, I found it to be kind of soothing, no stress of driving, although I didn’t even own a car at this point in my life. The bus seemed like a faster and more immediate way to get out of town, instead of nervously waiting in some airport terminal.
After the interview at the police station and after retrieving my backpack, I never returned to my apartment. I had visions of the heavy Mob type men in dark suits staked out at my apartment, waiting for my return. I didn’t want to risk going back to pack a suitcase, so I headed over to Macy’s and bought a new wardrobe and a large dark blue suitcase. An hour later, I hauled it down to the bus station where I bought a ticket to Charleston, South Carolina. My plan was still formulating in my mind, but I figured I would either stay put there for a couple of weeks or just move on to wherever struck my fancy. Just until the heat on me from back home went away. I didn’t imagine that these New York illegal gambling types cared much for places like South Carolina. They were creatures of habit and enjoyed the cultural nuances of the big city and their connection to family. If, indeed, someone had been looking for me and the money, I figured they would give up searching after a couple of weeks…or at least that’s what I hoped would happen. I was no expert in these matters, far from it. I was pretty much flying by the seat of my pants, powered by adrenaline and instincts, and what I had seen on TV and in movies about underground gambling. I knew they had 'bookies' and the dead man, Gianni, must have been a bookie. That would explain the briefcase full of money.
I knew I could never go back to my job or my old apartment for that matter. Before boarding the bus, I had called Joey and told her that I was going out of town for a while. I gave her some vague half-baked story and explained that I needed some time away from everything to heal my wounds and get over my ex, Landon. I'd have to thank him later for making our break up so timely and convenient for me to use as an excuse to get out of town. Joey said she understood, since she recently had broken up with her boyfriend.
And my job? Well, that was history. I was sure Jerry has fired me, anyway. It didn’t matter. I had more than enough money to afford finishing my studies anywhere in the world without taking out more student loans. Well, that is, if I was going to keep the money. Once again the thought had occurred to me on my long bus ride to give the money to the police but I was now more than sure it wouldn’t get the bad guys off my back. I could barely sleep with my nerves being a wreck. Seething guilt has a way of doing a number on your conscience.
Once I arrived in Charleston, I would find a way to pay for my grandmother’s medical treatments. My first thought had been to go visit her, but that would be too risky. If someone indeed was following me, they could track me to her house and I couldn't risk that. I decided it would be better to pick a place at random, and since I had never been to Charleston , I figured that would be as good a place as any.
“Well, you will love it in Charleston.” Lucile was still talking. “My nephew lives there. You two should meet. Carsten is quite handsome, if I don’t say so myself, and single too.” She laughed and took out a picture.
He wasn’t exactly my type, wearing a boring business suit, and besides, dating would be the last thing on my mind for quite a while. “Yes, he’s cute.” I nodded and raised my eyebrows. “How old is he?”
“Thirty-one. He’s kind of a loner though. Lives for his job. He’s an accountant.” She beamed proudly, placing extra emphasis on the word 'accountant' like that was some kind of prize.
“Well, there’s plenty of time for him to find someone. It’s good to have a solid base first.”
I handed her the picture, smiled and looked out the window. My stomach rumbled. I placed my hand over it, wondering if it was hunger, or just my nervous guilt ridden stomach trying to talk to me.
As soon as the bus pulled into the small station, I lurched for the door in order to be one of the first off the bus. I had been cooped up with Lucille’s constant blathering for the last twenty hours, and my ears needed a well-deserved rest. Better escape her grasp before she suggested having lunch together.
In my haste to avoid an unwanted lunch invitation from loquacious Lucile, I rushed out the glass door of the bus station, rounded the corner of the building a bit too fast and plowed head long into a wall of pure muscle. The dude had a chest like a brick wall. I bounced off it and fell on the ground on my ass. I sat there for a split second, dazed, but mostly just embarrassed.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I looked up and saw a strong, outstretched hand extended toward me, looming in my face. My eyes trailed from the hand up the equally finely muscled arm to his face. He watched me with an intense gaze, deep-blue eyes, rivulets of emotion pouring out of them with a look of…what? I didn’t know. My stunned brain couldn’t comprehend in this moment as I sat on the ground. But that look was exquisite. It pierced me to my soul as if he could see right into my thoughts and understood everything about me in an instant.
He smiled down at me sympathetically, and my stomach dropped to the floor where my ass was still glued, and yet it was more than that. It was the kind of rare smile that promised eternal reassurance. It focused on me with an irresistible charm as if I were the only person it was meant for in the entire world, as if he knew me and believed in me, as if he assured me that I already was the best person I could ever be in this instant. Precisely at that point, it vanished and I was looking at the most gorgeous man I had ever seen in my life.
I blinked hard and all thoughts rushed from my mind like a surging river. He moved with formless grace, momentarily balancing himself on one foot with the kind of movement that implies great muscular tone in every limb. He leaned his hand closer to grasp my outstretched arm by the wrist, still gazing down at me with those blue, laser beam eyes. I wanted to decline his open and waiting hand and said something like, “Thanks, but I can get up myself. I don’t need your help.”
Nothing came out and my heart just pounded harder against my rib cage until I was sure that he could feel it vibrating all the way down my arm to where he now had a firm grip on my wrist. I wanted to jump up and run. That would be the best thing because I didn’t know what I wanted or what to do to stop this avalanche from crashing down around me and sweeping me away. I didn’t need a guy in my life and not one like him with such an instantaneous and mysterious power over me. The mere moment his eyes locked with mine, something shifted in the universe, something that excited me and scared me at the same time.
I shook my head, and tried to clear my thoughts as he effortlessly pulled my one-hundred and twenty pound body to my feet with one swift jerk.
Snapped out of my daze now, I said harshly, “Geez. Why don’t you look where you’re going?” No way was I going to indicate to him what mysterious power he had just inflicted upon me.
“Me? I wasn’t going anywhere. I was standing right here, checking the bus schedule when you came crashing into me.” He smiled. Something inside me caved in and softened just a little from that pearly smirk of his.
Damn him.
No one should be allowed to have that much charm to wield over others, let alone a hot guy like him. He was probably full of himself, pumped up with bullshit ideas about his good looks, exemplified by those massively pumped muscles bulging out from under his black T-shirt.
“Yeah, well…maybe they should have posted those schedules another place, not right where people are walking,” I said and propped my hand on my hip as I realized I was making a fool of myself in front of the hottest guy I had seen in a long time, or any time, for that matter.
“You’re absolutely right. They shouldn’t have posted it right here on the corner. I’ll tell you what. Are you hungry? Why don’t I treat you to lunch to compensate for the city’s horrible mistake?”
I narrowed my eyes, sizing him up, raking my gaze over his body as he stood there like a statue with piercing steel blue eyes. A statue of a god, Michelangelo’s David or a model for Da Vinci’s study of the human male form. Either way, his muscles were perfect. Toned, sculpted and chiseled. His face was tan, radiating virility and …confidence, most of all, supreme confidence. Like no one had better mess with him. He was badass, the epitome of the American male. He seemed like the kind of guy who carved his own path. I could see it in his eyes. It was all instantly recognizable. What he wore, drove and drank. He was a man who knew exactly what to choose, when to choose and where to choose. He was pure badass and worst of all…he was a shining incarnation of pure temptation.
Dare I answer the siren’s call? My hunger was about to make the decision for me, but I was on the run from some very bad guys and suppose to lay low, not mix it up with the hottest guy in town.
“No, sorry, I don’t accept lunch invitations from strangers….”
I took in one last drink of my eye-candy before Lucille spotted me. She came running and waving at me, heading in my direction.
Damn
.
I grabbed the muscular hand that was attached to the hunky stranger and steered him around the corner out of her view.
Our feet hit the pavement as we strode down the sidewalk in the bright sun of one of the first days of summer. “Alright, I’ll have lunch but we should hurry. My bus just stopped for a break and it will be leaving again soon.”
“Let’s take my bike.” He pointed toward a black motorcycle heavily encumbered with shiny, chrome accents glistening in the sun. Harley Davidson, I should have guessed.
I had never been on a bike before but there was always a first time for everything, and I never said no to a challenge.
“Let’s do it.” I jumped on the back of the Harley and seconds later, we were riding towards the center of town. It was a quaint little town, small shops and inviting cafes lined the main street. But too close to the bus station for comfort. “Let’s go someplace off the beaten path. Is there a nice café somewhere?”