Valentine (A Standalone Novel) (Bad Boy Romance Book) (3 page)

I paused and decided one bowl was enough.
Besides, I planned to find something else to entertain my hunger that night.
Sam was right, I was a bit of a slut and it had been too long since I'd gotten
laid. A couple of beers and a warm body to snuggle up to was the promise that
the night lay before me.

Now to find someone that would turn me on
without having to try.

Good
luck with that one. She doesn't exist.

Chapter 3

Val

"Um, you look smoking hot!"
Katelyn walked into our shared room at the Gamma house later that day and
pressed her hands to her hips. "Is Paul coming tonight? He better or he's
going to find himself a single man again."

"Please." I leaned over toward
the mirror and applied a thin layer of pink lipstick before pursing my lips and
moving back. "I hate how fucking tall I am."

"I love it." Katelyn moved up
behind me and smoothed my hair down. We were both dressed in skinny jeans,
sweaters, and boots. It was comfortable, and yet we had somehow managed to look
like we should be walking down the runway at a fashion show. It was due to Katelyn's
sense of the latest styles, not mine. I'd have preferred to be in a pair of
basketball shorts and an old t-shirt, but that wasn't acceptable. I'd been
berated by my mother and my friends enough times to realize that conforming
wasn't the worst thing I could do.

"Sure, you do. That's because you're
short. A small fry." I sat down on the edge of my bed and worked to finish
zipping up my boots.

"Whatever. You're model material and
you know it." She sat down beside me. "Why else would the hottest guy
on campus be dating you?"

"I give great blow jobs." I
glanced at her and laughed as her face contorted.

"Gross." She got up and walked
to stand in front of my full-length mirror. "I've yet to do that, but I
guess the time is coming. Fucking Martin asks me to do it all the time."

"It's not that bad, actually. Just
might help if I liked Paul." I laid back on the bed and stared up at the
ceiling. The night was going to suck. I had no doubt that I'd be pushing Paul
off for most of it or watching Carolyn show him attention in a way that left me
feeling inadequate.

"How in the world do you not like
Paul Wright? He's so damn dreamy." She reached for my hands, and I clasped
hers, pulling myself up with her help.

"I don't know." I walked to the
window and glanced out as various cars lined the front of the sorority house.
"Is everyone going to this party?"

"Yep. It's going to be packed. One of
the frat houses off campus is throwing it. Should be wild." She flickered
the lights, causing me to turn. "Let's go. Amy is designated driver
tonight. She should be here any minute."

My phone buzzed on the bed where I left
it. It was my father.

"I need to get this. It's my dad, and
you know he rarely calls." I shrugged. "Just go and I'll meet you
guys out there. Text me the address. Besides, I'm not drinking, and if I do,
I'll just leave my car at the party and ride back with you guys."

"We'll just wait for you. It's more
fun when you're with us." She smiled warmly at me.

"No, he's long winded. Really. I'll
see you there shortly." I picked up the phone and sat down on the bed,
hitting the talk button.

"Alright. Be safe." She closed
the door and left me in the serenity of our room alone. There was nothing like
being by myself. It was rare, and I coveted it most days. It was the one thing
I was looking forward to post-college: an apartment all to myself.

"Hi, Dad." I laid back down on
the bed and pushed away the feeling of longing. Longing to belong. Longing to
matter. Longing to live the life I wanted, instead of the one that he and my
mother demanded for me. I hated business classes, and yet it was the degree
that they were paying for.

"Valentine." The strictness in
his voice hurt me more than I cared to admit.

"I know. I didn't mean to upset
her." I let out a shaky sigh and fought back tears. Did everyone have this
much unwanted drama in their lives?

"I realize that, but you know she's
been having blood pressure problems lately." I could almost hear a twinge
of fear in my father's voice.

"I tried not to respond to her
berating me, Dad, but a few things slipped out." I pressed my palm to my
forehead and breathed in slow and deep.

I'm
not going to cry. I'm not. It's not worth it. None of this shit is.

"She's got the wedding with your
sister, her events at the country club, and me to deal with. It's too much for
her. You know she doesn't do well with stress. Help me and stop being a drain
on her, okay?" His tone softened a little, but not nearly enough. I was at
fault for my mother having a rough day, though I'd done nothing to cause it.

"I'm sorry. I'll do better." I
squeezed my eyes closed as the familiar sting of tears arrived.

"I know you will, kiddo. Get that
leadership role in the Gammas like your mother wants you to. It's a Scott
tradition, and you know it would help ease the tension between the two of you.
You haven't even tried."

"Alright." He was wrong, but
there was no telling him that. When riled up, he was almost worse than my
mother.

"I love you, pumpkin. Be safe, and no
driving that piece of shit car you have until I can get the transmission
checked. Okay?"

"Yep." I let him say his
goodbyes before hanging up the phone and tossing it on the bed beside me. The
car had acted up once in the last two years, and my dad was being overly
precautious about it. He didn't agree with my mother's refusal to buy me
something new, but he wasn't going against her. No one did.

I rolled onto my side and pressed my hands
to my face as a sob left me. I hadn't had a good cry in months, so maybe it was
time to let it all out and hope that I could put myself back together when it
was over.

It wasn't the car that needed attention
from them. It was me.

*

I hadn't been on the road for more than
twenty minutes when the lights on the dashboard lit up and the car started to
jerk. Fear washed over me in a large wave, and I pulled over without hesitation.
The last thing I needed was to lose control and have the tires lock up. The ice
and snow all over the road made things dangerous enough as it was.

After taking a few deep breaths in hopes
of slowing my racing heart, I turned the car off and let it sit idle for a
minute. My worst nightmare roared to life as I tried to start it back up and
nothing happened. I'd have to call my parents to come help me.

"Surely not. Please start. Please.
Come on, baby. Please." I rubbed the dash and tried to start it again.
Nothing. Not even a sputter or a choke. Nothing.

"Fuck. Really?" I got my phone
out of my purse and called my sister Allison first. She and I were close and
though she'd been everything Mom and Dad had wanted in a kid, she was humble
about it all. They rubbed it in my face, but she never did. I hung up when the
call went to voicemail. There was no need to get everyone involved in my
business. My dad told me not to drive the car, and of course, I didn't listen.
The fact that it was snowing like crazy and below freezing didn't help much.

I sat there, staring at the phone for a
few minutes as the car started to grow cold. I would freeze to death before
someone found me if I didn't get a move on with finding a solution, but that
didn't sound nearly as bad as calling my parents.

"It's the engine. The transmission I
think he said." I pulled the button to the hood and got out of the car as
the icy winter wind slammed into me. "Shit."

I had no clue what I was doing, but like
anyone else with little to no sense at all, I walked to the front of the car
and popped the hood. My large winter coat helped to stave off the freezing
cold, but my fingers burned with stiffness almost immediately.

I looked around the engine at the various
wires and parts, searching for some quick fix on the car, yet having no fucking
idea what to even look for. The sound of someone pulling up behind me gave me a
jolt of hope, and I moved around to my side of the car as a dark figure parked
his bike behind the car and walked toward me.

"Car trouble?" His voice was
deep and slightly raspy.

"Nope. I just decided to hang out for
the night. I was going to start a fire and roast marshmallows. You want a s’more?"
I kicked myself internally for being an ass.
What’s wrong with me?

"Right." His warm brown eyes
caught my attention. He was handsome, but didn't look like the kind of guy who
cared much for looks – or anything else for that matter. "Let me check the
engine. Is it turning over at all?"

"Turning over?" I moved up
beside him and tried not to notice how good he smelled. Various tattoos danced
down his arms and played peekaboo under the collar of his heavy leather jacket.

He pulled off his gloves and shoved them
in his pocket as he turned and studied me. He was rough looking, but incredibly
sexy. The strength of his gaze left me wanting to blush, but it wasn't
intimate, just probing. He was looking for answers about the car and nothing
else.

"Turning over? No. I just pulled it
to the side. It didn't flip or even skid, really." I kept my tone unfriendly,
though I hated myself for doing it. Here the guy was willing to help me in the
middle of a snowstorm, and I was acting like a bitch. It was a defense
mechanism. I hated strangers simply for the fact that like everyone else in my
life, they were probably judging me.

"No, princess. Not flipping over.
When you try and start the car, does it make a sound?" He stood up and
lifted his dark eyebrow at me. "Go try and start it for me."

"Princess?" I grumbled as I
walked back to the car and got in. The image of his face stayed with me as I
tried to start the car and nothing happened. He had short brown hair trimmed
tightly to his head and the makings of a five o'clock shadow. I wanted to know
his name, but it wasn't for the right reasons, so I wouldn't be asking.

He tapped on the window, and I opened the
door.

"It's the battery. It's completely
dead." He lifted his hands to his mouth and breathed into them. "Did
you know that your back tire is going flat, too?"

"No." I let out a sigh and
worked to not act nearly as dramatic as I wanted to. "Okay. Well, thanks,
anyway. I appreciate you stopping."

"Let me give you a ride back to your
place or somewhere. You can't just sit out here and freeze to death." His
eyes moved across me slowly, leaving me to feel almost bare in front of him.
Some part of me wanted to get on the back of his bike just to see how it would
feel to live a little. "You going to a party? A date? I'll drop you off
there. There's no way I'm leaving you out here."

"No. Thanks, though. I'll call my
friends. They're just up the road. Honestly." I gave him a tight smile and
took the card he pulled from his back pocket. "I don't even know you, and
I'm not getting on your bike."

A smirk lifted his kissable lips as he
nodded. "I get it, but call my cell if you don't get picked up soon. The
storm is only going to get worse. I'm Tate, by the way, and the address on the
front is the garage I work at. Bring the car by tomorrow and I'll put a new
tire on it for free. You just gotta buy the tire."

He gave me a friendly smile, and my heart
fluttered in my chest in a way that left me more concerned than comforted.

"You don't have to do this." I
lifted the card, suddenly feeling even more like shit for being rude to him.
"My parents are really wealthy. I'll just bring the car by and pay you for
the tire and your time. I owe you that much, at least."

His expression hardened just a little, and
his curt nod said that he knew my kind all too well.

"I know I don't have to. I want to.
Some things have nothing to do with money and everything to do with putting
goodwill into the world. It's still free to be nice." He smiled and
turned, closing the hood of my car and waving as he walked back to his bike.

I closed the door and let out a long sigh
as I dialed Amy's number. He was right. Why the hell did I feel the need to
mention that my parents were wealthy? Why would that matter to anyone? It
certainly didn't matter to me.

Disgust rolled over me, but I swallowed it
down. I didn't need another internal shit storm to deal with. I had enough to
concern myself with as it was.

"Tate. Rugged, sexy, philanthropic
mechanic Tate." I lifted the card to my face as my heart fluttered again.
"Wonder what your tats look like beneath that coat."

My mother would have died to even know
that I was wondering about such a low-class type of guy. A mechanic. I loved
the thought of making her squirm.

"Where are you? You here?" Amy's
voice was loud, and I jerked the phone from my ear.

"No, I'm stuck on the side of the
road on the way to the party. My car died. Come get me? Please?" With my
parents being millionaires, there was no reason for me to be sitting in a broke
down car, and yet my mother wanted to prove a point in not getting me a new car
just yet. I could almost hear her voice in my ear.

Good
things come to those who strive to be the best. Work harder, and you'll get
what Allison got.

Amy's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
"Hell, yeah. I'll be there in a minute. I gotcha on track my phone. Just
stay put and no talking to strangers."