No Vacancy (The Aveline Series Book 2)

Chapter 1

DARCY

I was lyingon the pavement in the middle of the parking lot, sure every bone in my body was broken...or at the very least, a few of them. The townspeople were gathered around, muttering amongst themselves, and I could hear the faint sound of a siren wailing in the distance.

They were coming for me, for the broken bones.

Do not die today, Darcy. It’s half-price milkshakes at the café. No one wants to die on half-price milkshake day.

I gave myself a pep talk, closing my eyes tightly as my mind wandered. The sun was shining on my face, and I thought of how the warmth was nice, even despite the bits of asphalt poking me in my behind.

I wonder if Gavin McDaniels is on shift today.

Oh, God, I hoped not. I hadn’t done laundry in a week, and what if they had to rip my shirt off and give me CPR? Gavin McDaniels could not see my dirty, holey, used-to-be-white bra.

That would be my luck. I would break all of my bones and have to be rescued on the day I was wearing a gross, old bra and not the new black lacy one I was suckered into buying last week. This would have been the perfect moment for its debut. Instead, I was wearing one that looked like it belonged to my Great Aunt Nina.

Now that I think about it, when was the last time I shaved my armpits?

I groaned.This was the most interesting thing to happen to me in a decade, and I was just lying there like a bump on a log in a dirty bra with hairy armpits.

A deep voice startled me. “Ma’am? Are you hurt? I honestly didn’t even think I hit you. I saw you in the backup cam and slammed on my brakes. Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay! You hit me with your car! How could I be okay?” I refused to open my eyes, scrunching them tightly. “And did you just call me ma’am?”

“Darcy?” I could hear my best friend Lettie’s voice amongst all the commotion. “Darcy, what happened? You do know you’re getting your sweater filthy, don’t you?”

I pointed around, flailing my hand. “Who cares about my sweater? This person hit me! With their car! Then he called me ma’am. Just let me die. I can’t go on knowing I am a ma’am now.”

“Well,” the deep voice spoke again. “I swear I didn’t hit her, per se. I think she might have actually hit me. And, if anything at all, it was more of a nudge.”

I sat up abruptly, my mouth opened wide.

With the swiftness of my movements, I realized that, apparently, there were no broken bones after all. I was alive and breathing, the white light had vanished, and thankfully, CPR would not be needed. My bra was safe. And honestly, that was more of a relief than the fact that all of my bones were intact.

I scoffed. “A nudge! You call that a nudge?”

The man shrugged. “I’m telling you, I don’t even think I hit you. I started backing up, saw you in the backup camera, and immediately slammed on my brakes. Do you guys have cameras anywhere? I’m sure you do—there are cameras everywhere nowadays.” He looked around. “Besides, who walks behind a car when there is a perfectly good sidewalk right there?” He gestured to the beautiful walkway along the main strip of Aveline.

I squinted my eyes, ignoring him. “If you didn’t hit me, then why am I on the ground, genius?”

I had him there. Let’s see Mr. Smarty McSmarterson try to weasel his way out of this one. One point goes to Darcy... I was winning at the game he didn’t even know we were playing.

He raised a dark eyebrow. “You kicked my car. Then you fell as you were holding your toe.”

I cleared my throat. “I highly doubt that.”

Lettie started laughing. I had almost forgotten she was there along with the rest of Aveline. “Darce, are you sure he actually hit you? I’m not saying he didn’t, but let’s be honest, you can be a little dramatic after hurting yourself.”

I huffed. “Are you kidding me?”

“No,” she replied. “Remember that time you—”

“I don’t need to hear it!” I exclaimed before lowering my voice. “Traitor,” I whispered to her. “I’ll remember this the next time you and Tuck have a donut bake-off. I’ll never vote for yours out of pity again!”

Lettie pulled her lips in, trying not to smile. “Look, I’m sorry, but that time you hit your elbow is the perfect exam—”

“Hey now!” I said, waving her off. “We don’t need a recap of every time I’ve ever hurt myself. Save thestories for my funeral.”

Which was not going to be today, because I was fine...minus the mysterious throbbing in my toe.

A moment later, Peter Penske, a staple in Aveline, spoke ominously as he walked forward from the back of the crowd. “I know what happened. I saw everything.”

“Okay, here we go, an actual witness.” I was still sitting in the middle of the parking lot in the center of Aveline, surrounded by people. “What happened, Peter? Go on. Tell the people.” I threw my arms around for emphasis, knowing I was about to be exonerated for my part in this fiasco.

“I’m sorry, Darcy, but he didn’t hit you. He started backing up, then slammed on his brakes before he touched you.”

I furrowed my brows, not believing the betrayal I was receiving from my own town. “How do you explain this?” I gestured frantically to my body and then the parking lot.

“Well, when he slammed on the brakes, you sort of screamed. Then you kicked the car and mouthed a really foul curse word before you started hopping around like this.” Peter mimicked my alleged actions. “Then you just toppled over and—”

“Okay, we get it.” I rolled my eyes as a chorus of muttering and gasps exploded from the crowd. I stood up slowly, realizing the only thing that was hurt was, in fact, my toe, and now maybe my pride. I lowered my voice, “Thank you for that, Peter. And I’ll remember this the next time you want my vote for Sweeney Todd for the town musical.”

I moved toward the man who hit me—or whose car I kicked, whatever—and looked him up and down, taking in his appearance for the first time and holding in the thought that he was undeniably attractive.

Like, out-of-this-world, never-seen-another-guy-this-hot—not even Gavin McDaniels—good-looking.

No wonder everyone was taking his side.

I blinked, keeping my eyes closed for a second longer than I should have to gather my composure and figure out a way to trick my brain into picturing Sloth from the Goonies and not Henry Cavill. The last thing I was going to do was admit the person responsible for damaging my pride had soft, bouncy, dark curls on the top of his head that I felt the urge to run my fingers through.

No, I was going to picture that his eyes were completely crossed beneath that pair of trendy glasses. They were no longer the enormous eyes that appeared to have been pulled directly from the ocean—icy and blue and electrifying. They were now crossed and a little lopsided...and bulging. Yeah, bulging.

I opened my eyes slowly and let my anger win over his beauty. “Okay, Vin Diesel, you may not have hit me, but you scared the living daylights out of me. I practically passed out from shock, so I still categorize that as traumatic...”

“Don’t you mean Dominic Toretto?” the guy asked, a smirk plastered across his face.

I squinted. “What?” I asked, annoyed.

He shrugged in a very pompous and arrogant way that only reiterated the fact that even though I didn’t know anything about him, I still couldn’t stand this man. “I just assumed that was a Fast Furious reference.”

I mocked him before replying, “It’s a whatever-I-want-it-to-be reference...” I paused before looking around. “And where the heck is the fire department? What if this had been an actual emergency? I would have died waiting for them to show up.”

“Oh, honey, I told them to go back when I saw you sit up. No sense in having that big ambulance out here in the middle of Aveline for your pride!” Rosie yelled from the back, and I whipped my head to her, producing the best death stare I could conjure.

This town. This little town, full of little people—or whatever it was Belle said. This was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone. In Aveline, there were no strangers or secrets, and even though at times it felt claustrophobic, it was also home. And all the people, despite their constant involvement, were family.

“Listen, I’m sorry. I really am,” the man began. “Let me make it up to you.”

Except for this guy. This guy was not from Aveline, and therefore, he was not family.

I chuckled, moving my now messed up braid behind my back and smoothing out the chocolate locks around my face. I shook my head. “No. No. That’s not necessary.” I wiped off my clothes and picked off a piece of lint or asphalt or breakfast, whatever it was, from the bottom of my shirt. “I don’t think you can just make up for nearly killing a person.”

The guy leaned his head back and laughed slightly. “Wow, you’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Not a chance,” I said as I stepped toward Lettie. “You tore my favorite sweater.” I held up the sleeve of my cream-colored cardigan, showcasing a big hole, and I walked away.

Lettie turned to me after we were out of earshot and whispered, “That sweater has had a hole in it for years.”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “I know that . . . but he doesn’t.”