14. He Saw Her Bravery
He Saw Her Bravery
Aiden
I avoided driving past Discount Automotive on my way into town. That place was a bloody eyesore. Always had been.
Years ago, it had been painted fuchsia pink.
Evan’s wife had chosen the colour. The day she’d left town, he’d climbed his ladder and started slathering an obnoxious yellow over the top.
A week later, she’d still been gone, and Discount Automotive was moonlighting as a flat banana instead of just the best place for a tune-up.
I avoided looking at the yellow bricks as I plodded from my truck, boots heavy, my hands stuffed in my pockets, and my eyes on the trouble looming above. Black clouds swelled like ink spilling across the sky, and the wind lashed like an icy whip. A storm was coming—fast.
This would be a quick visit.
Evan sat on a stack of tyres inside the workshop. The coffee mug he lifted to his lips paused midair when he saw me.
“Mornin’,” he said.
“Morning.”
“Problem with your truck?”
“The truck’s fine.” Was I going to do this? I dragged back a memory. Lola shaking, terrified out of her mind. Yeah, I was. “I thought we should talk.”
“Yeah?” His eyes squinted to nothing but a line. “About what?”
“Lola.”
Evan snorted. “The door’s that way, big fella.” His finger pointed me back to the parking lot. “I ain’t got nothin’ to say about the doctor.”
“You can listen then.”
He cocked his head. “It’s not like you to stick your nose where it don’t belong. You here playin’ town hero like Hollyoak?”
“He stopped by?”
“Nope, and he ain’t welcome here. He fired two of my mates off his farm when there ain’t much work goin’ this time of year.”
“Maybe your mates should’ve thought about that before standing there watching you tear into a defenceless woman.”
Evan’s eyebrows popped up. “That’s how it is, huh?” He sipped his coffee before sliding the mug on the workbench. He pushed off the tyres and stood tall. “You’ve changed your tune since last Friday.”
“I was a gutless bastard for not stepping in. I’m making it right.”
“Makin’ it right? For what? Gettin’ in her knickers?” Evan scoffed. “She put you up to this?”
“No.” I screwed my eyes shut and waited for the anger to pass. Evan mentioning Lola’s frilly pink knickers made blood roar in my ears, but losing my shit would achieve nothing. “She didn’t ask me to stop by.”
“I’ve seen you two talkin’. Everyone has. You ain’t here out of the kindness of your heart.”
I took a slow step forward. Evan folded his arms, but his eyes weren’t sure where to look. He wasn’t half as tough as he pretended to be.
“You don’t talk to Lola again,” I said. “If I see you or any of your mates even looking in her direction—”
“Australia’s a free country, ain’t it? I can look wherever I damn well want.”
“Don’t test me.” I didn’t recognise my own voice. The words came out as a sinister promise, making Evan scramble another step back.
“You ain’t got no authority here.” Doubt flickered in his eyes. He wasn’t so sure. “You ain’t a cop no more.”
That got a bark of laughter out of me. His remembering a drunken confession about my past wouldn’t save him. “What’s stopping me from taking care of you then?”
He swallowed. “You’re a good man. Everyone says so.”
“Not when it comes to Lola. Don’t make me pay you a visit after hours. Understand?”
Evan answered with a sharp jerk of his chin.
Good enough. Loathing crawled over my skin at the thought of throwing my weight around, but some men didn’t respond to chats and gentle reminders to act like decent human beings.
I did what needed to be done to protect Lola.
I’d still be able to sleep at night…if I ever slept again…
A raindrop plopped on my cheek as I headed back to my truck. I swiped it away and glanced at the sky.
Time to get moving.
I’d only just pulled out of Discount Automotive when the storm hit.
Water pelted, and I bent forward, squinting through the deluge pounding the windscreen.
The road was empty except for old ghosts barrelling towards me.
I was useless driving in this state. Slowing to a stop at the turnoff, I forced down a steadying breath, took one hand off the wheel, flexed my fingers, and shook off the nerves. Then, I did the other hand.
Focus. You can do this, you weak bastard.
The windscreen wipers whipped across the glass, but it was impossible to tell where the rain ended and the road began. Everything was a soggy haze of grey… Except…
Gripping the steering wheel tighter, I narrowed my eyes on the spot of pink on the horizon. The spot grew bigger and bigger until it was a person.
“Goddammit, Lola,” I muttered to the empty car. “Why the hell are you out in this rain?”
Her skirt wasn’t floating around her knees, tempting me to flick it up. The fabric plastered to her legs like a second skin. I thumped my palm into the steering wheel. The wind was like ice. She’d catch a cold. If a big rig came hurtling down the road, she’d be hit.
I crawled my truck to a stop beside her and put down the window. She didn’t stop. She kept on walking.
“Lola!”
Her head turned, golden hair flat against her face. Raindrops dotted her glasses, hiding her eyes, but her mouth speared down. Shivering, sopping wet, she still hated me. Too bad. I couldn’t leave her there.
Worry edged my voice when I barked, “Get in!” She didn’t budge. “There’s a storm.”
“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed!” She hiked up her chin, defiant until the end, snapped around on her heel like a soldier, and kept marching down the road.
I dragged my hands down my face. There was no chance she’d get in willingly, but I couldn’t let her walk down the road to her death.
I pulled the truck off the road, shifted into park, and after rummaging around in the back for what I needed, I took off after her.
My boots sloshed through the water as I chased her down the road.
“Lola!”
Hearing my voice catching up behind her only made her walk faster. “Hell will freeze over before I accept help from you, you…you…big beast!”
“You’re going to freeze to death. You’re already soaked through, and it’s ten minutes into town on foot from here!” I planted myself in front of her, blocking her way, and popped a black umbrella open over her head. “Are you going to be difficult about this?”
“Absolutely!” To prove to me just how determined she was to reject my help, she marched on.
“I hope you like company then.”
Lola jolted to a stop, her mouth dropping open. “You wouldn’t.”
“You’ve got two options. You can get rid of me real quick by letting me drive you home. But if you want to be stubborn and keep going on foot, I’m with you every step of the way.”
Her eyes slid past me to where I’d parked off the road. “I’m never getting in your truck.”
“I hope you like walking then.”
“I love it!”
And off she went. Perfect, stubborn, sweet little thing. I would’ve laughed if I didn’t think she’d take a swing at me. Easily keeping pace beside her, making sure the umbrella shielded her from the worst of the rain, I glanced down. Goosebumps prickled her pale skin.
“You’re cold,” I said.
She stuck her nose higher in the air, but only until I started fumbling with the buttons of my shirt.
“Wha—” Pale eyebrows popped over the top of her glasses. “What are you doing?”
With one hand gripping the umbrella, I managed to shrug off my flannel, the white T-shirt underneath instantly soaking through. The wind whipped past. Damn, it was cold.
“Making sure you don’t catch your death,” I said, slinging my flannel over her shoulders. “There.” She was nothing but a head and slim legs swamped in blue and green checks. “Better.”
Lola swished from side to side. “It’s so warm ,” she breathed, her arms hugging the shirt to her body.
I smiled. She looked good in my flannel. I liked how it swallowed her up, and the sleeves hung over her hands. She was warm. My smell was all over her.
She blinked up at me. “This changes nothing between us.”
“I know.”
Nothing could change between us. I wanted Lola’s forgiveness, but I couldn’t have her.
It didn’t matter what Ruth said. Every day would be a storm if Lola were stuck with me.
She’d live waiting for the wind to pick up, wild, unrelenting, never knowing if the thunder was coming.
The darkness inside me would overshadow any sunny days of us cooking and reading together.
And what was the other option? Convincing her to agree to something casual? Parking my boots by her door, touching her sweet body, making her feel good, only to tip my hat at sundown and say goodbye?
Maybe that would work for a few weeks until some other bastard swept her off her feet. He’d be the one to tangle his fingers with hers, kiss her cheek, and say, “I do.”
That man couldn’t be me, and it almost ripped me in half.
I was grateful the rain poured, and I had an excuse to swipe the tears leaking from my eyes. The thought of Lola being with someone else hurt. Hurt worse than a punch in the gut.
No, she would never be mine, but I wanted her forgiveness just the same.
“Lola, I’m sorry for the way I treated you. Not being honest… Leaving… Throwing out your pie… The bar… All of it.”
Her lip curled, and she said nothing. My apologies never did much to sway her sympathy.
“I guessed early on something wasn’t quite right with you,” I said. “I acted like a selfish bastard. I know someone hurt you, and I ignored the signs and went there anyway.”
Lola’s head slowly turned. I’d hoped to see some glimmer of forgiveness, but the eyes that lifted were narrowed to a murderous line.
“Something’s not right about me?” she snapped. “So, I’m damaged goods, is that it? You would’ve saved yourself all this regret and avoided sleeping with me if you’d known someone used to hit me?”
Someone used to … The air strangled out of my lungs. I stopped dead on the roadside. “Lola…” My legs almost buckled, but I kept myself upright. I’d suspected this, but somehow, hearing her say the words was worse.
Lola’s tiny fist balled by her side. “Should I have told you how he never let me have my own money? That he controlled what I wore and where I went?” Her voice pitched higher and higher.
“That he locked me outside on the balcony for hours to teach me a lesson after I forgot to pick up his dry cleaning?”
Her words punched a crack in my chest. “Lola…”
“Or did you need to know he slapped me across the face for embarrassing him at his birthday party? Or the fact that it wasn’t the first time? Or even the worst of what he did to me? Would telling you that have saved you from making such a terrible choice?”
The crack in my chest split wide open, breaths tearing in and out, but I couldn’t seem to keep any air in my lungs.
Lola was the kindest little creature in the world.
The idea that someone could hurt her like that destroyed me.
What could I do? Track the bastard down on the mainland and give him a taste of his own medicine? Fuck, I wanted to do that.
“Lola… Bloody hell… That’s not…” Shaking my head, I swallowed to force the lump from my throat and get out the words I needed to say. “I didn’t mean it like that. I wanted to spare you . I should have protected you. You’re a victim.”
“I’m not a victim!”
“No… You’re…a survivor .”
“I’m a person, Aiden! You hurt me! Or do you think the only way you can hurt someone is with your hands?
Your words were just as cruel. All your manufactured kindness to get a quick fuck and then desert me like I was disposable cut just as deep!
” She croaked a bitter laugh at the storm clouds.
“You know, if you only wanted a one-night thing, you should’ve just been honest. I was so lonely, I probably would have said yes anyway. That’s the pathetic part.”
“That night… It wasn’t just a quick fuck , Lola. You know that. That night was perfect.”
The fury in her eyes dimmed. “Then why did you leave without saying goodbye?”
“Because I’m not right. Inside me…” I pressed a fist over my heart. “I’m no good.”
She stepped closer, hugging the shirt around her body. “You can talk to me, Aiden.”
Her voice was barely a whisper, yet it slammed into me like a sledgehammer.
Could I talk to her? The words threatened to spill out.
I wanted to confess all my sins. Fall to my knees and beg for her forgiveness.
But some truths were too painful to share.
It wouldn’t make things better between us, only worse.
I shook my head.
Lola’s soft expression hardened, her eyes narrowing the longer I stayed silent. When I pushed back my shoulders and stood taller, she understood there would never be a conversation about all the things wrong with me. I wasn’t talking.
“Coward!” She wrestled the umbrella from my hand. “You’ll get no forgiveness from me! Find some other way to ease your guilty conscience, Aiden.”
She almost smacked me in the face with the umbrella when she spun on her heel.
And off she marched.
I should have collapsed on the road, a broken shell of a man, but the sight of my brave girl charging ahead with the black umbrella bobbing above her kept my spine straight. And when I saw her snuggle deeper into my oversized shirt, warm and sheltered against the wind, I smiled.