If only he could un-kiss me.
If only we could take back what we’d done, but the past was sealed and no amount of wishing would change that. I’d been playing out of my league the whole time…I should have known I’d lose. Guys like Jimmy Baker didn’t fall for girls like me.
I looked left, my heart tugging me back to my boys, the only family I still had, but I couldn’t. The idea of facing Jimmy was too much.
Images of his gorgeous face warping and turning to ash danced in the front of my mind, like some morbid horror movie I couldn’t get away from. I’d sat in a bar last night, in the sleepy little town of Payton, and I don’t know what possessed me, but the bartender and I burned photos of the people who’d broken us. Jimmy’s straight nose and bright blue eyes bubbled and twisted, his pouty lips that tasted so damn good started to split and melt away…just like I needed them to. I thought it would help me, but I’d been fighting tears ever since.
I stared down the long empty road. If I turned that way, I’d be heading back to the life I’d been wanting for years, except it had been tainted.
Gunning the engine, I released the clutch and turned right. Guilt singed me as I rode through the early mo
rning light, further away from my responsibilities. I’d signed a contract a few weeks ago, promising Torrence Records that I’d play the drums for Chaos, record an album, and then tour the country. But after what went down, I had to get away. I’d been on my Triumph Speedmaster for nearly two weeks, cruising the highways and backroads of the magnificent USA. It was an escape ploy, and I’d have to face up to my commitments eventually, but a few more days away wouldn’t hurt anybody.
Rosie always used to say that time healed most things, and I only needed a little more.
At least that’s what I told myself as I jerked off the main road and headed down a quiet, winding route that looked untouched. I was cruising the edge of hill, a wide open plain to my right and a steep, grassy embankment rising on my left. I glanced across the lane and smiled at the random, gray rocks jutting out from the hill. It was like God had been playing marbles with the angels and they’d forgotten to pack away their toys. The thought made me chuckle.
I opened up the throttle a little more, enjoying the roar of the Triumph Speedmaster’s engine. The second I laid eyes on the charcoal bike, I’d had to make it mine. I’d pictured myself cruising the roads, the scenery flashing past me as I lost myself in the rush. It was the first thing I purchased with my grandmother’s inheritance money. The lawyer lets me have it in small bursts, like a yearly allowance. My grandma knew me all too well. She’d set everything up just they way I needed it to be.
That deep sadness I pretended didn’t linger in the pit of my belly swirled up my throat, making it hard to swallow. I pressed my lips together and blinked, slapping down the visor on my helmet before accelerating up the hill.
I crested the rise at speed and my stomach lurched as I grappled the brakes. A pickup truck lay upside down, angling across both lanes and leaving me nowhere to go. I glimpsed the unconscious driver with his blood-smattered face, dangling upside down in his seat, but had no time to do anything about it. The slick road protested against the sudden jerk of my squealing tires, and I slammed into the driver’s door. The impact sent me flying, the weightless sensation coming to a bitter end as I circled over the truck and smashed into the implacable asphalt. I landed on my back, a loud pop echoing in my head as my helmet struck the ground. I whimpered and fought for air, my body protesting against the pain.
A flash of black caught my eye, and I flinched toward it. My bike careened up the steep embankment before hurtling toward me. I didn’t even have a chance to move. Its heavy weight clamped down on my arm and snatched my fingers into the burning hot engine.
I screamed. It was a feral, unchecked sound that tore out of my throat before the blinding agony cut off my senses, and I was left panting on the road.
There were no sounds around me. The motorcycle engine cut off after the crash and all that remained was an eerie hush. The skin on my elbows and left hip burned from the way I’d landed. My clothes must have been torn. I could feel a cool breeze stinging my grazes.
I lay like a helpless starfish on the road. My arm was trapped, and I was too afraid to move in case I’d broken something. I didn’t even want to lift the visor on my helmet.
A hawk swooped above me, gliding on the wind currents and then disappearing into the ever-brightening sky. All I could do was lay there, caught in an unfathomable nightmare…and like some sick joke, the only thing I could think about was damn Jimmy Baker and the way his photograph warped and faded as I tried to let him go.
TRUE LOVE WILL BE AVAILABLE THROUGH ALL MAJOR RETAILS ON NOV 18th, 2015.