But then I got cocky. Anger and arrogance were bad combinations when you’re clinging to a chunk of metal going more than one hundred miles an hour surrounded by other people doing the same. It was especially bad when you added in hunger for power and success.
I wasn’t the one who caused the wreck, but my own arrogance didn’t help it. Another rider clipped me, and I spiraled out of control. I skidded across the track my bike landed on me, dragging me. By all accounts, I shouldn’t have made it off the track alive. When I did, it was the Freeman family who was there for me.
I woke up, and Darren was there by my bedside. Quentin barely left my side until the day I was discharged, and my mother came to take care of me while I recovered. I felt horrible for not being able to race and apologized over and over. I promised to find someone else to ride in my place so they wouldn’t be in as much of a lurch.
There wasn’t a single moment when they made me feel guilty. Not a single moment they were anything but supportive. They refused my offer and told me to think of nothing but getting better. They sent food, called constantly, and came to pick me up to bring me to the compound for visits when my mother was busy. They even came up with ways I could work and attend the races even if I couldn’t ride.
They always said they considered me like family, but that was when I really felt it.
All I could think about was getting better and getting back out there on the track. Last week, it finally happened, and I’d spent every single second I could riding ever since then. That was what I was doing that afternoon. Most of the others weren’t there, so I had the track to myself. When I heard tires approaching, I thought maybe Darren had come back for a bit of a friendly race.
I had just pulled into my slot at the garage, but would have been happy to head back out even after hours of riding already. When I turned around to greet him, I saw it wasn’t him. The truck I did see pulling up down the access road shocked me.
I knew that truck, but I hadn’t seen it in years. The same could be said for the girl in the front seat. Seeing her was both shocking and confusing. It had been so long, and I couldn’t imagine what would have brought her here. Five years had passed since I had left my hometown and came here to Charlotte. And in those five years, I hadn’t even spoken to Maya, much less seen her.
But there she was. I waited for her to hop out, but she didn’t. The door opened slowly, and she climbed out almost like she was sliding from the seat. Like her body didn’t have enough strength to hold her up. As soon as I saw her, I noticed how much she had changed. The five years had altered her, but there was one thing that stayed the same.
She was still impossibly gorgeous. At that moment, she looked like she had seen better days, but she was still incredible. Her hair was a bit longer. Her face was a bit thinner. Her eyes were red from crying, but she was still beautiful.
I rushed toward her.
“Maya! What the hell?” I pulled her into my arms for a hug. She clung to me, shaking.
There was definitely something seriously wrong. I couldn’t remember a time I had ever seen her this upset. I held her there until she stepped back away from me. She looked into my eyes.
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
She managed to get the words out before the tears welling up in her eyes tumbled out and fell down her cheeks. Her shoulders shook, and it looked like her legs were going to collapse from beneath her. I looked down and saw her hand wrapped so tightly around her car keys that they were cutting into her skin.
Grabbing her up into my arms again, I held her tight against me and reached down to pry the keys out of her hand. She resisted, but finally I managed to wrench them free. Her arms clenched around me, and she held on like she was trying to find enough strength to keep on her feet.
I stood there with her for a few more moments, then started toward the building. She was still hanging on to me, so I had to grip her and maneuver her along with me as I headed for the breakroom. When I got inside, I brought her over to the couch and sat her down.
Along with a cup of coffee, I got a chunk of the coffee cake Minnie Freeman had baked that morning and brought them over to her. Maya took the cup and plate. She took a sip of the coffee and let out a trembling breath. I sat down close beside her and reached around to rub her back.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I’m sorry to have come out here like this,” she said.
“Don’t apologize,” I said. “You have nothing to be sorry for. Now, tell me what’s going on.”
“My life is falling apart,” she said. She leaned forward and set the coffee and plate down on the table in front of her, then covered her face with her hands.
“Tell me everything,” I said.
She drew in a breath and looked at me.
“I was with Marshall for three years. Everything seemed like it was going really well. Or, at least there wasn’t anything wrong. You know what I mean? Like, we didn’t fight all the time or have anything that was specifically going bad about our relationship. Everything was just…”
“Normal?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Everything was normal. We had a good rhythm. We worked in the same place. His father’s business, as a matter of fact. Then, we decided to move in together.”
“Alright,” I said, not sure where she was going with all this.
“He just unceremoniously dumped me, kicked me out of the apartment, and cost me my job, less than a month after I agreed to get rid of my own place and move in with him,” Maya said.
Another wave of tears hit her so hard that her face dropped back down into her hands. She shook her head back and forth like she couldn’t even believe she was telling me all this. Or maybe she couldn’t believe that it was happening at all.
“Did he give you any explanation at all?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I was at home, baking him a freaking pie. A pie. Can you even believe that? I even made the damn crust myself. I was going through all that to show him that I thought we were in a good place and our relationship was going well. He came home and said it was over. Just like that. It’s over. Then he said he would leave so I could get my stuff. The next day, I went up to where we worked to talk to him and ended up finding out I didn’t have a job anymore either. I don’t have anything anymore.”
My hands clenched tight at my sides, and the urge to go after the guy made the center of my chest ache. I knew nothing would come of me going back to my hometown. So, I just held Maya tight.
“Yes, you do,” I said. “You have me. I’ve got you. You’re fine now.”
3
Maya
It wasn’t a shining moment in my life. I wanted it to think of it as showing humility and being willing to be vulnerable in this difficult moment. Instead, I just felt pathetic as hell. My entire life was falling down around me, the life I had once been so proud of and confident in. In fact, in all honesty, I had been nothing short of smug about it.
After all, I thought I had made it. Despite everything people told me when I was growing up, I got through high school. I even went to college. While I was there, I started dating Marshall, and it was like the whole world opened up to me. I already knew him. At least, I knew of him. He had gone to school with me when I was younger, but we hadn’t run in the same circles.
The truth was, the one thing I knew about him was that he associated with people not known for being the most pleasant. Greg knew him better than I did. I remembered some of the things he said about him when we were younger and was hesitant when I ran into Marshall again.
But he didn’t seem like what Greg said about him. He was sweet and attentive then. People changed, I told myself. People grew up and didn’t act like they did when they were teenagers. I’d decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and form my own thoughts about him.
After all, Greg wasn’t around anymore. He had already left for Charlotte, and I hadn’t heard from him in nearly two years by the time Marshall and I got to
gether.
I might not have had too much domesticity in me, but that didn’t mean I didn’t eventually want to settle down. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life alone. And I definitely didn’t want to do exactly what all the old ladies whispered about in the salon while they got their hair done. That was the birthplace of the grapevine and where reputations could be made and destroyed.
For me, the women already had my potential for a future dead in the water. According to them, the family I came from meant I would never amount to anything. I was doomed to nothingness before I was even born. They never even gave me a chance.
But I showed them. At least, that’s what I thought. Getting an education and finding Marshall was far more than any of them ever expected for me. I wasn’t going to jump right on the bandwagon and get married instantly, but I could build a life. I had a home and opportunities.
Then it all crumbled at my feet. I didn’t even get a chance to prepare, to piece something together that would catch me. I just fell flat on my face. And this was where I ended up. Back where I always used to all those years ago. Right into Greg’s arms.
He’d been my best friend for years. We’d seen each other through everything, and he was the one person I felt like never judged me. He always thought there was something more in me. But he ended up being the one who got out of our little hometown and started to make something out of himself and we’d lost touch. We hadn’t seen each other in five years. There was a time when I thought I would never see him again.
After everything that happened, he was the only thing I could think of to go to. With nothing else left, I went to him. As pathetic and embarrassed as I was to be there spilling everything out to him, I was also relieved. I drove away from the cabinet warehouse, got on the highway, and didn’t look back. I knew right then I couldn’t stay in that town.
I didn’t have a plan when I started driving. All I knew was there was nothing left for me back home, and I had to think of something else. It wasn’t until a couple of hours later that I thought of Greg. Before he left, he told me he would always be there for me. I thought I could count on him, and now I was glad to know I wasn’t wrong. He didn’t even hesitate to tell me I could stay with him. There wasn’t a second of doubt.
Once that was settled, Greg picked up my coffee and the chunk of coffee cake he brought me and handed them back to me.
“Eat,” he said. “If I know you, you haven’t even thought about eating or sleeping since all this happened. You need to take care of yourself.”
I didn’t argue with him. I took another sip of coffee and a bite of the cake. It was delicious, heavy on the cinnamon, just like I liked. When I finished eating, we went back out to the garage.
“This is my bike,” he said, gesturing toward the impressive machine he was parking when I drove up to the building.
“And you really race this thing?” I asked.
“Well, I haven’t been recently. I was in a pretty bad accident a few months back, and I’m just now getting back on my feet. And on my bike. But I’ll be back in action this season.”
“Maybe I’ll get to come see you ride,” I said.
He smiled at me. “I hope so.”
A few minutes later, two other men came walking up to the garage. Greg waved at them.
“Hey,” he said. “I thought you weren’t coming in today.”
“Changed our minds,” the older man said.
Greg laughed. “Just can’t keep you away from here.”
“He’s not doing great at retiring,” the younger man said. “I think he’s actually here more now than he was when he actually worked here.”
“Well, everything else is here. My wife’s here. Three of my four sons. An honorary son. Two of my daughters-in-law. A couple of my grandchildren most of the time. Why would I wander around in an empty house when I could be here?”
I didn’t even know who these people were, but I couldn’t help but smile. Greg noticed and came over to put his arm around my shoulders.
“This is Maya. She’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Maya, this is my teammate Darren Freeman, and his dad, Gus. As you just heard, Gus is technically retired, but he still spends a lot of time here.”
“I’m not all the way retired,” Gus said. “I still do the custom bikes.”
“When Kelly isn’t doing them,” Darren said.
They all went right back into their conversation, seamlessly including me. I felt completely welcomed. None of them questioned why I was there. They were perfectly comfortable with me being on the racing compound and a part of whatever they were doing.
For the rest of the day, I hung out with them there at the garage. I watched as they worked on Greg’s bike, making modifications and improvements, and talking to him about his practice runs that day. When the day was finally over and it was time to head out, I felt immeasurably better. I followed him home, hopeful that I’d made the right decision. This could be my fresh start.
Or at least, give me somewhere to hide out until I found that fresh start.
I followed Greg to a nice apartment complex. As soon as he put a code into a keypad at the gate, the doors split open. We drove through, and I noticed a large clubhouse with a sparkling pool behind it. A few moments later, we drove past a beautiful park. It was still light enough for children to be out playing on the massive playground, and couples wandered the walkways and sat underneath the trees.
Greg finally parked in front of a building toward the back of the complex and came around to the back of the truck. He reached inside and grabbed a box and a couple of bags out of the bed. He was all in, already helping me move in. He wasn’t just expecting me to be there for the night and then find somewhere else the next day. It made my heart feel warm, but also brought back a little bit of that helpless feeling as well.
I grabbed a few things myself, but it would take at least one more trip to get everything inside. He led me in, and I looked around. It was a nicely sized apartment, neat, but somewhat sparse. Pretty much what I would expect a single guy like Greg to have.
“This is the living room,” he said. “The kitchen is out there. Dining room over there. There’s a little laundry room in the hall next to the bathroom. My bedroom is at the end of the hall. I have a second bedroom, but it doesn’t have a bed in it. It has a couch, though.”
“That’s perfectly fine with me,” I said. “I have no issues sleeping on the couch.”
“No, no. We can get you a bed,” he said.
“I’m already crashing your apartment with no notice,” I said. “You don’t need to worry about transforming a room for me. The couch is not a problem.”
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “You barely ate anything at lunch.”
Gus had ordered in from a little diner down the street. The boxed lunches looked delicious, and the few bites I took were wonderful, but I hadn’t been able to build up much of an appetite. Everything that happened was still turning around in my stomach, making me feel uneasy. But now that I was here with Greg and felt a little more settled, some of my appetite was back.
We went into the kitchen, and he threw together a quick dinner of pasta and a side salad. We sat down and ate in comfortable near silence, something Greg has always provided me with instead of pushing an interrogation. Other people might have sat down and immediately started peppering me with questions, but not him. He was the type to give me the time I needed. If I wanted to tell him more, he would listen. If not, that was fine, too.
This was the way things had always been between us. He accepted me without hesitation.
It wasn’t too long after dinner when I started feeling completely worn-out. It was like the adrenaline from the last two days had drained out of me, and I was left exhausted. After a quick shower, I went into the spare room. He had set up the couch with fresh sheets and pillows. A blanket was folded at the end. I changed into my pajamas and tucked myself in, falling asleep within seconds.
The next morning, I
got up before Greg and went to make breakfast. It was the least I could do. He came in with a smile and grabbed a cup as it finished brewing.
“I’m going to call my landlord today and ask him about adding you to the lease. I want you to feel like you are really home here,” he said.
It was enough to get the tears started again. I had so much on my mind and was so emotionally raw. I didn’t want to feel it right then. I didn’t want to focus on anything. So, I decided to turn my attention completely on Greg. Brushing the tears away, I really looked at him.
The last five years had changed him. I knew they had changed me, but somehow, I hadn’t expected the difference in him. It was like he was frozen in my mind; kept exactly the way he was the night I said goodbye to him.
When he left our hometown, his tall body was gangly and young. Now he had filled out and looked grown and muscular. I had always loved his hair long. It just looked like him, but his new short hairstyle was good on him, too. Even though I was sad about my life in general, I wasn’t blind.
I would have to have totally lost my mind to not notice how hot Greg had gotten.
4
Greg
When I went to bed that night, I couldn’t fall asleep. I woke up that morning right there in that same bed and had no idea that day would be any different than any other. Just like every other morning, I got up, took a shower, and headed to the compound, thinking about nothing but my bike and getting out on the track.
But now I was back in that bed, and everything was different. My apartment wasn’t empty. It wasn’t just me anymore. All of a sudden, Maya was back in my life. Not only back in my life, but actually in my apartment. In the spare room that was supposed to be a second bedroom, but that I had never had reason to use that way. Even when my mother came to take care of me, she slept in my bedroom while I stayed in a hospital bed rented by the Freemans for me.
The Freeman Brothers: A Secret Baby Romance Collection Page 86
