Travelers Love (Forever Safe Summer II Book 3) (Timeless Devotion Book 4) by Samantha Rose
Cover by Samantha Rose
Editor, Missy Stewart
Copyright 2020 © Samantha Rose All rights reserved.
This book is protected under Copyright Laws. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please contact the author.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this story are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, business establishments, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This book is dedicated to my cat Jasmine, who has sever allergies, and has been stuck wearing the cone of shame while dealing with constant trips to the Vet... And to my rainbow bridge cat Jasper, whom passed 6 years ago from feline leukemia, that I miss daily. I love you both.
You both deserve to have a forever story.
One
Jasmine
I couldn’t believe it, I’d been fired in front of everyone, and for what? Speaking my mind against that asshole of a manager Randy.
I walked out of the office building on fifth street, a loaded box in my arms that held all my possessions and headed for my little hatchback car that had seen better days in the parking lot. So much for eight years in a shitty job helping people with their insurance. Not that it was a very good job, but it had paid the bills.
Annoyance ate away at me. I didn’t have the slightest clue on what I’d do now. My mother was sure to shake her head at me when she saw that I’d once again started using the family account to pay my bills… I sighed just thinking about the satisfaction my father would likely have at the thought of me using his money.
It was hard being the only child in an overly wealthy family. My father was one of the richest businessmen in the world. He worked in the underground world, dealing with shit that could get him jailed for life. Growing up I’d known exactly what he was a part of, and it had been apparent that if I wasn’t careful there were things that could link me to such illegal dealings, and I’d be the one going to jail. But I guess that’s the price you pay for being the daughter of a weapons supplier. That was also the reason I’d left at sixteen and distanced myself.
I didn’t want to live that lifestyle and I didn’t want a single tie to it. But sometimes I didn’t have a choice. Like today. Fuck.
Unlocking my car, I threw my box into the backseat before jumping into the driver’s seat. I gripped the steering wheel tightly, leaning my forehead against it as the weight of the morning bore down on me.
“What am I going to do now…” I was tired. I’d spent the last fifteen years taking care of myself, and at the age of thirty-one, it wasn’t getting any easier. Honestly, it was getting harder.
This job had been one of many I’d had but it’d been the best one so far, and then I’d gone and opened my big mouth.
Sure, I’d been heated when my boss had brought up the idea of cutting hours, all he ever did was complain about his position and how he wanted more but that asshole didn’t know what it was like to have so much that nothing felt real.
When I told him that, he called me a fool and when I called him an idiot it had gone downhill from there.
Oh well, I guess…
I would just do what I always did. Draw enough cash out for the next few months, even if I’d hate it, and find a new job.
This was going to be great… just great. I couldn’t believe that I was actually thinking about going to the bank. Ugh. What choice did I have?
Twisting the key to my car, I listened to the damn thing burp and rattle before it turned on. I’d been saving up to get a new car, this old rust bucket Ford was having so many engine problems that it would be cheaper on my end to simply trash it and buy new one.
My fingers tapped my steering wheel as the music blasted through the speakers. I muttered the words, enjoying the beat as I pulled into the bank’s parking lot.
Dread began to pool in my stomach, but I did my best to ignore it. This was nothing, I’d done this five times before… this would be no different than any other time before today.
It was just that withdrawing money from the family funds was like stepping back toward them again after I’d done so damn well to take care of myself for eight years. I knew they watched me, they had eyes and ears everywhere and they likely knew by now that I’d lost my job.
My hand hovered over the door handle; I could do this… I’d get back on my feet again, this time for good.
Getting out of my car, I leaned against the door and drew in a deep breath as I tried to calm my breathing before heading to the ATM. I felt the weight of the silver credit card as I pulled it out of my wallet. My hand shook as I plopped it into the machine and began to press the buttons.
I can do this.
The few minutes I was standing in front of the machine felt like a lifetime. When the hum of the gears stopped, I gathered the cash. It was only two thousand, I’d have to stop at the ATM at least one more time before—
My pocket in my skirt vibrated and I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead. When the vibrations didn’t stop, I knew right away who it was and that I had two choices: answer or deal with them at my front door.
Flicking my finger over the bottom, I held it to my ear. “Hello, Mother.”
“Hello dear,” her cheerful voice rang out at the other end. “Why is it that I have to find out from someone else that you lost your job? Why don’t you ever call me and tell me these things?”
My teeth clenched. These phone calls were always the same and she knew why. They chose to do some shady crap and every time I voiced my opinion, they belittled me, telling me how it was a ‘man eat man world’ and that ‘only the people on top will survive.’
That wasn’t how I saw the world. I understood that they liked the flow of incoming cash but most of those weapons went to people that shouldn’t set foot near one.
“You know as much as I do that you have people watching me. You likely knew that I was getting fired before I knew myself.” I couldn’t contain the venom that laced my words. I loved and hated my family. I wished on every shooting star that they would change, but I knew that would never happen.
“Yes. Well… I just wanted to call and let you know that you can take as much as you need and when you grow tired of being on your own, you can always come home—where you belong. Your father is ready to teach you how to handle the family business.”
“Yeah… about that, I think I’m going to pass on that… again. You know I can’t, Mom. I love you both, but I hate what you do.” It was hard to say out loud, but it had to be said as a reminder.
“Mhmm, well I will have our driver prepare the car. I’ll have him stop by tomorrow to pick you up.”
It was like she didn’t even hear me. I was floored. Usually when we got this far into the subject, which had only happened once before eight years ago, she just said maybe next time and would hang up. Now… I didn’t know what to make of this.
“Mom, no thank you. I’m fine here, in Texas, working a normal job that doesn’t include supplying criminals’ weapons!” I seethed.
“Your father has insisted you move back to Mexico, and it is time for you to grow up, Jasmine. I’m not sure how much longer we will be willing to wait.” I heard the click of the line before the dial t
one came over the line.
“Goddammit!” I wanted to throw the phone to the ground but then I’d end up having to buy a new one of those too.
If only I could change my number… I’d tried that twice and they’d just found it within days.
I sighed. I needed out of this somehow.
Maybe a nice long vacation out of state.
It was like a lightbulb went off; I knew what I was going to do. I was going to pack up my shit, box up the rest, put what I could in storage, and go on the longest damn road trip ever known.
For the first time in weeks I smiled as I ran back to my car. Road trip, here I come!
I drove to the apartment building that I lived in on the west side of Killeen. With the morning traffic it wasn’t too bad. Once I pulled in past the gate and into my parking spot, I jumped out and ran up the stairs to the second floor only to collide with a wall of muscle. Dammit!
Wobbling on my feet, I felt my world tilt and myself start to fall over.
A set of strong hands encased my forearms halting me from my freefall to the concrete below.
“Whew, you sure did come out of nowhere there, neighbor.”
That voice, those hands… Shit, shit, mother of shit. Jasper Blunk. He was older than me by a handful of years, with a lovely shade of deep brown puppy dog eyes. He had a scruffy appearance to him that made him look like a cross between a well-tailored businessman and a junk yard worker.
Jasper always kept his beard short; I don’t think I’d ever seen a day where he’d let it get out of control. It was just enough to feel the scratchiness of it but never enough to run your fingers through, and I so badly wanted to do just that. It was hard not to admire a man like Jasper. Laugh lines marred his face and his short well-kept hair had flecks of gray… he was dreamy.
I should have realized that it was him, he was my only neighbor that shared the floor with me. We lived in an apartment complex with an outside staircase and each top floor only housed two apartments. Which meant, Jasper and I had gotten lucky and become neighbors. Or, I had gotten lucky. He was my handyman hat I called on every time I needed one, and I got the chance to admire his trim build every single time. At one point, my crush on him had gotten so bad that I’d commenced knocking on his door to ask him to change my burnt-out lights that I could have easily reached myself.
Jasper didn’t seem to mind but I’d told myself to stop with the nonsense, so I did. I didn’t want to abuse him too badly.
“Sorry, Jasper. I didn’t mean to run into you like that,” I managed to croak out. Heat rose up my neck and spread over my cheeks. I couldn’t believe that I’d just run into him like that. I found it hard to speak around him. It was like I was sucking on a big cotton ball and my mouth wouldn’t work.
“So, what are you up to, Jasmine? I think this is the first time I’ve seen you run that fast back home.”
“Oh, well… Umm, I… I was just coming back to grab my stuff.”
His hands gave me a slight squeeze and that was when I realized that one, I was still being held by him and two, I was still being held by Jasper!
Swallowing hard as I gazed up into his eyes, I tried to take a step back, but it was like his hands followed me.
“Are you okay, Jasmine? You don’t look well,” he said with concern in his deep voice.
“Yes, I’m okay,” I heard myself say. It was a lie though. And for the first time in all my life, I wished that I could just tell someone the truth, that no, I wasn’t okay. But I couldn’t. I didn’t tell anyone about my life because I knew no one would believe me. I’d learned that from my early childhood when I was in private school. I’d told my closest friend at the time when I was in fifth grade and she’d called me a liar. No one’s dad was that evil, but I was convinced that he was. And still to this day I did. Yes, I loved my parents, but I always thought that if the boogeyman was real, it was because of them.
“I’m fine, I’m just taking some time off work and going on vacation for a bit… like a week or two.”
His face twisted with worry before he let his hands drop away, and I felt alone once again.
“Okay, Jasmine. I’m headed into the office, I told you that I own a towing company, right?” His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a small business card. “Here, why don’t you take this. If you need anything it has all the places you can reach me.”
I took the card from him and looked down at the flimsy paper with the address and his numbers. I have his number. I couldn’t believe it.
“Thank you, Jasper.”
I held onto that card like a lifeline. This man… if only he knew how much a simple act like this meant to me.
Two
Jasper
The whole drive to work had felt off. Now that I was sitting in my truck, I couldn’t get the look of Jasmine’s fearful green eyes out of my head, how I wanted to touch her creamy skin again—or how tight her shirt had been over her breasts and the smell of her floral perfume. She was one sexy woman.
Something was going on that she wasn’t willing to tell me and that was okay, we all had our secrets.
When Jasmine had first moved into the apartment next to mine, I’d thought nothing about it at first. Then one day we just hit it off. I’d seen her having trouble fixing a leak in her front door and I’d helped, then I’d helped with everything else. I knew some of the shit she could do on her own but having her ask me sort of brought a little joy to my life knowing that she was thinking of me too.
I sighed as I thought of her leaving. She wasn’t just leaving her place behind, but she was leaving me too. I didn’t know if I liked that thought. Which was why I’d taken one of my trucks first thing and just started driving around town picking up calls that came in. I had to get out, if I sat around then I would just keep thinking about Jasmine.
The woman had this spark to her that I liked a lot. She held my interest and often times I ended up finding myself thinking about her more than I liked. Like now, I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about what she was up to.
I would just have to ask her when she got back. If she came back. I really hoped she would. I had been planning on asking her out for a while now. But I’d chickened the fuck out every time I saw her. At thirty-eight, I had thought that feeling nervous around a girl would go away but it didn’t, and I found myself feeling this way every time I ran into Jasmine Meadows.
Ruffling my hair, I sipped at my coffee as I sat in a parking lot outside my usual coffeeshop. It was a slow day so far, but a long day like any other if I was going to be stuck on her.
My fingers drummed along my steering wheel when a catchy song came on that spoke of love and sorrow.
“Man, I need to think of something else,” I said to myself in frustration. I was beginning to get upset that I couldn’t get her off my mind. I hardly even knew the woman. Jasmine had moved in next door eight years ago and we exchanged brief greetings and I helped her when she asked but other than that, I didn’t know a damn thing about her.
You know how she looks, a little voice in the back of my head said, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
But I want to know more! I did want to know a lot more. If she would give me the time of day, I would ask her out and find out everything that I could, but every time I got the chance to see her, she was always leaving or coming home from work and I never wanted to bother her.
Tossing my now empty cup into the small trash bag that I kept in my truck, I drove back to my shop. The other guys were likely having the same luck I was, there was just nothing exciting happening today and I still had a crap ton of paperwork in my office that needed to be taken care of.
Driving back to my shop took longer than expected. Even though the coffee shop I went to was only a ten-minute drive away, it was close to the lunch rush and half of Killeen seemed to be out on the road at the same time. It had taken me nearly an hour just to get out of the crazy traffic jam that had taken place. I huffed as I slammed my door shut and walked into my office
.
Being stuck in that mess had only put me in a sour mood. The traffic was just an everyday thing in Killeen, Texas, but hell if I didn’t hate it. It always brought out the worst in people, but this was why I had chosen this area to start up my business fifteen years ago. It was the crazy drivers that brought in the cash flow, and I couldn’t complain about that when they were the reason, I was able to pay my bills and have a decent retirement saved up.
“Hey Jonny, anything new happen while I was gone?” I asked one of my guys that handled the phone lines at the front desk as I walked by him to my office.
He glanced up briefly before his attention went back to the laptop in front of him. “Nah boss, nothing new unless you count what Travis did to the bathroom twenty minutes ago. I’d recommend not going in there for at least another hour.”
I scrunched my nose at the thought of what my mechanic did. The guy was your everyday nice American with a love for tattoos. He looked like a biker that could have been from the eighties that you didn’t want to fuck with. Travis always wore shirts that would show off the tattoos that covered both his arms. I sometimes wondered how he could endure getting a full sleeve, when the largest of his tattoos was placed over the crease in his arm where the inside of his elbow sat.
Fucking painful if you asked me. I had a few here and there but I had nothing on my buddy Travis.
“I sure hope that fucker used some air freshener. I don’t need his ass stinking up the whole building.” I heard a faint snicker from Jonny as I shut the door behind me. Sitting down, I got to work logging in to my laptop and printing out a few forms that I needed.
People thought that owning a tow company would be easy and I could just fuck off whenever I pleased. But it wasn’t a damn cake walk. Every time I picked up a vehicle, I had to do at least five pages of paperwork, and if it was a call in from the police or an owner looking for a quick tow to another shop, that just added onto the paperwork already involved.
Thankfully there were six of us here and at least three of us handled the load while two were out with the trucks and one was in the outer part of the shop working on cars.
Travelers Love Page 1
