Force of Impact (The James Brothers Series Book 3)

by Stephanie Nichole

  “I don’t give a shit about being judged, Hollis!” I shout as I turn around and throw my arms as if to prove I don’t care. “All I see right now is red and it won’t stop until I beat in his face.” Somewhere in my mind I know I’m trying to scare her off but she’s not backing down.

  “You say that but that’s not the real reason why and you know it,” she tells me, crossing her arms over her chest. We stand facing off against one another but neither of us will win because we’re both going to fail. There’s something about her that calls out to me and I have to know that part.

  I take a step toward her and hold my hand out. “Come with me,” she stares at my hand for a minute then back up to my eyes, “I won’t fight and I’ll tell you anything you want to know if you’ll come with me. Please, Hollis.” She sighs in defeat and places her hand in mine.

  Chapter 12

  Bowie

  The next morning when I wake up I know I’ve overslept. The way the sun is filling the room tells me that much. I had a restless night as memories of Hollis filled my mind. It wasn’t until the early morning hours that my eyelids felt heavy and I finally gave in to the sleep that I so desperately wanted. I scrub my hands over my face and then it dawns on me, Hollis has no car to get to work. I get ready for my day quickly before jogging out to my car.

  I pull into the parking lot of Hollis’ apartment complex in record time. Taking the stairs two at a time I’m relieved when I hear movement beyond the door. Hollis opens the door with a fresh face and messy bun, her eyes widen when she sees me, “Sorry, to just show up but I realized you had no way to get to work so I thought I’d fix that.”

  “Oh, I called Kynlee, and she was going to come and drop me off,” she says, stepping away from the door and motioning me inside.

  “Well, call her and cancel. You can drop me off at work and just take my car. After work, if you can swing me by the shop I’ll get one of the trucks and use it until we get your truck up and going again,” I explain to her.

  A look of disbelief covers Hollis’ face before she starts to shake her head, “Bowie, I can’t just take your car.”

  “Yes, you can. I’ll use one of the shop trucks. I’d go grab one now but I doubt we’d have time once you’re ready to get there before I have to be at the radio station. I’ll take a look at your truck later tonight after work and see if we can at least figure out why it kicked the dust.” She stands there staring at me and I give her my signature look before pushing her toward the bedroom, “As much as I love watching you gawk at me I have to get to work so go get ready.” I’m standing around when Elliot appears out of nowhere, licking my hand.

  I get down and pet him, “Hey boy.” I look around for the stray cat from last night but I don’t see it. “Hey, did Elliot scare off the cat?”

  Hollis laughs, “No, Elliot is pretty used to cats. I had one before when he was just a puppy. Whiskers is in here asleep.”

  “Whiskers?” I ask with a chuckle.

  “Yes! It’s the perfect name for a cat!” she defends and I have to laugh because even though she may be right I just like to watch her get all worked up over nothing.

  About fifteen minutes later Hollis reappears looking even better than before if that’s possible. Her jeans are hugging her in all the right place and the black lace-up tank top accentuates all her curves. Her hair is down and falling in wild waves and she just put a little mascara on but it works for her. She slips on a leather jacket and turns toward me, “Okay, I’m ready.”

  I clear my throat and my train of thought from where it was headed. “Great,” I tell her tossing the keys to my car. I lead her out to the car with my hand on the small of her back. I open the driver’s side door once she’s inside. We’re on our way to the radio station when she looks over at me causing me to ask her, “What?”

  She giggles, “Nothing, I was just thinking about you being a radio host.

  “What about it?” I ask but I think I already know what she’s thinking.

  “Nothing really, I was just thinking that I called this profession years ago, if I do remember correctly.”

  I nod my head as the memory comes back to me. When I glance over at Hollis, I see her lost in the same memory. She had called this profession for me the night her family had been killed. We’d had a great night up until pulling back up and seeing those flashing lights. It killed me to know that one of those body bags was Alex and it killed me to watch Hollis go through so much pain without being able to help. I had wanted to protect, to take care of her but I couldn’t do anything. I reach over and wrap my hand around hers and it seems to pull her from the memory, “You okay?”

  She takes a deep breath and nods. “Next turn?” she asks and I nod because there’s no time to get into the heavy with Hollis right now. The radio station is just up ahead. As we pull up, I see Vixx getting out of her shiny sports car. Hollis makes a noise in the back of her throat which cause me to chuckle.

  Hollis glares at me, “It’s just allergies.”

  “Sure, it is sweetheart. I’ll text you when I’m ready,” I tell her as I get out of the car. As I approach the front door I see Vixx standing there glaring in the direction of my car, “Good morning Vixx.”

  She tilts her head and smiles up at me sweetly but it’s all too fake for her, “Good morning Bowie, how was your night? You look… tired.”

  “I am tired, restless night, lots of tossing and turning,” I comment as I hold the door open for her.

  She saunters through then turns back to look at me as she runs a hand up my chest, “You should have come over. At least then you would have gotten some sleep, I would have made sure of it.”

  I wrap my hand around her wrist and peel it from my chest. “I’m sure you would have but I think we should cool off for a bit. We have to work together and our chemistry on air is part of the reason why we do so well here we don’t want to get things too confused.”

  The look in her eye makes it look like I slapped her in the face but I was just trying to be honest and do it as nicely as I could. “Yeah, sure.”

  “You want some coffee?” I offer, as I head into the break room.

  ****

  I was getting ready to text Hollis and let her know I was ready when Vixx came up and tried to talk me into letting her give me a ride but not wanting to confuse any more lines between us I was insisting that I already had a ride. Luckily for me, Axell’s name came flashing across my phone’s screen at that time and he’s quick enough to pick up on what I needed.

  Axell wheeled into the parking lot and peeled right back out as soon as I shut my door, “Whoa! What lit a fire under your ass man?”

  “What can’t handle a little speed?” Axell asks with humor in his eyes.

  “I think we both know that I can but I didn’t think you were a speed demon anymore.”

  Axell shrugs, “I’m not a speed demon when Sadie is around but it doesn’t mean I abide by the law when I’m by myself,” Axell explains.

  It makes sense actually. Axell was the wildest out of us growing up. He got into a pretty rough crowd and had more tickets than any of us combined. He was constantly getting into fights, being suspended for his antics and whatnot until he met Sadie. Sadie had been the definition of a good girl and was more than a little scared of Axell upon first meeting him with his reputation. Eventually, he calmed down and made promises to Sadie that he refused to break and changed his ways. But apparently, our James roots are strong if he still pushes the throttle when he’s alone.

  Axell takes the longest way possible back to the shop and during that time I text Hollis to let her know that I don’t need to be picked up from the radio station. Once we get back to the shop I change into something that’s already permanently stained with grease and get to work on Hollis’ truck. I’m in the middle of trying to determine what happened to the truck when I notice one of the spark plug wires is cut.

  I think my eyes must be playing tricks on me because if
the wire is cut then that means someone deliberately did this. Someone wanted Hollis to be stuck without a vehicle that all seems too crazy so I go in search of Axell. Luckily, I find Jagger with Axell and we all go back to examine the wire. Unfortunately, they both come up with the same conclusion I did. The wire has been cut. A cold feeling of dread fills my bones.

  “Do you think maybe Hollis did it? I mean maybe she wanted to see you but wasn’t sure how to tell you so she cut a wire in order to get you there?” Jagger asks.

  I shake my head, “No, she was too freaked out when I got there. She was literally crying. No one can act that well. No, whoever cut this wire wasn’t Hollis, but they wanted her to be stuck with no way to leave.”

  “This could be bad,” Axell comments, Jagger and I both just nod in unison.

  ****

  Hollis

  After I finished up at Inkredible for the day, I stopped by the store to buy something to make for dinner. My thought was to attempt to cook for Bowie and I. Things seemed to be going pretty well between the two of us. I know it’s still awkward given our history but being around him lessens the pain and the memories. I didn’t expect that when I came back here. I didn’t expect Bowie to still feel like a safe haven for me but he does. I walk up and down the aisles of the store trying to decide what to fix. Finally, I give up and start throwing stuff in the basket.

  I stop by Bowie’s family shop on the way home. To no surprise, Bowie is still at the shop despite the late hour. From the looks of the parking lot, he’s the only one left here. I park his car and make my way into the shop. 80s rock music fills the quiet shop. I hear Bowie singing from somewhere but it’s muffled. Bowie’s brown haired head pops up from under the hood of my truck. A smile graces his face and it warmed my entire body. I cross the rest of the shop until I’m standing in front of him, “Hey.”

  He smirks at me, “Hi. How’s your day been?”

  “Good, busy. I just got off and thought I’d drop by and see how the truck was.”

  “Just about as good as new,” I scoff which causes him the chuckle. “Okay, well maybe not good as new but close to what it was before.” He closes the hood and walks around the truck to turn off the stereo system. He stops and looks down at the back of my truck. He’s thinking but I’m not sure what about but I see that little v between his eyebrows forming, “So Missouri?”

  It takes me a minute before it dawns on me that he’s talking about the license plate on my truck. I nod, “Yeah, Missouri.”

  “How d'you end up there?” he asks with a curious glint in his eye.

  I shrug, “Long story. After I left here, I kind of ended up all over the place.” He leans back against my truck as if he’s making himself comfortable for my long story. “When I left here, I knew it would be difficult but I don’t think no matter how difficult I thought it would be could have prepared me for just how hard it actually was.” I take a deep breath and a step closer to him. “Look I didn’t just come here to check on my truck. I also came to ask you if you wanted to come over for dinner.” I run through the items I bought in my head to figure out what I’m going to fix. “I was thinking spaghetti if you don’t already have plans.”

  Bowie cocks his head to the side and studies me for a moment, “I don’t have any plans but does this dinner come with the long story?”

  I don’t want to tell him my long stories. I don’t want him to know the Hollis this world had created. I don’t want him to see me differently than he does now but knowing what I’ve been through and things I’ve done to survive will make him see me differently. There’s no way for him not to see me differently. If I tell him all my long stories, everything will change. I love that when Bowie looks at me he doesn’t see all the damage and scars just the few he already knows about. Telling Bowie about my past is only fair but selfishly I don’t want things to change. However, I know Bowie and I know that he isn’t going to stop until he gets my story.

  Bowie wants to know me, all of me and despite the fact that I want to run to avoid telling him I’m going to have to tell him. I sigh in defeat before raising my eyes to meet his, “It can but it’s not a pretty story.”

  “The best ones never are,” Bowie replies.

  ****

  Dinner is cooked and we’re sitting at the table eating when Bowie look over at me, “So, what about this long story?”

  I take a bite, deliberately chewing slowly then clear my throat, “Are you sure you want to know all of this?”

  Bowie nods slowly, “I’ve wanted to know for the last ten years so please enlighten me.”

  “Okay but remember I told you that it’s not pretty.” I take a deep breath before diving in, “When I left here I think I was somewhat naïve. I believed that it would be easy to get a job and make it on my own but I was wrong… so wrong. When I left here, I only had enough money to get a bus ticket to Phoenix. I figured once I got there I’d get a job and figure out my next move. Only one problem I didn’t have any form of ID, no birth certificate, no social security card and I couldn’t get any of that because I didn’t know if CPS had put me on any lists or anything. After a couple of weeks, I got lucky and an old truck stops off one of the highways hired me as a waitress. I got touched as much as I made. Luckily, there was an old room off the eating area that no one used anymore so I’d sneak in through the window at night.”

  “After a few months, a married couple offered to let me ride with them. They were going cross country to Florida. They seemed decent enough, so I left with them, ended up in Miami. I found a guy that made documents so I had him make me an ID under the name of Rose James,” Bowie gives me a questioning look, “Rose, since it’s my middle name and James, is obvious. Anyway, I put myself in a predicament by getting the ID. Miami has so pretty bad underground shit that goes on. Anyone who goes looking for fake documents falls on the radar. I was young, and they thought they could talk me into their world easily enough but I proved to be difficult. I hopped a bus as soon as I could.”

  “I moved around the coast until I ended up in New York.” A harsh laugh escapes my mouth before I can stop it. “If I thought Miami was bad news, I had no idea what I was in store for when I hit New York. New York and New Jersey are some big-time trouble if you’re not careful. I ended up working at a strip club… at first, I was just a waitress then I got talked into dancing. The money was what really got me into it. I was desperate enough that I tried it. I figured out that I couldn’t see a lot when the lights were on so I kept doing it. The owner took care of us to a certain extent as long as we did what he wanted us to do. He also ran a high-end escort service.”

  I shake my head at the memory, “Soon enough I was being requested and Mr. Pearlman expects me to join up willingly. He had been one of the people to take care of me since I had left L.A. and I didn’t want to disappoint him so I said okay. At first, it was just a couple of clients then things got to become more… complicated. They weren’t all bad though. I met David, his dad was a regular of Mr. Pearlman’s. David was different though. He fit every prince charming box. We ended up running away. He swiped as much money as he could before we ran from New York. He knew a guy, so we got new ID’s and paperwork. I became Holly Sullivan and a tattoo artist. David and I married but shortly after we found out he was sick.”

  “A rare form of Leukemia, there wasn’t much they could do, just make him comfortable while they could. He passed away three years ago. I tried to continue my life in Missouri but I couldn’t. I sold what I could, packed the rest and came back here. That’s my ten years,” I take a deep breath once I finish. There’s a sense of déjà vu that comes over me again. I seem to be getting those a lot lately. This whole evening seems really familiar to the time I spilled my guts to Bowie about my home life… I’m always spilling my guts to Bowie it seems.

  Bowie is white as a ghost and if his white-knuckled grip on his glass any indication he’s pissed. He clears his throat, “You were married?”

  Chapter 1
3

  Wrecking Ball

  Hollis

  It’d been a couple of weeks since I talked Bowie out of the fight at school. Since then things between us have changed but not in the way, you’d expect. For the first week after that day, he avoided me at all costs like I was about to reintroduce the plague or something. Then on Monday of the second week, he was waiting for me at school before my bus even made it to the campus. To say I was shocked to see him leaning against the fence where the buses dropped us off would be an understatement. He was standing there as if he didn’t have a care in the world but when his cobalt eyes met mine, I saw it all. Bowie had been vulnerable, and it wasn’t something he was used to. It scared him and he didn’t know how to deal with it. By allowing me to talk him down from the fight and leave with him that afternoon he let me into a part of him I doubted most people thought existed.

  I wasn’t sure what to do as I approached him but he made the first move. He pushed away from the fence and met me halfway. However, he seemed unable to find the words, so I decided that if he wanted to be here now that I’d act as if nothing had happened and that’s exactly what I did. Things fell back into our normal friendship after that but things had been interesting since then. Every day after school Bowie would be waiting for me insisting on taking me home. I let him but along the way, he’d always make a stop at Burt’s drive-in where he’d order enough food to feed an army. We ate and whatever was left he gave to me for Alex. He never asked me about Alex, the food or my home life, he just handed over any extra without a word. It was on the third afternoon that I realized just how much of a good guy Bowie James actually was.