Big Bad Boss (Romance)

by Mia Carson

  “How… how would you know that?”

  “I’ve been around a long time, hon.” The old woman laughed sweetly. “That’s the look of a broken heart. Is he worth crying over?”

  She nodded and blew out a breath to regain control of herself. “He is, but it can’t happen. I realize that now.”

  “Sometimes life seems impossible, but we’re just making things more complicated than they need to be,” she said quietly. “Don’t let someone else tell you how to live your life or love who you love. You only get to go through this crazy mess once.”

  The nurse patted her on the shoulder before leaving the bathroom. Her words rang through Kris’s mind, but what proof did she really have that Edmund would follow through with his promises? What if he left and never came back or called her? What if she was just his rebound girl, the one he told stories about later? Her hands shaking as the uncertainties piled up around her, Kris realized how blind she’d been since Edmund stepped into her tow truck. She’d told herself to keep her distance, and what did she do? She let herself get completely sucked in by a handsome man. He was a novelty, something different, and she’d fallen for it.

  “It’ll never work,” she told her reflection. “Move on, fix his car, and let him go before you get in any deeper.” Eventually, he would have to choose between her and his life. How could she ask him to do that?

  She wiped her face, and once she could smile without it faltering, she left the bathroom and made ready to fight the hardest battle of her life—letting go of the man she gave her heart to with no chance of ever getting it back.

  ***

  Several days had passed since Edmund and Kris returned to Green Valley, but they returned very different people than when they had left. Kris was elbow-deep, working on his car all day long, and since her parents left town, she was back at the house. Edmund was still at the inn, sleeping alone in his bed for the third night in a row. He tried speaking to her several times, but she gave him a polite smile and told him she had to get back to work or his car would never be ready.

  He’d stopped caring about the car long ago and told her that, but she ignored him and said she had to get it finished so she could make more room in the shop for the rest of her customers. He paced around his room, ready to pull his hair out because she was driving him so mad. He replayed everything in his mind about the trip to Louisville, but nothing stuck out as strange. He’d asked her if his parents had said something to her, and her eyes darkened though she’d said they were very nice people and had only kept her company.

  She lied. He knew she lied, but he couldn’t figure out why. Today was going to be different. He had a plan to whisk her away to another romantic dinner on Mr. Fitz’s land, going to their spot on the trail. Everything was laid out in his head. He grabbed his wallet and opened the door to head out and found Charlie with his hand raised to knock.

  “Oh—hey, man,” Charlie said, sounding less than thrilled. “Kris sent me over with your keys. Your car is finished, and you’re all set to go with a full tank of gas and everything.”

  “Where’s Kris?” he asked, not taking the keys.

  “She’s working,” Charlie said, but his eye twitched when he said it. “Take your keys, man, and just walk away.”

  Edmund stiffened. “What’s going on? And don’t tell me whatever lie she told you to tell me.”

  Charlie’s hand fell to his side, the keys jangling. “Look, she’s been pissed all week. I don’t know what happened in Louisville, but she doesn’t want to see you, no matter what I tell her.”

  “Nothing happened,” he growled. “Nothing that she’ll tell me, at least.”

  “I’ve never seen her this pissed before, man,” he said with a grimace. “She trashed the Judge.”

  Edmund’s hands on the door gripped it so tightly it creaked with the strain. “She did what?”

  “She got drunk and took a wrench to the car. Beat the hell out of it, but I stopped her before she could hurt anything she couldn’t repla—hey! Ed, I wouldn’t go in there, man. Just take your car and leave.”

  Ignoring Charlie’s protests, he charged out of his room, left the inn, and walked across the road without stopping. A few cars honked at him, but he tuned them out as he yanked open the garage door. “Kris! Where the hell are you?”

  “What are you doing here?” Kris called from across the garage. “Get the hell out of here. Your car’s parked around back, and you’re all paid up.”

  “I’m not leaving, not like this,” he said as he stormed towards her, trapping her in the corner so she couldn’t run from him. “What the hell happened in Louisville that you’re not telling me?”

  She gritted her teeth. “Let it go, Edmund, please.”

  “Edmund?” he repeated in disbelief. “Edmund? Why are you calling me that?”

  “Because it’s the name of my customer,” she shot back. “You’re making this a hell of a lot harder than it needs to be. Move.” She shoved at him, but he stayed where he was. “Don’t make me kick your ass.” She raised the socket wrench in her hand threateningly, but he remained where he was. She blinked, and the wall she had thrown in place the second they’d returned crumbled at the edges. “Please, just go back to where you belong.”

  The hurt in her words startled him so badly he took a step back, giving her the opportunity to shove past him. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying this was a dream, nothing but a stupid, ridiculous dream,” she proclaimed loudly and gripped the wrench harder in her hand. “It’d never work. We’re from two completely different worlds, Edmund! I can’t possibly be the woman you want to spend your life with.”

  “Says who?” he asked, his voice strained with pain. “Who told you that, Kris?”

  “I did,” she snapped. “I told myself that, alright? We had a great week, but it was just a fling, nothing more.”

  “You’re so full of shit,” he muttered. “Was it my parents? Did they put you up to this?”

  “No one makes me do anything I don’t want to, you know that,” she said quietly. “You came here hurting after your fiancée dumped you at the altar, and I was convenient. Maybe I was looking for an excuse, too.”

  “And excuse for what? To fall in love?” he growled desperately, trying to hold onto her as she shoved him away. “Kris, I love you. This is real. It’s all real.”

  “Is it? What happens now, then? I just pick up and move with you to Louisville, or you come down here and be bored out of your mind, trapped in this shithole?” she yelled. “No, we can’t do this, and I’m not going to make you choose. I don’t want to live with your resentment.”

  Edmund planted his hands on his hips as his heart shattered. “So that’s it then? We’re just going to fade from each other’s lives as if nothing happened?”

  “It might be better that way,” she replied without flinching.

  Edmund refused to believe this was happening, but when he took a step towards her, she jumped back and held up her hands, warding him off. She chewed her tongue, but he couldn’t bear to look at it, not while her eyes were filled with pain and she swallowed hard against whatever words fought to be heard.

  “If this is what you really want,” he told her, “then I guess I’ll go.”

  “It is,” she said. Edmund’s heart shattered over two words. “Charlie has your keys. You can get them from him and make it back to Louisville by sundown.”

  He ran a hand through his hair, knowing the second he walked out of that door, he’d regret it. “Take care of Judge for me,” he said. “Maybe he’ll let you ride him, too.”

  She nodded but her lips stayed firmly closed. Edmund reached the door and paused as he stared back at the woman across the garage, her face smeared with grease, her fingers bandaged, and fighting against what her heart wanted. Edmund thought of pushing her again, but the pleading in her eyes said that would only make things worse.

  “Goodbye, Kris,” he whispered and ducked out the door. Charlie was there with h
is keys in hand. He took them and went to pack up his room at the inn. Once he had everything, he checked out with Billy—Grams wasn’t in that day—and threw his things in the Mustang. The new engine roared to life, and he threw it in drive, peeling out of the gravel lot. He floored it towards home, leaving his love to fade with the dust settling on the road.

  Heart cracking right down the middle with each passing mile, he reached the interstate and yelled his loss, banging his hand on the steering wheel. His heart said to turn the car around and go back, but a horrible voice in the back of his mind told him Kris was right about everything. They were from two different worlds. It’d never work.

  Chapter 16

  The empty bottle joined the others on the floor, and Kris wiped her mouth on her dirty arm before she reached for another from the box at her feet. Charlie and Frank had gone hours ago, leaving her to wallow in her misery. The past few days had been torture, trying to keep her distance from a man she shouldn’t love. She climbed to her feet, wobbling from the beer, and paced around the garage, glaring at the Judge.

  Whispers of their voices greeted her, and she shook her head, trying to clear them away as she reached the car. The night of passion spent in this garage flared to life, and she saw them again, making love without holding back, without fear of the future. They just were. She closed her eyes, but that only made it worse. His caresses covered her body again, his lips found her neck and trailed lower. She gripped the beer bottle hard in her hand as she raised her hands to cover her ears and drown out the sounds of Edmund in her life. When they grew too loud, she screamed and flung the bottle at the car. It shattered on impact, and the dam holding all her rage and pain broke.

  She grabbed the closest tool she could find and brought it down hard on the hood of the Judge. She’d got in a few swings the other night before Charlie talked her out of it, but she was alone now and no one was going to stop her. As she screamed again, she pounded the hood, denting it. If she erased memories of Edmund, maybe her heart would stop aching. Maybe she could see straight and sleep through the night. She smashed the wrench on the car again and again, each swing unleashing more of her pent-up rage at a woman who judged her based on what she saw.

  Kris hated that woman. How could Edmund have come from such a horrible person?

  All her life, others had walked on her. Her parents, her brother at times, the men in this town who thought they could own her and control her. All of them tramped into her life and left it messier than before. She’d hoped Edmund would be different, but she’d been wrong. His family was worse than hers. They lied, flat-out lied. Her family was always truthful, no matter how much it hurt. Kris pictured Edmund at home, curled up in his bed with whatever woman his parents picked out for him next, and she lost it. She swung the wrench back like a bat and let loose. It slammed into the windshield the same time the door flew open to the garage.

  “Jesus, Kris,” Dennis growled. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

  “What’s it look like?” she ranted and picked up another tool, ready to shatter the back window, but her brother was faster. He lunged across the garage and yanked the wrench free. “No! Let me go! Just let me destroy it!”

  He tossed the tool aside and carried her bodily away. “What are you doing? You love that car. You’ve been working on it for years.”

  She sniffed hard. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not worth it—and what are you even doing here?”

  “It’s late, and you weren’t home yet,” he told her. “I do pay attention, you know.”

  “I’m an adult. I can stay out as late as I want,” she grumbled and reached for another beer, but Dennis caught her hand in time and shook his head. “Oh, come on!”

  “Nope, you’ve had enough. I’m taking you home.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to sink onto the couch but missed in her drunken state and hit the floor hard on her ass. She grimaced, and with a heavy sigh, Dennis crouched down in front of her. She pouted like a kid, refusing to look at him.

  “Krissy,” he murmured, calling her by the name he’d used when they were little. “Look at me.”

  “No,” she muttered. “I want to drink and forget. Let me do that.”

  “Is this about Edmund?” he asked, confused. “I thought you two were in love and all that.”

  “Nope, all lies. It won’t work, would never work,” she said sadly. “I don’t know why I thought it could.” Tears burned in her eyes, but she held them back.

  “Did he say that?” Dennis asked hotly.

  Kris shook her head, sending her messy hair flying. “No, I did. I had to let him go.”

  “Why?” he asked, confused. “Krissy, talk to me, please. Charlie came by earlier and said you were on the verge of a meltdown.” He glanced around the garage and his gaze landed on the Judge. “I think we’re past that point.”

  “It doesn’t matter. He’s gone and I don’t want to think about him ever again.”

  “So you’re taking it out on your car?” he asked quietly.

  She stared at her brother with a quirked eyebrow and tilted her head. “Think about it. It’ll sink in eventually.”

  Dennis glanced from her to the car then back again, and his eyes widened before he cringed. “I get it, but man, don’t ever tell me about your sex life again.”

  “Hey, you asked,” she said and tried to sneak her hand around for another beer.

  “No,” he said and shoved the box out of reach. “Tell me what happened to you two.”

  She played with a string hanging off her sleeve. “We went to Louisville, and I learned a very valuable lesson.”

  “Krissy,” he said sternly, and she threw her head back on a yell of annoyance.

  “I met his family, and let’s just say the female grease monkey doesn’t fit in. Happy? I will never fit into that world and was told quite plainly that if I tried, I would regret it.”

  Dennis frowned and sat back. “That’s what they said, and he didn’t step in to say anything?”

  “He wasn’t there, just me and good ol’ Mom,” she explained. “She said if I told him, I’d regret it. Besides, one day, we would have to choose between his life or mine, and I can’t live with that. So I let him go. I let the only man I’ve ever loved walk out that door, and he’ll never come back.”

  Whatever bit of control she clung to disappeared, and she sobbed into her hands. Dennis dragged her into his lap and held her, resting his cheek against her head as he did his best to soothe her.

  “You know she was wrong,” he whispered. “What his mom said.”

  “No, she was dead right. Look at me! I’m a damn mechanic!”

  “Who owned her own shop before the age of twenty-five, owns a house on top of that, and is loved by almost everyone in this town,” he told her. “That’s damn impressive. You, of all people, should be proud of yourself. Edmund was.”

  She wiped her eyes on his shirt and lifted her head. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, when you weren’t around, you were all he could talk to people about, asking about you, praising your skills. He told anyone who would listen that he was so glad he broke down here because he met you,” he said and shoved her hair from her face. “He loves you, Krissy. How could you not feel that?”

  “He did that?”

  “Yeah. It got kind of annoying, honestly, but he never would’ve let anyone hurt you.”

  “It’s his mom,” she said. “I can’t ask him to turn against family, not when he actually has one that cares about him.”

  Dennis barked a laugh. “If she cared about her son, she would’ve told you to marry him on the spot. She doesn’t matter. What you and Edmund feel, that’s what matters.”

  After a pause, she asked, “When did you get so wise?”

  He shrugged. “I listened to Grams for all those years, believe it or not.”

  Kris stumbled but found her feet with his help. “It doesn’t matter now. He’s gone.”

  “Then go after
him,” he argued, but she shook her head and squared her shoulders.

  “No, it’s finished. Can we go home now?”

  He chewed his tongue exactly as she did and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll take you home.”

  Kris stepped out into the night as she handed Dennis the keys so he could lock up. On the way to the house, neither said a word, and Kris let the alcohol carry her away into blissful darkness where she dreamt of the day Edmund came to town—except in this version, she took him to another town and never saw him again.

  ***

  Edmund thought of going to his place first, but his mom had texted him several times wanting to know if he’d be at the house for dinner. Deciding it was best to get it over with and not drink himself into a stupor, he drove straight to their house. Before he climbed out of the car, he sat and forced his thoughts to anything else but Kris and her face when he’d left. He was willing to give her everything, but she claimed it could never work.

  His cell chirped again and he checked the message. His mom had spotted him in the drive and asked what was taking so long. Readying himself for what she would say, he stepped out of the car and marched up to the front door.

  “I’m back,” he called out as stepped inside.

  “There he is!” Sarah announced and rushed into the foyer, her heels clicking loudly against the hardwood. “I’m so glad you’re back. You’re finally back for good, right?”

  “I guess so,” he said lamely. “Where’s Dad?”

  She tensed and her smile slipped. “In the den.”

  “What’s going on? You two fighting?”

  She turned away at his words and cleared her throat. “Why don’t I fix you something to eat? You must be hungry.”

  “Nah, I think I’ll go talk to Dad.” He stepped out of her reach as he stalked towards the den, his gut twisting with each step. He knocked, and when Edward called out for him to enter, he stepped inside. “What’s going on with you and Mom?”

  Sarah laughed nervously behind him. “Nothing, son. I told you, we’re fine.”