Page 2 of Hooking Her Up

“He’s so cute and cool,” Lily sighed, hauling me toward our own group to get back on the bus.

I wanted to argue, but she was right, damn it.

A commotion to my left snaps me out of my memories. The ferns and shrubs just ahead of me part and a massive buck flies across the road, his hooves seeming to be about to kick in my windshield. A doe jumps out right after him and I squeeze my eyes shut, jerking the steering wheel in the opposite direction as I slam on the brakes. I hit something hard enough to engage the airbag and it smacks me in the face with a loud clap.

Not even feeling the burn, I smash it down, terrified an injured deer is tangled up in my front bumper. I almost cry with relief to see I only collided with a tree.

“Oh, thank goodness.” Shoving away the airbag some more, I rest my head and get my heart rate under control.

Thunder rumbles in the distance and I let out a string of swear words that not even the deer can hear because they’re long gone. Embarrassed at my outburst, I try to reverse back onto the road, but the car makes a grinding sound before going completely dead.

Okay, this isn’t dire. I have roadside assistance and it’s not like I was in a hurry anyway.

Except I have no bars on my phone. Between the looming storm and the canopy of trees, I can’t get a call out.

I shouldn’t be much more than a mile from the highway, so I haul myself out of the car to get help. Fighting through a sea of ferns and tangled undergrowth, I trip and tumble forward. Banging into a tree with my hands to break my fall, a shower of pine needles flutters down all around me, clinging to my shirt and hair. Swiping them off, I head down the road, holding my phone out in front of me until I get a signal.

The calm and pleasant lady who answers the roadside assistance hotline assures me she’ll get a tow truck to my location as soon as possible.

“Put your hood up and stand by the vehicle so they know it’s you.”

I agree even though fat drops are already splattering on me and my car is the only one out here. It’s too far wedged against the tree to comply with her first request, so I stand dutifully next to it, peering down the lonely stretch of road for my tow.

It’s a half an hour before I see a bright blue speck heading my way. By now the rain has been steady since I called and I’m soaked through and shivering.

The truck pulls up and a tall man jumps out, pulling his sweatshirt hood over his head but not before I see thick, dark waves.

“Why are you standing out in the rain?” An oddly familiar voice shouts as he jogs over to me. He stops dead in his tracks in front of me and I turn my face up to his, water dripping down my nose.

I get an instant flash of recognition even though it’s been years since I’ve seen him. That signature dark curl falls over his forehead and those same amber eyes are scowling down at me. How many cringey poems did I write about those eyes? Memories wash over me, more torrential than the rain.

Gazing around corners to catch a glimpse of him, taking detours in the hall so I might pass him. Secretly ironing his football number onto one of my t-shirts and wearing it to bed. All the way back to elementary school, until he graduated three years ahead of me and I took to lurking anywhere around town I might see him. When I started college, I decided to let him go, along with all my dreams of him being the prince who fell in love with me somehow.

Is this really Liam Chase or am I still in a daydream, here in these woods? This man is much more muscular than the rangy teenager I recall, maybe even an inch or two taller. He’s got a dark beard that can’t hide the familiar, chiseled jawline, and the tiniest edge of a tattoo peeks out from the top edge of his sweatshirt. Those amber eyes, like perfectly brewed sun tea on a hot day, are the same, though. Unmistakable and with the same cockiness as he gets ready to berate me for standing out in the rain. Until those eyes widen.

“Kayla?” he asks, his voice huskier than I remember. Not that he spoke to me much back then. His sudden grin makes my jaw drop. He’s way more handsome than he was, and that should be impossible. “Oh my God, Kayla Woods?”

He takes my wrist and pulls me toward his truck, wondering aloud what kind of person stands out in the rain.

“I’m surprised you didn’t have your head tipped back like a turkey,” he says, reaching behind the seat for a blanket to wrap around my shoulders once I’m in his truck.

His grin is teasing, infuriating, just like I remember. And I lean closer to him all the same as he looks me up and down.

“They told me to stand outside so you’d know which car it is.”

My defense only makes him smirk. “I think I could have found the only red car on this road for three miles without you taking a bath,” he tells me, shaking his head at me. “I’ll be damned.”

I can’t make out if his wide smile is happiness at seeing me after all these years or if he’s just thinking of more ways to tease me on the ride into town. I lean out and watch him as he expertly hooks up my car, seemingly oblivious to the downpour as he works. His sweatshirt is clinging to him by the time he starts the winch to pull my car onto the platform and he rests his strong hands on his hips as he watches it with a keen eye. I take in every inch of him as my old crush on him breaks free again, like dogs at a racetrack when the gate has been lifted. It’s not going to be stopped, either.

Just like that I’m pining for him again, which adds another layer of misery onto my summer.

When he gets in, he pushes up his sleeves to reveal more tattoos as he cranks the heat and aims the vents at me. His hands rest lightly on the steering wheel and I try to catalog each work of art on his muscular forearms.

“You ready?” he says.

Grinning at me from ear to ear with that smirky confidence radiating from his entire being, I can only smile back at him. Liam Chase not only remembers who I am, he seems genuinely happy to see me. This is different. This has my heart pounding faster than when I crashed into the tree.

“I’m ready,” I answer.

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