Page 51 of Bump and Run
He nodded. “It’s part of the job. You’re not the first driver, nor will you be the last to hit me. You don’t haveto look so scared, Jones. I’m going to be just fine. A little bruising that should heal up in a couple of weeks. Then I’ll be just like new.”
“Holt, I just...I feel terrible.” I felt a hand on my shoulder as I spoke. I knew it was Ollie by the way he tightened his grip to assure me that he was there.
“He’s not wrong, Jones. It’s part of the job,” Ollie answered. He had been a victim of the same thing himself. Now I realized why Watts was so angry with me. It was scary.
Holt smiled. “I appreciate you coming to check on me.” His gaze moved to where Watts was once again climbing from his car with the checkered flag in his hand. Something passed over his face before he turned to look at me again. “Give Watson a few days. By the time we come back from break, he’ll have forgotten all about it.”
I let Ollie lead me away from the track, back to my RV, only to find Charlie sitting outside like he owned the place. My heart shot up into my throat at the sight of him, and I was glad my best friend was with me. I wasn’t sure that I was strong enough to deal with Charlie on my own. What if I begged him to kiss me again? Asked him to make love to me, to hold me, and tell me he was still mine.
“You never answered me before.” Charlie stood up, and I couldn’t stop the way my eyes took him in. His muscled arms, thick thighs, and those lips that kissed me like I was the most important thing in the world. I hated to admit that I missed him. “Are you two together now?”
I placed a hand against Ollie’s chest to stop him from going after Charlie. “Relax,” I murmured before I turned back to Charlie. “I answered you. You just want to believewhat you want.” I put my hands on my hips and saw the exhaustion on his face.The dark circles beneath his eyes.
“Is Holt going to be all right?” Charlie asked.
Ollie grunted. “Why are you even here? Don’t you have someone else to bother? Don’t you have a girlfriend now?”
“Ollie, please.” I knew he meant well, but he had to stop trying to protect me. I was an adult. I needed to start acting like one. “Holt’s fine.” I raised my brows as I waited for Charlie to speak again, but when he didn’t, I let out a long sigh. “What do you want now?”
His eyes darted to the big man next to me. “Can we talk, Bashful? Alone.”
“No,” Ollie snapped, but then he turned to look down at me. “Right, Jones?”
The look of fear in his eyes made me wish I could return the feelings he had for me. It would make things so much easier to have someone care for me the way Ollie did. But it was never going to be like that between us.
“I can handle this,” I assured him, and the hurt in my best friend’s eyes was heartbreaking.I moved to hug him, but Ollie shook his head. “Don’t be like that.”
He frowned. “If he hurts you again, you’ll just expect me to what? Pick up the pieces like last time? Jones, I can’t watch you go through that again. Nursing your broken heart nearly ruined mine.”
“No.” I reached for Ollie’s hand. “Fool me twice, shame on me, remember?” I squeezed his fingers. “You’re my best friend, and I love you, but maybe this is the closure I need to finally move on. Find someone to settle down with and spend the rest of my life with.”
Ollie’s eyes narrowed as he stared behind me. “Text me.” He yanked me against his chest so he could hug me, and I knew he was doing it to piss Charlie off. Probably glaring at him over my shoulder. “I’ll always pick you up. Just ignore what I said before.”
Then Ollie left me standing there alone with Charlie.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Charlie
What I had done to Jones was the biggest regret of my life. I could see the hurt and anger written all over his face every single time he looked at me. But that wasn’t what bothered me the most. It was the sadness in his hazel eyes that made me ache. I could feel it deep inside my bones whenever I glanced at him, and it made me feel like the biggest asshole in the world. The smile he used to share with the world was gone. He looked so different. And that was all my fault.
“You going to invite me inside?” I couldn’t stop the words that tumbled from my mouth. I didn’t want to be like this to Jones. I still loved him, even now, and I wanted to fix things between us. Only I didn’t know how. And I didn’t think he would let me back in.
He scoffed. “Whatever you need to say, you can say out here. I’m not letting you into my RV, Charlie.”
“Afraid to have me near your bed, Bashful? Maybe you can’t control yourself?” God, I hated myself for talking to him like that.
Jones narrowed his eyes at me and popped his jaw. If looks could kill, I’d be a dead man. “If you’re going to continue to behave like this, Charlie, you can leave.”
He started to walk around me, and I instinctively reached out to stop him. His bicep was firmer and much bigger than the last time I’d had my hands on him. Jones glanced at where my hand was wrapped around his arm.
“Let go of me.”
I did as he asked.
“I’m sorry.” For hurting you, breaking your heart, and leaving you. I waited for Jones’s reaction, but when he continued to stare at his feet, I took a shaky breath before I spoke again. “Bashful, I—”
He spun around. “Sorry? You’re fudging sorry? What exactly are you sorry for, Charlie? The part where you told me you were mine, or maybe it’s how you left me alone, that you ghosted me after I let you take my virginity? That you blocked me on all your social media accounts? That you took my virginity?”
