Page 32 of Let Me Love You (Excess All Areas 5)

“She hit my fucking car.” The man gestured to the damage and Ben stepped back to look at it.

“All I see is your back end and her front end kissed each other. It’s he-said-she-said as to whether you braked without warning, or she went in the back of you. You start lying on your insurance form, get her in shit, and we’ll be telling anyone who’ll listen that you were an angry lecherous old bastard who got upset about a bumper prang. So, how about we do this, instead? I’m a mechanic. I give you my number, you call me, and you bring it into the shop, and I’ll fix it up for free. That way, no one’s no claims bonus with the insurance company gets affected and you don’t get to look like a douche.”

The man scoffed. “And what if you do a shit job?”

“Dude, your car’s a fucking fifteen-year-old rust bucket. We’ve only got your word for it that this impact did the damage. I can fill in the crack with some plastic bonder. I’ll sand and paint it. Good as new. You let me do it without going through the insurance, and I’ll even fix that prang in your door, there, that she didn’t cause. But give me your details before I give you a reason to really be angry anyway.”

The man grabbed his wallet and within minutes, was pulling away.

“I’m sorry I called, Ben. It’s just, Asher didn’t answer his phone and I was scared he—”

“It’s fine, Chaya.” He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, something he’d done a million times, but somehow, it made her feel a steady trickle of heat at her core. “You aren’t suddenly my enemy. I’d rather you called me than deal with this on your own. But what happened?”

Traffic flowed around them. Passengers peered through their windows to see if they could get a glimpse of what the hold-up was. One person took a photograph of him.

“We should probably move the cars.”

“Fine. But just pull down the street over there, okay? I want to take a look at your car.”

She did as Ben said, and then climbed out, leaning her hip on the side of the car. Ben pulled in behind her, less screeching brakes this time. It shouldn’t warm her heart to know he’d answered her call and rushed to make sure she was okay.

Unlike Asher.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. It didn’t make him a bad person because he was in a likely noisy place, chatting with his parents, and unable to hear her call.

“Are you really okay?” Ben asked as he approached her.

“I think so. No obvious signs of whiplash or anything like that, but sometimes it can take a couple of hours to come on.”

“You want me to fix this for you?”

“That would be great, if you don’t mind. But…shit. No, Ben. It’s not fair to ask favours of you.”

Ben crouched in front of her bonnet and ran his hands over her bumper, the bent grill. “It’s not a big deal.”

She waited for him to stand before she addressed him. “It is, and you know it. I’ll pay for it. It’s fine.”

When Ben’s eyes hit hers, she could see the hurt in them and knew she was right in what she was saying.

Ben’s shoulders dropped as he sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Fine. But take it to the garage I worked at. I’ll sort out a deal for you and borrow some space after hours to fix that idiot’s bumper.”

“I’ll pay for that too. Or get quotes and decide if I should go through the insurance anyway.”

Ben shook his head. “Don’t do that. Your insurance is already steep enough. You’ll lose your no claims bonus. Trust me, take it to the garage and let me work it out with the dude, yeah?”

“Thank you, Ben.” She stepped forward to hug him, then realised what she was about to do. “Sorry.”

“Yeah.” Ben took a step back. “You okay to drive home? No shakes or anything?”

She was shaking. But not for the reasons Ben probably assumed. It was him. Being so damn capable and caring. Him stepping in front of her. The scent of his body wash. The way his curls framed the side of his face perfectly. “I’m good.”

“Want me to follow you home?”

She smiled sadly. “I’m fine, Ben. Honestly.”

“Okay.” He nodded once and climbed back into his car but waited.

Until she got into hers and drove off because she knew he wouldn’t leave her here by the side of the road alone.

---