San Francisco had been my home for years. I’d put down roots. I’d had friends I looked at as family and a garage that was all my own.
I was content with the life I’d built there. Then I came back for Shane and her son and had my eyes opened to some pretty ugly truths.
Specifically, that I’d been a pretty shitty big brother and uncle. When I skipped town, I’d left my little sister behind. She never said anything about me staying gone for as long as I had, and I’d made the mistake of thinking it was because she didn’t care.
That had been a lie I told myself in order to feel better. The truth had been that Shane was such a kind person with such a tremendous heart that she didn’t want to pressure me about coming back, even though she and her son Brantley both needed me.
I had some serious amends to make, not only with Shane and Brantley, but with my aunt and uncle who’d gone out of their way to make me feel wanted, only for me to turn around and take off. I still had a long way to go, but I’d taken the first step by making the choice to stay put this time around.
For the second time, I’d packed up my entire life, only this time, instead of running, I’d returned to where it all started. I’d had no plan, no home, and no job.
That was, until Cliff Banks decided to retire from Banks Body and Auto Repair, leaving the thriving garage to his only son. As soon as everything was handed over to him, Cannon came to me, offering to take me on as a full partner if I could buy my way in.
I hadn’t hesitated to fork over the cash if it meant I got to team up with a man I respected the hell out of and continue being my own boss.
“What’ve we got?”
“Willow Thorne called this mornin’ in a panic,” I answered as I lowered the Honda Civic that was at least two decades old to the ground. “Car’s completely dead. Didn’t get a chance to really look it over when I got there, just enough to know it wasn’t the battery. Had to give her a ride to work before heading over here.”
His face broke out into a shit-eating grin. “Bet that was one of the most awkward car rides of your life. That girl’s so damn shy it’s a wonder she can even function.”
“She’s not so bad,” I defended in a low, brusque tone.
I thought back to the tumble she’d taken out of the truck and winced, feeling bad for her all over again. She tried to play it off, but the woman had zero poker face. It was obvious she was trying to put a brave face on while in serious pain.
Sure, she was shy and awkward almost to the point of painful, and while I didn’t know her well, it was so bad that it brought out some sort of protective instinct in me, and I felt my muscles clenching tight at Cannon poking fun at her, even though I knew he most likely didn’t mean anything by it.
“Come on man.” He moved toward me and clapped me on the shoulder. “You know I’m just kidding. Nothing against her. I think she’s a sweet girl.”
My mind flashed back to the conversation I’d overheard earlier. I’d only gotten Willow’s side of the exchange, but it was more than enough to figure out something was going on.
My curiosity got the better of me, and before I could stop the words from coming out, I found myself asking, “She’s got a sister, doesn’t she?”
“Two, actually.”
I turned my head to look at him. “You know anything about them?”
He didn’t bother to hide his shit-eating grin at my out-of-character questions before grinning and teasing, “Why the sudden interest? You looking to be set up or something?”
The answer to that wasn’t just no, it was a hard as granite, hell to the fucking no. To say I wasn’t a fan of dating would have been like calling the Pacific Ocean a kiddie pool—a serious goddamn understatement.
Growing up with my mom was like a lesson in what not to do: namely, tie myself to one person for any longer than it took for me to get her off, blow my own load, then get the hell out of there.
From the time I was old enough to develop memories, she’d had a revolving door of shitty relationships, each one lasting only as long as it took for the asshole she was with to take off. And there hadn’t been a single goddamn winner in the whole bunch.
Losers, drunks, druggies, abusive pricks, unemployed wastes of flesh and bone. You name it, she screwed it. She had no standards whatsoever. There was even that one bastard who lasted six months, all while having a wife and two kids at home.
I wish I could say my mom didn’t know about that, but it would have been a lie. She knew, and she hadn’t hesitated to out the guy to his wife when he tried ending it with her. She’d driven to his house in the middle of the night and thrown a bomb on his marriage, causing a scene so loud everyone on their street heard all the intimate details. The cops were eventually called and Mom was locked up for the night, leaving me with the responsibility of taking care of my infant sister. I didn’t have a goddamn clue how to take care of a baby, but had my mom given a damn about that? Had she stopped to consider us before acting like a psychotic bitch? Hell no.
That was her MO. She expected me to take care of her shit every time she got in a jam. That was why it was so easy for her to bail on Shane and me when I was nineteen. She knew I’d do what I had to in order to take care of my sister, whether I wanted the responsibility or not.
I was done being depended on. I’d had more than my fair share. There was only one creature on the planet I was willing to make an exception for, and that was only because he was low maintenance. All I had to do was dump kibble in his bowl once a day, make sure he had water, and open the door so he could go outside to take a shit. That was all it took for him to love me unconditionally.
I scoffed as I unhooked the car from the tow truck. “Not a chance. You know my rule, brother.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You don’t do monogamy. You’re a lone wolf, or some shit like that.”
My chuckle rattled around in my chest and throat. “Yeah, something like that.”
“But you know she’s into you, right?”
I let out a sigh as I wiped my forehead with the back of my arm. “Yeah, man. I know.”
I wasn’t blind or stupid. At nearly forty, I’d been around the block enough times to know when a woman was into me, even one as awkward and nervous as Willow.
It wasn’t just about the fact she was so far from my type it wasn’t even funny. It was also that I didn’t want the responsibility of caring for another human being. That was the reason Willow Thorne sat in the top spot on my Not a Chance in Hell list, her name written in thick, bold black letters.
Beneath all that anxiousness was a sweetness that called to certain kinds of men, men who wanted to save and protect, to play the white knight to the damsel in distress.
Whether she knew she was putting that out in the world intentionally or not, everything about her screamed damsel in a shit-ton of distress. A woman like her needed to be taken care of and protected from all the ugliness that infected this world, and I wasn’t the white knight type. I was too fucking hard and jaded for that.
I looked to Cannon, my expression carved with seriousness. “But you know it’s never gonna happen.”
“Yeah, man. I know. Even if you were down for the old ball and chain, I’ve seen your type, and skittish librarian it is not.”