The Lost Trucker (The Trucker Saga) (3 page)

Don’t tempt me douche bag!

    I had been working at Layla’s Choke and Puke Truck Stop for the last two weeks and I have yet to see
him
again. I wonder where he could be; Layla said that some of the regulars aren’t seen for a few weeks at a time. It all depends on where their loads are going.

Ring, Ring, Ring

I rush over to the phone behind the servers’ station. “Layla’s Truck Stop. This is Faith, how can I help you?” I purr into the phone and wait for the answer on the other end.

“Faith, are you the new girl? The one with red hair and a slamming body?” I hear a voice that I wouldn’t forget even if you drugged me for days. The images of his gorgeous body flood my mind as I hear his voice curl around my ear drum.

“Y…ye…yes…”
Pull it together Faith!
“Yes, I’m Faith and I’m the new girl. Is there something I can help you with or are you done wasting my time?” I ask with snarky tone to my voice.

   “Ah, my sweet girl. What a mouth you have on you. What I would do to….”

    He starts to go into details but I cut him off.  “Is there something important you are calling for?” I ask.

  “Oh yeah, is my sister around?” It sounds more like a statement than a question.

“Hang on; I will get her for you. Who is your sister?” I say to him.

“Layla, of course, unless she has hired someone else.” He said.

It can’t be his sister she is old enough to be his mother, not sister. There must be some kind of mistake. “Layla you have a phone call.” I say over my shoulder thru the little window toward the kitchen.

    He doesn’t let me off the hook so easily. “So tell me something about yourself Faith, while we are waiting for Layla.”

    I don’t respond to him because I have no idea what to say. Gob smacked by the statement he made of Layla being his sister. I have no idea who this guy is; I literally ran into him once in my whole life. How did I get into this situation?

“Oh, look. Here she comes.” I say to Layla as she is walking up to me with a strange look on her face as she sees the look on my face. I get ready to hand her the phone but before I do, I say into the phone. “Well, it was nice talking to you and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!” He is bound to have something to say back to this because of the sickly
sweet tone that I used.

    “Oh, Faith. You’re going to be a fair challenge, but I can promise you this. I get what I want and I know how to keep what I want. I know you felt the connection between us, so don't pretend you don't want this. I will do whatever I have to do to get you in my sleeper and by my side.” He says with a very commanding tone to his voice, it is dripping with raw sexuality.

   “Excuse me, but maybe I am not someone that you can ‘have’ and maybe I am not someone that wants to be by your side. I actually like being myself and not being told what to do.” I say with a matter of fact tone and the look on Layla’s face was one of total shock.

We have gotten close the last couple of weeks since I started working here and she has become a mother figure to me. So Layla, she would know things about him if I was to ask but I am too much of a chicken shit. So that makes him in his 30’s or 40’s. But he doesn’t look that old. Hmm…

  “Faith? Did I lose you?” I hear the voice on the other end of the phone say.

“No… You didn’t lose me. You didn’t have me in the first place, but I’m here.” I say back.

  “I will be back in two days. You will have dinner with me when I get back. I would love to get to know you.” He is asking me on a date? Actually he isn’t asking me he is telling me. Is he kidding?

  “I don’t think so, I’m not interested in going anywhere with you. So my answer is no. Sorry.” I say with the tone like I am ending the phone call.

  “Faith, run for as long as you want cause I am not giving up on you and I like the chase.” He says with a load of confidence in his voice and I can hear the smirk that he has on his face. 

   “Get over yourself douche bag!” I say with disgust in my voice as I hand the phone over to Layla.

“Here, he is all yours!” I say with an ‘I’m glad that convo is over with now’ tone as I walk past her. Deep down though I have a feeling it isn’t over.

“FINE!
You win!”

  The only thing that I could think of doing after getting off the phone with whatever his name is was to grab my smokes and iPod. I rushed out the backdoor and pushed the ear buds in my ear and started jamming out to
Seethers’ “Fake It.”
Ah, I light up my ciggy, I picked up the habit shortly after starting to work at this godforsaken truck stop.

  Who does he think he is? Why is he so stuck on me? I look down my body or at least what I can see over these tits. They get in the way of everything and I start to daydream about times with Beau…

*****

“I like your tits Faith, I think they are perfect.”

I can hear Beau’s voice ringing in my mind. He always loved everything about me, even down to the beauty spot that I had on my ass. Didn’t know that I actually had one till Beau and I were fooling around down by the pond on the backside of my daddy’s property.

“Oh my god, Faith!” Beau starts to snicker as he is rubbing my back and legs. “I have always heard the joke about you having a beauty spot on your ass or some shit like that. Well, babe. You actually do have one. Only one, and it is perfect.” I feel Beau bend over and kiss my ass cheek.

I start to laugh thinking about that afternoon together and what he did to me that day.

*****

  I am pulled back to the present when I hear the brakes of a truck.

I look up before I get ready to toss my butt and walk back into the kitchen so that I can finish the rest of my shift.

  Layla is storming towards the backdoor as I am coming through the kitchen; she grabs my arm and starts to walk me backwards through the door.

“Holy shit, Layla! Are you trying to make me trip and break my head open?” I say with a huff to my voice and stare at her in the eyes so that she knows I mean business.

“Oh, drop your attitude
princess. I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you. But I want to know how the hell you know Ryder? And why is he asking so many damn questions about you?” She looks me right in my eye and has the look that only mothers get when they are questioning their children.

“Well, first off. Who the hell is Ryder? I have no idea why he would be asking questions about me.” I say with a surprised look. For all I know it is one of those grubby unwashed truckers in there.

 
Layla
turns away from the breeze to light her smoke, “Well, Miss Bratty. Ryder is my brother. My little brother; he is about 6 foot, maybe around 190 pounds; his hair is a dark blonde and has been through some shit. He is not good people or at least the people he is mixed up with aren't good people. Faith, I am just trying to look out for you. You’re a good person an innocent person, you don’t need to be wrapped up in what Ryder has going on. Trust me, okay?”

  So for some reason or another
Layla wants to keep me away from him, well that’s not going to be hard!

  “Okay, I trust you and I will keep it all in mind. I have been hurt really bad in the past and I am not going to let it happen again. But trust me, he can try all he wants but I am not just going to crack with a little bit of pressure.”
Hopefully putting her mind at ease.

*****

  A few days later, I am standing half way in the walk-in reefer grabbing a few things that we are out of out front. I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist and then I smell him. He smells wonderful; a cross between diesel and man.

I may have only met him once, but I would know Ryder's scent anywhere. Sounds strange but the smells combined make me shiver.  I start imagining him lying on top of me, thrusting himself inside me.
Oh, Faith! Not again… Stop having these thoughts will ya?

  “If you want to keep your manhood I think you should remove your arms from around me and back the fuck off.” I sneer through clenched teeth. I feel his chest against my back as he starts to chuckle a little bit.

  “Who knew that such a sweet and innocent looking girl could have such a mouth. It’s a very beautiful mouth I might add.” He says against my neck. Ugh, he really knows what he is doing doesn’t he.

  “Like I said, back the fuck off.” I grunt as I throw my arms back and catch him in the ribs.

“Umpf! Damn, be gentle with me!” I hear him say as I step away after he lets me go.

“Gentle? Why should I be gentle? You are lucky I didn't turn around and punch you in the face.  You have no right to sneak up behind me, no right to hold me.  What makes you think you do?” I ask him with a frazzled tone. What is it about him that makes me feel so…so…I don’t know confused? It seems like each time I have been around him or talked to him that my mind screams
‘see ya’
, but my heart beats faster and wants him to stay.

  He just grins and says “I told
ya sweetheart, I never give up and besides I already know that WHEN I have my way, my arms will be the only ones you will allow to hold you.”

Hmm, how to respond to that? “So, you’re Ryder?
Layla’s brother.” I ask as I return to collecting my items. 

“Yep!” He pops the P. “That’s me. She hasn’t talked a bunch of shit has she? I’ll kill her if she has.” He says as he looks at me questioningly.

  “
Naw, she hasn’t said much apart from your name and who you are. You look way too young to be her brother though, so I don’t know if I believe that. If you’re going to continue to stand there and gawk at me you can make yourself useful by helping me carry these supplies out to the bar.” I give him my standard
‘you’re bugging me’
look that I give most all of the guys that hit on me.

 
I didn’t leave home to hook up with some guy. I left home because I needed to find me, I needed to find the real Faith.  If I stayed in Mobile any longer, I was going to have to see Beau and have the constant reminder of what he did. Then there were all our friends from school that I couldn’t face because I am sure that Beau has them all convinced that I did something wrong. So I have to steer clear of this guy. I can feel something beyond the physical attraction, something that was going to be much harder to fight and ignore.

  “Faith. I am only here for a few days maybe a week tops. I have a run coming up and I might be gone for a little while. Would you please have dinner with me? I don’t get to talk to very many people, let alone a
smokin’ hottie like you. So please, go with me. I will take you somewhere besides this nasty truck stop.” He asks with a sincere smile on his face and that’s when I see the dimples.

Man, why did he have to pull out the dimples! Why do I have to find dimples so damn sexy? I can feel my heart giving way but I need to stay strong. He is bad news Faith and you know it! Even
Layla, his own sister has warned me off him. My brain is screaming for me to be sensible, to keep away from this man, but my heart, soul and body are telling me something completely different. 

“FINE!
You win! I give in!!” I say with a big sigh “Just dinner no more no less. Where and when do you want to go? I am off on Thursday night but I open Friday morning.” I say to him while looking at my nails because I know if I make eye contact it is going to be over from there.

  “Thursday afternoon? Around 4pm. How’s that sound? I will pick you up here then. And Faith, I don’t like being late so be here on time.” He answers with a more commanding tone than usual.

  I nod my head yes and turn to walk to one of my tables. “You don’t have to worry about me not showing up. I keep to my word and promises, what about you?” I say over my shoulder as I walk away.

“Oh, you can bet your sweet ass I am going to be here.” He says a little too loud for my comfort because as I walk to my table I see all the truckers staring at me. Good job, asshole!

“So you are bad! How bad though?”

  The next couple of days were filled with sleep, work and dreams about Ryder. He just would not get out of my head no matter what I did. He is also there in the flesh every time I turned around.

“I understand that your sister owns this place, but don’t you have a life? Truck drivers do have lives,
ya know?” I ask him, so far over the last few days I have learned his age and that he has no kids and no ties anywhere else but this little town.

  “Well, if you must know Faith. I do have a life but I would much rather sit here and watch your sweet ass run around this place all day long then go hang out with the grubs that I live with.” He says while flashing me his amazing dimples and I instantly melt to my core.

   “Hmm, well you're not going to get to watch me much longer, I am off in 30 minutes. I have to go find some place to move to now because the motel I am at is raising the rent.” I say to him while I am running someone’s check through the till.

  “You do know that
Layla has an apartment over the shop back there right? And that no one is living in it. I am sure you could talk her into letting you stay there while you’re here. Unless you’re planning on taking off again?” He says with a questioning tone.

   “I think I am
gonna stick around for a little while. This place just started showing me that it has promise.” I say as I shimmy past him. “I don’t really have anything tying me back home but I would like to go visit my daddy sometime soon.” I say with a humbled tone.

   “Well, you could always talk to
Layla about getting a few days off. I would be willing to drive you back home; we could take my truck. I could see about pulling a load down to Mobile or something.” He says with such a sweet tone. Is he really serious that he would do that?

  “Are you serious? You do realize that you would have to meet my daddy and my two brothers. We don’t even know each other well enough for something like that. I don’t feel comfortable enough.” I say as I look down at my hands while standing in front of him by the bar.

  I slowly look up at his face and he looks so dapper, so handsome. On the one hand there is something about him that tells me he isn’t right for me; but on the other all I want to do is throw my arms around his neck and wrap my legs around his waist and let him take us to a whole new level.

  “So how does that sound
?” He says and snaps me out of my dazed daydream about him. “Faith, did you hear me? Are you even paying attention to me??”

 
“Yeah, huh? Sorry, I spaced out for a second. Thinking about what I want to do over the next couple of months.” I lie to try and keep his attention off me and the fact that my heart is beating so fast and hard that I am sure you can hear it outside my body. I could feel the attraction deep down to my core and oh gosh I have never felt like this before; I can actually feel a spasm deep down between my thighs.

  Ryder reaches down and grabs my hands in his large hand and squeezes them to stop me fiddling with my nails.
“Faith, stop being so scared and nervous about everything. I am not going to hurt you. You’re safe with me, I promise.” He says as I look deeply into his eyes to see he is telling the truth, I don’t see one hint that he is lying. He reaches up and starts to run his thumb over my cheek.

   At the same time
Layla comes around the corner and stops in her tracks. “Oh hell no! Not going to happen! Ryder, you let my little girl go. She is off limits to you.” Layla says with a very serious tone.

  I give her a questioning look as I step away from Ryder and start to walk back behind the bar to fill saltshakers
.    

  “Faith, Ryder is not the right guy for you. I told you that and I am not saying that just because he is my brother. He is truly bad news. I don’t
wanna
see you hurt.”  She says as I look at her and can see that she is genuinely worried.

 
“Really Layla? I think I can take care of myself. He asked me to dinner and that is all it is going to be. It’s not like I am going to fall in love with him.” I say to her with all seriousness in my voice, kind of like I am trying to convince myself of what I just said.

 
Keep fighting it Faith; just keep fighting it
. I keep telling myself in my head as I give her a smile.

  “Faith, Ryder is a little out there and he is a bad boy. Honestly and truly a bad boy. Just keep your guard up, please.”
Layla says as she gives me a hug and I sigh into her thinking I really should take her advice.

  “I will be careful,
Layla. I promise.” I tell her as I set away from her and grab my plates that are ready to be served.