A Hope and a Chance(8)
Author: Jennifer Foor

One text was from my mother, asking if I got to my father’s safe.

Everything Okay? Did you find the address?

The last two were from my ex, Trevor. I’d ended our one-year relationship over six months ago, but he refused to take a hint. He was leaving for college and I couldn’t wait to have a huge distance between us. He was rich, coming from money his whole life. During our relationship I’d most always felt like a charity case, and he made sure to remind me when I didn’t. He’d pushed me into losing my virginity, even though I wasn’t ready, and then ended up cheating on me, because I apparently wasn’t good enough. That night was horrible, and I’d regretted it every day since then. Of course, after that I opened up a bit about my sexuality, knowing that I wasn’t the problem, but my partner most certainly was. Towards the end of the relationship when I was beginning to basically wonder why we were together in the first place, he’d become violent, scaring me a few times with his temper. Maybe my mother and I had some kind of hereditary gene that caused men to cheat on us and treat us horribly. At any rate, I couldn’t stand the guy, who in turn was convinced that he was put on this planet to be worshipped by women. Sure, he was handsome, but his attitude lacked compassion, and his brain was even smaller than his dick.

Trevor clearly had issues about our breakup. It was obvious that his ego had taken a hit, and he’d made it some mission to get me back just to prove he could. I was too smart to believe he would change. He’d be an asshole for the rest of his life, and if I never saw him again it would be too soon.

His first texts were the same thing he’d sent almost every day.

I miss you, hot stuff. Please call me.

His second was not what I had wanted to wake up to.

I’ll see you tonight whether you like or not. Nobody stands me up!

Wow! It seemed like a threat. I could have responded getting him all worked up so that he would hound me for the rest of the day, or I could pretend like his texts never even happened.

I turned my attention back to Rylee before getting ready to shower. I was giving her free reign, which was never a good idea.

Surprise me. Call me in a few hours.

Rylee was wild, with no filter. She was the exact definition of crazy, and she loved every minute of it. I should have known she’d get us into in trouble.

It had been a very interesting day, to say the least. Considering the last month of my life consisted of being around my sister and her father-figure boyfriend, it was definitely one I wouldn’t soon forget. In fact, I couldn’t stop thinking about Hope. Was I nice enough? Could I have come off as a douche? Would I ever see her again? Would she even consider talking to me if she knew the truth?

The questions burned through my mind, as if something was forcing me to give a damn about something other than all of my problems. I had to say that it was a pleasurable distraction from my solitary life.

When I’d arrived home all I could think about was her sweet smile and how petrified she looked on the side of that road. I didn’t even want to think about what could have happened to her if I hadn’t been there. We may have been strangers, but I’d never want a woman to be the victim of a heinous crime, especially after what I’d been through.

She needed to be more careful. Just because there were a lot of country back roads, didn’t mean it was a safer place to be. She could be lying dead in a ditch. I’d saved her, which was probably why I couldn’t shake thoughts of the girl. She’d distracted me, causing me to smile for at least a few moments. No one could understand what something like that felt like after so long. They couldn’t know the hardships that I faced to carry on every day, living with such a dreadful past. My life may have been ruined, but a simple smile at least calmed my soul.

I turned on the local baseball game and plopped down on the couch. I’d finished off the bourbon three hours ago, and all that was left in the fridge was a can of cola and two more bottles of water. I would have to go into town tomorrow and grab some groceries. We’d been there long enough for me to start being independent. I couldn’t continue to rely on my sister for everything.

I needed to get it through my head that my past was buried two states away from here. Nobody knew me, and I could possibly start over fresh, finally again after so long.

Just knowing that scared and excited me at the same time. I hoped that this would be the opportunity that I needed, God knows I’d waited long enough for it.

I don’t know how long I stayed awake after cozying up on that old couch. One minute I was watching the game, and the next I was driving on my motorcycle with a very sexy lady on the back. We pulled over to what looked like the same patch of woods that she’d been at earlier, except this time we were all alone. Once her helmet was removed she attempted to straighten out her hair. I broke the distance between us, and reached up grabbing the edge of the ribbon and pulling it out of the bow she’d tied. Her hair fell down over her shoulders, while our eyes remained fixed on each other. Hope opened her lips to speak, but I didn’t let her. I had to taste her, to feel what it was like to kiss someone again, after so long.

When I woke the next morning, I felt unrested. The majority of the night had been filled with dreams of Hope. Before I became some pedophile, I needed to find out everything my sister knew about her. I couldn’t believe she’d been holding out on me. Why hadn’t she mentioned that Mark had this smoking hot daughter? She obviously knew that she was coming over yesterday, but insisted on calling her “an important person”. I had to wonder if my dear sister was purposely keeping her away from me. It was probably because she was a minor. I didn’t know any girl my age that wore ribbons in their hair.

I hadn’t seen any pictures of her hanging around the house, though most weren’t hung yet. Buffy said they still had a huge storage unit that they needed to unload, so perhaps they were in there, but it was still strange. Why keep it a secret? Did they really think it was necessary to hide her from me?

I started feeling like they didn’t trust me at all. Normally I wouldn’t have cared, but after everything that had happened, I couldn’t help but feel a little bent out of shape about it.

When I heard the door open and close I sat up, realizing I was still on the couch instead of in my bed. I picked up my cell phone and noticed it was near ten in the morning. My sister came prancing in like she’d been up for hours. “Good morning, sleepy head. Time to get up. Mark and I have big plans for us tonight.”