Repair Me (Kin #1)(36)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Of course, Ashley wasn’t backing off, at all. She called me constantly and often ended up at my place, sometimes so drunk that I couldn’t let her drive home. I’d just gotten to the point where I didn’t give a shit about anything anymore. My life was a mess and I couldn’t see a way to make things better.

With my father all messed up in the head, it was up to me to keep the business going. I hated seeing my cousin pulling up in his fancy car with that stereo system, while I drove my truck around and lived off of barely anything.

When he offered to set me up, I told him no, six times. I didn’t want to be around some girl and have to act like I was a gentleman. The last time I wanted to be with a girl, she left me more messed up than before we ever met.

But he insisted.

Finally, after a week of him asking, I agreed.

He picked me up on a Friday night. The weather was cool that night and I grabbed my jacket in case I needed it. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

“Cuz, you are so gettin’ laid tonight.”

I shook my head and scrunched up my face. “I ain’t interested in f**kin’ this girl. I only agreed to this because you wouldn’t leave me alone.”

“Pussy is pu**y, dude.”

“Says the guy that has a girlfriend.”

We both began to laugh. “So, Lace is pickin’ up her friend and they are meetin’ us halfway, since it’s an hour drive. I told her we’d meet them at that pub we used to go to. Do you remember?”

“Yeah. I remember carryin’ your ass out of there.”

We joked for the rest of the thirty-minute ride. I wasn’t nervous about meeting this girl, considering that I never had to see her again, if I didn’t want to. It was pathetic, but before I even laid eyes on her, I was comparing her to the first time I met Sky. Her blonde hair was whipping around in the wind and those bright eyes turned me on, instantly.

When we got to the pub, the girls weren’t there, so we went in and got a table. We’d ordered a round of drinks for ourselves and were sitting down when they came in. My back was facing the door they entered from, so Shayne spotted them first. I took a sip of beer and waited to meet this mystery girl that he was dying to set me up with. When Shayne and his girlfriend went to sit down, I turned and got the shock of my life.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of her and she couldn’t take her eyes off of me either.

Shayne cleared his throat. “Ford, this is…”

“Sky.” Her name just came out of my mouth while my eyes didn’t even blink. She looked stunning. “What are you doin’ here?” I turned to glance at my cousin, who was smiling from ear to ear.

“Lacey is my best friend.”

“Shayne is my cousin.”

The staring continued.

“Did you say your name was Ford? The Ford?” Lacey walked over and shook Sky. “Oh my God, this is crazy.” She looked at Shayne. “Did you know?”

He shrugged. “I had a feelin’.”

Lacey kissed him and they sat down together.

I reached over and grabbed Sky’s hand. “Come with me.”

She didn’t say a word, but let me lead her outside of the bar. My cousin said something as we walked away, but I didn’t stop to listen. Once outside, we turned to face each other. “I haven’t stopped thinkin’ about you, darlin’.”

She smacked me so hard across my face that I think I saw stars. “Don’t you call me darlin’! I thought you liked me, but you left me at the beach to go hook up with your ex. You’re nothing but a two timing ass**le!”

She started to walk away, so I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She slammed into my chest. “You’re wrong!” I kept her close to me, even though she was fighting. “I left because my cousin showed up and needed my help. He found my mother livin’ in a crack house. I left so we could go and fetch her to take her ass to rehab.”

Sky just stared at me. “I saw Ashley the next day. I know you hooked up. Do you know how gross that is?”

I let go of her, but she didn’t walk away. Instead, she stood there waiting for me to explain. “You wouldn’t understand the situation with my mom. She left us when we were kids so she could live on the streets and do drugs. My whole family got ripped apart because of her. I didn’t want to find her, or to help her. Shayne forced my hand and by the time I got back to my place, I just wanted to drown myself in alcohol. I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about you bein’ in that motel. Ashley took advantage of me when I was weak. I didn’t sleep with her because I wanted her. I slept with her because I wanted her to be you.”

She put her hands across her chest. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

I threw my hands in the air. “I don’t know, Sky.”

“She said that I didn’t owe you anything for my car because I paid you with my body. Did you say that?”

I reached for her hand, but she pulled away. “When we were together, did I ever act like I wasn’t into you? The things that we did, I don’t do that with other women. Ashley lied to you, because she knew it would send you packin’. She thought she’d have a chance if you were out of the picture.”

“We weren’t even a couple!” She argued.

“But we could have been.”

“You made it clear that wasn’t an option!” Sky looked away and I could see in her eyes that she was upset. “When we met I was running away with a broken heart, but when you left me in that Motel room, I was devastated. I’ve thought about what I wanted to say to you for so long. Now that I’m here with you, I can’t even find the words.”

“So, that’s it?”

She started to walk away. “I guess so.”

“Well, it ain’t over for me.” I grabbed her into my arms, spinning her around and pressing my lips against hers. I didn’t know whether she was going to slap me again or not, but I just had to feel those lips one more time.

Chapter 15

Skylar

If having a panic attack meant it was hard to breathe and my heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest then that was what was happening to me. For days and even weeks I had thought about this beautiful man standing in front of me. I thought I’d never see him again.

As much as I felt like there were things that needed to be cleared up, I couldn’t fight the passion of him kissing me. My knees became weak and nothing else in the world seemed to matter. It had to be the fact that I missed him, because this kiss was even better than all of the others that we’d shared before. Even when he pulled away, he didn’t move his lips all the way off of mine. I could feel them moving as he spoke. “You drove all this way to go on a blind date?”