Chapter 34

Charlie

A swollen and skinned knee. I was looking Millie over, assessing the situation and working out what had happened before she could say a word. Sore tailbone too, if that wince was anything to go by, but the reddest thing were her eyes. She was blinking fast, that thing that women did when they didn’t want to cry, and that had me moving.

“Don’t worry.” I squeezed her arm because otherwise I’d tug her close, hold her tightly, and stroke her back until she let go and just cried it out. “I’ve got it. You go and sit in my car and stay dry.”

I walked her over, hands hovering, wanting to help her up into the driver’s seat of my truck. Instead, I had to be a man of my word and move away from her, shutting the door to keep her dry and safe when her legs were tucked under the steering wheel, before turning back to her car. The shoes, a smear of blood, I was pretty sure I knew what’d happened. A quick twist of the wheel brace and yup, the bloody thing was locked tight. She’d jumped on the wheel brace in that skirt and ended up on her arse.

Why didn’t she call me?

As soon as I had that thought, I discarded it. I knew why she didn’t, but… Any one of the guys at the station would’ve helped her. In the end, that was what we did every day because it was the only way we could cope with the bad luck, accidents, or just shitty circumstances of life.

If only all problems were as easy as this to fix.

I cracked each one of the nuts, then jacked the back tyre up off the ground with a sturdy old jack that had seen better days before loosening the nuts off and then swapping the tyre out. Her boot was unlocked so I returned the flat tyre and equipment to their places, then turned back to deal with the more complex problem.

Millie.

I walked around to the passenger side of my truck, hand pausing on the handle for just a second before opening it and climbing in.

Sweet, floral, coppery, girl, that’s what hit me as soon as I got in. The cab of my truck had never smelled so good, but I forced myself to meet her eyes and smile.

“All sorted.”

“Oh my god, I could just kiss…”

I couldn’t help but grin when she slapped a hand over her face. The red flush I saw around it, yeah, I liked that a whole lot. It gave me hope that the girl in the red dress was still there, under the neat office wear and the scrapes.

“Already did that.” I scratched at the back of my neck. “So I guess I owe you one, though if you want to build up some credit, a bank of favours…”

I tapped my bottom lip.

“Credit…”

She stared at my lips way too long, and with each second, hope grew. Maybe it wasn’t just me, hopefully she felt it too. A harsh splatter of rain across the windscreen had her jerking back, shaking her head. Guess not then. This wasn’t the first time I was shot down and it wouldn’t be the last, so why did this hurt that much more? As I was bracing myself for a brush off, she blinked faster and faster until a spot of water hit my centre console, not my window.

Millie was crying?

Trying really hard not to, that was clear, but my hand moved of its own accord, grabbing hold of hers. She sucked in one long, shuddering breath then another as she gripped my fingers just as tightly. Her free hand, though, reached up to wipe the tears away, forcing me to look around for a tissue. I cursed under my breath when all I found was a paper serviette from my impromptu lunch today. One wan smile, that had me feeling like all my Christmases had come at once as she dabbed at the corners of her eyes.

“Hey, it's alright.”

I knew I should butt out, keep my damn hands to myself, but touching Millie, feeling her when I thought I’d never do so again, it hit me freaking hard, even though we were just holding hands like teenagers.

And that’s when I realised what Noah had been going through.

Maybe he did this one time back in school, holding hands under the desk or through the hall. He’d have known that rush, that Millie was his girl, and felt like I did right now. Bigger, stronger than I did getting the bloodied body of the person out of the car crash. Better too. I felt ten feet tall and bulletproof until she looked up at me.

“No, it’s not. My dad, my brother, they made me change the tyre over and over so I’d know exactly what I was doing,” she explained.

“And my mum showed me how to at least make scrambled eggs.” I dared to rub my thumb across her knuckles. “I burn them every time.”

“Is this your way of asking me to make you breakfast?” She shook her head slightly, but I saw that smile. It was like a little ember that I could patiently blow to life. “Because I feel like this is a deal that should’ve been hammered out before services were rendered.”

“They were already paid for, remember.”

That pink flush in her cheeks, it made clear what exactly she was recalling, and I liked that a lot. It felt like I was seeing under the mask she wore at work. Seeing Millie walk in with Brent was like a gut punch, followed by a harder one when he announced she was taking over from Judy. I wanted to ask her why, how, what had her take the job and not me, but I knew there was no point. Girls had made clear I was good for a fun time, not a long time, and right now I’d have happily settled for another round if it meant feeling Millie hot, wet, and willing under me. Just one more night and I’d be satisfied, I told myself. Just one more.

“Millie—”

“About that?—”

We both paused, snorting when we realised we’d started talking at the same time.

“Go,” she said with a nod.

“No, you?—”

Whatever else I had to say was cut off by the ring of my phone.

I should’ve looked at my screen, saw who it was, and let it go to voicemail I thought as I heard my mother’s voice down the line, all the while knowing I would never let that happen.

“Charlie?” My sister’s voice came down the line. “You’re still coming around for dinner, right? It’d just I need to get started on that coursework and?—"

“Astrid,” I replied, shooting Millie a rueful smile.

“You forgot.” Astrid sighed. “You did, didn’t you?”

I had, something that happened all too often, but hey, I always made things right with those that I loved.

“I’ll be right there,” I told her.

“You better,” she growled, right before I ended to the call.

This was why I was able to take Millie’s brush off a lot easier than the other two. Women had been expressing their disappointment in me since I was very young, so why would that stop now? I shot Millie a smile as I remembered Knox’s foul mood at Noah’s pining, each one of them missing her in their own way, but that was a luxury I was never able to afford. People made clear what they wanted from me, and then… they took it.

“I’ve gotta go….”

I’d barely said the words when Millie let me go.

“Of course.” The mask was back, something I didn’t realise she put on until she started working for the station. Her smile was perfectly pleasant, making clear nothing upset her. The slight red rims around her eyes were the only things that betrayed her true emotional state. “Thanks for changing my tyre for me.”

“Next time…” I didn’t want to rock the boat, but I couldn’t seem to keep the words back. “Next time give me a ring. You’ve got my number.”

I don’t know if I was happy or not when Millie’s face fell, but I didn’t get a chance to work that out, because she had the door open and was sliding free within seconds. I watched her in the rear vision mirror, noting the limp, but it didn’t stop her from getting into the car and driving away. Staring after a woman that didn’t need me would do me no good, I thought, not when Astrid and my nephews were waiting for me. I slid into the driver’s seat and then did a U-turn, before heading back towards the city.