Read Online Whatever It Takes (Second Chances #2) by L. E. Bross - Free Book Online Page B

trouble during those months after Tess walked. I wanted to break things. Do stupid shit to make me forget about her. He let me get it out of my system, but he also stayed right there making sure I didn’t get too stupid. Dangerous stupid. Juvie stupid.
    “I don’t know, man. When I saw her in the grocery, it was sort of the collide-with-a-train feeling. Then when I was helping her with the car and everything, there were times when . . .” I scrubbed my hand over my face.
    “When?” Seth prodded.
    “She looked so damned lost. Like she was a breath away from breaking into a million pieces.” I’d seen her crying before I knocked on the window of her car that day in the store parking lot. It tore me apart not to be able to reach in and pull her out, tell her everything was going to be okay, but as soon as she saw me there, she straightened her shoulders and gave me the I dare you to pity me look. She had a strength inside her that made me proud. Out of everything that had happened, she hadn’t lost that.
    Seth pointed his beer bottle at me. “Folks, we have a winner. Ding. Ding. Ding. That right there is the answer.”
    “Huh?”
    “ You are a saver. You have a fucking hero complex the size of Texas. You take care of people without anyone even asking. Your dad. Me. Sara. It’s what you do. It’s who you are, man.” Satisfied with his Freudian analysis of me, Seth sat back and took a long draw off his beer.
    “And you are full of shit,” I said, even though I knew it was true. I had felt like a knight coming to the rescue of the princess when I walked across that parking lot on Friday. Fuck me.
    “So what you need to do is stay away from her. If you can’t see her being all ‘Save me, Ryan’ ”—he wiggled his fingers and pitched his voice to sound like a girl—“then you won’t feel the need to swoop in and take care of her. Problem solved.”
    “Didn’t realize there was a problem in the first place.” I finished my beer and tossed the empty bottle into the can by the door.
    Seth sighed. “Just promise me you won’t do anything stupid, okay? You got a good thing going on with your job and Shari. You said it yourself: you aren’t looking for a relationship. You got everything you want. Enjoy it, man. Why rock the boat?”
    I shook my head. “You’re so full of shit, man. Last week you were telling me to get serious about someone. Now you’re saying leave things the way they are. You need to decide which person you want me to be here.”
    Seth turned and looked me straight in the eye. “No, bro,” he said. “You do.”
    W hy rock the boat?
    That was exactly what I was asking myself the following Saturday morning when I pulled up outside Tess’s apartment with a chai latte, a chocolate milk, and a bag that had three doughnuts and a Danish inside.
    I knew she was home because her white Honda was parked in the same spot as before.
    I could still drive away. There was no rule that said just because you drove to a girl’s house you had to knock on the door. Seth’s voice pounded in my head. Seriously, what the hell was I doing?
    Checking on her car. Any good mechanic always follows up. That’s the excuse I’d come up with earlier. Which was complete bullshit because most don’t even care if they fixed it right the first time. But before I could change my mind and restart my truck, the second-floor door opened and Noah bounded out and jumped down the steps, one at a time.
    He glanced over his shoulder and I waited, but Tess wasn’t behind him.
    He hit the sidewalk and ran over to Tess’s car, then pulled on the door handle in the back. I took the keys out of the ignition and pushed out of the truck. I couldn’t imagine Tess would just let him run around outside by himself, not after the look she had on her face at the park when she’d lost track of him for a minute.
    With the coffee and paper bag in hand, I sauntered across the parking lot.
    Noah was pulling on the handle harder now