Cold Turkey: A Second Helpings Short Story

  Cold Turkey

  A Second Helpings Short Story

  Olivia Hawthorne

  Contents

  BLURB

  Virginia

  Fox

  Virginia

  Fox

  Virginia

  Virginia

  Second Helpings Short Stories

  Book Hangover Lounge

  About the Author

  Also by Olivia Hawthorne

  Copyright © Cold Turkey, a Second Helpings Short Story 2018

  by Olivia Hawthorne

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Read all the Second Helpings Short Stories! Each one can be read alone, or binge on all of them before going for dinner with the family!

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  Baby Gravy by Frankie Love http://smarturl.it/Baby-Gravy

  Man-Berry Sauce by Tessa Blake http://smarturl.it/Man-BerrySauce

  Cold Turkey by Olivia Hawthorne http://smarturl.it/ColdTurkey

  Hot Apple Pie by Laney Powell http://smarturl.it/HotApplePie

  Whipped by Sierra Hill - Author http://smarturl.it/Whipped1

  His Meaty Drumstick by Vivian Ward http://smarturl.it/HisMeatyDrumstick

  Double Stuffed by Derek Masters http://smarturl.it/DoubleStuffed

  Dirty Dessert by Dori Author Dori Lavelle http://smarturl.it/DirtyDessert

  Roll Play by Sher Dillard http://smarturl.it/RollPlay

  Cheeky Trifle by Tracy Lorraine http://smarturl.it/CheekyTrifle

  BLURB

  Virginia: I left this small town five years ago, quitting the man I loved cold turkey and fleeing a dull, rural life.

  Running to the man I thought I loved, right into a life of misery in the city.

  Here I was, being rescued on Thanksgiving by the only man who could heal my soul.

  But I was too proud to admit my mistake, so fate had to force my hand.

  Fox: She nearly destroyed me when she ran away those years ago, but here she was standing in the rain with a busted down car and a broken heart.

  I swore I’d never love again, and meaningless fling after meaningless fling left me hollow and shattered inside.

  All along I needed her back, but I was too god damned stubborn to let her know.

  So fate stepped in and did it for me.

  Virginia

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I muttered under my breath as my car electronic panel lit up and started throwing error codes like an angry woman throwing dinner plates.

  I was about twenty miles out of town, which meant twenty five miles away from my parent’s place…which meant a long, horrible walk if I broke down.

  I pushed the pedal and it didn’t respond, the car just lost juice and glided to a stop on the side of the road.

  “Fucking electric cars,” I muttered again and pressed the ignition button.

  Nothing happened.

  The panel was giving me codes again, and if I had my diagnostic manual with me I might know what the hell they meant, but I didn’t, so here I was.

  “Fuck.”

  I pulled my purse off the passenger seat and fished around inside until I found my iPhone.

  The latest model, a gift from Davis for his latest affair.

  It was beautiful, shiny, engraved with some loving words from him to me, and completely fucking useless at the moment.

  I was getting zero bars, and the car’s wifi seemed to have died along with the car itself.

  I opened the door and was hit with a gust of wind and a smattering of rain. The storm was getting worse and I was not dressed for a walk along the pitch black country road.

  I felt hot tears sting the back of my eyelids, this had been the worst month of my life and this was just the cherry on top of the shit sundae.

  I didn’t know how to admit it to anyone, but I’d finally left Davis.

  I’d packed everything I had into this stupid electric car and driven away, back to my parent’s place because there was no way I could afford rent in the city on my own.

  Not on my salary, which was next to nothing in spite of me graduating at the top of my class and becoming a teacher.

  Our country didn’t value education any more than it valued educators, and I was forced to leave.

  My parents didn’t even know I was coming, so nobody would be looking for me.

  I could literally die out here on the road and nobody would miss me for days.

  If ever.

  Those hot tears began to fall and slide down my cheeks, leaving trails of weary exhaustion in their wake.

  I was done, I felt like I was about to give up.

  Everything I’d worked for had been for nothing. Leaving the boredom and routine of my small town, taking a chance in the city, falling in love again.

  All of it had been hollow and meaningless.

  And now it seemed as if I couldn’t even run home properly, everything in my life had to fall apart.

  All at once bright lights cut through the darkness and rain, illuminating the interior of my car.

  A truck roared up to me and I felt fear tugging against my heart, telling me they could be dangerous, I was vulnerable out here alone and unprotected.

  But I had no choice really, what else could I do?

  I opened the door and a gust of wind blew my hair into my face. It was a wild, untamed mass of thick dirty blonde rope that Davis had always hated. He’d always wanted me to have it trimmed into a sleek bob, but I preferred it like this…a lion’s mane.

  But right now it momentarily blinded me.

  The lights lit up the side of my car and I could make out the silhouette of a man’s figure through the curtain of my hair.

  “Well, fuck,” I heard him say and my blood ran ice cold.

  I might not be in danger, but I was at risk.

  I lifted my hand, brushed my hair off my face and looked up, thrusting out my chin to face the one ghost of my past that I regretted bitterly.

  Fox Declan Adams.

  My high school sweetheart, and the one man in the world I’d truly loved.

  And the only man I’d ever run away from.

  “Hey Fox,” I said with a grimace.

  “Virginia Walters. I didn’t know you were back in town.”

  “Nobody did,” I replied and took a step towards him, ready to explain what was going on and maybe to apologize for breaking his heart all those years ago.

  But I was interrupted when a jagged bolt of lightning tore across the night sky. I screamed, jumped to my right and slipped in the mud on the side of the road.

  I lost my footing and began to slide down and fall.

  Thunder roared overhead and I screamed again, storms were my one terror, and Fox of all people knew that.

  Which is why he acted before he realized what he was doing, I was sure.

  He leapt towards me, hooked his arms under my pits, and held me upright so he could save me from rolling ass over teakettle down the muddied embankment into the ditch.

  I lost my balance and fell backwards, right into his arms.

  It took just a moment for me to realize my breasts were crushed against his chest and his huge, muscled arms were still tight around me, keeping me save from harm.

  I exhaled and the rain washed away my tears, and as I l
ooked up into his stunning green eyes, I wondered if it would wash away the sins of my past.

  Could Fox ever forgive me, ever get over what I’d done to him?

  Because as I melted against his body, his black hair and beard soaked in the storm, and his shirt clinging to his broad chest…I realized I had missed this.

  I felt like I was coming home.

  Fox seemed to relax for a moment as our bodies rediscovered each other, but then a dark shadow passed behind his eyes and he stiffened up.

  He pushed me away and in a cold monotone he said, “I’ll help you get out of the storm and back to your family. But that’s it, after that you’re on your own.”

  His arms dropped to his side and the inches between us suddenly felt like a canyon of pain.

  And there was no going back, no crossing to the other side.

  Fox

  Fuck, she was stunning. Some women from high school hadn’t aged well, they looked like beef jerky, dried and dehydrated.

  Virginia was still like a juicy steak, and I had a sudden urge to bury my cock deep inside of her the moment I saw her there in the rain.

  God damn her.

  She wasn’t supposed to be back, and she wasn’t supposed to need help, and she wasn’t supposed to look so god damned beautiful standing in the pouring rain, wet to the bone.

  Virginia had broken my fucking heart, and here she was.

  I was helping her into my truck, talking about taking her across town to her parent’s place like I was her fucking Uber.

  The rain fell in sheets and my windshield wipers could barely keep up. I leaned forward and slowed down, following the bright slice of headlights cutting into the darkened night.

  “I forgot how black it gets out here at night,” Virginia said, shivering. I reached over and turned up the heat. She seemed to tremble just as hard so I reached behind me in the extended cab and found my flannel shirt.

  I handed it to her and said, “Cover up, you’re freezing. And yes, it’s pretty dark without streetlights, city girl.”

  She took my shirt and pulled it on. I glanced at her and noted how it hugged her curves and the swell of her breasts.

  God damn her.

  I wanted to hate her, but…fuck. She was making it so hard.

  “I’m still a country girl,” she said with a little smile. “At least that’s what all my city friends always said. You can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl.”

  “Not with those nails, you’re not,” I said, looking down at her hands.

  She blushed and looked down and I immediately felt like a real jerk.

  I hated her, or had mixed feelings about her.

  Or god damned, I didn’t know what I thought about her, but I didn’t have to be an asshole about it.

  “I’m sorry, it’s been a long day,” I said. “The weather is shit, as you might have noticed, and I’ve got a few hundred head of cattle to get ready for the winter.”

  “Oh I missed that kind of thing,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “Do you still have your ranch horse, Doc?”

  “I do, but I don’t ride him anymore,” I said. “He’s reaching the end of his years.”

  “That’s too bad,” she said and pain flickered across her features. “He’s a good horse.”

  “Listen, I really didn’t mean to be such an asshole. Seeing you has brought up…well, a shit ton of feelings,” I told her.

  “I’m sorry, Fox. I’m the one who’s the asshole. I never did apologize to you when I…well, when I left.”

  I turned to tell her not to worry about it when a flash of lightning cut across the sky and she screamed.

  “Watch out!”

  I jerked my head back and looked ahead of me on the road.

  Where the bridge had once been was now a raging river.

  If we had kept going, we would have been in the middle of it by then.

  I skidded to a stop on the wet pavement and exhaled loudly.

  “Fuck!”

  “That’s the only road,” she said, grabbing hold of the dashboard. “How are we going to make it to my parent’s house?”

  “We aren’t,” I told her and threw my truck in reverse. “We’re heading back to my place, at least you can dry off and give your family a call to let them know you’re safe.”

  “Why don’t we just take Gardner Creek’s road?” she asked, looking around and then behind us. “Or maybe I could get a tow truck out to bring me into town?”

  “Garner’s Creek was washed out in the spring,” I said. “But if you weren’t a city girl, you’d know that already.”

  “Then what am I going to do?” she wailed.

  “I promise I won’t bite,” I said, a little pissed off that she was seemingly that upset being stuck with me. “You can have the guest suite, you won’t even see me if you don’t want to.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that, Fox. I’m sorry. I’m just so stressed about, well, everything,” she said, leaning her head against the window. “And you made it very clear that I’m not welcome at your house when you offered me a ride.”

  God damn, I had done that. I had told her in no uncertain terms that I would give her a ride, and that was it.

  It was time for me to swallow my anger and eat some crow.

  “I’m angry with you,” I said slowly. “But it doesn’t mean I can’t take care of you. Make sure you’re okay.”

  I drove a few more minutes and hung a right off the main road down the direction to my place.

  The last time Virginia had been here, I’d just bought the property and lived in a broke down cabin while I planned the house I’d dreamed of.

  For her and me.

  And our children.

  Before I’d even gotten a chance to lay the foundation, she’d bolted and I’d never seen her again.

  Until now.

  Which led me around again in a circle to the god damn portion of the evening.

  God damn Virginia Walters. I wanted to hate her, but more than ever, I wanted to fuck her.

  And now she was coming home with me so how the fuck was I ever going to make it through the night without losing myself in her again?

  Could I spend one night with her and walk away from her this time?

  I was certain I was going to find out.

  Virginia

  I was more than a little overwhelmed when I had to go home with Fox.

  He said I could stay in his guest suite, but the last time I’d seen his place, he had nothing more than a cabin.

  But spending the night in a cozy cabin with him had a certain appeal.

  His big, muscled body…us forced into closed quarters.

  I felt heat creeping up my face as I thought about it.

  Was there any chance I could rekindle the crazy passion we’d once had, even if he hated me and even if it was just for a night?

  He’d been my first, after all, and I’d been his. We’d learned so much together.

  There had been a couple men before I met Davis, and only Davis since then.

  But nobody had ever been as satisfying as Fox.

  Not even close.

  We were quiet in the truck on the way back to his place, the excitement of the bridge being impassable and the storm whipping around us was already too much.

  I didn’t know what to say, because I wanted to say so much.

  Finally as we turned down the road leading to his ranch, I couldn’t help myself.

  “I’m sorry I treated you so badly, Fox,” I said. I kept my eyes straight ahead, watching the wind and rain lash the trees around so hard they were dipping towards the road and seemed dangerously close to falling.

  “Don’t think about it,” he responded but didn’t look at me.

  I wanted him to look at me, to actually see me.

  “I have been thinking about it though, for years,” I said.

  “Well I haven’t been, so you’re off the hook,” he said, still not looking.

  He
pulled up to a huge house that I could barely see in the dark, but it was gorgeous.

  In fact…from what I could see, it seemed very similar to the one that Fox and I had dreamed about and planned on building one day.

  “You built our house!” I exclaimed without thinking.

  “My house,” he grumbled and parked the truck. “Looks like the power’s out though so we’ll be roughing it tonight.”

  “Will the phones work though?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but don’t worry, we’ll get you to your parent’s place in time for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.”

  We got out and he picked up my bags. I followed him up the wide stairs at the front of the ranch house and couldn’t help but stare at how beautiful the house had turned out.

  It really was the one we’d dreamed of, and here Fox had gone and built it.

  Once inside, he set my bags down and began to light candles around the house. I followed along behind him, taking in the magnificence of the house and noting so many things that we’d wanted at one time together.

  We ended up in the kitchen and he turned with several candles, set them out on the marble island, and lit each one of them.

  I watched his face as he did, and with each one he was illuminated in the flickering light and I remembered him from long ago.

  He looked the same as when I left so long ago, but he was so completely different.

  He wore the world in his eyes, the experiences he’d gone through, the good and the bad.

  And with a sudden start, I realized part of it was pain.

  And I was the cause of it.

  “Please, Fox, talk to me about my apology. I need you to hear me.”

  “I don’t need to talk about it, Virginia. It’s in the past and it’s done. There’s no way to fix it now.”

  “It’s not the past, I’m here now. I’m right in front of you. Look at me.”