Mother trucker, p.1
Mother Trucker, page 1
Mother Trucker
Chelsea Camaron
Contents
Mother Trucker
1. On a hamster wheel in hell with no water in sight!
2. Smacking gum is worse than nails on a chalkboard!
3. Bases are loaded and so is her question!
4. One drink, two drinks, red drink, blue drink, more drinks for all!
5. Heedy, needy, and greedy, that’s how I feel tonight!
Greer
6. Sometimes falling is the best feeling in the world, it’s the landing that may be tricky!
7. For once throw caution to the wind!
8. What a way to wake up … it’s better than coffee in my mug!
Lia
9. One Month Later
10. Two Months Later
11. Six Months Later
Panty Snatcher
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About the Author
Also by Chelsea Camaron
Copyright © Chelsea Camaron 2016
All Rights Reserved. This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction in whole or in part, without express written permission by Chelsea Camaron.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First edition published December 2016
Cover Photo Credit: Deposit Photos (Vladimirs Poplavskis)
This work of fiction is intended for mature audiences only. All sexually active characters portrayed in this book are eighteen years of age or older. Please do not buy if strong sexual situations, and explicit language offends you.
Created with Vellum
Mother Trucker
He’s the kind of my man my mother always warned me about.
Small towns keep no secrets. Everyone knows all the mistakes that cover Greer Jones’ past.
Yet one look, one kiss, and somehow all his wrongs are suddenly oh so right.
In the end, my heart wants what it wants even as my mind screams he’s one bad …
Mother Trucker.
* * *
***This is a small town romance that is a fast paced short story. If insta-attraction, insta-lust, insta-love, and insta-ever after aren’t your thing then this isn’t the book for you. If it is then prepare yourself to meet Greer and fall for one bad Mother Trucker!***
One
On a hamster wheel in hell with no water in sight!
Greer
“You better leave some money. You know the school always needs something from Kylie,” Becky screeches, pacing the small space of her home. The doublewide is far from being spectacular, but it keeps Kylie warm and it’s a roof over her head. I wish I could give her more. Something nicer, a more stable environment. Becky keeps my hands tied and at this point I’m lucky I can still crash on the couch.
“The school doesn’t need shit, it’s more of your fuckin’ games.” I charge back at her when she reaches for the pack of cigarettes on the counter. I grab the lighter beside them before she can. “Not in the house,” I remind her, knowing damn well when I leave she smokes in here.
The yellow tinge on the cheap plastic blinds leave the signs of what she does. The burn marks in the carpet where she misses the ashtray aren’t something to ignore. She doesn’t care to straighten up or take care of anything. Kylie and I clean top to bottom every two weeks while Becky either disappears to fuck someone or locks herself in her room.
The walls are covered in wooden paneling that if it wasn’t so dark the place would look pretty big for a mobile home. The structure is good and that’s all that matters for me until Kylie gets old enough to get out. Then me and my daughter will have our own place, far away from Becky.
“She’s not a fuckin’ baby anymore.” She paces wildly in her short ass shorts and tank top with no bra. “She’s fourteen damn years old, Greer. I can smoke around her.”
This fourteen-year-old daughter has given me fifteen years tied to Rebecca “Becky” Conway’s brand of bullshit. There was a time I tried to make this work. Really, in the beginning, I even considered putting a ring on her finger and making us a real family. Then the truth came out and I learned a hard lesson in living with someone else’s lies on top of lies.
After that I thought we could be friends with benefits. Becky has a nice body. Even after having Kylie, her body bounced back. Something she’s not afraid to show either. She was an easy lay then, she’s an easy lay now. Her head, though, it’s a landmine of drama always waiting to blow. And there is no detaching her from the emotional entanglements.
“Not while I’m paying the fucking rent you won’t,” I challenge her back.
“Oh, here we go with that shit again. Control me with your money. Hit the road in your truck, Greer, and don’t look back,” she says with tears filling her eyes.
There was a time this would bother me. Not anymore. She’s used every trick in the book to fuck with my head, my heart, and my wallet.
“You control me with Kylie and you fuckin’ know it.”
She starts to say something but I raise my hand cutting her off as I hear the car door shut in front of the house. “Kylie’s home.”
Within moments, our beautiful girl is walking in with her back pack slung over her shoulder. Her dark hair is up in a ponytail, she’s in jeans, a tank top with one of my flannel shirt’s swallowing her and going past her knees, and wearing the black converse I bought her at the beginning of the school year. One look and her eyes meet mine.
“Gotta take a load, Dad?” she reads me and asks.
I nod.
“How long and how far?” She drops her bag at the front door and comes to sit beside me on the old brown couch. It’s the same couch that, when she was a baby, I would lay on and let her sleep for hours on my chest. Just me and my baby girl, Kylie. She has been my one true love in life.
“Only got one load secured so far. Gotta get to Louisiana and drop this one. Hoping to pick up a load back, but you know how truckin’ works, Kylie. It may take me getting a load further out and then a few more before I can make it back. I don’t like these runs but it’s our life.”
“I know,” she says on a sigh leaning into me. “Jaylene wants me to stay with her at her Granny’s this weekend, are you good with that?”
Becky gives me the glare saying she doesn’t want Kylie to stay with the Cortez family even though Jaylene has been her best friend since Kindergarten. Not only that, Kylie helps me mow the grass for Jaylene’s Granny in the summer so she’s no stranger there. I don’t hesitate to give my answer, Becky be damned.
“I’m good with that,” I reply meeting Becky’s glare head on.
“Don’t you think you should ask me? I am your mother, Kylie!”
Our daughter only shrugs before getting up and grabbing her back pack before heading to her room without another word.
“I’m goin’ outside to smoke,” Becky huffs not challenging me.
Quickly, I head to Kylie’s room. She doesn’t hide the tears when I enter. Going to her, I embrace her in a hug as she stands to meet my open arms.
“Shhhh, Kylie, I promise I’ll get back as soon as I can. I already left the coffee can under the azalea at Granny Cortez’s. There is money inside it if your mom fucks up again. Left some money in the magic kit too. I charged your phone, it’s between your mattresses right now. You need it, you use it.”
God, I hate this is how things are. I have to hide money in an old lady’s yard so my kid can eat. Then I had to add a phone to my plan because Becky can’t ever keep her own shit turned on and I need to reach Kylie. When Kylie was eight, I saved up and took her to a magic show, just the two of us. When it was done I bought her a magic kit. We use the box with a false bottom to leave each other notes and where I stash cash for her.
Too many years of Becky blowing what was given to her for Kylie, I can’t leave it to chance. The rent had to be moved to a draft from my account when she kept spending the cash and letting me deal with eviction notices while on the road.
Becky Conway, my one night stand in high school who has tied me down for life. She’s not the worst of mother’s but she’s close. I can’t remember a time in Kylie’s life when she ever woke up in the middle of the night for her own kid. She would let her cry as a baby until I would get up and take care of her. Once I realized she wouldn’t get up with her, I stopped the long hauls and focused my truck driving on local carries as much as possible. The money is out on the road, but Kylie wasn’t taken care of when I left, so I have had to keep it to a minimum.
She’s older now, for the most part she can take care of herself so I can make this run and get back, hopefully, before Becky can do much damage.
Two
Smacking gum is worse than nails on a chalkboard!
Lia
Rebecca Conway stands in front of my desk with her hair in a crazy mess on top of her head. I swear she is the walking, talking, picture example of what a rat’s nest hairstyle is. Her torn t-shirt and oversized sweats only add to her certified trashy look today.
“They turned off my water,” she screeches into the cheap flip phone smacking her gum wildly. “You better come right now!”
I can’t help but jump at her words and she hasn’t even spoken to me yet. Smack. The continual noise coming from her mouth is grating on my ear drums. Blow. Pop. I feel my stomach churn. I’ve never liked the sounds of smacking lips, chomping while eating, or chewing gum. It is obnoxious, don’t people see that.
Apparently, Rebecca Conway doesn’t.
She forces her phone in front of my face with a pissy snarl on hers. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Robeson County water and utilities, this is Magnolia Cortez, how may I assist you?” I say through clenched teeth as kindly as I can.
“Lia, this is Greer. How much does she owe?” His tone is sharp. I’ve known Greer Jones since we were young kids, like elementary school and on. We live in a small town, both of us born and raised in the Sandhills of North Carolina. On and off, over the years, we sometimes had the same circle of friends. He’s always been a stand-up kind of guy. How he ended up with Rebecca and stayed for so long is something no one seems to understand.
“I cannot disclose the amount over the phone, Mr. Jones,” I explain professionally and honestly. “I can allow Ms. Conway to inform you, should she wish, but the account is in her name.”
“Fuck, this shit is gonna be like the damn electric and the fuckin’ lease; I gotta switch it around,” he huffs into the phone not hiding his frustration. “Been on the damn road two weeks, just got home twelve hours ago and already the shit starts,” he mumbles more to himself than to me. “Give me half an hour to drop the load I’ve got, and I’ll be there to cover it.”
Before I can hand the phone back to Rebecca, he disconnects the call leaving her to look at a black screen while blowing a bubble and popping it loudly.
“Well, what’d he say?”
“You may wait in the lobby, Ms. Conway. He’ll be here in about half an hour.”
“What’s my total? I’m gonna need him to cover the reconnect.”
She has not a single sliver of embarrassment about any of this. Then again, I’m not sure she feels any shame about much. This isn’t the first time she’s been disconnected. It also is a known fact that she’s gone to the grocery store unable to cover her costs. Even once at the gas station, she made Kylie get out and ask someone to give them gas money. Jaylene, my teenaged niece, and Kylie’s best friend, cried for two days over how upset Kylie was to be put in that situation. Greer was out of town, Kylie was seven or eight years old when the gas station incident happened. Six years later and her mom still doesn’t have her life together.
Me, I couldn’t depend on a man the way Rebecca does Greer. My mother raised my sister Charlene and I to stand on our own. She was also big on paying our bills on time. Not living one day from disconnect or worse, like Rebecca Conway is. I type her name into my search screen and find her account.
This isn’t the first time it’s been late, and it’s not the first time Greer has had to scramble in to pay it including a disconnect. Greer always comes in, though, and pays her up plus some extra. Yet, over and over again, this happens like a perpetual cycle of dysfunction.
“You are three months behind. With reconnect and to be current it will be three hundred, twenty-six dollars, and seventy-one cents. If he arrives before Noon we can have it turned back on today.”
She smacks her gum again and blows another bubble before dialing on her phone. “The chick at the desk,” she mutters rudely as if she doesn’t know me at all, when I know she does, but this is who she is, “says I owe five hundred to get it turned back on today.”
There is a pause while whomever she has on the line speaks. “Greer,” she whines and I bet he’s more annoyed than before that he said he was on his way and she’s calling back. “Just go to the bank put the money in and I’ll pay the bill. Kylie has to have water.”
I clench my hands trying to tamp down my annoyance that she’s lying to Greer. Women like her drive me insane. I mean, take Rebecca ‘Becky’ Conway and Greer Jones for example.
We all went to high school together. Greer was a star baseball player. Becky was the school slut. She bragged about wanting to be gang banged by the whole baseball team. We graduated and Greer was going to play in the minor leagues, he was that good.
Until Becky popped up pregnant with Kylie. Being a good guy, Greer found some trucking company to pay for his driving school and hit the open road. Now he drives more local for the most part, only taking occasional out of town loads so he can be there for Kylie’s softball games.
The whole town talks about how she tied him down, taking his money at every opportunity. This isn’t the first time Becky’s had the water turned off, the lights, and even gone to the grocery store with no money. Everyone knows she’s unreliable at best.
He takes side jobs when he can. He even mows the lawn for my grandmother in the summer. I’ve been at her house cleaning and I can admit to drooling on more than one occasion at the man’s body as he pushes the old mower with his shirt off and sweat dripping off every cut of his muscles.
It’s not long before Greer walks in. He’s tall and has to duck to get in the doors. His dark hair is short. For a man who lives life half the time in the cab of a truck, his face isn’t bushy in a wild way. He has beard but it’s well groomed. I can see where many women wish he was on the market for even a single night. He’s in jeans that are made to hug his ass, cowboy boots, and a red flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up showing off his tattooed forearms.
Plastering on my best work smile, I shift my eyes in Becky’s direction where she immediately pushes off the wall and rushes to him. While she fights to wrap her arms around what she considers her man, he keeps her at arms distance.
“Just give me the cash, I’ll take care of it Greer. You can get back to work.”
“No,” he says sternly. With his back to me, I can see his stiff posture only growing tighter. “Last time, shit didn’t get paid. Kylie had to use the showers at school like it was home. Told my girl it wouldn’t happen again.” He pauses and Becky finally stops smacking her gum at what I can only assume is because of the look on his face. “I’ll take care of it because it won’t happen again.” His voice is firm in a way that would make me want to jump.
He turns around and heads straight for my desk. Reaching in his back pocket, he pulls out his wallet. Tossing down five one hundred dollar bills, he nods to me.
“That’ll take care of it, Lia.” I nod and begin to process the payment and reconnect request. “Anything over, make it roll into a bill credit so, at least, I’ll have a month of peace. I’ll come by next week get the shit changed into my name and on auto draft.”
“Oh no you won’t,” Becky yells tugging on Greer’s arm. “My house, my utilities. You won’t leave me Greer Jones with no lights and power.” He shakes his head at her.
“Really, Becky? This shit again! Have I left your ass without before? All these fuckin’ years, Becky, all the shit you’ve done, I ever let you go without?”
I hear Becky mumbling to Greer to just leave before he looks to me. “Make sure to give me a receipt when you finish putting that in, Lia, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all,” I reply sweetly realizing he’s very onto her game with the bills and his money. I like that; no I respect it.
I study the two of them out of the corner of my eye as I wait for the computer to update. Rumor has it he dumped her years ago. Kylie has told Jaylene that her dad sleeps on the couch. He only lives there to be able to see her. Watching Becky and Greer interact, it’s clear she really has lost him.
Yet, the way she paws and whines at him, I don’t think she wants to accept that it’s over.
The man is sexy as sin, hardworking, and a devoted dad. Sure, it can’t be easy, but I wouldn’t want to let someone like that go for sure. Becky needs to grow up so she can see what’s right in front of her face before it’s really gone forever or let go so Greer can have a life.
