Second Chance at Love

Chapter 18

Feeling terrified, I ball my fist and swing it as hard as I can, making direct contact with my assailant’s face.

“Hey, what the hell, Tasha!?” I hear him say.

Wait, he called me by my name?!

Looking back up, I see Mathieu holding on his nose, blood pouring in between his fingers and down his chin.

“Mathieu?! What the hell are you doing here? You scared me half to death!” I yell at him.

“Jeez, you got a mean right hook. I’ll remember not to piss you off in the future. s**t, this hurt.” He says, trying to make his nose stop bleeding.

“I don’t feel sorry for you for one second, what the hell were you thinking running like that behind me, with your f*****g hood on, in the middle of the woods?! Are you insane?!” I say, hitting him again, but on the shoulder this time.

“OUCH! Stop hitting me, I’m sorry I scared you, it wasn’t on purpose! “He says, with one hand on his shoulder and the other still holding his nose.

“Come here,” I tell him.

Taking out my water bottle and the towel I have in my small bag, I make him sit down on a log and pour some water. Moving his hand out of the way, I start cleaning the blood away.

I always carry a small first aid kit in my one-shoulder backpack, just in case. Lord knows I get many scrapes and scratches when I go running in the woods.

“Here, put this inside your nose,” I tell him, handing him two tampons I took out of there applicator.

“What the hell?! I am not putting this in my nose!” He says, pushing my hand away, looking at me as if I’m insane.

“Do you want to stop your nose from bleeding?” I ask him crudely.

Staring at me and back at the two tampons I still had in my hand, he exhales deeply, giving up and taking them from me. Looking unsure, he finally sticks them in his nose one by one.

Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, DON’T LAUGH! I try to repeat in my head over and over, but I just can’t hold it in anymore.

“This is not funny, stop it!” He says, barely containing his own laugh.

“I’m sorry, but I’m taking a picture of this! This is too funny! You mom’s going to love this!” I say, still laughing while taking out my phone to take a picture.

“Don’t you dare show this to anyone!” He says, looking at me with the two tampons sticking out his nose, making me snort-laugh.

Finally getting control of my laughter, I turn to him.

“I’m sorry I hit you so far, but seriously, what are you doing here? And why did you grab my arm like that? You scared the s**t out of me!” I tell him with a small reproachful look.

“I when to your place and you weren’t there. I wanted to invite you out for brunch. I didn’t want to give you the chance to say no, so I just showed up. I met your daughter. Gosh, she looks like you. Same smile.” He says, making my eyes bulge out.

“You when at my house? You… met my daughter?! What did you tell her?!” I ask, getting a bit nervous.

“I asked her if you were there. She wouldn’t tell me at first. She asked me who I was, and why I wanted to see you. I told her I just wanted to hang out and spend some time with you. She looked like she was doubting me for some reason. Did you tell her about me? About what I did, or more didn’t do back then?” He asks, looking a little dejected.

“No. I didn’t tell her about our full past. I did tell her that I knew you. That we’ve known each other since we were kids. She tries getting me to tell her every possible detail possible, but I wouldn’t. She made her own assumption. That I might have broken your heart, or maybe it was you who broke mine. I shut down that conversation pretty fast. I love my daughter and I don’t hide very much from her, but this was not the information she needed to know. She would hate you if she did.” I tell him honestly.

“I wouldn’t blame her. I hate myself enough for the both of us for what I did to you back then. By the time a grew a pair of balls and went to see you, to talk to you, you had already left. I’ve lived with this regret for years. Still am. I am pretty happy you're giving me a chance to at least try to make up for it. I know I’ll never be able to change what happened in the past, but I sure as hell will try to make up for it in the future.” He says, giving me his amazing smile.

Oh, that smile is going to ruin me one of these days. I can feel myself almost getting wet. Well, I would if it weren’t from the two tampons still sticking out from his nose.

“It’s been a few minutes, try taking one out to see if it’s still bleeding,” I tell him.

Taking one out, I place my hand on both sides of his face looking to see if it’s still bleeding.

“I think you good, try taking the other one out.”

He does as I ask. Still holding on his face and making sure the other nostril isn’t bleeding either, he closes his eyes slightly and presses his face more on one of my hands.

Now that’s I know he’s fine and feeling him press his cheek into the palm of my hand, I realize I’m still holding on his face. The intense look he’s giving me is making my breath hitch and heartbeat so much faster.

He looks from my eyes to my lips and backs up.

I want to press my lips against his just as much as he does mine.

“Please, don’t make me regret taking a leap of faith on you, please,” I tell him, just as he places a sweet but sensual kiss on my lips.