That I’ve been able to speak to a very masculine guy and let a male of perfection touch my skin.
I try to talk, but my voice is muted.
Awkwardness returns.
Of course. It couldn’t last longer than a minute. Unsure of how to move or speak again to this man, actually that’s any male, his grip tightens on my waist and I’m guided toward a huge orange car gently.
My head swings from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone near us. The night sky is coming and the light is getting minimal.
“You’ll be safe with me.” Shutting the door closed, my hand rests on my shoulder still and my knees throb.
“Okay.” My eyes stay alert, watching for any sign that I’m going to be attacked from outside and now inside the car.
The car starts with a loud grumble and my body vibrates in the leather seat. “Umm… hmmm… I live… umm… snap!” I shut my lips tight and shake my head. Yep, this is more me. My heart thumps against my ribs. The car moves and I close my eyes to gather my wits that are lying scattered back in the hospital room I delivered flowers to less than an hour ago.
Heaviness of his large hand weights my leg. “It’s going to be okay. I’ve got you now.”
My body folds farther into the cushioned seat, but the heat comforts me after I initially flinch. I concentrate on my breathing so I can try and talk again.
“What’s your name, baby?” His voice is quiet and soothing, unlike his presence.
“Bl-Blue-B…”
Looking straight ahead, I flick my vision to the mirror and study his face, trying to find answers to why I am sitting in this car with a stranger.
I heave in a huge breath and release it. “Bluebell.”
A slight smile graces his lips as I say my name, making him look more human. His brown eyes look deadly and stern, yet I swear they are familiar. Am I wishing again and my mind’s playing tricks on me? His jaw’s rigid and locked.
“So, Bluebell. What’s got you all tangled up in the parking lot?” Cool and calm, he looks at me briefly before putting his eyes back on the road, squeezing my thigh. My body feels it zap right through it. What is that?
Shaking my head, I need to tell him where to take me.
“I li-liv-I-live… at… fif…”
“You can stop right there. I’m not taking you anywhere but to the doctor to get looked at. Plus, you were scared out of your mind back there. I need to know what that’s about before I let you out of my sight. I’d never forgive myself if I heard on the news in a day or two something happened to you.”
What?
My brain isn’t comprehending what this guy is saying. Why wouldn’t he want to get rid of me as fast as he can?
“No. I ju-just need t-t-to go ho-h-home.” Panic reels through me, but my leg heats under his hand and the soft way he is stroking it to try to calm me is working. It’s the most ridiculous notion, but I feel safe with this stranger, almost comfortable.
“Here’s what we will do. I don’t think you have done any serious damage, so we will skip the doctor and you can come with me for a bit until we work out what’s got you frightened. Once I understand what the hell is going on, then I can assess how I can help and whether it’s safe or not for you to be by yourself.” He looks at me again and tears roll from my eyes in frustration.
“For fuck’s sake, you can’t even talk, you’re that scared.”
My stomach plummets with his abrupt voice. He has no idea I don’t talk to men, and I go out of my way to be away from males. I knew I should have tried harder not to be such an introvert, now it’s blowing back in my face, big time. He thinks I’m scared silly because of what I was running from. But that’s only part of it.
My breathing finally evens out, my mind is slowing and my limbs are soft. This doesn’t happen. I haven’t been close to a man in years and here I am in a car, not three feet away from one, and I haven’t had the urge to run or pass out from anxiety. Albeit, I don’t think running is in my choices for now, anyway.
A smile touches my lips for a second and I turn my head toward his.
“O-Okay.”
What’s the worst that can happen? I’m already on the hit list of a killer now and he will find me and more than likely kill me. At least for a few hours, I can rest, watch a delicious guy try to work out the inner workings of myself—which has never been accomplished before and I can sort through how the heck I am going to stay alive.
Closing my eyes, I don’t care about where I’m going or that I am with a stranger. I need to keep calm so I can try to talk like a normal human being when we stop so he doesn’t think I’m some kind of loon.
It’s going to take every ounce of energy left in my sore body.
Have you ever noticed with each blink, things change.
For good, for bad, or with no consequence.
Whether it be a speck of dust falling to the ground, a star twinkling in the night sky, a clench of a fist, a sound in the distance, a breeze floating across your skin.
It’s inevitable.
Nothing stays the same forever and I wouldn’t want it to, if I am being honest with myself.
It seems like only a few months ago, not years, my brothers and I started The Savage Shadows, causing destruction and boosting cars so we could have a better life, aspiring to be the law of LA.
Making it to the top in a short span of time, we continue to stay there through hard work, much contest and death. I don’t want it any other way.
I can’t say the same for my brothers. And I honestly understand their thinking, having to worry about blowback on my sister, but working through things in my head, by myself is what I need to find clarity.
My eyes blinked.
Jerking my foot to the brake pedal, screeching tires brought me to a halt. The smell of rubber wrapped around me.
Jumping to her aide, a small body crumbled on the concrete, her body shuddered in pain. She needed help and from a professional by the way she was holding her shoulder. But a thud of thunder quaked through me when my eyes landed on crystal blue irises and my throat clenched. A cloud of tire smoke may have entered my brain making it hazy in a second.
It couldn’t be her?
Shaking my head, why the fuck did that thought pop into my head?
There’s no way after so many years I would nearly run over a girl I silently craved when I was a teenager. But her wounded body and her terrified eyes grip my heart like it did back when I was a kid.
Trying to catch another glance at her face, my blood thrashes through my body at the mere thought it could be her, but the light is angled in the wrong direction. Her hair isn’t brown, but she is small. Fuck, we were all small, I was fifteen.
Frantic, hurt, and scared for her life, my hand touched her skin, reassuring her. I’d seen Melody through so many crises I knew how to tread carefully with a woman who was panicked, but an overwhelming sensation and memory took a hold of my mind. This is what I do. Fix problems of people I care for.
My protective streak kicked up a gear, spearing through any haziness.
I needed to be the one to help this woman.
Hence now why she is now sitting in my car, headed with me to my cabin where everything was to become clear.
Instead, I’m now not alone and things are anything but clear.