3.
She stepped back and gripped the side of her car, not sure how much more of this she could endure. She held up her hands defensively as a pathetic shield trying to ward off this latest threat.
“It’s okay,” he said, the light falling on his face, “Calm down, I’m not with them. I’m here to help.”
“But, but..,” she said as she looked around. “There was a dog or something…something big…and what is going on, how did that guy end up here…and looking like that? Is that his blood on your hands?” All these words just came pouring out of her mouth, as she tried to make sense of what was happening.
“Relax, just relax miss, it’s ok…I’m not sure what you mean about a dog. At least I haven’t seen one…I was just coming along and came across that man over there,” he gestured toward heap number two, “as he was kind of hovering over you. With everything, well, like this, something just seemed really off, and I told him so. Well, let’s just say he didn’t like that and he came at me. It didn’t work out so well for him.”
Laurie’s heart almost stopped, but not from fear, but from shock. There was, first and foremost, the shock of hearing this crazy story and being in this crazy situation in the first place. She didn’t know what to make of this latest turn of events. But then there was the shock of seeing what she could only call “a fine specimen.” She had always thought that that was a pretty cheesy way to describe a guy, but now she knew what people meant when they said it. He was one of the most physically amazing men she had ever seen. His eyes looked luminous, icy blue and penetrating in the dark. He stepped closer, silhouetted by the car’s beams.
“Are you okay?” he asked again, moving around the side of the car to her. Laurie couldn’t get any words out. Her hands had begun to tremble and her head was spinning. She sat down on the curb and breathed deeply.
“Here,” the stranger said, holding her hair back, “Lower your head and take deep breaths.”
She had never had a panic attack before, but she imagined she must be having one now. Her vision was blurred and even though she was aware of him speaking she couldn’t hear what he was saying. There was a ringing in her ears that was getting louder and stars swam in front of her eyes. She lowered her head between her knees and sucked in some air, filling her lungs until they felt like they were going to burst. Only then did she exhale, feeling a little of her tension ease with the escaping breath.
“Are you alright? What happened? Did they hurt you?” he was asking her. Her head slowly started to stop spinning with each deep breath and she managed to lift her eyes to meet his.
Those eyes. They were incredible.
“I’m okay,” she whispered.
He smiled at her and brushed some hair off her face before realizing he still had blood on his hands.
“Sorry,” he said pulling them back and casually wiping them off with what appeared to be a silken handkerchief he pulled from a back pocket. “I’m pretty sure I broke that guy’s nose,” he looked back over his shoulder at the guy lying unconscious in the middle of the road and shrugged. He then shifted his attention to the guy who had been holding her down. He was clearly breathing, but was going to have one hell of a headache based on the size of the egg forming on his forehead. The blood had mostly dried. “And what happened to that other guy?”
There was something about the way that he asked it that seemed odd to her. Or maybe it was the look in his eyes. She couldn’t be sure. But she quickly lost whatever she thought she had detected as the emotion of the night started to finally coming to the surface.
“Thank you,” she said, “You saved me.”
As she said the words she felt the tears welling up in her eyes and knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep them from bursting forth. It had been a very emotional and traumatic day, to say the least. She covered her face with her hands and her body immediately succumbed to the tidal wave of emotion she had been holding back, not just tonight but for months. Unable to hold it back any longer, and triggered by this latest trauma, her body shook as she finally allowed all that had built up to burst forth. There was something about this guy that was somehow just different, but it was also undeniable that his presence just made it feel safe for her to let the tears fall.
“Hey,” the stranger said with sincere concern as her tears began to ebb. “It’s ok, you’re safe now.” He delicately put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“You don’t have to apologize,” he laughed, softly stroking her hair.
“Thank you so much,” she panted, looking up into his eyes again, “I can’t believe I was so stupid.” She tried to speak though renewed sobs.
“They could have killed me ... they were going to ...I had just stopped and was trying to … ,”she said, a fresh wave of tears washing over her face again, “I’ve never been so careless before, I can’t believe I put myself in that situation.”
She got to her feet and rushed to her car door, yanking the handle up as she turned back to the stranger.
“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. No sense beating yourself up about it. So just let that go right now,” he said gently, looking into her eyes earnestly.
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ve just been through a lot today. I can’t thank you enough, but I need to just go. I can’t deal with this right now.”
“Where are you going?” he shook his head, looking up and down the street. “Are you lost? You’re obviously not from around here, are you?”
Laurie bit her lip and looked down at the ground. She was confused and embarrassed and totally blown away by how gorgeous this heroic stranger was, she didn’t know whether she was coming or going. The whole evening, or morning rather, she thought, was taking on a surreal quality. First dealing with Brad, and then this … and then that weird animal or whatever it was. And let’s just throw the most incredible looking man in the world into the mix for good measure.
“I don’t have a clue,” she held her hands out, “I, I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, ok?”
There was stirring behind her and she knew it was the man who had run coming round. The stranger walked past her to stand above him. Without hesitation he punched him square in the face, knocking him out cold. Well, at least he was still alive. Not that she was that concerned for his welfare. Still, she wondered exactly what had happened while she was out. She definitely felt the guy deserved it, but how did the stranger know that? He didn’t seem like the type to just throw punches around without good reason. She guessed it must have happened like he said. They had some kind of fight while she was out. She let it go. She was dealing with enough already.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Don’t want the cops to find us with these two.”
“Well, shouldn’t we tell the police?” Laurie asked, uncertainly, even though she was ready to get out of there herself.
“No,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with those guys later. Do you want me to drive?”
“I think that might be a good idea,” she responded gratefully. She didn’t have any energy left to argue, even if she had wanted to. He waited for her to climb into the car and then got in after her. She scooted over to the passenger side and let him take the wheel. He started the car and closed the door.
“Can you just help me find a hotel or something? Then I’ll be fine,” she said, exhaustion taking over.
“I’m taking you to the only hotel in town that’s going to let you check in at this time,” he said. “I know someone who’s running when I see them.” He turned to smile at her and his eyes glinted brightly through the dark. She struggled to find words to either protest or express gratitude, but ended up settling on just taking a much needed deep breath.
“You don’t have to say anything, you’ve had a rough night. Just let me take you somewhere safe and then I’ll walk back for my own car.”
“But the men?” Laurie turned around and looked out of the back window. The crumpled heaps of her two attackers were still there, spread right across the middle of the road, silhouetted by the beams of their still running truck.
“Oh, I’ll finish with them,” he said again. “Don’t you worry about that.”
He gripped the wheel and she marveled again at the size of him. His hands were big and rough looking and the bulk of him in the seat next to her made her feel tiny. His wide muscular arms were perfectly sculpted. As he turned the corners she let her own eyes trace lines over them. Despite being in a semi-state of shock, she had the overwhelming urge to reach out and touch him.
“Here it is,” he said, slowing down. He pulled over to the side of the road and parked in front of a modern looking building with double glass doors. There were lights on inside and a man in a suit sat behind the desk.
“Twenty-four hours,” he said, “I know because I’ve checked in pretty late here myself, on occasion. It’s not the best, but it’s not the worst either.”
“Okay,” Laurie stammered, still in shock and not really with it. She still felt like she was half in a dream.
“Try and get some sleep,” the stranger said as he stepped out of the car and leaned down to look in at her. He flashed her his amazing smile again, and his eyes glistened, as if on cue.
“Are you going to be ok?” he asked.
“Yeah, I just need some sleep. Thank you,” Laurie whispered. “I mean it, really, thank you.”
“Take care of yourself,” he said before he turned and disappeared into the night.
Laurie sat in the car without moving for a few moments and then she turned and looked through the glass doors to the hotel reception. She got out and locked her car, taking her purse and one of her clothes bags with her. She realized she had never even gotten her hero’s name.
As her head hit the pillow her mind was swarming with a mix of her attacker’s rotten teeth, the stranger’s piercing blue eyes, and the glimpse of whatever that animal was had appeared. She realized that if it had not been for whatever animal that was that had taken out the one guy and scared off the other, things could have turned out much differently tonight. Thank you scary animal, she thought with genuine gratitude. The sounds it had made still rang in her ears, now that she was ok, she could almost imagine that it had been there to save her. After all, it did leave her alone completely. She thought on that a moment more before moving on the mysterious stranger, as she had taken to calling him in her head. He seemed so powerful and in charge, like he had been in that situation a million times before. She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. She was still jumpy and nervous but she had double locked the hotel door and had even sneaked in a baseball bat that she always kept in the trunk of her car. A girl could never be too careful. Not that it had done her any good that evening. Maybe she needed to start keeping it in the passenger seat she half joked to herself. At least she still had a sense of humor. As she drifted off to sleep the sun was coming up and pink light shone through the crack in the curtains. She could finally rest. Tomorrow she would wake up and get the hell out of Blakestone Ridge.