AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It takes all of my strength to tear my gaze away from her and focus back on the road. I don’t want to take my eyes off her. It feels wrong, after everything that went down tonight.
It’s not till my hands ache that I realize just how hard I’m gripping the steering wheel. I force myself to loosen my grip.
My mind flashes back to that moment when I walked into that bar and spotted that creep with his hands all over Tori.
I remember the way he invaded her space and had her backed up against the pen.
I remember how he grabbed her waist, how she flinched when he touched her without her permission.
Fury burns hot in my gut when I think back to how she said, “Don’t touch me,” to that piece of shit. I wasn’t close enough to hear her, but I could read her lips. I could hear her voice perfectly in my head, telling that motherfucker to get his hands off her.
I can picture perfectly in my head the way he laughed at her.
And that’s when I saw red. I don’t think I’ve ever cleared twenty feet of space so quickly in my life.
I’ve seen situations like that happen a lot, as fucked up as that is. Especially in college. I’d be out at some bar or club with my friends or the guys from my fraternity, and I’d see some fucking piece of shit grope or harass a woman. I’d always step in and help. I’d tell the guy to back the fuck off, to keep his hands to himself or he’d have to deal with me.
They always backed off. And that’s what enraged me.
Because I was a big, physically imposing man, they took me seriously. But if a woman told them the same thing, they’d ignore her.
Because apparently to them, respecting a man and his boundaries was a given. But respecting and listening to a woman was a joke to them.
It always made me want to kick the shit out of the guy.
That fury inside of me morphs into a bonfire, knowing that Tori has had to experience that.
I’m certain this wasn’t the first time it’s ever happened to her. It’s just the first time I’ve been there with her and was able to put a stop to it.
I swallow back the rage bubbling up inside of me.
I glance back at Tori, sleeping peacefully beside me. The fire starts to die down a little.
When I ease to a stop at a red light, I reach over and brush away a chunk of her hair that’s fallen over her face. She makes a soft murmuring noise.
I feel myself soften at just how sweet and content she sounds.
When the light turns green, I focus back on the road and force myself to take a couple of deep breaths. As quietly as I can so I don’t wake Tori, I inhale and count to five, then exhale and count to five.
Maya taught me this a few years ago when she was in her yoga phase. I thought it was silly, but right now I can feel my racing heart begin to slow. The knotted muscles in my shoulders start to loosen too. So does my grip on the wheel.
She’s okay now. You’re here. She’s safe with you.
I silently repeat those words to myself until that fire in my gut dies down to a flicker.
When I pull up to the parking lot of her apartment, I turn off the car and unbuckle my seatbelt.
That raw fury from earlier is gone, but underneath it is a current of anger when I think about how we ran into Tori’s ex.
I think back to what she said.
Robbie and I were in a relationship for two years. Until about three years ago, when I went to his place and walked in on him fucking Lena. On my birthday.
I see the flash of pain in her eyes, I see the way she shrinks into herself…
What the fuck is that Robbie guy’s problem? That lucky fucker was her boyfriend for two years and he cheats on her? And she had to find out in the worst, most gutting way…
I scrub a hand over my face as I watch her sleeping soundly in the passenger seat. Poor Tori. Two horrible things happened to her in one night—in less than an hour.
