What the hell? People avoid eye contact and don’t engage in places like this. Was he a concerned citizen, a sexy Boy Scout? Ew, Boy Scouts weren’t sexy, but he was, which made him the world’s first and only sexy Boy Scout.
“Are you alright?” he repeated. The phrase ‘sexy Boy Scout’ crossed my mind multiple times, so no, I was not alright. "You seem a little… edgy."
"It’s okay." I managed to meet his eyes for a millisecond. “I’m fine.”
He tilted his head, looking me over. “No argument here.”
A clatter against the table startled me. Oh, he saved my water glass again as I jolted at his words.
"Are you hitting on me?"
“Not really.” He shrugged, offering up another easy smile. “But I can be.”
Again, what the hell?
"I can take care of myself,” I assured. “I’m tougher than I look." The doctors thought I was lucky to be alive after the accident. Surely that counted as a kind of strength.
The suspiciously attractive man kept eyeing me. “You a kung fu master or something?”
"No, I’m a secret agent."
The man rested a casual hand on the table and smirked. “Hey, that makes two of us.”
No, this must stop. Whatever trick he or the universe was playing at my expense, I wasn’t falling for it. I may be crazy, but I wasn’t completely stupid.
I rose abruptly, and the man stepped back in the nick of time so we didn’t collide. I dropped all my cash on the table, mumbled excuses, and brushed past him. The closest exit led to the other side of the gas station where semi-trucks filled up, so I headed out that way.
On the edge of the fluorescent lights illuminating the gas pumps and parking lot, I fished out a crumpled cigarette pack from my pocket. They were one of the only things that relaxed me these days, and though I’d surely pay the price for smoking later, I’d been too on edge lately to resist a little relief.
The bitter smoke filled my lungs. My shoulders loosened a fraction as the chemicals entered my system, yet I still felt watched. A truck with a dark red cabin filled up, the driver paying me no mind. Out in the blackness of the forest—holy shit!
Someonewaswatching me. Something. Those glowing eyes must belong to an animal.
The large yellow eyes, so clearly staring into my own, made me shudder at the size of the creature hidden in the darkness. A predator lurked there, unafraid to linger so close to civilization. The eyes watched me with interest, almost an intelligence there—the eyes blinked.
Oh god. Snapping out of my stupor, I jolted and scrambled back, the cigarette slipping from my fingers.
"Watch out!"
Whoosh.
A bright ball of flame shot up into the night, a blazing beacon whose heat warmed me due to the close proximity. Gas and smoke filled my nose.
I stared at the fireball in horror, seemingly for ages, though probably only a few seconds passed when the light blinked out.
My cigarette had landed in a puddle of gasoline, creating a brilliant fireball. I could have been standing there. Ishould have been.I’d been pushed away instead, arms and the hard pavement cradling me as the fireball shot up and faded away.
“You okay?" a man asked.
He pulled himself to his feet, dusting his hands off on his jeans and offering me a hand. He saved me, the same man from before in the diner.
Oh. Well, that explained his incredible looks. He was a hero and heroes were always dashing. At least in fairy tales and movies. Shit, my life wasn’t either of those.
Though life certainly didn’t feel like reality anymore either.
The freak fireball and the eyes watching me… Maybe I wasn’t totally crazy. Someone really was following me. And trying to kill me? What if the accident that upended my life was no accident at all?
2.When Late Becomes Right on Time
