A tiny bump on her bumper made her car jump to the side. A scream erupted from her mouth as she struggled to keep the car on the road. The phone tumbled to the floorboard on the passenger side. She could hear Rocky calling her name and swearing when she didn’t answer. Her tires skidded on thegravel that formed the shoulder. Melissa pulled with all her might and dragged the car back onto the road.
“What’s wrong with this guy?” she yelled to no one in particular.
Melissa could hear some sound coming from the phone, but since she hadn’t put it on speaker. Who knew what Rocky was saying. “Daddy, I can’t hear you. I’m almost at the turn.”
Her wheels screamed as a second impact tilted her car sideways. Her yell echoed it. The car was completely out of her control. She saw a tree looming ahead of her and stomped on the brakes. The back tires skidded, continuing her spin until she faced the opposite direction.
The car lurched to a stop, rocking her in the driver’s seat. She panted, trying to understand what was happening, and remembered the danger. Her gaze rose to lock with the man who stalked forward to her car.
Anger coiled in the pit of her stomach. Who was this man to make her a victim? She’d moved on to a better life. He wasn’t going to hold her back.
Without taking her eyes off the man, she forced her fingers to release the steering wheel. Melissa pressed the panic button on her bracelet before looking into the passenger side to search for the phone. It had fallen somewhere. She yelled, “Daddy, I’m okay. Come get me.”
As the man approached in a slow, deliberate gait that seemed more threatening than a run, she pushed the buttons to raise the windows. Nothing responded. Melissa pressed firmly on the horn in a long continual blast and enjoyed seeing him jump in surprise. Maybe someone would hear her.
As he got closer, Melissa slid from the driver’s seat. She was trapped there. “Hey. You need to stop. I won’t be anyone’s victim.”
“You’re a born victim.”
The dead voice he spoke in sent a shiver of alarm down her back. Melissa stiffened her pose automatically before reminding herself to be balanced on her feet as Rocky had taught her. “Not anymore. You need to turn around and get out of here.”
“You can’t hide behind your boyfriend. It’s just you and me.”
“What do you want?” she asked, exasperated by her instinctive reaction to cringe in front of him.
“I could have given you everything, but you chose him. I don’t lose. So I’ll make sure you never forget me.”
“I wouldn’t have chosen you if you were the last man on earth. You don’t even know me.”
“It doesn’t take much to spot your weakness,” he said, stopping right in front of her. “Your fate is in my hands.”
Hands. That reminded her of all her training. When he reached for her upper arm, she shrugged him off and raised her hands into a ready position. All she had to do was hold him off until Rocky got here.
He reached for her again, and she reacted. Turns out he was a pretty good victim himself. Melissa stared down at him on the ground. “Stay there. I don’t want to hurt you.”
The man groaned and tried to get up. She swept his feet from under him, tumbling him back to the pavement. “You bitch.”
“Stay there,” she repeated without taking her eyes off the man lying before her.
Thudding footsteps alerted her that Rocky had arrived. He stopped next to her. “Did he touch you?”
“Just my arm. Turns out one of us trains with a badass boxer and the other one enjoys picking on those he thinks are weak,” Melissa reported.
“Look, man. I’ll just get out of here. I’ll back off. Leave her alone,” the man said, scooting backward to get away.
In a lightning-fast move, Rocky leaned over and wrapped his hand around the attacker’s ankle. With a yank, Rocky returnedthe jerk to his back. “Stay there. She gets to make that decision. She has the power here.”
Rocky didn’t even glance at Melissa, just kept his eyes on the prone man. “What do you think? Let him disappear or let the police put him in jail?”
“Jail,” popped out of her mouth. This guy would go on to find someone else to pick on. She had the feeling he’d never change. At least he’d be off the streets for a while.
Sirens and flashing lights appeared. There was a benefit to having this altercation close to the police station Rocky had sent her toward.
In a few minutes, Melissa stood with her arms wrapped around herself, giving an officer a report of what happened. When she finished, the officer told her, “I’ve seen the previous reports. Sounds like you can handle yourself. He chose the wrong person to mess with.”
“I need to get my car fixed. Before you take him away, could you get his insurance information?”
“Definitely.”
