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“The darn thing barely shifts, and we both know it needs a transmission,” she sputtered, feeling tears choke her as she realized that he was going to play hardball and she was stuck. “Please, just give me a break and…”
“Three payments.”
“I can make one payment – and half the other one,” she negotiated. “Please? Seriously I need to get a loaf of bread, a package of pinto beans, and macaroni noodles. I can make that work for the week and pay you more money on Friday.”
“Miss?” a man’s voice said nearby, interrupting her and she held up a finger to indicate she would be done in a minute as she listened to Tomas scold her openly.
“You claimed that you would pay every month if I did the financing. I told you I was getting rid of the program because of people like you who didn’t make their payments on time. You promised - and said you weren’t like that. Those wereyourwords, remember? That ‘this was just a bad run of luck’…”
“It is. It’s been ahorrificrun of luck for the last ten years, if you want to know.”
“Just make the payments, Miss Richardson,” he sighed in annoyance.
“Miss?” the man said again – and she waved him off, turning her back to him.
“Please Tomas – I just want to…” Destiny hated that she was tearing up and ready to cry. She was exhausted, hungry, and not sleeping because her stupid air mattress had a hole in it – again. “I just need a break, a meal, and want to go home. Please?”
“MISS!” the man said forcefully – yanking the phone from her hand and leaving her shocked as she turned and looked at him. He was standing there with a very annoyed look on his face as he glanced in disgust at the filthy receiver on the payphone.
“Who’s this?” the stranger barked out in a very business-like manner, looking at her curiously… and putting his hand over the receiver hook that when pressed it would end the call… just as she went to reach for it.
“Do you take VISA?” the man said – and Destiny looked at him horrified, her eyes widening as she realized he was going to make her car payment.
“No,” she whispered, stunned. “Please don’t do that. I can pay two of the payments and he’s just being difficult, because I wouldn’t sleep with him – and I’m not sleeping with you, for that matter either! I have scruples and morals… even if I work in some dive bar!”
“What?” the blond-haired man said angrily, nearly dropping the telephone. “Did you really just say…”
He glanced back at the phone, ignoring her as she reached forward to take it from him. This time he held up his hand to her, shushing her, and she slapped it away, reaching for the phone again.
The man literally put his hand against her shoulder, pinning her to the wall, and glared at her.
“Yeah – pay the entire thing off,” he snapped, glancing at her and talking back to the man on the phone again. “I’m serious – pay off the car and don’t contact her again or I’ll turn you in to the Better Business Bureau for sexual harassment - and then I’ll show up to show you what assault looks like in person.”
Horrified, Destiny stared at him in shock as he looked at her, his expression softening slightly and his eyes curious – and kind. He was being nice to her. She felt herself crumble because this was the sweetest thing that anyone had ever done for her in years – and this stranger didn’t even know her.
Maybe he was her guardian angel?
A few moments later, he checked his cell phone and nodded, one phone in his hand and the other propped on his shoulder, balancing it.
“Yeah, I just got the receipt. Thank you – and seriously – have a heart next time someone tells you they need help,” he said angrily and called Tomas a foul name that made her mouth drop open in shock.
The man before her hung up, and then grimaced.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “I just can’t stand people that cannot empathize or put themselves in someone else’s shoes.”
Destiny felt nervous, almost trapped, as the seemingly nice man stood between her and the exit… and she didn’t know what to say.
“Are you off work? What is your email and I’ll send you the receipt?” he said gently.
She stared at him with wide eyes, tears still running down her cheeks, suddenly worried he was going to expect her to work off the three thousand dollars she owed on the car.
“I’m not sleeping with you,” she whispered, staring at him.
“I’m not asking you to,” he said softly. “What’s your name? I only caught part of the conversation.”
“What’s yours?” she breathed, holding her breath, pressing herself against the wall behind her to keep from touching the man before her. She was desperately afraid that she’d gone from the frying pan and directly into the fire. “If you say Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, or Raphael, then…”
“Aren’t they Ninja Turtles?” he teased – and she choked out a nervous laugh, staring at him in disbelief and confusion.
