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‘Stay out of this lady,’ he said as he advanced towards me. ‘This is between me and her.’
‘The hell it is,’ I spat. ‘Now leave her alone and get out of here before I call the cops,’ I said as I unlocked my cell.
He moved faster than I’d expected him to, grabbing my phone, he threw it against the wall and it smashed into a hundred pieces.
Shit! What was I going to do now? I’d taken some self-defense classes at college, but all I could remember was what to do if you were attacked from behind. This guy was huge and suddenly his hands were coming at my throat.
‘Lucy! Run!’ I shouted as he made a grab for me. I ducked out of his way and he stumbled forward giving me time to shout to Lucy. ‘There’s a cab in the street. Run to it. Tell him to call the cops.’
By this point, Blake had regained his footing and he grabbed me by the throat, squeezing the air from me as Lucy ran past us both with tears streaming down her face.
She would see the cab. Then they would get help.
I could hear Blake shouting at her to stay where the fuck she was, and then I heard her.
‘Alana. There’s no cab here,’ she wailed.
I tried to turn but Blake held me firmly.
‘The street is empty,’ she cried.
Suddenly, I remembered the first rule of self-defense — always go for the nut-sack. I brought my foot up and kicked Blake in the balls as hard as I could.
He let go of my throat and doubled over, clutching his groin in pain.
I turned to Lucy. ‘Run!’ I screamed at her and she stared at me for a few seconds, her eyes wide with shock and fright. But then she started running.
I did too, but Blake was back up and running after me. He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me backwards, and then he slapped my face.
His face was purple with rage and his anger was making him clumsy. I ducked away from him again and he lunged at me, but all he could grab hold of was my purse. I shrugged it loose and ran into the street, screaming for help at the top of my lungs.
There was no-one around, but Blake didn’t know that for sure.
I looked back at him as he stood still in the alleyway, deciding whether I was worth getting arrested for. He obviously decided that I wasn’t and he took my purse and ran the other way, which was fortunately in the opposite direction to Lucy.
ALANA
I ran along the road and into the first open place I found, which happened to be a diner. I chose a quiet booth and looked around me. I didn’t think Blake had followed me but my heart still pounded in my chest and my blood thundered in my ears.
I had to get home. And, I needed to call the shelter and make sure Lucy was okay. But now I had no cash on me. I had no cell phone. What the hell was I going to do? I didn’t want to risk walking the few blocks back to the shelter in case he was out there, waiting for me.
Just then the waitress approached me. ‘You okay, sweets?’ she asked.
I nodded and blinked back the tears. ‘I need … do you have a phone I could use?’ I asked.
She tilted her head to one side and looked at me, as though measuring me up. ‘Sure, honey. Here take mine,’ she said as she took out her cell and keyed in her passcode before handing it to me.
I dialed the only L.A number that I knew by heart — the hotel. I had a bunch of promotional pens from the place on my desk in work and I spent so much time on hold to potential donors that I’d memorized the number printed on them.
I got through to the receptionist, who made it clear she had no intention of connecting me to Alejandro, until I told her I was his wife, and that he’d be incredibly annoyed if he found out she hadn’t at least checked with him if he wanted to take the call.
A few moments later, Alejandro was on the other end of the line.
‘Alana?’ he said.
‘Yes, it’s me. I’m really sorry to bother you at work. But I’m … Could you send a car for me? I’m at Betsy’s Diner, downtown near the shelter.’
‘Why do you need a car? Why didn’t you call my cell? Where is Hugo?’ he demanded.
