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The trucker didn’t seem thrilled, but he wasn’t going to cause an issue. The man on the other side of the counter slid a box of pizza toward me, and I took it. I hadn’t come in here, planning on getting food, but now that I could smell it, I realized I could eat. I thanked him, then looked back at her.
“Ready? You didn’t get a drink,” I said, ignoring the trucker.
She blinked and stared up at me. I could see the indecision in her eyes, but I also saw that I was about to win this thing.
“I forgot to get my water,” she finally said.
“If I let you get it, can you keep from getting hit on?” I asked teasingly as I took the cashews and pretzels from her free hand and placed them on top of the box of pizza.
The man on the other side of the counter laughed, and I shrugged, grinning as if I thought it was funny too.
She nodded, then looked around as if she was making sure no one else was about to accost her before going to the drink coolers to get her water. I stayed close enough behind her that I wasn’t following exactly, but I was there if needed. I also wasn’t sure if she was going to try and leave the store or come back to me. She hadn’t seemed as if she was even sure what she was going to do next.
Luck was on my side because a middle-aged man who was trying hard to hold on to the little hair he had left, wearing a Florida State football jersey, zeroed in on her while getting his soda. She noticed his creepy-as-fuck smile, then spun around and bolted right back to me.
Score. I won.
“Ready? This pizza smells fantastic,” I said.
She glanced around us, then turned her eyes back up to meet mine.
“Can I trust you?” she whispered.
“Yeah, sweets. I swear it,” I replied, then nodded my head toward the register.
She didn’t move. “I just need a ride to a bus station.”
“Okay,” I replied, although there was no way in hell I was leaving her at a bus station.
Did she realize how much worse it would be there than it was here?
She swallowed nervously. “You aren’t going to rape and kill me?” Her question was so quiet that I barely heard it.
I leaned down toward her and held her gaze. “Have you looked at me, sweets? Not one time in my life have I had to force a female to have sex with me. I’m normally knocking them off me. As for killing…” I couldn’t help but smirk. “I’m just here to help you before some other scumbag makes another attempt to pick you up.”
She took a deep breath, but didn’t crack a smile. It was as if she was thinking hard about what I’d said and deciding how much truth there was to it. When she finally let out a sigh and nodded, I wanted to fucking sigh too.
“Okay,” she replied. “Let’s go.”
I grabbed her bottle of water. “Gotta pay for the food first,” I said.
She reached for her purse.
“It’s on me,” I told her, then headed for the register.
“I have money,” she said, hurrying to keep up with me.
“Good. You’ll probably need it at some point. But not right now.”
She didn’t say anything, and when I looked down at her, she gave me the closest thing to a smile I figured I was going to get. Especially since her mouth was so busted up. “Thank you.”
I nodded. “My pleasure.”
• three •
“How could you be lost if you didn’t know who you were to start with?”
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