But at the end of the day Vince Fontaine only cared about Vince Fontaine. He remained where he sat.
His plan was to let it be: He didn’t even know that chick. He was going to finish his coffee, go take another leak, and then drive his ass on home. That was his plan anyway.
But as he watched the trucker check under her hood and then, within less than a couple minutes, decide that it was all useless apparently. Because then he pointed to his big rig parked next door at the motel/gas station, as if he was going to take her where she wanted to go to get the proper help she needed.
Vince could see her hesitation. It seemed as if he couldfeelher hesitation. It was that palpable for him. But that desperation, again, was a bitch. And she, though reluctantly, began walking with him toward his truck.
Vince suddenly felt a sense of urgency within himself. What if that guy kidnaps her and rapes her or even kills her while he sat idly by? Late at night when he couldn’t sleep he’d watch plenty of those True Crime shows that were replete with that very scenario. Talk about feeling her hesitation, how would he feel then?
And although he was never the one to get involved with anybody else’s mess, unless they were a client he was paid to assist, he felt compelled to get involved. He felt as if he, remarkable for a professed self-centered bastard like him, was all she had.
He got up, tossed a twenty on the table, and made his way out of the café.
CHAPTER NINE
“Hey!” he yelled out as soon as he walked outside.
Ricki and the trucker turned around at the same time when they heard the yell. They waited to see what he wanted when he began walking towards them. Although Ricki was oddly relieved to see him, because she knew she was taking an awful risk accepting a ride with that trucker, the trucker looked on suspiciously as if he was certain that high-class-looking stud in the fancy suit was trying to get in on the action.
But Vince didn’t give that truck driver so much as a glance. His entire focus was on the young lady. “What do you need?” he asked her.
The trucker frowned. “What’s it to you?”
Vince ignored him. So did Ricki. “I need to get to Milton before four o’clock.”
“And I’m taking her there,” the trucker said.
It was only then did Vince look at him. “I thought you told your buddy you were headed south.”
“So?”
“Milton is north.”
“So what? Mind your own business, pal.”
“I’m not your pal,” Vince said.
“You sure as hell don’t want to be my enemy. Come on, little lady. Bump him.”
But when Vince saw that trucker take the young lady by her arm, something inside of him burst to the surface. He didn’t want to get involved with this, but no way was he letting her go.
He hurried over, aggressively removed that trucker’s hand from the young lady, and then he grabbed her by that same arm harsher than he intended, as if she was suddenly his possession. “You’re going with me,” he said as if it was an order and began moving her away from that truck driver.
But the trucker pushed him away from her. “Who do you think you are handling me like that?” He was ready to fight. “Who do you think you are?!”
Vince released the young woman’s arm and got directly in the truck driver’s face. There was no space between them. “You want me to show you who I am?” he asked the trucker.
But he asked it with a look so chilling that it caused the rig driver to back off. He even held up his hands in a weak surrender. “It’s your world, boss. I’m just passin’ through.”
Vince, now extremely frustrated to be caught up in this mess, stared at that clown a few beats longer, to make it clear he was the kind of man who had no limits if you pushed him, and then he began heading for his car.
Without saying another word to Ricki, she got the picture loud and clear. That trucker meant her no good and Suit saw it. But because she could see his reluctance to get involved too, she knew Suit was her only hope of safely getting where she had to be. He didn’t have to say another word to her. She followed him willingly.
“Bitch!” the trucker yelled after her.
“Fuck you!” she yelled back at him.
When she turned back around and caught up with Vince, he looked at her. “Watch your mouth,” he said.
