I’d barely made it to the end of the street when someone yelled out, “Yo!”
Under normal circumstances, if I thought it mighthave been a stranger instead of someone from the shop calling out after me, I’dstart running. But it wasn’t. It took me a second out on that empty street to realize it was Dex's deep voice yelling.
“Hold up!”
I forced myself to turn around and see him jogging over. “Yes?”
He cut the distance between us to stop just two feet away. “What the fuck are you doin’?”
I blinked. What? “You told me I could leave when I was ready.” I blinked again. “I was ready.”
Dex’s amazing eyes, even under the dim streetlight that cast shadows in the shadows, looked incredulous. “Girl, I said you could leave when you were ready but not by your fuckin’ self. You can’t be walkin’ around this side of town all alonesolate.”
Did this man just... scold me?
And what the hell did he mean this side of town? This side of town seemed safe enough.
“My car’s just right there,” I told him, pointing in the general direction of the nearby lot.
Dex shrugged. “You gotta have some self-preservation or somethin’, babe. Can’t be walkin’ around here by yourself.”
“It’s right there,” I repeated, pointing again. It was seriously thirty steps away.
“I don’t give a fuck,” he pointed out. “C’mon, I got a business to close. Last thing I need is your goddamn bro callin' me, bustin' my balls over somethin' happenin' to you.” Dex wrapped his fingers—long, not too slim but most, most, most definitely manly—around my forearm and pulled me across the street.
I wiggled my arm in his grasp a little, pointing at my car with my free hand. “You can let go of my arm." I jerked it again futilely, thankful he'd grabbed the good one. "I don’t need a babysitter, but I appreciate the gesture,” I groaned under my breath, shaking my arm in his grasp once more.
“Obviously you need a babysitter if you’re walkin’ around shitty ass Austin alone this late, babe.” He shook his head, yanking me not so gently around Blake’s white Nissan Frontier and toward my old Ford. “So fuckin' stupid,” he hissed under his breath.
Jerk. Total jerk.
"I'm not stupid and I'm not a friggin' idiot," I snapped, wiggling my arm again but he didn’t let go.
He also didn't say anything. The only noise that came out of his body was a sharp inhale that was impossible to miss.
"Can you please let go of my arm now?" Why the hell was I saying please? I tried jerking out of his grasp, feeling like an idiot for asking permission to get control back of my body. I shouldhave just…demanded it, damnit.
"No."
His simple, curt answer grated on me.
“Not till you’re in the car,” Dex explained.
I pulled at his hold. “Let. Go. Of. My. Arm.” I lowered my voice into a whisper. “Or else.”
He didn’t need to know thattheor elsedepended on me slapping his tiny nuts with the back of my hand.
Dex didn’t respond and he didn’t say anything either as he pulled us to a stop in front of my Focus. I was fishing through my purse the minute my arm was free.
“Thanks for walking me over,” I murmured to him, still indignant. Still pissed. Still keeping my eyes a million miles away from Dex The Dick’s face.
You need the job.
You need the job.
You need the job.
But that didn't mean I completely shut up. My dumb mouth kept going. "I'm not stupid enough to not pay attention to my surroundings, by the way."
