He punches open his door and leaps to his feet.
I cock my head to the left, glancing out the rear window to watch the show as Noah collides into the man, leading with his fist. Mr. Trucker stumbles backward and catches another blow to the face. He lands on his back with a crack. That pervert is no slouch either.Big and strong, and weighing a hundred pounds more than Noah.
Noah climbs back into the driver’s seat, slams the door, and passes a stern glower in my general direction. “What the fuck was that about?”
“He’s the guy that tried spreading my ass open earlier.” I raise my hands in the air, protesting. “Fully against my will.”
“Say less.” He punches the door open again and climbs back out as fast as he climbed in.
Just as the trucker manages to climb to his feet, he’s sent back onto his ass again with a sharp blow to his chin. Noah bends at the knees to grab the man by both sides of his shirt, and lifts him to his feet. He stares into the man’s eyes with a furnace burning behind his own. I’d hate for him to look at me that way. Would probably piss myself in fear. Stares a little too long before whispering something I’m unable to hear. He flashes a sideways grin, as if he’s about to enjoy what he’s about to do.
He lets the man go and turns slightly, prepared to walk away.
But Mr. Trucker whispers something under his breath.
And that’s enough to stop Noah in his tracks.
He turns back to him. Throws another punch that knocks the man sideways. Before he can recover, Noah lands another blow on the other side of his face. He stumbles backwards and Noah gives him a helpingshove to finish him off. Noah straddles the man on the ground, his plaid shirt billowing in the wind. He launches a flurry of punches.
Crack.
Thwack.
Crack.
He lifts the man by the collar of his shirt and spits on his bloodied face.
I crank the window down, which is so much slower and less dramatic than pushing a button. Technology has come so far since this car was built. When it’s down enough to stick my head out of, I do just that. “Noah, enough!”
He holds his grip on Mr. Trucker’s collar for a moment longer before letting go. The man collapses onto the asphalt, his face barely recognizable. But honestly, he needed an excuse to get that mug fixed.Does thinking that make me a bad person?Oh who cares, he tried to stick his dick in mymostly virginass.
Noah storms back to the car with an audience of three or four strangers watching, mouths aghast in horror. It’s the first time I’ve noticed them standing there. He scrambles back into the car and shifts into gear. The tires screech as we take a sharp turn back onto the highway.
“Remember what I said about being too fucking loud?” He asks without so much as looking at me. “Why the hell did you stick your head out the window and start loudlyscreaming my name?”
He’s a little too heated for me to interject. Otherwise, I would explain to him that beating the shit out of some guy in a truck stop parking lot certainly draws more attention than someone screaming his name. Tomato. Tuh-mot-o. Onions. Lettuce. Whatever.
“We’re more alike than you think,” he continues.
“How so?”
And then he shifts his eyes to the side, his glare threatening to pull me inside out. “Because I also don’t want to be found.”
CHAPTER 5
NOAH
Mama always saidthe only value found in a man was what he could provide you. He could be gorgeous or he could be ugly. It didn’t matter which, as long as he knew how to dress and had the money to prove it. Didn’t matter if he was affectionate as long as he paid the bills. All we had to do in return was let the men who took care of us fuck us until we couldn’t walk. A small price to pay to be rescued from a life in the trailer park. Thing is, I miss the trailer park. Spent so long trying to run away from that place that I’ve come full circle and want to go back.
Sometimes, I even missher.Mama’s shadow hangs around me like a noose, tightening around my throat more and more the further I drive. The cancer killed her, but the second hand smoke lingers. Smothers and chokes me. Then, I think how much more she loved Kevin than she ever loved me. Loved him for all thereasons I needed to escape him. When she found out I was gay, her face lit up like she’d won the lottery. Always said life would’ve been easier if I was born with a twat. Once she found my stash of gay porn, she got it in her head that I was suddenly valuable. She never quite said it, but the inference was that a hole was a hole, and men were men. Her calculations were correct.
Snap. Snap.Seven steals my attention, snapping his fingers.
“I’m going to let it slide this time because you have no way of knowing.” I scowl. “I fucking hate when people do that. I’m not a dog.”
He imitates the motion with his fingers again, but it’s so soft I can hardly hear it.
“That’s my only warning,” I seethe and stare at the road ahead.
