Test Drive

Chapter 3

Three

Four cars pulled up in front of me in a choreographed move I’d only seen in car commercials. My heart thudded in my ears to think I’d be meeting my end in a rank part of town. But more troubling than my imminent demise was the thought that my beautiful car would likely be stripped down for its parts.

My heart didn’t slow down in relief when the Vin Diesel look-alike emerged from the driver’s side of the Charger. It beat out an entirely different pattern.

“Hey,” he called. His voice was deeper than the action star’s baritone. It grumbled in the same octave of his muscle car. “You all right, little girl?”

I blinked. Little girl? I didn’t look that young. I was twenty, nearly twenty-one. Definitely legal. I’d been on my own for four years now, and I’d just bought this car with my own money and no help from my parents.

Sure, my place was in a college dorm. And okay, so maybe I didn’t know how to take care of my vehicle in terms of changing a tire. But that didn’t make me an adolescent.

“I’m fine,” I said crossing my arms over my shoulders in child-like defiance.

I felt four pairs of eyes zero in on my chest. I brought my hands down to my sides.

“It’s just a little car trouble.” My voice wobbled under their stares. “My boyfriend will be here shortly to help.”

“Boyfriend?” Diesel’s eyes held a challenge.

It was as though he saw inside of me; saw Jerry. This powerful man before me bent down and looked in my mind, saw my image of Jerry, looked him up and down, found my boyfriend wanting, and dismissed him all with a curl of his full lips.

Then he looked down at the driver’s manual in my hand. His grin spread wider. He reached out his hand. It was a massive paw, like what I’d imagine a lion’s would look like up close. My head would fit easily in his palm with space to turn right or left and snuggle. He held out his giant, open palm and flicked his fingers in a beckoning motion. Something about the movement made me press my thighs together.

“Give it here,” he commanded.

I did as I was told. I handed him the manual.

He tossed the manual back into my car. It landed on the passenger seat with a thud.

“Eagle, Crow, come take a look at this.”

I watched two other huge figures march over. It was the black guy and the blond Adonis with the dimpled grin. Their eyes were on me. My heart beat so fast it skidded around the cavity of my chest. The disturbance clanged so loud the vibrations pulsed in between my thighs.

The size of these men was overwhelming. I thought of Jerry with his lanky height. I’d seen him with his shirt off a handful of times when we were at the beach over Spring Break. He wasn’t flabby, but he didn’t have the definition I saw through these guys’ tight shirts.

I should be freaking out right now. There were three massive guys surrounding me, and a fourth, the Asian one, leaned against one of the cars just watching it all go down.

Then I remembered, that guy, the Asian guy watching, he was Shakira’s boyfriend or hookup or whatever. Surely they wouldn’t do anything to me if they knew I knew her. Or at least not if I could identify them in police photos. That is, if they left me alive.

“It looks like a blow,” said the black guy.

“Yeah, looks like it,” confirmed the blond one.

“She was trying to read the manual on how to fix it,” the Diesel magnet chuckled. His eyes never left my face. “You shouldn’t be out here by yourself. A piece of sweet meat like you would get eaten up real quick.”

There was something in the way he said it that made the experience sound anything but scary. He smiled as though he sensed I wasn’t afraid. I felt like he was testing me, and surprisingly, it looked like I was passing the examination.

“My boys’ll change the tire for you. Be quicker than waiting for your boyfriend to come and get you.”

“My boyfriend’s not coming.” I blinked at my honest stupidity.

He quirked an eyebrow.

“I don’t even think he knows how to change a tire. I just said that so you wouldn’t think I was all alone.”

“But you are all alone.”

“Not anymore,” I said. “I doubt anybody will bother with me while you four are around.”

“You think we won’t… bother with you?” He stepped in closer.

I’d become excellent at observation over my years of studying insects under microscopes and in their natural habitats. I understood what the most minuscule of movements could mean. I watched this guy’s pupils dilate in the darkness. I watched him inhale his big chest to capacity. He straightened his broad shoulders bringing himself up to his full height. He was making himself appear bigger, trying to scare me away. The curious nerd in me wanted to understand why.

I shook my head in answer to his question. “No. I don’t think you’ll bother with me. You would’ve already done that if you wanted to. You wouldn’t be fixing up my getaway vehicle right now if you wanted to do me harm. You’re trying to scare me at the same time as you’re giving me a way out.”

His face lit up like a game board. He stepped into me, leaving me barely an inch of personal space. My butt bumped against the car door.

“You’re wrong, sweet meat. I am going to bother with you.”

He ran his fingers lightly across my forearm. My breath came out in tiny gasps at the sparks of electricity that ran across my arm where his fingers barely touched, raising the hairs there. Two of his thick fingers rested on my pulse at the end of my wrist. The beat raced a million miles per second.

He continued down and unfurled my fingers. I heard a jangling sound. He freed my car keys from my clenched palm and tossed them to the two guys standing at the rear of my car.

I looked over my shoulder to see the two big guys leaning against my trunk watching the entire exchange. Their gazes were hungry, but patient. My pulse sped even faster. For the first time tonight, I saw I was in real danger.

The black guy came to the front of the car, popped the hood, and took out the tire from its compartment in the Beetle. He went back around and joined the white guy and then the two bent down and got to work. I turned my attention back to the man before me. He smiled down at me, still watching my every move. Still trying to see if I would scare away.

“Aren’t you guys missing the race?” I asked.

“I won the race ten minutes ago,” he said. “I always win. We were headed back to collect the winnings when I saw you on the side of the road.” He leaned his forearm on the hood of my car, trapping me in on one side. “You know you’re gonna have to pay for this tire change.”

“Of course.” I made to turn around to grab my purse, but he stopped my hand on the car door.

“I don’t want your money.”

“What do you want?”

“Two kisses.”

“Kisses?” I frowned. “From me?”

He nodded.

“Why? Why would you want to kiss…me?”

“You ever been kissed before, sweet meat?”

I frowned at the name he kept calling me, certain it was an insult that I didn’t understand. Then I thought about his question.

Jerry and I kissed. Lots of times. They were really nice kisses. I looked forward to them, especially now that he was using his tongue.

“I’m gonna take that as a no if you have to think about it that hard,” he said. “And if you haven’t been kissed properly, I’m going to take it that you’ve never come before.”

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. I knew he saw my embarrassment in the dim light. But I also knew he was trying to rile me up again, trying to scare me away. He only blocked me in on one side. I could escape if I wanted to. He was toying with me like a predator did his prey.

“Untouched and curious. Fresh, sweet meat just waiting to be lit on fire.” He practically purred. “You’re exactly my type.”

A small group of fireflies glowed in the distance approaching us in the dark street. The street lamp flickered off at that moment, casting us into dark shadows.

“How about it? Will you let me kiss you? Two times? I promise it will be done properly and thoroughly.”

He was giving me a choice. I could say no if I wanted to. I pressed my legs together. My one knee slicked off the other from the dampness that had gathered from his proximity and suggestions. The light above us blinked again, on and then off, casting us in bright light and then darkness.

The light blinked out again, leaving only the moon’s glow. With the night to cover me, I tilted my head up in answer.