Chapter 3
1688 Words
Jamie shivered as her brain threatened to make sense of what had just happened. She still couldn’t see, her scalp hurt, she was fairly sure she had a foot-sized boot on her back, and putting pressure on her knees was making her eyes water. Then, of course, there were the scrapes that she could feel from her elbows down to her wrist. All in all, she felt like crap. All the pain didn’t come close to the rush of anger and humiliation filling her.
True, it wasn’t the first time she’d been assaulted, but it was the first time it was because of a guy, man. She didn’t even know how to describe him.
“Please..”
“So...”
They started talking at the same time. She cleared her throat, feeling her face flush.
“What were you going to say?” he asked with a hint of laughter in his voice.
She blushed again. Her second conversation with him, and he was laughing at her again.
“Please, can I get some water?” she forced her voice to come out normal.
“Sure,” he replied, placing a bottle of water in her hands.
“Okay. Thank you. Erm, so…”
“Spit it out, princess.”
What was with this man and giving her pet names. ‘Little one’ was most likely a dig at her size and a little cute, but you don’t call a banged-up female ‘princess’. That was like seeing someone crying and sobbing and saying, ‘I hope you’re fine’. At best, it made you sound blind or confused, and at worst, mocking. She ignored the pang of anger.
“Where are we going? I’d like to wash my face.”
“Oh,” he said, and she jerked against her seat belt as the car jerked to a halt. Behind her, she heard a huff and looked back. s**t! What if the alpha had picked her up with the girls?
“Who… who is there?” she asked in fear.
Beside her, the door suddenly opened and Lucas was there. She recognized the woody, chocolate scent that seemed to permeate from his pores.
“What is it?”
“There’s someone else in the car,” she whispered back.
“Okay,” he said gently as he took her arm and supported her out of the car. “He’s with me. His name is Michael, and he’s a friend, Jamie. He doesn’t mean you harm.”
Her relief was instantaneous. For some reason, her brain believed every word that came out of his mouth. So it wasn’t exactly a surprise when what came out of her mouth next wasn’t something like, "Are you sure? Or Really? Instead, she heard a voice that sounded exactly like hers say, “So you do remember my name?”
“What?”
She was already blushing, but she’d started already. “You called me Jamie.”
He still sounded so confused, “You practically confirmed it earlier.”
“I know,” she muttered. If there was a color more prominent than red, she was sure that was what her face looked like. “It’s just that you called me... you know what? Never mind”
“Oh,” he said, and then he started laughing.
“Your name. I’m sorry, baby. I just call you whatever comes to mind. Don’t take it personal.”
Okay, now she wanted to sink into the ground. “Whatever. Just hand me the bottle.”
Still laughing, he gave her the opened bottle, and she collected it, ignoring both him and her brain in favor of reducing the pain in her eyes.
When she’d emptied the contents of the bottle, she could manage to squint her eyes. She was sure most of the sand particles were gone, but her eyes were watering. It would reduce in the next 2 days at most. It wasn’t the first time she’d experienced something like that, either.
She stared at him, her unexpected savior. He was looking at her with a big grin on his face.
“All done, sweetheart?”
She tried her best to roll her eyes.
“Then let’s get this show on the road.”
When they neared the car, she finally remembered the other person. The man was standing beside the car with his hands in his pockets. She still took a step back, nearly stepping on Lucas’ feet.
“Careful, darling.”
“Do you really know him? Am I safe?” she whispered.
He looked at her quizzically, before he reached ahead of her and opened the door for her.
“Of course he is,” he laughed. Then he turned to the guy, “That’s enough, Mike; you’re scaring Pearl.”
Even from the haze of fear, she shook her head with a smile. He was really going to call her anything that occurred to him. She peeked at the guy again, only to find his eyes on her with a fierce scowl. She shivered. As if his sharp blue eyes and the scowl he was wearing weren’t enough to set anyone on edge, the left side of his face was marred with a thick scar that went from under his eyes down to his jaw. And he was still glaring at her.
She slunk into the car and closed the door, feeling guilty beyond measure. Outside, both of them talked for a while. She couldn’t hear what was being said, but there was a lot of pointing and staring at her. When they both got into the car, she was crouched down in a fetal position, or at least the best she could do on a car seat. Lucas stared at her, sighed and leaned over to fix her seat belt again.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He just nodded and started the car again.
“So,” he started after a moment of tense silence, “where are we headed?”
“To drop her at her house, of course,” the man answered from the back. Surprisingly, his voice was quite soothing instead of harsh. She turned back and was faced with a face that was even harsher than earlier. Okayyy.
“Matthew,” Lucas growled from the front, “Knock it off.”
“She’s going home, though, isn’t she? Well, cutie, aren’t you headed home?” he asked her.
The name ‘cutie’ from his lips sounded like a curse word. And right now, she was getting tired of people controlling her life. Her heart raced quickened, but she answered back in a strong voice, “And what’s it to you, mister?”
She could imagine the sneer that graced his lips when he answered her, “Cute. You’re headed home.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Make me, then.”
Lucas cleared his throat from the front, effectively cutting into the argument. Though she didn’t know if she could really call it an argument. Matthew’s voice had steadily risen, while hers had only grown more quiet. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Lucas stretch his hand to her. From behind her, the man growled, but the motion had given her a much-needed strength. She took his hand.
“While this is fun and entertaining,” Lucas started after he squeezed her hand gently, “I still need a direction to drive.”
“Why don’t we go to your place?” she asked sweetly, peeking at him from under her lashes.
“Sure, why not?”
Like clockwork, the other two occupants in the car turned to him.
“You can’t be serious, Alpha,” Matthew said, just as she asked, “Wait, are you serious?”
He jerked the car to a halt once more, “Yes, I am. Matthew, get out.”
“But, Alpha”
“I mean it.”
There was silence from the back before a tense “Fine”. He got out of the car, but before Lucas could drive off, he opened her side of the car and peered down into her eyes, “I don’t know what you are or what your plan is, but if anything goes wrong, there is nowhere you can hide that I won’t find you.”
She gulped.
He stared at her again before he slammed the door.
Lucas took off. When she could finally breathe again, she turned to Lucas, who had done absolutely nothing during that encounter. His jaw was twitching, whether in anger or amusement, she couldn’t tell.
“What was that about?” she asked him.
“He’s just protective,” he snarled. Anger then.
“Protective about what?”
Rather than respond, he only sighed again, “Never mind. So, were you serious?” he asked, a small smile dancing in his eyes, “I could drop you off at home.”
She thought about it. It wasn’t exactly a secret that she lived in a dump some distance from the restaurant. If the girls wanted, they could totally find her there. And she totally needed to relieve stress. What better way than to take a risk? Worst case scenario, he sets her up in a guest room, and she’s safe for the night, or she takes him up on his offer, and personally finds out what the fuss is all about. Sure, losing one’s virginity with a stranger wasn’t really wise, but it would be her last day in the city. She could afford to live a little.
“Your place,” she said softly.
Beside her, he huffed and when she glanced at him, there was a strange look on his face.
She started blushing, “Or you could just drop me off at home.”
He shook his head with a smile, getting rid of the expression that had unsettled her. “Of course not, Estrella. My place it is.”
She shook her head with a little laugh. She was a 22-year-old virgin, and she’d just agreed to have s*x with a stranger.
- Writer
