Chapter 12
I can’t breathe, my eyes are shut and my entire body is trembling.
“Hey”
I hardly register his voice. I shake my head, trying to calm my breath when he places a warm hand on my thigh. He traces circles into my skin.
“Hey.”
I turn to face him, my eyes wide.
“It’s just a flat tire,” he whispers, his dark eyes etched with concern.
I let go of the door handle that I had been holding and flex my fingers. When I look out the windshield, I notice that we are on the shoulder, safe.
“Are you okay?”
I shake my head and the dam breaks. His eyes widen and he gets out of the car, rounding the front to come to my door. He opens it and kneels beside me.
“Hey.”
I calm my crying and whisper to myself that I’m okay and that everything is okay. I feel him reach around me, feel him unbuckle my seatbelt. He grabs my waist with one hand a thigh with the other and turns me to face him, his hand cupping my cheek.
“Are you okay?”
I nod. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“I was in an accident,” I say, I don’t know why, but I do, my voice trembling. “With my father and brother. They didn’t make it out alive.”
His face drops like he knows the terror I’m talking about, like he knows the pain I’m living through. It makes me feel so seen, so understood. So…safe.
“Cars alone make me nervous, I just
–
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak out.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t have to apologize to me.”
He tightens his hold on my waist. “I have to change the tire okay, and then we’ll be on our way.”
I swallow and nod, watching as he reluctantly lets me go with a squeeze on my thigh. He opens the trunk, pulling out a spare tire and the necessary tools. The rain is no lo
nger falling, except for the random raindrop here and there.
The muscles in his arm flex as he works, his neck straining as he grunts when he has to exert more force. I inhale, shaking my head.
I should be disgusted for checking out someone who looks twice my age.
But I’m not, because he looks good.
1/2
Chapter 12
Not to mention that he certainly looks experienced in many areas in life. I bet being loved by someone like him would feel a hell of a lot better than by some hormone raging dude.
I don’t know what’s going on with me, if it’s my brush with death that suddenly made me realize that I am going to die a virgin o the face that Alden has a girlfriend and I probably could not have pulled someone like him anyway.
It all as me feeling numb. It all makes me want to feel something.
Jake looks over at me, smirking. I look away, my cheeks burning. He caught me practically devouring him with my eyes, but all he does is chuckle deep and low in his throat,
“So you want to finish your story?” He grunts, taking off the torn th
“There’s not much to tell, really,” I frown as I look to the ground, the dam has been broken and I’m much more open than I’d be on a normal day.
Zaid messed me up with asking about my brother.
Jake here saw me literally panic and sob until snot
fell from
my
nose
<
ト
I would never see him again, I figure if there is someone for me to unload my mess on, what better option than a stranger?
“I think I’m just broken,” I whisper.
Jake pauses and looks over to me, “What makes you say that?”
“I killed my dad and my brother.” The words sting me. The literally choke the air out of me, but they feel like the truth. I’m a bad omen, might as well have death tattooed across my forehead.
Chapter Comments
Visitor
*They literally choke
Visitor
“has” me feeling numb
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