Page 7 of The Sweetest Devotion

My car swerved to the right of the road, rumbling as I heard the sound of glass bursting beneath my tires.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Not good. Not good,” I whined as I pulled over before my car lurched into the ditch.

I was at a bend in the road with nothing but trees and nightfall surrounding me. I had just gotten off the highway and was making my way toward Jadyn’s, nowhere near walking distance to shelter from the looks of it, not that my heels would carry me.

The smartest thing I could’ve done was leave my cell phone at my parents’ to avoid being tracked. Thedumbestthing I could’ve done was leave my cell phone at my parents’ when there was a possibility of an emergency such as the one I was currently in.

I was stranded.

Breathe, Kennedy, breathe, I coached myself to keep the anxiety at bay. Bedford Heights didn’t have the best reputation as it was. While I knew all the stuff the movies and shows portrayed about the city was just fictional sensation to sell fear and violence, being out here alone at night did screamCome hit a lick.

Still, I climbed out of my car and assessed the damage done to my tires, questioning if I could wheel my way to civilization.

By the gaping hole in my front left wheel, I guessed I couldn’t.

My lips trembled and ick rushed over me. Did I deserve this? For running off and not being brave enough to face my problems head-on?

I shook my head at the rhetorical questions. This wasn’t my fault. I didn’t ask for my father to betray me like he had. He’d left me no choice but to react this way.

Regardless, I had to do something other than standing around like a sitting duck.

It was a fairly warm night this Sunday evening. A low of sixty-something degrees. Crickets echoed in the distance, and a full moon hung overhead amid the glittery stars in the sky peeking out above the trees.

Before I could contemplate walking up the road, a pair of headlights appeared around the corner, saving me the feat.

I stepped out into the middle of the road and waved my arms wildly to stop the driver, and spare them getting my same fate. A look over my shoulder found the remains of a bottle of liquor laying in the street.

A horn blew and I spun around, seeing the mid-size SUV, a Bronco, stopping a few yards from my vehicle. A man stuck his head out his window, gazing from my car to me. “Car trouble?”

I nodded, suddenly worried as I wished it were a woman who had stopped instead. “Yes. There’s broken glass and I blew a tire.”

The man got back in his ride and soon opened his door and climbed out. Sensing my trepidation, he approached me with his hands up. “You okay?”

No.Far from it. “I…I didn’t get hurt. Thank God.”

The man was wearing glasses, and behind his lenses I watched as his eyes fell to my clothes and soon my feet. He appeared perplexed as he pushed his glasses up and returned to my eyes. “You sure you’re going the right way?”

“Huh?” I always took the back roads to Jay’s to avoid lights.

The man scratched at his head and glanced at my Lexus. He then looked behind me and pointed. “Hampton Hills is that way.”

Of course I didn’t blend in.

Jadyn liked to boast about how everybody almost knew everybody in Bedford Heights. And while it wasn’t a poverty-stricken city, I had a feeling no one was driving around with a hundred-thousand-dollar car or owned a ten-thousand-dollar dress. Or maybe it was my awkwardness, the way I kept my distance from this man that screamed I was from the Hills.

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?” The question came out snappier than I intended, but I didn’t back down from the tone my voice took on. Where I was from or going didn’t matter with my wheel totaled.

The man bobbed his head. “You right. You call anybody?”

And now I felt like an idiot for what I had to confess. “I don’t have my phone. I would really appreciate it if you let me use yours.”

The man peered at my car once again before reaching into his pocket for his device. “I got you. My boy a mechanic.”

I looked at the sky, thanking the Heavens for this godsend.

The man came over. “I’m Savon, by the way.”

---