Page 36 of Spyder
Not that I’m condoning drug use. I’d certainly never take drugs myself and will always encourage others, especially the students I teach, to stay well away from them. I’m just saying, this feeling is incredible. Lightheaded, almost dizzy, giddy, and the feeling like I’m walking on air… it’s heady stuff. Not to mention addictive. Maybe it’s not a very appropriate thing to say, but I could sure go for another fix right about now.
The thought makes me smile as I carry my groceries to my car with my head still in the clouds. I’m not imagining the connection we had last night or letting my heart run away with me as Ruby likes to say. It was in his eyes; he’d felt it every bit as much as I did. I could see it. And knowing that makes my heart swell in my chest to the point it feels like it might burst.
After putting my groceries into the trunk, I climb in and start my car. As I’m backing out, an old, battered Ford truck appears out of nowhere and I slam on my brakes. It’s too late, though, and I feel the impact as my rear bumper connects with the truck, the loud crunching sound audible over the music on the radio. I slam my fists on the steering wheel.
“Dammit!” I shout.
Even though we’re in a parking lot, I turn the engine off, jump out of my car, and see the guy in the truck standing there. He’s really tall and big. He’s got a little bit of a beer belly, but his wide shoulders and thick arms make him look like a guy who used to be a bodybuilder or a football player. He’s got lank dirty blond hair that hangs to his shoulders, dark eyes, and his cheeks are pitted with old acne scars which make his visage all the more fierce and intimidating.
The man is glowering at me, his face red, his nostrils flaring. He looks like a bull that’s getting ready to charge, making me suddenly wish I had a red cape and a sword.
“What the hell? Don’t you look before you pull out?” he snarls as he puffs up.
The way he’s looking at me and the fact that he’s obviously trying to use his size to intimidate me sends a white-hot bolt of anger surging through me. There is nothing worse than a bully and they never fail to piss me off.
“I was looking. You came out of nowhere,” I growl back at him. “Maybe if you’d been looking, you would have seen me backing out!”
“Oh no, you’re not puttin’ this on me. This is your fault. You ran into me,” he snapped back.
“That’s bullshit. This is your fault. You weren’t paying attention, not to mention the fact that you were driving too fast in a parking lot!”
He closes the distance between us in the blink of an eye. He’s so quick for his size, and I’m so startled by his sudden movement that I take a step back and bump into the car I’d been parked next to. He looms over me with a menacing look on his face, his deep set eyes filled with rage. I look around the parking lot and although there are plenty of cars filling it, there aren’t many people walking through… and the few who are don’t even seem to notice what’s happening.
I try to bite back the fear that’s surging through me, not wanting to let this man get the better of me. But the tall pole-mounted lights don’t reach this section of the parking lot, leaving us in gloomy shadows. More than that, my mace is in my bag, which is sitting on the passenger seat of the car… where it’s not going to do me one bit of good. Though I try to conquer my fears, I’m realistic enough to know that if this man wanted to do something terrible to me, he could and there wouldn’t be anything I could do to stop him. And the way he’s staring at me, with pure malice in his eyes, tells me he’s giving it some serious thought.
“Look,” I say. “I don’t want any trouble. Let’s just exchange information, go our separate ways, and let the insurance companies handle it.”
He looks at me like he wants to physically tear me limb from limb. But when I glance at his truck, I see that I barely put a dent in it. Not that you’d be able to really distinguish it from the myriad of other dents and scratches and rust spots. But I’m going to do whatever I can to get out of here as fast as I can. This guy just radiates violence in the way Ruby imagines Derek does, and I feel unsafe here.
“Fine,” he says. “But you’re gonna pay for the damage you did.”
“Fine. Great,” I reply.
I wait until he’s walking back to his truck before I turn my back on him and go to my car to fetch my insurance information from the glove box. When I grab it and turn around, I find the guy standing there, his face still hard, his expression dark. I give a start and feel my heart lurch. It’s amazing to me that a man this size is able to move so quickly and so quietly. It’s unnerving.
“Jesus,” I gasp, putting my hand to my chest.
A smirk crosses his lips. “Little jumpy tonight, ain’t you?”
There’s a cutting remark sitting on the tip of my tongue, but I manage to bite it back. Even though I’d love to verbally thrash this guy and have no doubt I could do it, the last thing I should be doing is escalating this situation.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I say.
It takes a few minutes, but we finally manage to exchange our information. I take my card and license back and return his to him. He snatches it out of my hand with a growl then turns and stalks back to his truck. Only when he slams his door and drives away in a cloud of smoke and squealing tires do I dare let out a breath, though I continue to tremble.
“Jerk,” I mutter.
The back of my car has a ding and some scratches. I run a hand through my hair and sigh, willing myself to be calm. It’s over. He’s gone. And I survived the encounter. That’s all that matters.
Chapter Sixteen
Spyder
“I’m just glad you’re all right,” I tell her. “That’s all that matters to me.”
“It was pretty scary at the moment but after I slept on it, I figured that maybe I was making more out of it than there was. I think I was just shaken up and he was so big that I just made some assumptions. Maybe wrong assumptions,” she replies.
“I dunno. You’ve got pretty good instincts. Not to mention the fact that you’re one of the sharpest people I know. If you were afraid of the guy, there was probably a good reason for it,” I state.
