Page 8 of The Lost and the Found

They were close to me, so close that I could smell the horrid smell of their BO. One of them played with my hair while the other one smiled. I didn’t need light to tell me his teeth were rotten, either from poor hygiene or drugs. Probably both.

“What’s a pretty thing like you doing out here at this time of night?” one of them asked.

“Yeah, don’t you know how dangerous it is? You could run into all sort of monsters,” the other said. They both laughed.

I let out a tiny whimper when one of them pulled me into his body from behind. He was thin, as far as I could tell, his lanky arms wrapped around me, dangerously close to my breasts. He was also very tall. And so much stronger than me.

I shook my head, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I was trying to say no to. To not do it? To let me go? It didn’t matter, because I didn’t see a point. I didn’t think they would listen even if I found the strength to say the right words.

I’d lived on the streets for three years after my mom died and I ran away from the system. I was lucky during those times. Lucky I didn’t become another forgotten face, another tragedy, another sad statistic.

Maybe my luck had finally run out.Who was I kidding, trying to make a life for myself?

I cried out when the other guy moved his hand up my shirt, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest.

I braced myself for what was to come, for the inevitable. I had lasted long enough out in this world to know that sooner or later, it was all going crumble beneath my feet and take me with it. But nothing happened. The guy in front of me seemed to be gone just as quickly as he had appeared.

I hadn’t realized my eyes were closed until I opened them again to figure out where he went and found him lying on the ground, grunting in pain.

My brows lowered in a frown. I looked around to see what had happened.

The other guy, the one that had pulled me into his body, was no longer behind me but off to the side. I heard grunting and shouting as two figures moved against each other. One of them was obviously my attacker, the other one, a much larger man.

When they moved out toward the moonlight, I gasped in surprise when I caught sight of the stranger from the bar.

I had thought he left, but it seemed he stuck around for whatever reason. I didn’t know why, but I wasn’t going to question it. In this case, I was just thankful he jumped in when he did.

I tried to watch the two men, but it was too dark. I barely caught glimpses of their figures. Still, I knew my attacker was no match for my stranger.

My stranger was a big man, bigger than most men I’d ever come across. I felt oddly safe then—something I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

It was a feeling I wasn’t used to, but something I wished would never go away. And I wanted to do whatever it took to keep that feeling locked up in me so it could never leave.

I heard a thud as my attacker dropped to the ground. I wasn’t sure if he was dead or not, and I couldn’t even find it in me to care. I wasn’t sure what that said about me, and I didn’t have time to worry about it, because a second later, a flash of silver caught my eye. I turned toward it and found the other guy was up with a knife pulled out, heading my way.

I let out a scream, just as my stranger moved in front of me, his whole body blocking mine.The stranger let out a grunt, and then he moved away from me, facing the attacker. Before he could take a step toward the aggressor, the knife dropped, the metal clanging against the concrete, and then I heard his heavy footsteps as he ran away.

I was still shaking when my stranger wrapped his arms around me and led me to the parking lot. I didn’t question him, still in a daze. I didn’t even think twice when he directed me into the passenger seat of his nice car, or when he climbed into the driver’s side, turning on the car and blasting the heat.

We didn’t say anything, just sat there in his car, trying to warm up. When my shaking had stopped, I numbly looked around at the interior, noticing how nice everything felt beneath me. The seat was plush and nice and warm. The whole car smelled like him.The effect the scent alone had on me was comforting.

I was suddenly uncomfortable. Surely, I wasn’t worthy of such plush, nice seats. I was afraid I might stain them somehow, either with the dirt I collected from working at the bar all night or with my bad luck. I didn’t feel deserving to be in such a luxurious space, and I hated that I thought that.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

“Don’t thank me. I should have killed them both when I had the chance.”

I looked at him. The streetlight in the parking lot casted over him with a sort of orange glow, making him look and feel warm, yet his expression was ice cold.

“You don’t mean that.”

He looked at me. His cold eyes softening when he took in my huddled form. “Yes, I do.”

I nodded but didn’t add to the comment.

“I should get home,” I said after a few minutes.

“Let me walk you to your car.”

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