Before me stood an adept line up of cars, all painted in a variety of flamboyant colours that sparkled in the sun, with heavily tinted windows that were way beyond the legal allowance.

All except one.

The car that was directly in front of me was coated in a deep blue that bordered black and seemed to rev their engine louder than the others. While all signs pointed to scurry away, I was curious as to why these cars were here of all places.

Walking towards the car, I cringed at the clamour of the cars’ engines. I timidly knocked on the glass and waited for the driver to notice me, however he failed to do so.

Pressing my face against the window, I tapped harder on the glass in growing annoyance while Winnie squirmed beneath my arms. After a few seconds of my incessant tapping on the windows, I threw all common sense out of the window and pulled on the door handle, ignoring the blistering heat that scorched my palm.

“What the heck is wrong with you?!” The owner of the smoky voice was positioned in the driver’s seat, and my eyes greedily drunk in his appearance. I followed my line of sight from his dark brown hair that bordered black, down his structured jawline that was partially hidden beneath approximately one week’s worth of dark brown scruff.

Jared had always been a man of few facial hairs. As odd as it sounded, he was unable to grow more than a few stray strands of facial hair, much to his dismay. The stranger before me, however, seemed to make the otherwise atrocious and unruly trait for a guy my age, appealing.

I had always been adamant that a man should have a clean, shaven face, because in my opinion, having an unkept face was a tell-tale sign of laziness. I immediately scrunched my nose up despite the way his scruff had made him undeniably attractive.

“Me? What the heck is wrong with you?!” came my, oh so clever reply.  “Who in the world parks their car in here?” I asked incredulously, my voice rising a few increasingly annoying octaves.  The stranger turned his calculating face in my direction and narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

“You need to leave. Like now.” He said in a clipped voice. With that, another round of boisterous revving of engines followed, including the car that I was at.

“No” I said defiantly, “What are you guys doing in here?” I partially yelled over the sound of the engines. The intervals between the thunderous revving had become non-existent, leaving an endless stream of clamour in its wake.

The stranger mumbled profanities under his breath and kept looking between an unknown object through the windscreen of his car and myself, with his knuckles turning ghastly pale from clutching onto the steering wheel. I followed his line of vision and my eyes zeroed in on an electric timer that I hadn’t noticed before. The neon red dots had formed the numbers two and one, and I cocked my head in confusion.

Before I could ask the meaning, the stranger’s sharp, cerulean eyes met mine. The solidifying hold that had held my mind prisoner did not last long, for within a few short seconds, he leaned forward and a firm, calloused hand clasped around my own and forcefully tugged me forward.

I tightly hugged Winnie to my chest as I ungracefully stumbled forward and into the car. My head hit the unforgiving metal above the door, and a sharp pain resonated on my forehead. I didn’t hit my head too bad; however I was almost certain that there would be a minor bruise in the morning.

I whipped my head towards the person who had previously man handled me and adjusted my body onto the seat. “What do you think you’re doing?” I yelled, my voice hoarse from exertion and partial dehydration. “Do you realize that I can and will sue you for physical harassment?” My blood boiled and I was positive that the tint on my cheeks had nothing to do with the scorching heat outside.

“Shut up and close the door!” the gruff voice demanded.

I ignored the urgency in his tone and continued to gape at him incredulously. I was genuinely appalled by his rude behaviour. I had met the guy less than a few minutes ago, with more than innocent intentions. All he had to do was answer my question.

My thought process was interrupted before I had completed my painfully descriptive daydream of slamming his messily styled head onto the dashboard, by the sound of a piercing horn. Before my mind could piece together what was happening, the car catapulted forward and I all but flew through the windscreen.

The force of the wind against the car slammed the door shut and my screams ricocheted off the interior. I hurriedly fumbled with the seatbelt and clicked it into place, securing both Winnie and myself from another near death experience.

I clamped my eyes shut so tightly that I was beginning to feel lightheaded. The car continued to accelerate in speed and my stomach lurched with each rough jolt of the metal death box. My body constantly knocked against the unforgiving door despite the restraint of the seatbelt that cut like razors into my tender skin.

“Oh my God you’re trying to kill us!” I blindly yelled as Winnie burrowed further beneath my arms.

I clamped my mouth shut and my attempts to quiet my mind proved to be futile as endless fear-filled chants pounded against my skull.

Oh God.

I was going to die.

****

               The ‘car ride’ itself, only lasted for around four minutes maximum, but had inflicted enough fear upon me to last a lifetime. As the metal death contraption showed the smallest sign of slowing down, I forcefully willed myself to flee the vehicle; however my body seemed to be stuck in the same rigid position as I had been for the entirety of the drive. My head was spinning and my  stomach raged with uncertainty on whether it wanted to empty itself or not.

I was unsure for how long I had remained seated, eyes closed in the stagnant vehicle, but soon the wind gently lapped at the loose hairs on my face and I precariously peeled my eyes open. Peeking, I titled my head to the right and was relieved to see that the raving lunatic who had once been in the driver’s seat was gone.

Sending a silent prayer to the heavens, I let out a small breath of relief and began making my escape from the vehicle.

I let out a surprised gasp as my heartbeat increased its rhythm in my chest at the sight of the unnamed stranger who I was now certain had a death wish for the both of us. He stoically propped his arm against the now open passenger’s door of the vehicle and barricaded me from fleeing. 

I nervously gulped, my mind partially clouded from the near death experience. I struggled to meet what I assumed to be his stony glare between his furrowed eyebrows, partially due to the sun and partially due to my flushed state.

As the seconds ticked by I began growing impatient. Winnie resumed her whining in my arms and my common sense was finally returning, telling me to run far away from this sketchy place with equally alarming inhabitants.

The seconds seemed to meld into minutes as I chaotically scoured my brain in search of a flawless escape method. The heat of the stranger’s stare remained dangerously fixed upon my skin and I uncomfortably squirmed against the rapidly heated leather seats.

Slowly but surely I hesitantly dragged my eyes upwards and began cautiously rising to my feet, ignoring the obnoxious creak of my skin against the leather. As I extended to my full height, I instantly regretted my decision for two reasons.

Not only was my impressive height of five feet six inches drowned out by that of the stranger’s, but I had successfully managed to make my perilous situation ten times more awkward. My face hovered a mere few inches away from his chest and I involuntarily gulped at the meagre distance.

Mustering up a few incoherent words, I gingerly pushed at his body.

“Um, don’t mind me. I uh- I’m just gonna leave.” I mumbled nervously.

Not only was I extremely uncomfortable and antsy, but my attempts proved to be in vain as he remained stiff as a rock before me. No sooner than I had awkwardly removed my hands from his body did he latch onto my wrist and tug me forward.

My face closed the gap between us and smashed unceremoniously into his solid  chest, resulting in my tongue accidentally brushing against the fabric of his shirt.

I licked him.

I licked him.

I licked him!

I felt my entire body shut down from embarrassment and I slowly retracted my tongue, avoiding all possible eye contact. The older man stared down at me with his lips curled in disgust and quickly spun around, tugging me forward once more.

He led me to the entrance of the dilapidated stadium; following each twist and turn with expertise that could have only been obtained from frequent visits. My thoughts were muddled with confusion and a number of unanswered questions that fought to be free from their confinement.

We stopped walking, or shall I say, him walking and carelessly tugging me along, when we were near the tip of the sandy trail that led to the stadium. I had never been a patient person and I was starting to get annoyed with his indifference. To my knowledge, normal people didn’t force you into cars and drive at impetuous speeds only to make you shut up and leave.

“Okay, so are you or are you not going to explain to me what the hell just happened back there?”

“Hello?”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“For crying out loud how hard is it for you to answer me?” I shouted. Today had been far more than I had bargained for when I decided to take Winnie for a walk, and I was beyond exasperated. My body was damp and my throat yearned for water, and Winnie was panting heavily- the effects of having unknowingly wreaked such havoc upon my life.

I watched as his chest heaved in impatience with the rise and fall of his white t-shirt. His eyes burned with a fire that was prepared to destroy everything in its path. He looked away and ran a hand through his already messy hair and continued with his unusual breathing patterns.

“Listen” he tentatively stated, “you need to leave and just forget wha-”

“No, you listen here buddy,” I stated as I pushed my finger at his chest, “I’m not going anywhere until you explain to me why you and your friends were inside that stadium in the first place”

How ironic, I thought. Only a few minutes ago I had been trying to make a great escape, and now I had suddenly grown a backbone at the most inappropriate of times.

“And don’t think for a second that I’m not going to press charges for your little scheme back there” I added as an afterthought.

He titled his lips, and his entire expression shifted. Gone was the fire that blazed beneath his lids, and this proved to be more sinister, for his face was wiped clean of emotion and only a daunting smirk rested upon his face.

I gulped, having assessed my current predicament. The person I had referred to as a stranger in my head was in fact, a stranger. I had thrown caution to the wind and pushed beyond my bounds with someone who had an undoubtedly advantage, and only then did the real danger dawn upon me.

“Now, I’m only going to say this one last time, and I recommend, for your sake and my sanity that you do not cut me off again, capiche?” he drawled. “You are going to leave, and you are going to shut your pretty little mouth up about it. Everything that you think you saw, did. not. happen.”

“Am I clear?”

“Um, sure”

“What was that?” he taunted.

“Yes, sir?” I squeaked, suddenly unsure of how to speak to the person before me.

“Great” he drawled, uninterested. He spun around and headed back towards the dilapidated construction site, and disappeared from my sight. 

When I was certain that he had left, I breathed a sigh of relief and gently sat Winnie back down on her feet, ensuring to secure the retractable leash around my wrist and tightly between both of my palms. To the average passer-by, I probably looked like an idiot walking my tiny dog with two hands gripping her leash in fear, but they had no idea what my little demon was capable of.

****

Author's Note:

This is late and I'm so so sorry. Please remember that this is my first novel and I'm just testing out the waters and trying to find what works for me. I'm completely unaware of my style of writing and so if anything seems off, it's probably because of that. However I won't mind your critiques, because this is a learning experience.

BUT FR WHO SAW THAT COMING? 

I hinted at it in the description I don't know if you guys caught on, but let's just say that this is a pretty major event ;)

Dedicated to @crossroad because she is my absolutely top favourite author on here and all her works are magnificent. So if you're looking for anything to read, I promise you'll love any of hers.

To my faithful readers, commenters and voters, thank you for putting up with me, as well as Dominyque, Chaste and Chelsea- you guys are the real MVP's.

See you soon x