"What?" he said, grinning. He leaned in and kissed me, but I pulled away. "What’s the matter?"
"Nothing," I said, pushing his hand out from under my skirt. "Just take it easy. It’s not a race."
His eyes darkened. I had embarrassed him. "All right," he said, leaning back in his seat. He turned on the car to fire up the heater, then reached in his breast pocket for his cigarettes. He offered me one.
I tried to smooth his ruffled feathers back down. "Can I just smoke some of yours?"
"Sure," he said. He lit up and took a drag, then passed it to me. I took a much smaller drag and passed it back, coughing. "Not a regular smoker?"
"No. Only when I drink."
He took another few drags, staring ahead. I reached out and touched his face, turning him to face me. I hoped he wouldn’t be mad at me for asking him to slow down.
But he smiled as I stroked his cheek, then leaned in, slowly this time,
and kissed me.
I tried to kiss him back, but when I opened my mouth he pushed his tongue in, aggressive and rough all over again. I pushed him off of me, my skin crawling this time. "Maybe this was a bad idea," I said.
"What’s your problem?"
"Nothing," I said, all those silent alarms a girl learns to program when she grows up sounding off in my head. "Why don’t we go hang out inside a little longer, where it’s warm?"
But he was angry now. He took a hard drag off of his cigarette and flicked it out of his cracked window. Before I could turn for the door handle he had already turned around and grabbed for me again, his hand back on my bare thigh and the other pulling me towards him.
"Knock it off, Dennis!" I shouted, swatting at him. But he just grabbed my arm and pulled it down into his crotch, forcing me to feel his hard on.
"Come on, I know you want it," he smirked.
"Dennis! Stop it!"
Dennis’s door opened, the cold air rushing inside—and with the wintry air two big arms in a navy peacoat. The gloved hands seized him and pulled him hard from the car. I saw the look of absolute shock on his face just before he was dragged out of his seat and onto the wet muddy parking lot ground.
James leaned down into the open door, his eye smoldering. "Get out, Allie."
I obeyed, mindless in my shock, and scrambled out of the car. I nearly fell over on my high heels. I pulled my coat tight around me and started to circle the car.
"Stay," James said, giving me another look before turning his attention to Dennis, who was getting back on to his feet.
"What the fuck, James? These are brand new clothes," Dennis said.
James took a threatening step towards Dennis. My heart pounded, I was afraid for Dennis and what James was going to do to him. He was a jerk but he didn’t deserve to get beat up, and anyway everything was my fault.
"I could have sworn I made this clear years ago," James said.
"She wanted to come out here!" Dennis shouted, gesturing wildly at me.
"Maybe, maybe not. But this isn’t about her. It’s about you, Dennis."
Dennis brushed off his slacks as he stood up. "Fuck," he mumbled, surveying his ruined clothes. Finally he looked up at James before glaring at me.
"It’s true," I said. "I asked him to come out here. Leave him alone, James."
But James had other ideas. He seized hold of Dennis and swung him against the car. "She’s not going to save you from this."
"James!" I shouted.
"Allie, go get in my car and shut up." When I didn’t move, he glared. "Now."