“Let's just go back to my place and talk,” Charlie said, pulling me toward his car that was parked on the street nearby.
That's when I felt hope surge in my chest when somebody behind me spoke. Somebody was finally going to help me.
“She's not going anywhere with you.”
A familiar voice. A strong voice. As I looked over my shoulder, I saw Drew and my heart flared with gratitude.
“Who the fuck is you?” Charlie asked, casting his baleful glare at Drew.
I watched as Charlie looked the other man up and down, and I watched as the realization hit me that there was no way he could win in a fight against Drew. After all, Charlie was a scrawny excuse for a man compared to the Navy SEAL who was standing there behind us.
“Doesn't matter who I am, asshole,” Drew snapped. “She obviously doesn't want to go anywhere with you and you're hurting her. I'm here to tell you to let her go.”
“Or what?” Charlie asked, a cocky, but stupid grin on his face. “You're going to beat the shit out of me here on a public street?”
Drew shrugged, “If I have to, yeah. Why wouldn't I? And what do I have to lose?”
“Don't, Drew –” I started to say.
“Oh, so she knows you, huh?” Charlie yanked me closer to him and away from Drew, which seemed to be the last straw.
Drew stepped toward Charlie and before I could see what happened, he had pulled back his fist and launched it. Drew's fist connected with Charlie's jaw with a slap of flesh and a sickening crunching sound. Charlie let me go as he grabbed at his face, howling in pain as I fell to the ground at Drew's feet.
Drew reached down with one hand and helped me up, holding me a little too close for comfort – given that he was my patient and all that – but I let it be. This wasn't business as usual and in that moment, I felt safe there with his arm wrapped around my shoulder.
“Now I'd encourage you to get the fuck out of here,” Drew said. “Because she obviously doesn't want to see you.”
The rest of it was a blur, as my eyes filled with tears, relieved that Charlie hadn't gotten me into his car and thankful that Drew had showed up when he did.
After watching Charlie leave, speeding away in his car, Drew turned to me, lifting my chin up to make me look him in the eyes. It was so hard looking at his face because the thoughts I had about him were definitely not clean. And they most definitely were not the types of thoughts I should have been having about a client.
“I tried calling your office on my way over,” he said. “But I guess you'd already stepped out.”
I nodded, unable to speak, mainly because I was afraid of what I might say. I couldn't be trusted, not in that moment, not being so close to him. Not with his hands touching me. The safer course of action was to play the rattled woman and say nothing. Not until my heart had healed over sufficiently.
“You shouldn't have done that –” I said after a few seconds of silence. “With Charlie.”
“Yeah, who the fuck was he anyway?”
“It doesn't matter, you shouldn't have gotten involved,” I said.
I pulled myself together and cleared my throat as I stepped away from him, removing his hands from my shoulders where they rested so comfortably. It took everything in me to pull away from him, but I had to. I had to step away and leave or else things could take an entirely different turn.
“I have to go, Drew,” I said. “Call the office receptionist and make an appointment with Dr. Frank, please. I think it would be better for both of us if you started seeing him instead of me.”
I walked toward the BART stop, hurrying off and not looking back to see if Drew was following me.
It wasn't until later that I realized I hadn't even thanked him for saving me from Charlie.
DREW
I sat all alone out on the back patio at Frisco's, enjoying a beer and a basket of fries. The cool breeze coming off the bay was too cold for most folks this time of year, but I loved it. It reminded me I was home, that I was thousands of miles away from that hellhole in the desert.
For better or worse, I was home.
I pulled my jacket tighter around me as I stared through the windows and into the bar. There were single, gorgeous women inside – which wasn't unusual for a Saturday night. What was unusual though, was that none of them appealed to me. The low cut, tit revealing tops and short skirts just weren't firing me up as much as they normally did.
At one time, a one-night stand with one of those chicks would have done the trick. It would have snapped me out of my shit and for at least a night, it would have helped me forget my problems and made me feel a bit better about things.