“Hudson, Massachusetts.”
That was about a three- to four-hour drive, depending on traffic. With it being early on a Saturday night, it might not be too bad. “And what is there that can’t wait a few minutes?” What he meant was who.
“Charlene. And she is hysterical. I could barely understand her, she was crying so much.”
“Charlene? Is she…family?” As far as Dylan knew, it was just her and Sal.
“No. She’s my best friend and she needs me,” Sofia said, getting up and grabbing her purse again.
“And I think right now you could use a driver. Why don’t I go with you?”
Sofia stopped. “That’s nice and everything, but you don’t understand. She’s bawling her eyes out. You don’t want to be in the car with her. She’ll be rattling off stuff that might make you uncomfortable.”
It sounded like hell to him, but he wasn’t retracting his offer. “What makes me uncomfortable, is the thought of you doing this drive alone.” She stood there, as though debating what to do. “Or you can ask your brother to go with you.” Sofia shot him a warning look. He raised his hands. “Just putting it out there. You do have options. I believe I’m the best one, since I’m standing in front of you and my car is gassed up.”
“You don’t have to do this, you know.”
“Well, since you asked me here, I figured this little road trip might give us time to talk as well.” He wasn’t sure about what.
“That’s true, but we could talk on the phone while I drove there,” Sofia retorted.
“And we could stand here all night debating what to do, while your friend is in distress. So are we going or not?” Dylan always won in debate class, and from the look on her face, he hadn’t lost his touch.
“Fine, but I’m paying for gas and tolls,” she said as she headed for the door.
He didn’t bother replying. When they were in the car, she gave him the address and he punched it into his GPS. Once on the road, he turned to her and asked, “What happened to Charlene?”
“Oh it’s a long story.”
“We have time. Actually, three hours and twenty-nine minutes, to be exact,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work.
“I told her not to go. Warned her it could be a mistake. But she kept sending me pictures and updates and she seemed to be happy.”
That wasn’t giving him much of anything. “This seems like the short version. Want to try again with a bit more detail?”
“That’s the first time anyone ever told me to talk more,” Sofia snorted. “Trust me, someday you’ll regret saying those words.”
I could listen to your voice for hours and never grow tired of it.And once she started telling him about Charlene, he realized that was being tested.
“You can’t just meet a guy and then a few hours later, decide to travel with him.”
“I’d have to agree. There are predators waiting to victimize someone.” Dylan knew he didn’t need to elaborate on that. It was all over social media every day. He felt for her friend but was damn glad it wasn’t Sofia in that situation. Hopefully she’d never be that foolish. So help me, I’d kill anyone who hurt her.
“I guess she was so taken with his looks and charm that she only saw a fun adventure. But to me, nothing about that felt right. You’d think she’d listen to me, but nope. Off she went with him and his horses.”
“They rode off on horses and made it all the way to Hudson in that short period?” Dylan knew he was missing something. That didn’t make sense, even if they had lived in Texas. Sofia explained how the two had met, during a little so-called fender bender.
“Now that I’m telling you the story, I know how lucky she is that it wasn’t worst. All he did was get stinking drunk and make a move on her. But when he wouldn’t take no for an answer, she made sure he would only be hitting the high notes for a while, if you know what I mean.”
That he did. His balls tightened just thinking about it. “Good.” Not that it will teach him a lesson, but at least he won’t mess with her. “Did she call the police?”
Sofia shook her head. “She’s embarrassed by the entire thing. All she wants to do is come home and forget about it.”
Dylan said, “Maybe you can convince her to do otherwise.” Sofia looked at him, wide eyed. “No man should lay a hand on a woman. I’m glad she handled it, but there is nothing wrong with filing a police report as well.”
This wasn’t something he’d ever normally say. He may have felt that way all along, but voice it? No. The change had to do with his Aunt Audrey. Something had set her off to be so violent, to hate men so much. Dylan hadn’t asked the question because no one could possibly know, but he would bet money that it had been his great-granddad. And there was no one there to help her. And look what came out of it. More people suffered than anyone probably knew.
“I’ll talk to her to see what exactly he’d done. If it is more than trying to snag a kiss or two, then I agree and she needs to speak up.”