Mark, Ryleigh, and Brynn follow us in Brynn’s Toyota while we get reacquainted with the city that we grew up in. I think this is the first time we’ve all been out together since right after we graduated high school. It’s also the first time we’ve been in three bars and Reid hasn’t had as much as a single beer, claiming he doesn’t want to take any chances with the car.
I make my way to the dance floor and begin to ride the beat of the music, reminding me of a time Reid said watching me move my hips this way drove him crazy. Soon his hard body is pressed behind mine and his mouth is on my neck.
“If you’re trying to make me want to fuck you, it’s working,” he says.
I grind my ass into his crotch, provoking a low, throaty groan. Without another word, he grabs my hand and walks me out the door.
“Just one stop, babygirl. Then this ass is all mine,” he tells me as he pulls into the liquor store near his parents’ house. An unexplainable chill runs up my spine, but I dismiss it as a bad dream rearing its ugly head.
I hate this place. Out of all the liquor stores we passed, he had to stop at this one.
I reach for his hand as he starts to open his door. “Do we really need alcohol? I’m pretty sure I could get drunk on you.”
He brings my hand to his mouth and grins. I love his grin. “We’re celebrating. I’ll be back before you miss me.” He winks. “Promise.”
I watch Reid through the front window as he grabs a bottle of champagne and brings it to the counter. He says something and the clerk laughs, bringing a proud smile to Reid’s face, and I think to myself how lucky I am. All the nights I laid in bed thinking I can’t do this, I can’t live this life, fade away. I can’t imagine a life without him in it so if that means sharing him with the Marines, then that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
A knock on my window yanks me out of my daydream. Standing beside the car is a man not much older than I am. In his jeans and black polo, he doesn’t look threatening, so I go ahead and roll my window down.
“Can I help you?” I ask.
Although his outward appearance isn’t threatening, his smile could be that of the devil himself.
“Just admiring the view,” he says, and I visibly cringe. He nods toward the hood. “The car, I mean.”
“Right. Thanks.” I begin rolling up the window, cursing my bad judgment for ever rolling it down in the first place.
Reid chooses that particular moment to come out of the store, and I breathe out a sigh of relief.
Thank God. Let’s just go.
“Hey man, something I can do for you?” he asks the stranger.
The man smiles menacingly at Reid then looks back at me. “I was always taught to appreciate a nice body when I see one.”
Reid opens the door and sets a paper bag on the driver’s seat, then closes the door and glares at the man who is now walking around to the front of the car. I crack my window to hear them better.
“Relax, dude. I was talking about the car. But the girl’s not bad either.” The guy sneers and runs a single fingertip across the hood as he moves.
Reid clenches his teeth, and I can tell it’s killing him not to knock this guy out right now. “If there’s nothing I can do for you, I’ll take my girl… and my car, and leave.”
“You know, I always wondered what it must be like for guys like you,” the man hisses. “The car, the girl… you just breeze through life taking whatever you want.” He moves closer to Reid with each word.
“Are you going to be getting to a point anytime soon?” Reid snaps. He’s reached his limit. I can tell.
“Get in the car, Reid,” I say, but he ignores me. He’s too wrapped up in adrenaline. I want to scream it, to grab him and pull him inside. I want to get away from this man, from this place.
“Actually, there is something you can do for me,” the man says right as he sucker-punches Reid in the gut.
Reid grabs him by the shirt and throws him forward, then looks back at me and yells, “Stay there.”
Fear flashfloods my chest, and I know I should do something to stop this, but I can’t take my eyes off the scene before me. Before the man can scramble to his feet, Reid is in front of him, grabbing him by the shirt again, but this time slamming him into the ice machine in front of the store.
I’ve heard stories about Reid’s fighting in high school, and now with his military training, I have no doubt he can hold his own against this man. But the feeling of witnessing it firsthand is not something I could have ever imagined. I want to jump out of the car and help Reid. I want to kick and hit and throw the stranger through that window. But at the same time, I’m not dumb enough to think I would stand a chance at ever getting in the first shot. Instead I watch as my strong man does all these things for me.
Even though he has his back to me, I can see his arm rearing back with each blow he serves. The man’s face is covered in his own blood, but he seems to have caught a second wind. My heart races, leaving me frozen in place as I watch him deliver jab after jab to Reid’s abdomen. Reid’s blows aren’t coming as fast or as hard anymore, and it seems like he is trying harder to fight the man off than fight the man.
“Stop! Stop it,” I yell from inside the car, but he doesn’t hear me. I slam my hands against the dashboard. I can’t watch anymore. I have to do something. I open the door and jump out, yelling at the two of them to stop as I run inside the store.