A Very Venom Christmas - Kristine Allen Page 0,5
before she picked up.
“Loralei, what’s wrong?” she immediately questioned. She knew I never called that late.
“Ms. Margaret, I really hate to ask this, but is there any way you possibly come pick me up? My car slid off the road and then I hit a pole.” Tears cascaded down my face as silence was my answer. Dammit, I knew I should’ve called Webster or Mel. Except Webster kept trying to get me to go out with him, and Mel lived in the opposite direction and would then have to drive home again in this crap.
“Are you okay?” The worry in her tone made me feel like shit.
“I’m fine. A little shaken up, but I’m okay. If you think you’ll be okay to drive here, I can drive us back to your house,” I offered hopefully.
Finally, she replied, “Well… I’ve already gotten ready for bed, but Decker’s here. He’ll help with your car. Where are you exactly?”
I told her, then there was the sound of the phone being covered and muffled voices. When she came back on, she told me, “He’s on his way.”
The thought of Decker Pruitt coming to be my white knight was laughable. The man screamed bad news, but parts of me really didn’t care. “Thank you so much, Ms. Margaret,” I said with a relieved sigh. “I’m so sorry to disturb you, and I hate for him to go out in this insane weather. I just didn’t know what else to do.”
“He’s got that big fancy four-by-four. He might as well put it to good use.” She chuckled, and I smiled a bit at her humor.
“Okay, well, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. You get some sleep.” We ended the call as I sat back to wait.
It wasn’t long before headlights broke through the falling flakes and stopped beside me. A large form hopped out of the truck and moved in my direction.
He didn’t wait for me to open my door; he whipped it open and leaned down.
“Why didn’t you call a tow truck?” he gruffly demanded without even a muttered greeting.
“Well fuck you very much too.”
He tried to suppress a smile at my reply, and that was the only thing that kept me from saying fuck it and walking. Cold be damned.
“That an offer of payment for a ride?” The snarky question was accompanied by a barely there sexy as hell smirk, and my bad side nearly screamed. Yes! Yes, pleeeeease!
Instead I snorted. “Yeah, right. And in answer to your question, I don’t have the money for a tow right now.” My face reddened at the admission.
“So you call a seventy-one-year-old woman?” he asked, incredulous. “Or were you hoping I’d come for you?”
Whether the innuendo was intentional or not, it had me squeezing my legs together.
“I don’t normally ask for anything from her, but I was in a bind. I honestly forgot you were here. Look, never mind, I can walk.” I grabbed my purse from the passenger seat floor where it had slid when I hit the pole.
When I turned back, he was still resting one arm on the top of my door and the other on top of my car. “Move, please. I need to get out.”
“You’re not going to walk.”
Pushing up and trying to move him out of my way, I lost it and burst into frustrated tears. Which served to make me madder, because I hated that I was crying in front of him. “Get out of my way! I don’t need you and your stupid truck. I don’t need rescuing!”
His cool hand rested on my cheek. “Hey, chill. It’s okay.”
“It is not o-fucking-kay! My life is going to absolute shit! Again! I cannot deal with this. Every fucking time I think I’m getting my life straight, I swear to fucking Christ Karma comes along and butt-fucks me without lube. I’ve paid my goddamn debt!”
He placed his other hand along my other cheek, and though his hands were chilled from the cold, where our skin touched was like flames licking the surface. I continued to cry, and I hated it. Crying made you weak. Crying made you a target.
I never cried. “Goddamn it!” I shouted in utter frustration.
His storm-colored eyes narrowed as he slid his hands down my neck and used his thumbs to lift my chin. The light from the streetlamp illuminated the way he seemed to study me like a bug under a microscope.
“Quit looking at me! Can’t a girl have a breakdown in peace?” I shouted.
“No,” he replied, looking absolutely