yourself in that position—don’t blame yourself. I mean, going to Davey’s is stupid and dangerous, but it is not your fault that those skid marks decided to drug you and hurt you. That’s on them.”
“I’m not victim blaming myself, you jerk. I know it wasn’t my fault. I’m trying to thank you.”
“Fine. Good. You’re welcome.” His hand tightened on the steering wheel, and he chewed his gum a little faster.
I stared out the window, wondering briefly if it was even safe for me to be driving yet. But I was feeling better after the shower.
It wasn’t long before we were pulling into the empty parking lot of Davey’s. Miraculously, my white BMW was still there and not stripped for parts, despite how out of place it looked among the cracked concrete and chain-link fencing.
“Donna.” Hendrix’s serious tone made me pause as I unfastened my seat belt.
“Yeah?”
“Are you going to stop going? After last night . . .”
I bristled and took Hendrix’s sunglasses off so I could narrow my eyes at him properly. The thought had crossed my mind. Was the sense of freedom, the brief escape that Davey’s provided, worth the risk? Shit had gotten pretty real the night before. But who the fuck did he think he was to assume he could ask me that?
“I don’t know,” I gritted out, reminding myself he’d done me a solid and I should cut him at least a little slack. “But that’s not really any of your concern, is it?”
“Jesus.” He rolled his eyes. “Why do you have to be so fucking defensive all the time? I’m just trying to look out for you.”
“Why? Why do you give a shit? I’m nothing to you. We’re nothing. I appreciate what you did last night, I really do, but that doesn’t give you an automatic right to have an opinion regarding my life.”
I got out of the car, my purse and heels clutched to my chest, not even caring that I was barefoot in a parking lot probably covered in needles.
“Thanks for the ride.” I tried to say it in a neutral tone, but I was so riled up and raw from everything that it came out sounding sarcastic. Frustrated with myself, and the entire situation, I slammed the door shut.
His tires threw up dirt and gravel as he peeled out of the parking lot and disappeared.
Good. I didn’t need anyone else trying to control my life. I had enough of that from society, from my parents, from my own damn self.
I hobbled to my car, scrambled into it quickly, and locked the doors. It felt as if someone was watching me. I knew it was just paranoia, but it still made my heart hammer in my chest and my hands shake a little as I reached for the ignition.
I’d wanted a thrill when I started coming to Davey’s, an adrenaline rush. But I never wanted this.
Chapter Seventeen
Hendrix
I drove straight home, grinding my teeth and intentionally speeding—something I hadn’t done since I’d left New York. I knew it was stupid, reckless, could send me right back there. But nothing else seemed to ease this infuriating pressure in my head, the incessant need to do something thrumming through my body.
I’d stuck exactly to the limit on the way there, unwilling to put Donna in any unnecessary danger—she did that plenty herself. But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t also to get more time with her.
She smelled like my shampoo, and her delicate, warm body was so close, drowning me in her scent mixed with mine. I wanted to pull over at least six times and just hold her, but I resisted. She would’ve kneed me in the balls and taken off with my car, and I wouldn’t have blamed her. Not after what she’d just gone through.
That girl was spiraling. I didn’t really know what her deal was, hadn’t figured her out completely yet, but she’d been sloppy. Donna Mead was many things, but she was not sloppy. It had been desperation driving her, and she’d let her guard down.
Was it me? Maybe my presence had distracted her. No, fuck that! I wasn’t about to blame myself for some despicable shit a couple of lowlifes pulled.
I just wanted her to stop going there before she got raped, murdered, or kidnapped into human trafficking. I’d carried her lifeless body out of there the night before. Excuse me for being concerned.
But no, all she saw was me sticking my nose into her business. God, she