Road Trip with a Nerd - Stephanie Street Page 0,8
physical skills, but years and years of bucking hay bales had made me strong. There was only one way to get Mallory away from her assailant. I lowered my shoulder and charged.
What happened next was a blur. My shoulder rammed into the man forcing him to lose his hold on Mallory. He was thin and wiry and no match for my strength. With Mallory out of the way, I pushed him into the wall and punched him square in the nose. His head hit the wall, his eyes rolling back before he slid to the floor, unconscious.
For a split second, I just stared, shocked that it had been so easy, but then my brain kicked in.
Mallory.
“Let’s get out of here.” I had to get her out of there. Her body trembled as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, herding her out of the rest area as fast as I could. Just as we broke through the doors, I turned back to see Mallory’s attacker stirring on the floor. “Go!”
While we ran, I fished the keys out of my pocket.
“I—I locked the doors,” her voice shook.
Unwilling to let her go or to take the time to mess with the broken passenger side door, I pulled her with me toward the driver’s side and shoved the key into the lock. I yanked on the handle as soon as it turned.
Mallory scramble into the cab of the truck. I jumped in behind her before she even made it to the other side. Just as I turned the key in the ignition, the door to the rest area burst open. The man stumbled out, his beard slick with blood. He tottered down the sidewalk, screaming obscenities.
Mallory gripped my arm. “Hurry!”
“I am!”
The truck’s engine roared as I popped the clutch and punched down on the gas, shifting into reverse. Mallory crashed into my side as the truck spun out of the parking space as fast as I could make it go. My whole body went into action as my legs worked the clutch and gas, and my arms steered and shifted. The tires left a layer of rubber on the asphalt as we hightailed it out of the rest area parking lot. I didn’t even pause at the stop sign to turn toward the interstate. We hit the on-ramp going thirty miles over the speed limit.
“Put your seatbelt on.” Mallory sat sprawled across the bench, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Mallory!” I shouted when she didn’t respond, my heart pounding in my chest. She needed a seatbelt.
Finally, she nodded, but instead of moving to the passenger seat, she reached behind her for the lap belt and strapped herself in the middle.
My hand still clutched the gear shift. Once her seatbelt was secured, Mallory wrapped both her arms around mine and sobbed into my shoulder.
Chapter Four
Mallory
Grant didn’t push me away. I’d never been so thankful to have someone at my side then right at that moment. Unable to contain my emotions, I cried into the back of his shoulder, hugging his arm to my chest. The stench of the drifter who’d attacked me at the rest area clung to my nose. The spicy scent of Grant’s deodorant smelled so good in contrast, I found myself turning my face into his t-shirt to get a better breath of it.
I wanted a shower. I wanted to sanitize my whole body. I could still feel the grime from his hand on my cheeks and lips. The thought of it made me cry even harder.
“Shhh. It’s okay. We’re okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Shhh,” he crooned. He drove one-handed. His other hand wrapped around my thigh since I had a death grip on his arm. He kept glancing away from the road to look at my face. His brows lowered with worry over his eyes. He must have noticed me wiping my mouth on his t-shirt because he reached over to the glove compartment and pulled out a packet of wet wipes.
“Here. Use these.”
Fresh tears coursed down my cheeks as I opened the package and pulled out several wipes to clean every inch of my exposed skin. I vowed to change my clothes as soon as we stopped somewhere. The container was nearly empty by the time I finished. I’d wiped my mouth and face so many times, I could taste the solution the wipes soaked in. A white pile sat on the bench beside me.
“I’ll pull over at the next exit,” Grant said,