Most of All You: A Love Story(8)
The glare of the sun was strong as I squinted out the open window; nothing in sight but rocks and trees. I was at least three miles from Glendale, the small town where I lived, and there wasn’t so much as a gas station between here and there. I pulled my phone out of my purse and dialed the local garage and asked for Ricky. When I was told he wasn’t there, I sighed, hanging up. He was the only one who would have given me a free tow. I dialed Kayla’s number next, and it went straight to voice mail.
“Hey, Kay, it’s me. My stupid car just died on the side of the road. If you get this and you’re not working, call me.”
Tossing my phone back in my purse, I rolled my windows up and got out. I stood for a moment considering the five bags of groceries in the backseat and finally blew out a breath, abandoning them as I started walking. I’d get to town and catch a ride back with someone. At least the nonperishables might be salvageable. Goddammit, I’d just spent every cent of last night’s tips on those groceries.
The sun was hot on my back, and I felt sweat gathering between my shoulder blades after only a few minutes. In an attempt to make walking easier, I hitched my jean skirt higher on my thighs. My heeled sandals weren’t exactly ideal for a three-mile hike. I bent down and took them off, but the asphalt beneath my feet was so hot it burned. Shit. Looked like the blister I’d likely get from putting them back on would be the lesser of two evils. I could only hope.
A few cars drove by, but in a town with a population of less than six hundred, I wasn’t expecting this road to be highly traveled.
I’d walked about a mile when I heard the loud roar of a truck engine and turned, moving closer to the dead grass at the side of the road and glancing back at the white truck coming my way. It slowed as it went past me and then pulled to the shoulder of the road, idling. I slowed my pace, nervous flutters beginning to move in my belly when Tommy Hull leaned out the window, squinting back at me.
“Hey, girl, you need a ride?”
I released a breath and sped up, pulling open his passenger side door and climbing in. I hadn’t seen Tommy in a while, but he’d been a regular at the Platinum Pearl before he’d married some townie several months before. “Thanks, Tommy, that’d be great. It sure is hot out there.” The air-conditioning in his truck felt wonderful and I sighed, leaning back against the seat.
He pulled onto the road and glanced over at me, his eyes moving down my bare thighs, lingering. “Sure is.” He started to swerve slightly to the side of the road and looked up, correcting the direction of the truck before glancing at me again. “That your car back there?”
“Yeah.” I let out a humorless laugh. “Piece of junk.” His eyes seemed to be stuck on my thighs again so I pulled my skirt down slightly, the movement getting his attention. He lifted his gaze and smirked at me.
“You’re lookin’ real nice today, girl. You wanna go somewhere?”
I shook my head, resisting the urge to cringe. “No, thank you anyway, Tommy.” I suddenly remembered the groceries I’d left in the backseat of my car, but decided not to ask Tommy to take me back to get them. I just wanted to get home. Fuck the groceries. Fuck my car and my life. I just wanted to get in bed and turn on some mindless talk show and forget about everything.
“Aw, come on.” He put his hand on my thigh and rubbed it lightly. “Damn you’re soft. Forgot how soft you are, baby. Miss those lap dances you used to give me.” He removed his hand to put it back on the wheel as he turned off the highway onto a dirt road.
“Tommy—”
“I think you owe me a little something for getting you off the side of the road, don’t you? Coulda just left you there, walking your ass back to town in the hot sun. Still could.” And there it was. My shoulders drooped at the cold jeering in his tone. The scenery around us, the inside of his truck, and my hands sitting in my lap seemed to take on a flat quality, as if none of this was real. I wished it wasn’t.
I looked at Tommy blankly, a familiar sense of futility settling over me. What did it matter anyway if I let him grope me in his truck? Here, alone on the side of the road, I didn’t even have the thin veneer of safety the Platinum Pearl offered. And judging by the mean look in Tommy’s eyes, I knew it’d take more effort to dissuade him.
Evidently the fact that he was married didn’t mean much to Tommy. What a lucky girl she was.
I forced my lips to lift into something that felt like a smile. “If that’s what you want, sugar.” It was impossible to inject anything other than fatigue and detachment into my voice. Not that he would care.
He stopped the truck, grinning triumphantly at me. “That’s my girl.” He was on me before I could even blink, his hands everywhere, his mouth fastened to mine, his tongue probing as if digging for lost treasure. I hardened myself, my mind moving elsewhere until his taste, tobacco and something salty he’d recently eaten, was bearable, seemingly innocuous. I tilted my head back against the glass of the window, gazing up at the sky, and noticed a blackbird soaring in the distance. I watched it until it was nothing more than a small black speck, watched it until it disappeared into nothing at all.
Tommy thrust against me, panting, his hand desperately pulling at my panties as he licked up my jaw. “Aw, Jesus you get me worked up, baby. You’re so fuckin’ gorgeous. Aw, fuck.” His zipper was down and he was attempting to take his belt off with one hand, still grinding against me in a frenzy, when he let out a loud gasp that ended in a groan, stilling as I felt warm wetness against my bare hip. “Fuck!” he swore, pulling away instantly.