Head down, I ignore him and give a wide birth as I try to walk around them.
“Whoa, where ya going? We just got here!” My eyes meet the man on the right, noticing his long hair pulled into a tight ponytail. I walk by him, and he reaches out, grabbing my arm and stopping me. I whip around and slap him in the face with my free arm before shoving him away and making a run for it. Running as fast as I can, my arms pumping me forward, I’m slammed to the desert floor. Seeing stars from the impact, my knees and elbows bite into the hard ground. My chest flushed with the desert, dust caking my skin and hair, I can’t help but cough. Using my left foot to push myself up off the ground, a boot is shoved against my spine, thrusting me back down.
“Don’t get up!” a male voice sneers.
“Get off me!” I scream, my voice echoing into the canyon. Evil chuckles ring out from behind me.
“Ahhh, help me!” one of them mocks.
“Fuck you!” I seethe through gritted teeth, my saliva spewing from mouth, mixing with the dirt. Hands grasp at my shorts, my halter top shimmying up my breasts as I attempt to fight my way out of their hold.
The wind shifts from a different angle, and the smell of leather slices through the air.
“Tell your boys to get off her or I’ll pull the fucking trigger.” The smooth, deep voice sends a shiver up my back. Someone else is here. The chaos immediately stops, and I’m let go. I pull myself up to my feet, shaking from adrenaline, and wipe my tears from my face, finding a tall man holding a gun to the shaved guy’s head. My eyes catch the stranger’s, and my heart skips a beat, making me take an extra breath. The moon reflects off his brown eyes making them looking wild and feral. His stance is wide, his presence dominating. The lowlifes scramble back, holding their hands up.
Adjusting my shirt and pulling my shorts up, I avert eye contact and look at the canyon. My body breaks out in goosebumps. My stomach knots.
“Tell the lady you’re sorry,” the strange man orders. I look up at the shaved head guy, waiting for his piss poor apology for attempting to rape me. He doesn’t say anything, and the stranger who saved me shoves him toward the edge of the cliff.
“I will throw your worthless ass out of this fucking point!” he threatens, both only feet away from free falling into the depths of whatever lies below. My mouth parts. Is he really going to throw him to his death? I want him to. I want strange hero guy to fucking kick him in the back and send him flying into the vast.
“Sorry! I’m fucking sorry!” the young man squeaks like a mouse, and the stranger looks over his shoulder to see if I accept. Shit, if I don’t accept, I’ll look like the bad guy. Why couldn’t he just kick him off before giving him the chance to apologize? They’re not sorry, they just feel obligated to say something about the shitty situation.
Tucking a hair behind my ear, I cross my arms, not sure what to say. Yanking the guy by the hair, he shoves him in my direction, and rage forms in my gut. My nails dig into my palms as I yell, “You motherfucker!” and kick him in the nuts as hard as I can.
A sob falls from his mouth, and he falls to the ground, a weird gasping noise coming from him.
A loud bang goes off behind me. I hunch down, covering my head with my hands. The rest of the men scatter like desert mice, leaving their main man behind.
My hero lifts his foot and kicks the shaved head guy in the ass.
“Get!”
Scrambling to his feet, he limps off into the night behind the brush, leaving me and the strange man alone at the look out.
I brush off the dust on my arms and shirt, getting a good look at the man who came in like Batman and saved me from being raped. His black shirt is tight, showing large biceps at the sleeves, and a pair of blue jeans hug his ass nicely. My eyes fall to the tattoos on his fingers, then up to the ones on his neck, trying to make them out in the dark. Watching me size him up, he puts his gun in the back of his jeans, his head lowered while staring at me with an intense gaze.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Licking my lips, I look to the ground, the dirt disturbed from me crawling around on it, trying to escape just moments before. “So, do you just hang out in weird places like Batman hoping to save someone every night?”