“I’ll ride with Kadyn, you guys follow me and I’ll ride home with you.”
“Sounds good.”
When we got to the car she was driving I held my hand out for the keys. The first thing I noticed was her cell phone on the divide. “That’s’ a big no no baby, when you’re driving your phone is to be locked away in your purse. You talk on your phone when you drive?”
“It’s more of a security measure than anything else.” More of that secret shit I guess. I held her hand as we drove, enjoying the feeling of just being.
“The tattoos and the piercing, what’s that about?”
“What do you mean?”
I saw the others behind us as we headed back to town. It was still early enough in the day that not that many people were on the road. Everyone was already at work I guess. “You don’t seem like the type, they don’t go.” She took her time answering me and I didn’t rush her.
“Well the piercing was just something I saw in a magazine and thought it was cute.” She stopped speaking and I felt a slight shiver in the hand that was clasped in mine. I gave her a gentle squeeze to carry on. “And?”
“The tattoo is for identification purposes.” That didn’t sound right, what the hell did that mean?
“Explain.”
“It’s in case something happens to me, my mom and dad would recognize me by this.” She lifted the arm with the tattoo seconds before she choked.
“Pull over Matt.” I barely made it to the side of the road before she was out the door, throwing up on the sidewalk. “What the fuck?” I was out the car and at her side in seconds. I heard car doors slamming and running feet as the others rushed towards us. I held her hair once more as she was sick and then pulled her into my chest.
“What’s going on bro?”
“Nothing Kadyn’s just not feeling well.” I gave him a look to drop it, which he caught and backed off. The girls tried taking her away from me to take care of her but I wasn’t having it. “I’ve got her, you guys should head back to the jeep.” I waited until they had left before speaking. My heart hurt a little because it was finally hitting home that she’d been hurt, that someone had done some shit to her that still terrified her. I tried to make sense of the rage that was beginning to form inside me. I felt the hidden places inside me opening that much wider, those places I’d fought so hard to lock away in a bid for self-preservation.
“Whatever happened in your life before today that makes you react this way, I want you to know that it’s over. You have me now, and I will stand between you and whatever did this to you.”
“Matt…”
“That’s a promise Kadyn, I put my life on it. Now let’s get you home.” I kissed her hair and lifted her in my arms so she wouldn’t step in her own puke and strapped her back into the car seat. Carrie came running over with a bottle of water for her to rinse her mouth and then we were off again.
I kept her hand in mine as I drove my mind playing the scene over and over again in my head. I held a tight rein on my emotions for her sake but inside I was a mess. I didn’t bring up any more heavy conversation for the duration of our ride, just held her hand and offered her what comfort I could. She was obviously a traumatized young girl and I was the man about to turn her life upside down. The one good thing I was sure of was that, no matter what had come before, what I had in store for her would be a thousand times better.
“When are your days off?”
“Um, Mondays and Tuesdays mostly, those are the slowest days; why?”
“We need to spend some time together, get to know each other. You’re off in the evenings too right?”
“Yeah, but I usually just hang out upstairs, sometimes dad might need me to pitch in if one of the others call out and the place gets busy.”
“Okay, we’ll play it by ear in the evenings, but Mondays and Tuesdays are mine.” She didn’t say anything and I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t have anything to say or because I said that shit like it was the law. Either way it was set as far as I’m concerned.
We reached the diner and I felt a strange need to hang onto her; suddenly the thought of leaving her so soon fucked with my head, but like I told her I had some things to take care of.
“I’ll walk you in baby.” I left the car and walked around to her side helping her out. The others pulled in behind and I motioned for them to wait. Taking her hand again we headed for the diner. As we drew closer to the door she tried pulling her hand away from mine but I wasn’t having that shit.