He narrowed his gaze. She’d never driven his truck. As he’d told her, if his ass was in the vehicle, he was driving it. But she was pretty sure she could get it down to Walmart and back safely. She was starting to think she might as well get rid of her car as it never seemed to leave her garage anymore.
“Fine. Go. But don’t be long and drive carefully. I don’t want any scratches on you.”
Warmth filled her and she smiled at him before retrieving her wallet from her locker and rushing out. They’d parked around the corner. Duke preferred to leave the spaces out front for customers, although she’d noticed Rory always took one right out front.
The ass.
As she came around the corner, she peered at Duke’s truck in confusion. Why was it lopsided? Then she noticed a dark figure crouched next to the truck on the pavement. Dressed in a black hoodie and dark jeans, he almost blended into the shadows.
Then a loud scratching noise hit her ears and she gasped as she realized he was running something along the side of Duke’s truck, leaving a deep gouge in the paintwork.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Stop that!” she yelled. Without thinking, she raced towards him. “Get away!”
The figure turned, but instead of racing off as she’d half-expected, he grabbed hold of her and shoved her back into the alley. He pressed her against the wall and that’s when she saw the knife that he held up high in the air. He was going to stab her! She screamed in fear.
Then to her shock, the person in the hoodie was suddenly pulled away from her.
She gasped in a breath, marveling as Marv stood there, glaring down at her assailant. The other man quickly stood, still holding his knife. His face was hidden in the depths of his hood.
“Marv, run!” she yelled, terrified.
She was grateful for his help, but she didn’t want him getting hurt.
“Sunny! Sunny, where are you?” a voice roared.
The guy in the hoodie seemed to freeze for a second, before turning and racing out of the alley just seconds before Duke reached the entrance.
“What the fuck? Sunny!”
“I’m here!” she managed to call out. Duke raced into the alley, his face filled with worry and rage.
“Get away from her,” he yelled at Marv.
She jumped in front of Marv, holding her arms out to her side to protect him.
“Duke, stop! It wasn’t Marv! He didn’t hurt me. He helped me!”
Duke reached for her. “What the fuck happened? I was coming after you and saw the truck damaged, your bag on the ground and you gone.”
“I’m all right. I promise.” She stepped forward and pressed into him, craving the comfort of his arms around her. Fuck. She was trembling so bad; she could barely stand up.
“What. Happened?” he gritted out, but he pulled her carefully against him, holding her tight.
“There was a guy crouched by your truck when I came out. He was dressed all in black. I noticed your truck was on a lean and then I saw him start to scratch your truck. I yelled at him to scare him off, but he just grabbed me and shoved me into the alley. That’s when I spotted the knife. He was looming over me. I think he was going to stab me when Marv dragged him away from me. I thought he would hurt us both but he heard you yell and took off.”
He started swearing loudly and colorfully. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?” He drew back to run his hands over her. “Did he get you with the knife?”
“No, no, I promise I’m fine,” she reassured him. “Marv, are you all right?” She looked around Duke to the other man.
“I’m fine, but you should have run away from that guy rather t
han at him,” Marv said in a scratchy voice.
“You ran towards him? Jesus, Sunny, what the fuck were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I’d scare him away, not that he’d turn on me,” she replied, glaring at Marv.
“Got little sense of self-preservation. She needs more watching over, boy,” Marv told Duke.