Wrong Car, Right Guy

I clear my throat.

“Glad to be of service.”

She chuckles softly. “You know, I came out tonight feeling so hopeful that I’d meet some nice people. That all the guys out there aren’t complete jerks. Yet you’re the only guy I’ve met who has proved me otherwise.”

“What makes you think guys are jerks?” I ask. Not that I care if she hates every other man aside from me, but I’m curious as to who hurt her so badly that she hates half the population.

She sighs.

“Guys are so…cutting. I’m meant to believe that there’s one out there that will love me, take care of me, but every guy I meet is so immature, so rude, or shallow. They treat me badly just because I’m curvy. They take one look at me and decide to treat me as less than human.”

I feel rage boil up inside me at her words.

“Someone, a guy, made you feel that way tonight?”

She nods, unable to meet my eye after the confession. “Yeah, after my friend disappeared I was trying to find her and this guy followed me, taunting me, making me feel uncomfortable. It was…it hurt. I don’t know what I did to deserve to be treated like that. I’m no different from other girls. I just want to be respected, to be liked…and just because I don’t look like other girls, it doesn’t mean I don’t have plenty to offer.”

Her words make me so angry.

I can’t believe someone has belittled her to the point where she can’t see how fucking beautiful she is. I took one look at her when she climbed inside my car and thought she was the most divine creature on the planet. Are these men not seeing what I see somehow? Are they so stupid that they can’t see they’re in the presence of a goddess?

“Whoever it was, they have no idea what they’re talking about,” I snarl, looking deep into her eyes. “You are perfect. Don’t let some idiot make you feel otherwise. You deserve to know just how amazing you are, inside and out.”

She stares back at me like she can’t quite believe what I’m saying. Maybe I’m saying too much for a guy that’s only just met her. But I feel like I know her. I feel like I’ll know her for the rest of my life. Crazy as it might be…it feels like I know what I’m talking about.

“Who hurt you like this?” I growl trying but failing to soften my words. I want to take this guy down, whoever he is. I want to make him hurt for demeaning the woman of my dreams. I want to make him pay.

I watch as she looks out of the window to the bar. There’s a guy hanging around who looks to be waiting for a cab. She nods in his direction.

“It was…it was him.”

I feel my fists curl up on their own. My anger is so intense that I feel like I could punch through a window right now. I need to get out there and teach this guy a lesson, for her sake. He deserves to be hurt for what he’s done.

“Where are you going?” she asks as I swing the driver’s side door open. I look back at her one final time.

“To get you some justice.”

CHAPTER THREE

Macy

Before I can stop him, Tate is out of the car and heading toward the guy who harassed me.

I hold my breath.

I had no idea that this stranger would try and protect my honor just because I told him that an idiot in a bar was rude to me, but he’s well away now.

I feel frozen in the passenger seat as I watch him stalk toward the guy and grab him by the front of his shirt.

I can’t just sit here and watch this. I feel responsible, and I shouldn’t just sit by idly and let it happen. The guy was an asshole, but I have no idea what Tate might be about to do. I can’t let him get in trouble because of me. We only just met, and even if there is this strong, seemingly unbreakable feeling between us I would never forgive myself if I was the reason Tate’s life was ruined.

I clamber out of the car and rush to his side just in time to hear him snarl at the man who hurt me with his cruel words. He doesn’t look so smug now, out here under the neon lights of the bar alone. His friends are nowhere to be seen and the bouncer is turning a blind eye to whatever is going on here. I hold my breath, scared to see what Tate might do.

“Why did you go out of your way to make her uncomfortable?” Tate growls.

He turns and sees that I’m standing behind him, and I watch as his grip on the man’s shirt tightens. He seems to be fuelled by his care for me, the woman he only just met a few minutes ago. Somehow, it’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, watching him be so possessive and aggressive all at once. I get the feeling he’d protect any woman’s honor, but not like this. Not the way he’s protecting me.