Page 7 of Diesel
CHAPTER FIVE
Ellie
I stood there staring at the blank space where his hand had been holding mine. When he touched me it sent something through me. Something I had no idea how to describe and I had never felt anything like it before. My head was swimming and I couldn’t even blame it on alcohol. Maybe I should have had a drink or two.
The moment I saw this guy, whose name I still didn’t know, I went completely insane on the inside. Perhaps it was simply the fact that I had never really seen someone like him. Leather vest. Tight black shirt. Black jeans that seemed to hang on him in all the right ways. He was built, too. Not like overly crazy body builder. No, he was just the right amount of sculpted. And his eyes. The light blue was almost like ice and it pulled me in the second I saw them across the bar. His black hair was short on the sides and the front hung down over his left eye. Ink swirled all over the visible parts of him from the neck down. And I itched to pull his shirt off to see just where all the lines connected. He had a hoop in the side of his lip. I normally would have been put off by all his colors and the ring, but for some reason on him it drew me in more.
Say something, Ellie. You are standing there like a weirdo. He’s going to think something is wrong with you.
I couldn’t even form words to speak. Why did he pull me out of the bar? There were plenty of much more attractive women in there. Even with the haircut and makeup Steven’s friends all but forced me to get, I still felt plain and boring. There was no way this guy saw anything other than that. Maybe he just took pity on me. That made more sense.
“Come on, you gotta give me somethin’ here,” he said with a slight tone of amusement. I looked up to see him giving me a smirk and a knowing look that I was checking him out. All I could do was shrug and I felt so dumb. “I heard your beautiful voice in there for a second. Now that we are alone you’re goin’ to deny me hearin’ it anymore?”
That made me laugh. I watched as his smile spread fully across his face, flashing amazingly straight and white teeth at me. In that moment, I felt like he was the big bad wolf and I was little red riding hood. I wondered if he was going to swallow me up whole.
“I’m sorry.” I finally managed to get my brain and mouth connected. “Um, thanks for getting me out of there, but I don’t want to be a bother.”
“No bother. Do you want me to take you home?” His eyes bore into me as he waited for me to answer. I couldn’t read his expression. Did he want to take me home? Was he trying to get rid of me now that he really saw me? All I knew was that I didn’t really want to go home and I didn’t want to go hang out with the group that brought me here.
“No,” I whispered. “But if you want to go I can call a cab or something.”
I went to pull my purse off my arm so I could dig out my phone. But before I could, he grabbed my hand again and was dragging me across the parking lot and away from the bar. I say dragging because he was so tall that for every step he took, I had to take three. I swear I heard him chuckle as I stumbled along behind him.
Wait, where is he taking me?
I looked around trying to figure out if he was heading to one of the cars in the lot. Oh no, he kept going passed all of the cars and towards a very seedy, rundown looking motel. What had I gotten myself into? I should have felt scared. I should have had the urge to run. But something in me felt calm and safe. He pulled me around the back and up the two stairs before he unlocked the door. Once we were inside he pulled me to the middle of the small room and looked down at me.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Yeah, actually,” I said as I looked around wondering if he had food hidden somewhere. “They took me to some fancy sushi place and I am not a huge fan of fish. I like it even less if it’s uncooked.” To that, he laughed and I wanted to hear that sound again more than anything in the world.
“I’ll go grab something from the diner next door. Whatdoyou like?”
“A burger is fine. Cheese and extra ketchup, if it’s not too much trouble.” I felt like everything I said made me look stupid.
“Okay, got it. I’ll be back. You can stay, or go. It’s your choice,” he said as he looked me in the eyes. I blushed and I wasn’t sure why. He was giving me an out. But I didn’t want to go. He turned around and walked out of the door, closing it behind him.
I flopped down on the bed and let out a heavy breath. Should I stay? Should I go? The smart thing would’ve been to flee as fast as I could, but I felt rooted in place.
Before I knew it the door was opening again and he was walking through with two Styrofoam containers. The scent of grease and meat filled the air and my mouth started to water.
Looks like I’m staying.
He handed me mine, then he leaned against the dresser with his food balanced in one hand. We started to eat. I peeked up at him every now and then and found him watching me. I tried to think of things to say to fill the silence, but I had no idea what to talk about. We were clearly from two different worlds. I felt a little guilty judging him so quickly, but it was the truth. Not that I was looking down on him. I just saw it as different, not bad.
“So, you got a name?” he asked, raising a brow.
“Ellie,” I giggled and covered my mouth with my hand. I wasn’t sure if I had food in my teeth but I didn’t want to take the chance. “You?”
“Everyone calls me Diesel.” That was what people called him, but what was his real name? I shrugged off the thought, knowing there was no way I would have the courage to ask. “You from around here?”
“Yes,” I said nodding. “Born and raised here in Charlotte. You?”
“I live about an hour south of here. Been there about five years now.” He looked away briefly and I could tell there was something he was trying hard not to think about. We didn’t know each other well enough, or at all really, for me to ask him what it was. “So, what was all that back there?” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the bar. I put my half-eaten burger down and let out a long breath through my nose.
“It was my bachelorette party,” I said, leaving it at that. This guy didn’t want my drama. He didn’t need to know my stupid problems.
“Yeah, got that much.” He nodded his head at me and I looked down. I let out a laugh realizing I was still wearing all the stuff from the party. Luckily, I had lost the horrible feather boa back at the bar. “I mean, what was up with all those girls. The ones who were clearly not your friends.” There was a harshness in his tone that I didn’t understand, but I could tell it wasn’t aimed at me.
