Page 6 of A Cold Fateful Night
They were parked on top of the bridge that looked down over thehighway and out towards the mixmaster. From this vantage point, they could seesections of the city lit up in patches while great huge patches were pitchblack. It was the long trail of ruby and diamond colored lights that made herheart sink, however. The highway was bumper-to-bumper with people presumablytrying to get home—and it wasn't moving in either direction.
She wasn’t getting home tonight.
Chapter 4
Tonight hands down was the worst night of her life.
Trapped in an elevator, forced to trek through the snow, chased bya rapist, and now this—forced to stay in some strange man's house. Yep,definitely one for the books.
Furtively she watched as one of Dorian's large hands reached forthe radio knob. The old truck he stole still had a turn style knob radio and abarely functioning heater. Tuning the scratchy frequency, he flipped past a fewstations before settling on a new station. The professional voices of a man andwoman informed them that the outage was all over Denver affecting various gridsand that the storm was expected to last until tomorrow morning.
Oh God, she could not last until tomorrow morning with this man.
"Umm I appreciate you extending the courtesy of your home tome," Lasette struggled for the right words. "I don't want to be aburden, and I know I can get pretty annoying since I talk a lot. So if you canjust drop me off at the nearest hotel that would be fine with me."
Steadily guiding the pickup through the slippery streets, Doriandidn't respond immediately. Turning the vehicle down another dark neighborhood,he turned his head from the road giving her a piercing stare. "Look, I wasan asshole back there at the station I know that, and I apologize." Thewolf gray stare of his seemed to pin her to her seat. "I shouldn't havesnapped at you earlier. I messed up and let my frustration get the better of mewhen I should've been focused on getting us out of there."
Without thinking her heart reacted to the man's self-anger,scooting over on the bench seat, she rubbed his shoulder and sympatheticsupport. "But you did get us out," she gave him a soft smile as shecontinued to rub his shoulder. "I most likely would still be crying in adark elevator if I didn't already suffocate."
Laughing at her own morbid joke Lasette was a little taken abackto see him give her sharp look at her attempted humor. In this position he wastoo close, she realized, but she could not move away the intensity of thosegray eyes felt like a cobra staring down a rabbit. Giving her a knowing smirk,as if reading her mind on how defenses he made her feel, he leaned back in theseat with one hand casually resting on the wheel.
"You won't find a hotel room tonight," It really annoyedher how he said everything with such confidence as if he knew he was alwayscorrect, but it really annoyed her how the deep velvety depth of his voiceseemed to draw her in like a magnetic pull. "Everyone will have the sameidea. So not only would you have a difficult time driving from one hotel to thenext looking for vacancies, if you do happen to find one I can guarantee youwill be paying top shelf price for a low-budget accommodation."
Sighing she wrapped her coat around herself tighter from the briskwind seeping in from the window behind her as she contemplated her next move."Do you ever get tired of being right?"
Dorian laughed, the rare smile looked so good on his normallystern face Lasette didn't trust herself to speak, afraid she'll somehow ruinit.
Of course, the smile didn’t last long.
Cursing under his breath, Dorian slowed down as he gently rolledthe big truck through the quiet pitch black neighborhood. Pulling into thedriveway at the last house on the dead-end street he parked the vehicle leavingit running.
They both stared at the dark house.
"Well that figures," Dorian grumbled. "Waithere."
Taking his gun from his lap, Dorian got out of the vehicle andmade his way inside by the light of his flashlight. Silently she watched theglare of his bouncing light pass by the windows as he walked throughout thehouse. Minutes later he came back outside waving through the blizzard winds forher to get out. Following him inside the dark house Lasette blinked a few timesas her vision adjusted to the new darkness. The entrance seemed to open up to alarge A-frame room that consisted of the living room and kitchen. The onlyshred of light entering the cavernous room was the nocturnal light from thelarge set of windows along the far wall.
A thought struck her suddenly, she didn't really know anythingabout this man. Here she was standing defenseless, cold, and scared in someman's empty dark house. She wasn't even sure exactly how they got there, allshe knew was that he lived south of downtown. Lost in her escalating thoughts,she nervously stood by the door as he moved off into the darkness.
"I have a generator in the garage," she could hear hisdeep voice clearly through the quiet darkness. "It won't power the wholehouse but we can at least power the fridge and other essentials."
Hearing a door open in the distance she listened to his footstepsleave the room as he retrieved the generator. Taking a deep breath, Lasettetried to reason with her thoughts. Dorian wouldn't hurt her; why would he saveher life twice only to hurt her now? Although he was a large man, immediatelythe stray thought ignited her imagination and pictured him attacking her. Herhands went clammy at the thought. The storm gray eyes filled with lust andhate, she wouldn't stand a chance.
No dammit, this was ridiculous she never would've thought of sucha terrible thing if it hadn't been for those two guys chasing her earlier.
Noise from across the room startled her back from her thoughts.
The light of the flashlight appeared again this time settling onher. "Lasette, while you still standing in there?" She was stillstanding stone still by the doorway. "Here," he pointed the lightstream to the far side of the room illuminating a large brown sectional."There is the couch. There won't be anything in your way so you can…"
The tears started before she could suppress them, releasing atorrent of pent-up stress. "I'm so scared," Lasette could hear thesound of her voice thick and constrained from her tears, breathing deeply, shetried to stop them. Nervously trying to compose herself she accidentally took astep backward bumping into the front door behind her. "I've never beenthis scared before Dorian. I keep telling myself I can trust you." Shecould see the light from his flashlight bob up and down as he walked closer,the extreme darkness making him just the outline in the shadows. "I knowyou have only looked out for me, but I can't stop thinking… I'm so sorryDorian."
The shadowy figure stopped directly in front of her, the lightfrom his flashlight lit up their feet. The gentle pressure of his hand on hershoulder tempted her body to fold into his, to lean into his strength.
"It's okay. I understand," his normally rough baritonevoice felt like warm silk surrounding her in its dark confines pulling hercloser. "It's only natural to feel that way after tonight." Shewasn't sure if it was the grip on her shoulder or her seeking need for comfortthat Lasette found herself leaning into his powerful frame. His hand slid tothe center of her back slowly rubbing soothing strokes pressing her closer."There's nothing wrong with being cautious."
"But that is just it, it isn't caution it’s fear. I feel likeI've been running scared all night," she looked up at him but could onlysee the faintest outline of his face. Not sure she was making any sense shestepped back from his warmth. "I don't know… I can’t explain it… Maybe amjust tired."
Though she stepped back, Dorian still maintained contact betweenthem. Sliding his hand from her shoulder and down her arm he wrapped his handaround hers.
