Page 4 of Saved By the Grump

Either way, I just landed myself in what might be tomorrow morning’s news murder story.

And it’s all my damn fault.

I go faster as I hear something behind me again in the same bushes. Sheer terror pounds through my blood, the adrenaline fueling me. I can see a parking lot at the end of the long row of trees. I just need to get there, and hopefully, someone is there and can help me.

I want to scream but my chest is too tight with fear. I decide to save my energy instead.

Just a few more steps… And then I make it. I reach the parking lot.

The minute I burst into the clearance, pain explodes in my side as I slam into a car that’s pulling out.

As I fall on the floor, the pain knocks the wind out of me a little bit. I take a minute to myself to calm down and reorient myself. Then the car door opens.

“What the hell? Why can’t you watch where you’re going, genius?” I grumble to myself as I get up. My ankle hurts too, and it’s hard to put weight on it. When I lift my eyes, a large silver fox of a man storms toward me. And he looks pissed.

"Are you blind?" he's snarling, emerging from the darkness with rage in his gray eyes.

Oh no.

Tears slip out my eyes. Because it seems I can't escape trouble no matter how hard I try.

Chapter Two

Oliver

Ijerkmycarto a stop the minute something thumps against it.

“Fuck.” The expletive explodes out of me. I must have hit an animal because I thought I heard a shriek. Plus, Landon Park is full of tiny critters who come out at night. This one sounded like it made a few scratches too.

Shit.

What possessed me to drive my brand new McLaren out here to the park anyway? Oh, I know. I wanted to know how well it drove and to go for a scenic night jog at the same time. And now here I am, most likely with a fucking scratch in my car.

I get out of the car to inspect the damage when I come across something that’s far from an animal. I hit a woman who is currently trying to stand up and dusting herself off at the same time. She doesn’t look like she is bleeding, so that’s a relief at least.

“What the hell? Why can’t you watch where you’re going, genius?” she’s muttering as I walk over. Is she talking to me? She sounds as if she’s annoyed about this whole thing as if I'm the one fucking inconveniencing her.

“Are you blind?” I snarl at her. She immediately shoots to her feet, wincing a little and balancing herself on my bumper. Fear flashes through her face. I think tears roll down her cheeks too.

“W-what?” she asks

“I asked if you were fucking blind,” I say. “Because I don’t know why the fuck a grown ass woman with two working eyes would run into a moving car."

“I…” She glances around her, and behind her as if waiting for something to jump out at her. Then she faces me again with wide, blank eyes. She's clearly disoriented, and unsteady on her feet. That added to the fact she ran into my car at that force means one thing.

She's likely drunk as a skunk.

I don't smell alcohol on her, though, but she could have drunk a while ago. Or she could be under the influence of something else. Either way, anything I say right now won’t matter.

She’s just a drunk college student from the looks of it. She looks young enough, with bright, fiery red hair around her face and a body garbed in a pretty red dress that fits her like a glove showing off her curvaceous frame.

I don’t let myself think about her beyond that. She's a beautiful woman, no doubt. But too young for me.

And probably makes dumb fucking decisions, like getting drunk and jumping in front of moving vehicles.

“You didn’t… you didn’t see anyone around, did you?" she asks, her eyes still having that wide-glazed look.

I frown at her. “Anyone like who?”

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