Page 5 of Fight or Flight

“She got what she deserved; that’s what happened,” he stumbles over his words. “If you’re not gonna suck my dick, then I’m out of here.”

“No, wait,” I move around him and put a hand on his chest to stop him from getting away, which proves to be a mistake.

In the next second, he grabs my wrist and twists it painfully before pushing me away. The force makes me stumble, and I land on my butt in the overgrown, dried-up grass.

He bends over me and sneers in my face, “Don’t mess with me, little girl, or I’ll get rid of you just as I did with...”

“Hey! What the fuck are you doing?” A voice calls before Marcus is being pushed away from me, and I lift my head up to find Aidan glaring at the other man.

“Mind your own fucking business...” Marcus snarls but then suddenly takes a step back, his eyes widening. “Oh, shit, man. My bad. I didn’t know it was you.”

“I asked what the fuck are you doing?” Aidan repeats in a low voice and steps closer.

“We were just...” Markus starts unevenly, his eyes panicked and moving to me as if asking for help.

I ignore him and grab Aidan’s offered hand to stand up, the worried look on his face melting my fear a bit.

I swallow the thoughts of what could’ve happened if he hadn’t come to my rescue and smile wobbly. “It’s fine. We had a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?” Aidan’s eyes go to Marcus, who nods his head rapidly. Not so tough now in the presence of someone bigger.

“Uh, yeah, man. I...” Marcus scratches at his neck and then looks back toward the crowd. I follow his line of sight and frown at the group of men standing on the side, all wearing a jacket with some kind of twirly gang symbol. Actually, now, come to think of it, I realize Aidan is wearing it, too.

“We’re cool, right?” Marcus asks, and Aidan smiles coldly in response.

“Yeah,” he mutters and then jerks his head to the side, motioning for Marcus to leave, to which he sighs in relief and almost runs away, checking over his shoulder twice to see if he’s really in the clear.

“Welp, that escalated quickly,” I comment and eye my rescuer with interest.

He rakes his fingers through his hair and huffs before gazing into my eyes with a furrowed brow.

“Are you okay? Now that he’s gone, you can tell me if-”

“I’m really fine. My hand hurts a bit from where he grabbed me,” I reply. Aidan’s face twists, and he looks in the direction where Marcus disappeared as if ready to go after him, so I quickly tug on his jacket to get his attention. “But honestly, I’m fine. He’s not worth the hustle, you know?”

“Hmm, yeah,” he nods absentmindedly, still not looking at me.

I tug once again before letting go, and he finally looks back at me.

“Thank you. For you know... Stepping in when you did,” I shuffle my legs a bit, not knowing what to say. I’m scared; one wrong word from me, and the guy will run for the hills.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t reach you before it came to that. I was looking for you at the house and then by the fire. When I didn’t see you anywhere, I assumed you didn’t come but then thought I saw you...”

Does he actually look a bit flustered, or am I imagining it? He was just playing Mr. Tough Guy a second ago, and now he looks all shy and uncertain. A grin overtakes my face.

“You were looking for me?” I put a hand on my chest, where I feel my heart flutter giddily.

“Um, yeah? I mean, we talked today at school?” He bites the inside of his cheek and then raises his hands up. “I mean, if it was not what you-”

“It was. It totally was,” I cut in and am immediately gifted with a relieved smile.

“Oh. So, do you want a drink or something? Or maybe we can just sit and talk?” He waves around, acting just as awkward as I would normally do.

He’s so different from the cool guy that I met at school this morning. Or even the bad boy ready to throw fists a few minutes ago. I don’t know which version I like better. But this Aidan feels the most relatable. Usually, I am the one who has trouble approaching new people. It’s a relief to see someone else struggle for once.

“Sure,” I reply in a chirping voice and motion toward the empty beer crates that someone before us positioned upside down to create makeshift seats.

The sun is almost fully down, so it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust and see his face, but when I do, I’m surprised to discover a deep frown marring his face.

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