by L. Wilder
His voice trailed off when Jasmine walked back into the bar. As she placed our beers on the counter, she looked over to me and asked, “Will you be staying at the club tonight?”
“Sorry, darlin’,” a man’s voice replied. “They’ve decided to stay over at Daisy Mae’s tonight.”
Clutch looked over to Gus, and with his hand extended out to him, he said, “Thanks for giving us a place to crash, Gus. I could use a decent meal and a good night’s sleep.”
“I’m sure you can after that long-assed drive. I’ll give Cyrus a call and let him know you’ll be heading over.”
“Tell him it’ll be a bit. I thought I’d run by the garage and see Blaze before we head over.”
Gus nodded. “I’m sure he’d be glad to see you, and Sam, too. He’s been helping out, and turns out, he’s a damn good mechanic.”
“Glad to hear that,” Clutch replied. “It’ll be good to catch up.”
“Be careful heading back tomorrow, and let Cotton know I’ll be calling him.”
As we started towards the door, Jasmine came over to me and said, “Bye, handsome. If you’re ever back in town, be sure to come by. I’d love the chance to get to know you better.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told her with a smile.
I followed Clutch outside, and my stomach started to growl as we headed towards the truck. “You said Daisy Mae’s had good burgers, right?”
“Best around,” he answered as he got inside the truck and closed the door.
“Any chance we’ll be going by there any time soon?”
“Soon enough,” he mocked. “Trust me. It will be worth the wait.”
Ellie
I had two choices. I could face my fear and risk losing everything, including my life, or I could run. Maybe if I’d had more time to think about the consequences, I would’ve chosen differently, but instead, I did the only thing I thought I could. With only the clothes on my back and a few bucks in my wallet, I ran. Consumed with panic, my legs didn’t feel like my own as I rushed out to my car and got inside, locking the doors behind me. It was as if I was watching a horror movie play out in slow motion, and as much as I wanted to make it all stop, I couldn’t. With my hand trembling, I placed the keys in the ignition and started the car. In my entire life, I couldn’t remember ever being so scared, and the thought that it was just the beginning on