Page 44 of First Chance
I want someone who wants me for everything I am, and nothing that I’m not.
Someone who doesn’t mind my ice cream obsession.
I’ve wandered over to the freezer section, but can’t decide if I want my usual favorite or a new seasonal flavor.
The door chimes as someone exits, and I assume that meansmy time is up. Jordy and Arizona are probably already back in the truck and Lochlan’s going to be pissed that he has to wait on me.
The freezer door swings closed, and I take a step to my right, but there are two guys standing at the end of the aisle. They’re not paying attention to me, but they’re blocking my lane to the checkout.
I pivot to the left to go up the other aisle, but when I go toward the checkout again, they’re standing there, looking at me.
“Excuse me, I just need to get by.” I motion to the front counter as if they don’t already know.
“We don’t see much like you around here,” the older guy says, widening his stance.
He doesn’t look like he has any interest in letting me by, but unfortunately, it’s so ingrained in my DNA to be polite to people, I have a hard time telling anyone they’re making me uncomfortable.
Luckily, it doesn’t matter.
Lochlan comes through the door before I have a chance to deter them. He doesn’t glance around and notice the confrontation; he was locked in on it the moment his feet hit the welcome mat.
His icy glare gets closer to the two men until he’s standing right at their backs. “Do we have a problem?” The eerie timber of his voice raises the baby hairs at the nape of my neck.
The two men part like the Red Sea, dispersing to separate aisles without a word, or daring to look at Lochlan. I don’t blame them.
If I were them, I’d be scared, too.
He jerks his head in a “come on” motion and I jet past him with my two silly pints of ice cream.
“Do you want me to stick around until they leave?” Lochlan asks the cashier over my head. She’s an older woman who should definitely be retired; her thin gray hair is pulled back in a low ponytail, and she has sparkly blue fingernails that match her eye shadow.
“Don’t you worry about them. They’re pests, but they don’t have enough balls between the both of them to actually bother a woman.” She laughs, rasping from her lungs like a long-time smoker. “I’d kick their asses anyways.”
“I know you would,” Lochlan says, with a small smirk on his face. It’s a comfortable interaction, he’s familiar with her. He throws a twenty on the counter before she tells me the total. “Let’s go,” he mumbles to me without waiting for change.
It isn’t until I’m back in the truck that I can feel the tension rolling off his shoulders in waves. No one dares to speak as if the tiniest spark and the cab will combust.
The silence follows us until we’re through the gates of the sanctuary, and Lochlan drives down to the bunkhouse to drop the guys off. Seiver, Arizona, and Jordy get out of the backseat, and Lochlan follows. “Sit tight.”
I watch him through the window as he grabs Arizona and Jordy both by the collar, reprimanding them harshly, but it’s too muffled inside the truck to tell what he’s saying. He tosses them away roughly and climbs back into the driver’s seat as if nothing happened.
“What was that about?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh, we’re keeping secrets, then?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do. You talk in riddles. Big man use little words.” I mock like a caveman as he parks the truck.
“Are you done?”
I get out and slam my door dramatically in response. Why does he have to make everything so difficult?
Every time I feel like I crack his shell a hairline, he comes along with super glue and seals any evidence of its existence.
“I told them that the next time they leave you alone in a fucking gas station, I’d bash their fucking skulls in.”
