She ignored him, hoping he’d move on.
“Come on,” he said, his voice muffled by the locked vehicle. “You’re too pretty to sit in there all by yourself. My buddies and I are going to have some fun. You want to come with?”
The man’s attention on her drew the notice of the group who’d left the hotel and were making their way closer. The three men greeted the one speaking to her, and she groaned when all four of them then turned to stare at her.
One of them said something, and the group of them laughed, the tones and the expressions on their leering faces revealing whatever had been said hadn’t been complimentary.
She searched for Elias’s dark head inside the convenience store and saw that he was finally at the checkout counter. Through the window, they locked gazes, and seemingly he frowned in her direction, but she realized he probably couldn’t see the men on her side of the truck due to the stacked merchandise inside the convenience store.
While the men stood shoulder to shoulder talking and staring at her in that creepy way guys sometimes do, Elias finally exited the store.
She saw the moment he realized what was going on and noticed he shifted the bags in his hands, making them easy to drop or throw from his left while freeing his right.
He gave the men a hard glare, making it clear the attention wasn’t welcome, and nodded for her to unlock the truck once he was at the door. The moment she unlocked it, she quietly slidherlock back into place.
“Nice truck, dude.”
Elias gave them a curt nod, tossing the bags through the space between the console with ease before climbing in.
“Pretty lady you got there. You guys like to party? We can show her a good time.”
Elias didn’t bother with a response and shut his door with a slam. Since the truck had been running with the heat on low to combat the chill, he put the lifted Gladiator in reverse and got them out of there.
She exhaled in a gush once they were away from the group. “Those guys had some bad juju,” she said, staring down at her trembling hands.
“Is it always like that for you? All you were doing was sitting in a truck. You weren’t hanging out the window flirting with them.”
“Haven’t you heard? Women just need to blink, and we’re asking for it,” she said darkly, her upset of the day a few shovels deeper. Men had no clue what it felt like to be looked at as prey on a daily basis. It wasn’t ingrained in them the way it was into women.
His hands fisted over the steering wheel. “I have a kid sister. It drove me nuts to see the way guys looked at her when she came into my gym. She now works out at her employers’ house so it’s one less worry for me. But keeping a few of the bolder guys in line at my gym has become a priority. I’ve had to ban a few over the years.”
She blinked at his words. Maybe Elias was a little more self-aware than most if he was able to note that. As to the gym, she remembered Ana mentioning that one of the brothers owned a gym.
She’d been using the gym at Rhys’s high-end condo, but she’d have to find a new one now. Yet another detail to add to her growing list of must-dos. “Some guys just don’t get it. Or they do, but they simply don’t care. Thanks for…getting us out of there.”
“That’s not what you needed after all you’ve been through today.”
Elias stretched a hand across the interior of the cab and twisted, snagging a bag from where he’d tossed it into the rear.
The truck wobbled a bit as he brought it over the console and handed it to her. “You need to eat something and get some water in you. Have at it. If you don’t see anything in there you like, there’s another in the back.”
She took the bag and opened it up to see an array of items. “Almonds, protein bars, turkey jerky? You call this junk food? Where’s the Oreos? The chocolate? The gooey goodness of a Snickers?”
“I tried,” he said, seemingly more to himself than her. “Check the other bag.”
She leaned into the back and snagged plastic, dragging it over the console to join the one still on her lap. “Yeah, this is more like it,” she said, pulling out a package of Oreos.
“Junk food is bad for you.”
“But it tastes so good,” she drawled throatily, earning a side eye from him.
She grinned at his perturbed expression. “Why are you hating on my favorite food groups?”
“I’m not hating.”
“Oh, you’re hating.”
“I’m guessing you haven’t eaten anything today. Do you really think that’s the best choice?”
