“Your call has been forward to an automatic voice—”Â
Sebastian Evans cursed under his breath as he hit the end call button and opened his messages. He had one hand lazily on the steering wheel, his eyes briefly glancing at the long and vacant road illuminated by his headlights. Tall evergreen trees on either side. He composed a new message, begging his girlfriend of four years to answer his calls.
Ex-girlfriend, his mind automatically corrected to his utter annoyance.
In the past hour alone he had sent her seven text message and three voicemails, after being forward to voicemail twelve times, and still, he got no response. One thing he used to love most about Sadie was her iron will and dedication. Now? He found himself loathing it completely.
Why wouldn’t she just pick up the phone? Text him back, yell at him even. He’d take anything; to hear her voice, to know she’d still spend her time conversing with him, even if it was just to argue, at least it’d show she cared. But she doesn’t, the annoying voice in his head said, after everything that’s happened, you should know this by now. He should’ve.
He cursed the voice in his head and sent the message. When he glanced up from the screen, his eyes met with a pair of wide emeralds. Not an animal. A girl! He slammed on the breaks and curved the wheel to swivel past her—missing her just nearly. His phone fell to his lap and slipped onto the floor. The tires screeched on the road loudly as they came to a jerky stop.
“What the . . .” Sebastian hisses under his breath as he gripped the rearview mirror and adjusted it, revealing the girl still standing on the road, staring back at him. He unclipped his seatbelt, swung the door open, and shot out of the car. “Are you crazy?” He hollered irritably. “What are you doing standing in the middle of the road like that? You’re gonna get hit!” Did she have a death wish or something?
The girl cringed from the stranger yelling at her. Her small frame was shaking like a leaf. No doubt terrified out of her mind. Sebastian’s attention quickly turned to her appearance. She had fair skin and bright emerald eyes framed by thick lashes. His gaze flickered over her long hair, and over the gown that had grown damp in the humid night air, clinging to her lithe frame. A silver pendant hung from a small cable chain around her neck.
But what caught him off guard, was the fact that she was standing—in the middle of the road—with no shoes. Her bare feet wholly exposed and covered in dirt. His gaze narrowed. Had she been walking in the woods like that? Her small arms wrapped around her slim waist, visibly shivering. His irritation subsided. With his brows drawn in confusion, he absently started toward her. She quickly staggered back. Noticing, and in fear of scaring her off, he stopped and raised his hands. “Are you hurt?” He asked, genuinely concerned. “What are you doing out here?” All alone, in the middle of seemingly nowhere. “Are you lost?”
Her wide eyes looked in shock. And Sebastian was afraid she might faint on the unforgiving floor.
Without a response, she turned to walk away. Sebastian quickly rushed after her. “Wait, hold up! Are you alright?” He asked as he went to grab her arm, but she jerked away from his touch and stepped back cautiously. He held his hands up again, showing he wouldn’t make another move to touch her.
“Are you lost? I can give you a ride.” He wouldn’t be able to live with himself knowing he left a girl alone in the middle of nowhere. She eyed his car and seemed to contemplate if she should trust him. He couldn’t blame her. After all, he did almost hit her with his car and then yelled at her like a lunatic.
When she glanced between him and the car, he found himself worried she’d turn back to the woods and leave. If he tried to pursue her another time, it would only make him look like a psycho. He’d have to let her go. Wordlessly, she walked around him toward his car. Slightly shocked, he tentatively followed. As he slid into the driver’s seat, he watched her stare around the interior in awe. He didn’t think his car was rather luxurious. Out of all of his cars, the Audi was his least favorite. She ran her hand across the dashboard and GPS navigator. Her lips parted.
Sebastian stifled a grin. “So . . . Where’re you heading?”
She reached up and pressed a button, and the moonroof visor droned open. “Home,” she muttered in wonderment at the twinkling stars above.
“Where do you live?” Sebastian asked as he picked his phone up from the floor mat, and placed it in the cup holder.
She turned to her door and fingered the switches. The door locked and unlocked, then the window rolled halfway down before she flicked the switch again and it went back up. Without looking at him, she muttered, “Home,” again under her breath. Sebastian frowned.
“Okay . . . Where is home?”
She didn’t answer this time. Only watched as the window droned up and down in amazement. Sebastian used his control to rolled the window up and locked it. She pouted and repeatedly flicked the switch to no effect.
“Hey,” Sebastian called out to her attention, and she reluctantly turned to him. “Where is your home?”
She stared at him vacantly for a long moment. And just when he thought she would give him an answer, something other than a single syllable response, she blankly echoed, “Home.”
Sebastian sighed heavily. “Okay . . .” Should’ve known that wasn’t going to work.
“Well . . . We should at least get you cleaned up first. Then, try and figure out what to do with you next.” He muttered the last part to himself since she had already turned away and begun fidgeting with the air conditioning, jumping slightly in her seat from the sudden blast of cold air.
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