She peeled off as soon as my belt was buckled. The inside of the car smelled of strawberries.
"Are you alright?" Hazel sounded genuinely worried. The little frown between her perfectly arched brows left small wrinkles in her smooth forehead. She wasn't wearing much makeup and her skin glowed.
"Ah..yes. I'm good," I said after taking a deep breath to settle my nerves. The ordeal with Abdul and the L.A county police could have been worse and I'm lucky that it hadn't escalated.
"I followed his car," Hazel said, meaning Abdul. "And called officer Riley because the situation just didn't look right to me."
Her words touched me and frankly they surprised me too because I really hadn't expected Hazel to help me even after giving her the money in the ladie's room.
The kindness of strangers has always left me feeling uncomfortable and so I mumbled an awkward, "Thanks for the looking out."
"So..where would you like to go?" Hazel asked.
"If you can drop me off in the parking lot of Dirk's club that would be great. I need to pick up my car."
Hazel turned down the next street and we were soon heading for the club.
Traffic had started to thicken with the coming of dusk.
"What was your name again?" she asked.
"They call me Sexy." I said, wearily running a hand through my hair and lightly scratching my scalp which was sweaty. It's a wonder that my curls haven't fallen in this heat.
Hazel said, "Well, I'm glad that those guys didn't hurt you."
Could she really be this ...sweet? I wondered, turning to examine the side of Hazel's face. Her profile was symmetrical with a firm little chin and high cheek bones.
I wondered if Hazel had had any work done.
This was La-La land after all and nowadays everyone and their grandmas have had something done to their face and bodies and it's become so common until it's rare to meet someone with a wrinkle or saggy tits.
I'm not trying to judge because I've also had a little work done myself.
Nothing major; just a few nips and tucks here and there although you couldn't tell the difference with the naked eye.
However, Hazel's features looked normal so either she had a very good surgeon or hasn't had any work done. Yet.
"Where are you from?" I asked, to change the subject and also to dig into her past a little.
Her accent was very much giving.. Southern.
"A small town in Georgia," Hazel said, with all the naivety of a little girl. She was just too trusting which was another dead giveaway that she wasn't from the big city. "It's so tiny that you probably couldn't find it on a map."
"Is that right?" I stopped studying her flawless face and returned to worrying about the money again.
Dirk still owed me a substantial amount and I really needed it to pay off some heavy debts however the jerk obviously didn't have any intentions of paying up.
I'd have to call in some reinforcement..which was a thing that I'd been trying to avoid but now I had no choice.
"I moved here two weeks ago because of a job." Hazel said, continuing her narrative.
I cut my eyes at her and casually asked, "Then how do you know officer Riley?"
My question caught Hazel by surprise although she remained amiable and even offered up a deep fried Southern smile, "I saw that his name tag said Riley." she said.
Cutting my eyes at her again, I wondered why Hazel was lying to me.
