Tear You Apart

Judas

We sat in silence as he drove out of the parking lot.

I was thankful he didn't ask for an explanation when I had nearly begged him for a ride home, quickly gaining composure as I picked myself up, shaking off the nuclear meltdown I was experiencing.

The evocative melody of some rock song was playing in the background softly and his Cherokee smelled like motor oil and cheap cologne. He also drove a jeep, albeit a few years newer than my own and his was a pine green, almost blue. The interior was a dark green and while the seats were scratched and worn, they were soft, and I found myself relaxing into the material.

My eyes flicked to the dashboard where a headless baseball player bobblehead stood stuck to the scarred plastic. Just above it swinging slightly from the rearview mirror was a small hangman's noose. A cracked smile formed on my lips at the peculiar set of ornaments.

Despite my conclusions I'd drawn about Judd Birch the night I met him, he drove meticulously and kept his hands on the steering wheel. A small part of my brain was annoyed at being wrong, but it also piqued my interest. What else was I incorrect about? Unsure if it was my mind trying to disassociate from the situation with my mother or genuine curiosity, I decided to press my luck.

"You really saved my ass back there. I never thought I'd be happy about being hit by a car," I rubbed the back of my neck, pulling my hair over my right shoulder to rest against my breast.

Is that the best you can do?

Judd snorted and rolled his eyes before returning them to the road.

"Don't think anything of it," he growled. He merged easily onto the highway easily sliding into the closest lane and joined the long line of cars trying to get out of the city. It was a thirty-minute drive back to the suburbs.

"And if I do?" The voice that arose from me was not my own. The creature speaking was finally coming down from the fight-or-flight reflex and was left feeling raw and emotional and only wanted something warm to curl up against.

His eyes flickered to mine for a fraction of a second before realigning ahead. Something in me purred when he didn't respond. Was he considering his options?

We started to slow down, nighttime traffic picking up and forcing the highway to a crawl. I didn't think I'd ever be thankful for heavy traffic until now.

"You'll be disappointed."

I could feel a frown forming at the sides of my mouth now as he met me with a scowl of his own.

I hmphed and crossed my arms and settled further into the seat, feeling like a child who'd just been told no at a candy store. Judd was a brick wall. An alluring but cantankerous brick wall.

"Who were you running from?" The question hung in the air for thirty seconds. His expression was unusually soft when I turned my head to face him momentarily before turning to investigate the car to my left. A woman was sitting in the driver seat with her left hand propped up on the door and a half-finished cigarette hanging from her fingers. An infant was strapped in directly behind her, playing with a toy contently unaware of his surroundings.

"I wasn't running away." Was I? This was not where I wanted this conversation to go.

"So, you just jump in front of cars for fun?" He was sarcastic but his words held the slightest hint of concern.

"I'm a thrill seeker, what can I say?" I reverberated with a sigh. This entire night wasn't going how I planned at all. First the fight with Cynthia, and now twenty-one fucking questions with Leah's brother.