Bait And Switch, Part Two

Hey People!

Can’t type hardly at all, chopped off tip of middle finger on right hand, see you next week!

Michelle


As Tiffany fought to get her bearings, Dave practically dragged her into the store. As soon as she hit the middle of the rustic tourist stop, everything went blurry. How dare he push her around? Who the hell did he think he was? Tears threatened and she balled her fists. She tried to keep a lid on her anger, but she hadn’t had much practice at it. Everyone gave into her. No one had ever pushed her this far.

She couldn’t believe this situation. Stuck with the jerk, out in the middle of nowhere, on the first day of a seven-day road trip!

No. She couldn’t do it. She had to escape.

She looked up and realized she was next to the bathroom. She mumbled something at Dave and slipped inside before he could respond.

She rushed into a stall and dug through her purse. Where was her cell? Frantic, she tore through her Dolce and Gabbana hobo bag. Her phone appeared in her mind, plugged into the cigarette lighter in the car. She’d run the battery down, that’s right.

“Damn it!” she exclaimed. Right when she needed her iPhone the most, it was stuck in his stupid car.

Tiff would stay with him until the next stop. Allow some time to get her phone charged up and then she’d call Daddy. He’d send someone to pick her up. Or she’d rent a car and go back home. But no way was she staying on this horrible vacation with her rotten husband.

She took several deep breaths. It would take all her inner strength to make it through the next couple hours.

Tiffany walked out of the restroom and scanned for Dave’s dark head. She finally spotted him at the deli counter. She reluctantly headed for him. At that moment, he broke into laughter at something the clerk said. Then she got a load of the salesgirl. Blonde, adorable, huge boobs and about seven years younger than she. What was with his obsession with buxom young blondes? Why did he bother to marry a redhead with normal-sized breasts?

The girl leaned forward and grinned at him coyly. He leaned toward her and whispered something in her ear.

Her vision went red. Her heart rate soared out-of-control. Caught between wanting to beat him and scream at him, some part of her realized that she didn’t want to cause a giant scene. She had to get out of there.

All her focus went to the door. She stormed toward her goal, worried she’d combust.

Suddenly, Dave was in front of her. “Tiff?”

“Get out of my way, you bastard!” she screamed and shoved him aside.

Her whole body shaking, she got glimpses of shocked faces around her as she pushed her way outside.

No way was she getting back in that car. If she had to walk all the way back to Los Altos, she’d do it. No matter if it was 95 degrees outside and she was in jeweled flip-flops, a tank top and short shorts, she was going home to Daddy. He’d get this ridiculous farce of a marriage annulled.

Of course, Daddy had said something about marriage being permanent. Daddy was old-fashioned. He’d been married to Mom until her death just five years before. He believed in long-term relationships. He’d given her some dumb speech about faithfulness and responsibility and commitment. All that richer and poorer, sickness and health BS.

Daddy had also mentioned something about Dave being a hardass with his underlings. Dave has high expectations of those around him. I’m afraid I might have spoiled you, Princess. I’m not sure you’ll like being bossed around. And Dave is a natural leader.

But Daddy didn’t know that Dave was a ladies man. When he heard that, he’d be on her side.

Tiffany hit the main road leading out of town. At the red light, she crossed the street. Her shoulders burned and sweat broke out all over her body, but provided little cooling in the pervasive heat.

So where was she headed exactly? What was her plan? Walking a hundred and fifty miles? Probably not the best plan.

She had her credit cards. She’d find a car rental place. Buy a phone at a gas station. That was it. She spotted a Chevron station just two blocks away and headed there.

The sun beat down on her. The top of her head blazed. A wave of dizziness hit her. Damn it. She never was very good in the heat.

A black Denali screeched to a stop next to her and the window rolled down revealing a red-faced Dave. “Get in the car,” he clipped out.

Volcanic rage spewed from her gut. “Fuck you.” With a toss of her head, she continued on.

He followed her. “Get in the fucking car, now.”

“No!” She took off running for the gas station. Which wasn’t easy on griddle-hot pavement in teeny little flip-flops.

Dave surged forward in the Denali and stopped a half a block ahead of her. He leapt out of the car and headed for her. His body tight, his jaw clenched, he looked ready to pop.

But she didn’t care. She’d get away from him. No man had ever stopped her from doing what she wanted. She was buying a phone and going back home. Period.

Just as he reached her, she darted to the left, then the right and got by him.

Victorious, she ran flat out for the gas station.

All at once, she was off the ground and over his shoulder.

Her mind detonated in an atomic blast. Bellowing at the top of her lungs, she screamed an intelligible stream of expletives, threats and name-calling. She kicked and fought, but he had her in a tight hold.

Opening the door, he took her off his shoulder and threw her inside. Pointing at her dramatically, he ordered, “You stay there.”

“You don’t tell me what to do!” She moved to get up, but he pushed her back.

“Try that again and pay the price.”

“I’m calling Daddy and I’m getting out of here!”

“The hell you are!”

“You can’t tell me what to do!”

“The hell I can’t. I’m your husband. Now you sit in that seat and stop behaving like a child or, by God, I will treat you like one.”

Her mind a swirling mass of fury, she couldn’t think straight. All she knew was that she had to get away from him. She had to fake him out. “Okay, okay.”

He slammed the door. While he stalked in front of the car, she grabbed her cell off the charger. As soon as he climbed in beside her, she opened her door and leapt out.

Dave roared in a deafening bellow.

As she ran for the gas station, she punched the button to call Daddy.

She got no more than five steps away before Dave grabbed her arm with one hand and snatched her phone away with his other.

“Hello, Charles?” he said into the receiver.

“Give me that phone!” She reached for it.

Dave easily kept her at bay. “The moment we discussed has arrived. You need to talk to your daughter, call my cell. Hers is going to be out of commission for the next week. Thank you, I’ll need it.”

©2011, Michelle Carlyle