ADVERTISEMENT
“How much gas does he usually let you buy?” I asked, watching the numbers climb.
I’m sixty-six. I’ve ridden motorcycles for more than four decades, spent twenty years in construction, did four years in the Marine Corps before that. I’ve seen bad people and worse situations, but something about this girl struck me hard. The way she kept glancing at the store door. The long sleeves she tugged down to hide bruises she couldn’t hide. The way her voice kept shrinking.
“Where’s home?” I asked.
The pump clicked off. Full tank. Forty-two dollars.
She looked like I’d just detonated a bomb under her feet. “Oh God. Oh God, he’s going to kill me. He’s literally going to kill me.”