Free Saving Dallas by Kim Jones Page B

the Luke I had seen in the bedroom.  That Luke was domineering, but in a sexual way.  This one looked like he could rip me to pieces with his bare hands.
    I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and replied with a simple, barely audible , “Yes.”  Without another word, Luke walked back inside, leaving me alone.  Not sure what to do, I turned and started walking down the road.

 
    Chapter 7
     
    I could not face the humiliation of going back inside.  Even though no one said anything, I knew everyone in the building had watched the scene unfold.  I knew I could not walk down the interstate, so I grabbed my cell from my back pocket and dialed the only person I knew in Hattiesburg that would come get me.  Lindsey’s phone rang only once when she picked up with her normal cheery greeting. 
    “Hey , Dallas!  What can I do for you?” 
    Somehow, I found my voice and was surprised to find it working without a hint of despair.  “ I need you to come pick me up from Blackwell Grocery off of Evelyn Gandy Parkway.” 
    “Um, ok.  Just so happens I am in Petal.  I should be there in about ten minutes.  Everything ok?”  I ended the call and placed my phone back in my pocket.  I would have to concoct some st ory to tell Lindsey as to why I was sitting on the curb at a run-down grocery store, on a Sunday afternoon.  If she knew what really happened she may take that as a sign of weakness and that was the last thing I wanted. 
    As promised, Lindsey’s shiny white car pulled into the parking lot less than ten minutes later.  “I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to go home,” I said, never looking her in the eye.  I had slouched down in my seat, staring out the window, silently hoping that she would just let it be.  I knew that she would.  She was not the type to pry or ask too many questions.  I suddenly remembered that Luke had the code to get in the gate at my house.  “Do you mind if I come to your house for a little while?” I blurted to Lindsey without thinking. 
    “Of course not,” she responded.  I felt like a complete fool, an idiot.  It was degrading, lowering myself to ask for assistance from someone who made less in a month than I did in a day.  Here I was, CEO of one of the largest real estate companies in the south, calling on a girl with an associate’s degree from a junior college to assist me with my personal life.  She was sure to take this as a sign of distress and lack of confidence, which would lead to her leaking my story to a group of middle class workers at a Thursday night Bunco party.  She would eventually lose respect for me in the office, causing me to let her go and hire a new assistant.  By that time, she will have gone to the media hoping to get some sort of attention by letting everyone in on the secret life of the most eligible millionaire bachelorette- Dallas Knox.  My private life would be aired like dirty laundry for the entire world to see.
    I would eventually lose clients causing my business to fold and once I dipped into my savings and CD’s, my interest would go down, and by the time I was forty I would be broke and without a job living in a trailer with thirty-five cats.  The thought was so revolting- I started to tell Lindsey to take me home.  I would rather face the wrath of Luke and his goon squad than be known for the woman who once had it all, but lost it after her assistant sold her out.  I wanted to say those things, but I couldn’t.  I needed Lindsey.  I needed a friend and of all the people I had come in contact with over the years, it was her that I was closest to.  I wanted someone I could confide in and share all my secrets with.  It was a little overwhelming at times being me and trying to keep an all business persona when deep down- all I wanted was to be just like everyone else.
    Luke had turned into a complete failure and my melancholy mood his actions had put me in made me extremely vulnerable.  It was time