3 Strangers

Desmond stuck to the very edge of the road as he threaded through the busy street. The place hadn't changed much since the last time he saw it. The shoppers were out shopping, and it was as crowded as he could remember. He had come here to stroll and clear his mind.

The argument he had that morning with his grandfather still had his jaw twitching. His family was against him. All they were yet to do was call him a monster to his face, though they had conveyed that message in more subtle language. In his uncle's words,

"You are too rogue to handle anything."

That had set him off like a volcano. He had punched Tim in the face. It was only after the dust settled that he realized that he had just demonstrated how much of a rogue he was.

His grandfather had yelled at him to get out and had sworn to never put Javo into his care. Desmond sighed. He could have just forgotten about Javo and ran back to Japan, where he could exchange bullets with the Beans.

Those were the days, the fun days! Though business was good, Desmond couldn't bear to watch his father's hard work being passed to Timothy.

He knew if he could convince his grandfather, he'd be set, but to do that, he needed to act repentant of all his 'evil ways' as Aunty Theresa would put it. He needed the perfect lie because there was no chance in hell he'd change.

His attention was drawn to a commotion in the opposite lane. A group of men was manhandling a girl. Before he knew it, they disappeared into the alley. Desmond grinned as he crossed the road. He missed scenes like that.

Desmond made sure he kept a decent distance from them so they wouldn't notice him. The group suddenly took a bend he didn't know existed. Desmond hurried now so he wouldn't miss them.

When he peeked around the bend, an interesting scene greeted his eyes. One of the boys was howling on the hard ground while holding onto his groin. Desmond could immediately tell what had happened. The other two seemed to be frozen in their spots before they attacked her.

Desmond watched unperturbed as the men lunged at her. The girl swung a bag at them. She caught one, but the other was smart enough to duck. He hurriedly grabbed her arms from behind. The one that got hit by the bag stood up.

Desmond watched to see what she would do next. He expected her to kick him or something, but she was busy struggling with the other guy. The other guy punched her in the stomach. She wasn't as smart as he hoped, but at least she wasn't screaming and wailing as most women did.

Desmond found himself striding towards them.

"Let her go," he said, making the man pause mid-punch. He turned and squinted his eyes at the intruder.

"Who are you?" He asked.

Desmond moved closer.

"Mind your business, man!" The one holding Sam yelled.

While the men were distracted by the stranger, Sam lifted her leg and kicked the man before her in the knee. He groaned and fell.

The one behind her took a fistful of her hair and yanked. Sam gritted her teeth in pain.

The next thing she heard was the sound of blows, and when she looked around, the two men were on the ground. The first guy had gotten to his feet and was staggering away while holding the wall for balance.

Sam strode over to him, turned him around, and kicked him in the groin again. Damn him for thinking about touching her. She strode back to Desmond and picked up the bag. Desmond was expecting her to address him, but she pretended he wasn't even there and turned to leave.

The stranger held her wrist. She turned and glared at him. The hood had fallen off his head. She could see him clearly now. She had never seen anyone so handsome.

His hair was jet black, and his eyes were a dark hazel. His lips pulled up in a grin before Sam realized she was staring. She frowned and tugged at her arm, but his grip was too firm.

"You should say thank you when someone helps you," he said in a deep voice.

"I had the situation under control. Right now, I don't see how different you are from them." She glanced at his hand on her wrist and he let go of her.

"What happened?" He asked, but the girl has already hurried away.

"Rude." He muttered to himself.

Most women would have been trying to make conversation with him and shamelessly throwing themselves at him. This one seemed to want nothing to do with him.

An idea struck him suddenly. He calmly brought out his phone and dialed a number. When the line connected, he said, "Bring the car."

He had found the perfect lie to fool everyone.

* * * *

Sam held the bag tighter as her fingers seemed to come to rest every minute. She hadn't had a solid meal for days. Fred always made sure she cooked just enough, so even when she added the leftovers with the crumbs she stole, she still wouldn't have enough. By the time she hit the highway, her legs already felt like jelly. She pushed on one step at a time as the wind and sun beat on her.

Suddenly, a black limousine stopped beside her. She stopped, not really to see the car but to also catch her breath. The tinted glass of the car wound down. Sam was confronted by a handsome man. He was wearing a suit. She could tell because he had lazily flung an arm out of the window. He looked so familiar.

"Get in!" he commanded.

Sam immediately recognized the voice and frowned. It was the same guy from the restaurant. She turned and started to hurry away. She wondered why he was following her.

Desmond instructed his driver to keep up. Sam tried to walk faster as the car caught up with her, but her legs weren't strong enough.

"Come inside," he ordered.

Sam wondered what he was expecting. She would just dumbly follow him because he had a pretty face?

The car suddenly stopped. Sam continued walking, leaving them behind.

Polished men like him never lingered around girls like her after a night, not to mention after they got turned down by said girls. Her mother's experience taught her that much. Men like that only needed women like them to ease boredom. He was going to turn the car around and ease his boredom elsewhere. She thought to herself, but she realized with a start that the increasing thumping she was hearing wasn't just her heart.

She spun around and saw two big men approaching her, both dressed identically in black and with leather boots. Sam spun on her heels and burst into a run. The men chased after her and caught her before she could take ten steps. Sam kicked wildly and screamed as loud as she could, which wasn't very loud. The car was opened, and the men practically hurled her inside. She couldn't catch herself while landing and fell flat on her front. Desmond glared at his bodyguards. They looked down remorsefully.

"Let's go." He ordered.

The bodyguards climbed into the front and started the car. Sam couldn't even find the strength to rise. She just lay there and tried to digest all that had happened. She never thought well on an empty stomach. Desmond thought she was injured as she lay still on the floor.

"Are you OK, Miss?" He asked blandly.

She stirred and willed herself to stand up. He crossed his legs and watched as she struggled to hold herself up. He had learned earlier that she preferred not to be helped.

It seemed she was making progress until she stood up straight and bumped her head on the hard roof of the car and crashed to the floor again. Desmond mentally groaned and exhaled in frustration. so clumsy. Had she never been in a vehicle before or had she suddenly forgotten where she was? He asked himself. She struggled to her fours and crawled up to the seat opposite him. She finally managed to sit on it and faced him with sleepy eyes.

"If you are kidnapping me, just know that my stepdad won't waste precious money on me," she replied disinterestedly.

Desmond's lips pulled up in a smirk. He thought she really must be dumb to think herself worth kidnapping. He picked up a plastic bag that had been lying next to him and threw it at her. It landed next to her on the couch. She picked it up hesitantly and looked at him quizzingly. He nodded his encouragement.

She opened it slowly and peered inside cautiously. Her face lit up at what she saw. When she looked up, he gave her a tight smile. She started pulling out the content.

There was chicken, a few chocolate energy bars, and soda. She popped one can and slurped away till it was empty. She popped the second, but this time she drank only half before she diverted her attack to the chicken. She grabbed a leg and pulled it out of the socket. The chicken was well cooked, so it came off nicely. Sam shamelessly tore away. Desmond barely hid his surprise at her lack of table manners. He could tell she was hungry because that was why he bought her food, but who knew she was this hungry?

In no time, the lap was gone and she was already pulling on the other one. It was only after she finished that one and had started eating a wing that she seemed to realize she had company.

"This is nice," she murmured while munching loudly.

Desmond picked up his phone to save himself from the nightmare of having her talk to him while her mouth was stuffed with meat.

By the time she had lost her excitement about the food and was eating like a girl with her face should be, most of the chicken was gone. She drained the third bottle of soda and belched loudly. Desmond couldn't help making a face. What hole did this girl come from?

"Are you done?"

Desmond inquired, eager to finish his business with this girl and throw her off his car. She wiped the grease off her face with her sleeve, rendering the napkin in the package invisible.

"Yes, thank you, sir," she croaked.

Sam had never been this full in all her life. Not from good food. She could hear the gears of her brain starting to turn again. She could hear the sounds of the city. She could see structures passing through the window.

Passing! The car is moving! Where are they taking me to?

A lot of scenes began to play in her head. Crime, murder, rape, it could be anything.

Desmond had been watching the interesting slide show of facial expressions as she seemed to make sense of what was happening at the moment. He saw how it ended in panic. The girl leaped off the seat and started banging vigorously at the window.

"Let me out! Help!" She cried out.

At this point, Desmond was beside himself with surprise. How was she just calling for help? This girl had been chewing noisily and slurping away. She even thanked him for the meal.

"That's enough!" He snapped. "Sit down and behave, or I'll let those men in here to deal with you!"

She snapped around to look at him and paled at the frown on his face. She'd been lucky enough to beat the three boys back in the alley, but these men were too big, so she sat down meekly and stared at them cautiously.

It gave Desmond a clear view of her face where her hair contrasted beautifully with her green doe eyes. Her thick lashes framed them and would fan her pale cheeks each time she blinked. A movement drew his eyes down to her lips. She was biting her lower lip in nervousness. She must have noticed his inspection.

"What's your name?" He asked.

Her eyes widened slightly at his voice. "Samantha Dennis." She replied.

"Do you want to be rich?"

Sam wasn't expecting that question. Most people want to be rich. Was he testing her? "No, thanks. Can I go now?"

"Ain't you a bit hasty?" He smirked. "What do you say about wearing a new dress every day? Eat whatever you want. Having maids at your beck and call, traveling around the world?"

Those were all the things she wished for every day.

"Why?" She asked, puzzled at why this handsome man would just want to give her all that.

"Because I can," Desmond responded proudly.

"You are not the kind of person I would want to associate with and take favors from," Sam said.

"This is not a favor. You will earn it. Most of the time, people just ask how much is involved and what they have to do. You really bore me, young lady," Desmond said.

"Well, I'm not that desperate," she replied him promptly.

"You look desperate," he said flatly.

"No, I don't!" She snapped indignantly.

"You may want to check your tone, young woman," he said it calmly, but the underlying threat in his tone was very evident. "I don't usually condone disrespect."

Sam quickly checked her temper. They sat quietly for a while. Sam's tongue itched to ask where they were headed, but she decided that if he intended to kidnap her, she was going to find out eventually.

"I didn't mean desperate in a way to insult you, Samantha"

She heard his deep voice again after what felt like ages.

"I just couldn't help but notice the state you're in," he added.

She looked up and saw him checking her out blatantly.

"There is no way you currently have a comfortable life, Sam."

She self-consciously pulled her hair forward on one side to cover her face and torso.

"Don't hide yourself. You are beautiful. Believe me, Sam."

The compliment took her off guard. She peeked at him from behind her hair as her face grew warm.

"If only you learned to tidy yourself, you'd be shocked what a queen you truly are," he said as a way of complementing.

His face showed slight irritation. She blushed again, but for the wrong reason.

"You are not a child. I believe you are over eighteen. A woman should know how to look attractive."

"I don't want to be attractive to anyone, especially not you, darling," Sam responded quickly.

She ground her teeth in frustration. Sam wished the ground could open and swallow her.

Desmond's lips quirked at her state. 'How quickly she blushed!' He thought to himself.

"I'll take you home now. Where do you live?"

She looked up at him with those sparkling eyes.

"You didn't think I was going to kidnap you now, did you?" He asked after seeing the look on his face.

"I live on Sunshine Street," she said, somehow feeling relieved that she wasn't being kidnapped.

Desmond cocked his brow in surprise, and said, "You came from Sunshine Street?"

The side of her mouth lifted in a smug smile. That was the first semblance of a smile he had seen on her face. She was one lady with the fewest smiles in the world.

"You look surprised. You thought I lived in some kinda slum huh?" she chimed.

Far from it. Desmond was only wondering if she trekked from there, but he still went ahead to say, "I'm wondering why you are..." He swept his gaze over her to make his statement. This time she kept her chin high.

"I am humble." She finished cocking her brow.

He taps on the car, and one of the guards pokes his head from the separation. Desmond gave him instructions in a strange language. then looked back at her.

"Let's take you home."