were under the streetlights in no time at all, still going too fast, weaving with ease through the cars slowly cruising the boardwalk.188 He parallel-parked against the curb I would have thought much too small for a Volvo, unless it was perpendicularly-parked, but he slid in effortlessly in one try. I looked out the window to see the lights of La Bella Italia, and Jess and Angela just leaving, pacing anxiously away from us.
"How did you know where... ?" I began, but then I just shook my head. I heard the door open and turned to see him getting out.
"Fredward, if you are just trying to rape me, you're putting a hell of a lot of work into this." I scolded quietly.
"What did you say?" He asked, his eyes turning black, then gold.
"What? Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm taking you to dinner." He smiled slightly, but he was hard. He stepped out of the car and slammed the door loudly. I fumbled with my seat belt connector, struggling to disconnect it from itself. I hated to keep Fredward waiting. He was waiting for me on the sidewalk.
He spoke before I could. "Go stop Jessica and Angela before I have to track them down, too. I don't think I could restrain myself if I ran into your other friends again."
I shivered. I would never wish gang rape upon my friends—or even my "friends"—but I was a little jealous that Fredward wanted to protect them, too. What if someone else tried to gang rape me, or run me over, while he was saving them from being gang raped? I wondered if he was spreading himself too thin...
"Jess! Angela!" I yelled after them, waving when they turned. They rushed back to me, the pronounced relief on both their faces simultaneously changing to surprise as they saw who I was standing next to. They hesitated a few feet from us.
"Where have you been?" Jessica's eyebrows raised with suspicion.
"I got lost," I admitted sheepishly. "And then I ran into Fredward." I gestured toward Fredward, in case they didn't know who I was talking about.
"Would it be all right if I joined you?" he asked in his



188. Sometimes cars need anonymous male sex, too.

166

Chapter 8