So distraught

COLLIN POV

As I drove through the beat-down neighborhood, I couldn't help but wonder why I was over here. When I started off driving, I never pictured myself driving through Saige's neighborhood but something told me I should check up on her. She left a bit distraught today and with all the talk about her home life, I just couldn't stay away.

But as I drove by her place, I noticed how quiet it looked. Was she even here? My gut told me she wasn't.

I kept driving past her place, wondering where she might be, when I looked at the passing car and I swore I saw her in the passenger seat. She was with a guy I'd never seen before and knew that he wasn't a student. Who the hell was this guy?

After whipping my truck around, I followed after them down a road that took us away from her place. I really didn't want to catch her doing what I thought she was about to do. What did I have to do to get through to this girl? She was so much better than that. And that guy looked to be my age. What the hell is he thinking, taking advantage of a young girl? Or, perhaps, he's a sick bastard who gets off on young girls.

I tried to stay back, not wanting my presence to be known, but it took everything I had not to ram the guy off the road and take Saige home.

The car turned into a small alley and because I had gotten just a bit too close, I passed them. The car had stopped and I turned around again, parking along the opposite curb where I could see them.

Saige seemed to be pulling away from the guy as I watched him basically lunge at her. I didn't know Saige well enough, but if this were her idea, she wouldn't be pulling away.

Something's wrong.

I jumped out of my truck and slowly made my way over there unnoticed. When I was close enough to hear them talking, I froze to assess the situation.

"No! Please! I promised not to tell anyone and I haven't. Just please let me go." Saige's crying voice sent me into a rage.

"We need to finish what we started, little girl," the guy's raspy voice responded. And it only made me angrier.

I marched up to the car and ripped the driver's door open before I reached in and grabbed the guy by the back of his shirt, dragging him out and onto the ground.

Saige screamed from inside, but as soon as our eyes connected, she took a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" I asked, but the guy was back on his feet and tackling me into the side of his car.

"You need to mind your own fucking business," the guy barked out, landing his fist right into my gut.

I let out a grunt before I gathered my wits about me and swung hard, landing my own fist into the side of his jaw.

He groaned, stepping back several paces before he wiped his mouth and glared over at me.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"That's none of your business." I turned back to the car. "Saige, get out."

The guy looked pissed. "Saige, stay in the fucking car." He swung at me again but I blocked him and ended up smashing his face into the roof of his car.

Saige softly screamed but then I heard her finally get out. Good girl.

This asshole was relentless, coming at me with everything he had, but what he didn't know was that I was trained in fighting. This wasn't going to end well for him at all.

His face was all bloody from when I smashed his face but that didn't seem to phase him. What the hell? Was this guy on fucking roids?

I continued to drill him in the face over and over, even kneeing him in the gut, but he still wasn't going down. He was throwing his best punches, connecting every other one to my face.

He tackled me into the car one more time before I heard a metallic ping echo around me and the asshole went limp before he fell to the ground. I looked up and saw Saige standing behind him with an old drain pipe in her hand. I could have seriously kissed her right then, but I wouldn't do that.

"Shit, Saige," I began, stepping toward her. She dropped the pipe to the concrete, making a loud rattle as I stepped up right up to her. "Are you alright?"

Her bottom lip trembled for a moment but then she quickly recovered and looked up at me with a stone face.

"I'm much better now that you're here. How did you know it was me in the car? Or, are you just that big of a gentleman that you would have stopped for any girl?" 

I couldn't tell if she was being her flirty self or serious because the tone in her voice was playful and I wanted to squash that immediately.

"I was driving by and saw you in the passenger seat. I followed you guys because it didn't feel right and when he came at you, I knew you needed my help."

She squared her shoulders and nodded, losing the flirty pout of her bottom lip. "Well, thanks..."

Police sirens became audible off in the distance as I looked back down at the prick lying lifeless next to his car.

"I called the cops," she said, staring down at him next to me.

"When the hell did you have time to do that before knocking his ass out with a drainpipe?" I was trying to lighten the mood, poking at her awesomeness. Where the hell did she even get that thing?

She shrugged like it was nothing and said, "Right before I grabbed it."

I laughed, wrapping my arm around her shoulders to pull her away from the creep on the ground. "Come on, let's get you in my truck. We'll wait for the cops in there." The rain was still coming down hard and we were both soaked.