four more hours of rest.
I went into my kitchen and sat at my table. I knew I needed to call the number back because it could be an emergency. It wasn’t every day I got 23 missed calls in the middle of the night. I sighed and I pressed ‘call back’ on my cell phone. The phone rang once and a woman answered the phone.
“Tommy,” the woman yelled.
“Who is this?” I asked. My voice was louder than I wanted it to be trying to match her volume.
“It's Sasha!”
“Who?”
“Sasha! From a couple weeks ago.”
“Are you okay?” I asked. I was pretty shocked that, of all people, she was the one blowing up my phone.
“No, I'm not. I'm stuck in Balboa Beach. I have no money and my boyfriend left me.”
“Why are you in Balboa Beach?”
“I was having drinks with a friend, and he turned out to be a freak. He fell asleep and I slipped out of his house and I've been walking around in circles and have no idea where I am.”
“What do you want me do?”
“Could you come get me?”
“Don't you have someone else you can call?”
“No, or I wouldn’t have called you so many times.”
“How did you get this number anyhow?”
“I got it from your phone when you fell asleep the other night.”
I really didn't want to help her, and I wasn't quite sure if she truly was broken up from her Bohemian boyfriend, but for whatever reason, she did call me. So she probably didn’t have too many options to be helped.
“Listen, I have my fight tomorrow and I need my rest.”
“Tommy, please! I’m almost to the point where I am going to hitchhike.”
“Don't do that,” I said. Shit, I was never one to leave a damsel in distress hanging out on the streets in the middle of the night—even one who lied to me. “Where are you exactly?”
“I'm on PCH near Harbor.”
“I know where that is.” I have gone down there plenty of times.
“I'm at an all night donut shop called Cakes. It's on the corner.”
“Ok I'll be there in a half an hour.” I ended the call and just stared at the clock on my microwave. It was three in the morning. You have got to be kidding me. I was running out in the middle of the night before a big fight. Part of me wanted to turn off my phone and let her rot at the donut shop. I should make her whore herself out for a ride home, but I wasn't that kind of guy. I'm a man of my word, and in the end, that's really all you’re left with—your honor. I went to my bedroom and put on a pair of basketball shorts and a Lakers T-shirt, and slipped on a pair of shoes then headed out the door with keys in hand.
It didn't take long to get there and I pulled into the donut parking lot. There she was sitting in the front of the donut shop. I motioned for her to come to my Mustang from my car. She got up and walked over to my car. I unlocked the passenger door and she got in the passenger seat.
“Thank you, Tommy. I was running out of options.”
“You must have if you’re reaching so far back in your rolodex that you’re calling one-night stands.”
“You know you were more than that,” she said, in a flirtatious way that I was definitely not in a mood to hear.
“No,” I said. “I was definitely just a one-night stand. That’s all it was and nothing more.”
I slowly backed out of the parking lot, turned my lights back on and pulled onto Harbor Blvd. I stopped at the light and sighed. I didn't feel like talking to her but I needed to know where I was taking her. “Where to?” I asked.
Then the most bizarre thing happened. Someone jumped on the hood of my Mustang. “What the fuck?” I yelled out.
Then the same guy punched my front window with his fist. I jumped out of the car and saw that there were three of these assholes.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I yelled at them.
“Why don't you ask your friend?” The person who had just punched a hole in my windshield said. He had long brown hair and looked really dirty.
I looked at Sasha, “You know these