The Brute & The Blogger by Olivia Gaines

1. A shot in the dark...
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    R un .
    Ebony Miller knew her car was close by, but right now it seemed miles away.  She quickened her footsteps to hasten her distance from the door of the restaurant to where she had parked her nine year old Chevy.  It was still not close enough. The faster she walked the faster he walked .  Think Ebony. Think.
    Tonight was not the best night to be in stupid five inch heels, especially when you were about to be mugged on a dark street by a man twice your size. Think Ebony .  Purse.  What is in your purse? Keys. Poke him in the eye with your keys . Ebony was nobody’s victim and she was not about to be one tonight.  If this dude was going to make on move on her, he would have his hands full.  She would not go down without a fight.
    She turned to face her assailant, “I don’t have any money!  I am on my period and HIV positive.  You touch me, you are in a world of hurt!” In the dark shadows of the dimly lit street, she could still see the surprise on his face.
    Ebony was almost disappointed when she saw the man who was about to make her his victim.  He wasn’t twice her size but exactly two inches taller than she was and thin.  Meth addict thin. Her imagination had made her see the worse, and in a knock down drag out fight, she could probably take this skinny, rail thin man. He stared at her with crazed eyes as he began to stutter, “Give me yyoooouuurr...mo...money...Bitc...”
    He never got the last word out before Ebony reached behind her with a balled up fist and with everything in her, swung and socked him in the nose. The man groaned loudly as she lifted her high heeled Manolo Blahnik and kicked him first in the shin and then in the crown jewels.  Or at least she tried as he caught her by the foot and lifted her leg high, depositing her backside on the wet pavement.
    “Oh no you didn’t!” She yelled at him as she scrambled to her feet and started swinging her purse at him. The contents went flying left, right and in the air.  Her car keys flew right at him and the man caught them easily. “Great!  A meth head with dexterity!”  Ebony stood there stunned as Meth Man pressed the alarm and her car, which she had not been able to find before, lit up as it answered the call from the key fob. Traitor .
    The slim man tried to get past her, but Ebony jumped on his back and began to yell “Fire!  Fire!  Fire!”  She saw the headlights barreling down on them, the driver blowing his horn. Her assailant turned quickly, shaking her off like a wet dog ridding his fur of excess water sending Ebony flying in the air, landing in the wet street, only a few inches from the bumper of her arriving rescuer. The Meth head climbed in her car, started the engine and drove off.
    “Seriously?  Seriously??” She yelled at her taillights, which were speeding off down the street.
    “Miss, are you alright?” Her rescuer asked as he began to pick her strewn belongings up from the sidewalk.
    Ebony turned to thank the person who had saved her only to come face to face with him! “Tino Boehner?”
    “Oh God, you!”  He said with his mouth downturned as if he had just eaten something sour, smelly and indigestible.
    Her immediate reaction was to start yelling expletives, but she tried to control her temper.  Tino, on the other hand was not as nice.
    He told her, as he shoved her belongings at her, “If I had known it was you, I would have taken my time and let him beat your ass first.”
    Ebony gave as good as she got, “And if I had known that you would be the person who would rescue me, I would have asked my father to leave my mother alone before I was even conceived!”
    They stood on the sidewalk in the sprinkling rain in a Mexican standoff. There was no love between Tino and Ebony. 
    Tino Boehner was a real estate developer.  Well, not just any real estate developer, but one of the biggest in the state of North Carolina.  He was well known for