Watched: When Road Rage Follows You Home Read Free Page B

Esther’s back. Her knuckles were pale white as she squeezed the steering wheel, wrapping her hand around it so tightly that her nails were digging into her palm. With her free hand, she pressed the button to close the electric window.
    ‘Don’t you fuckin’ well—’
    Esther finally breathed out as the window hummed shut. She could hear the muffled sound of a raised voice but nothing specific. This time, the driver used his headlights to get her attention, a series of short flashes glinting from her wing mirror.
    BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
    Esther mumbled under her breath, praying for the traffic lights to change but it remained an unwavering red. She glanced down at the steering wheel, where her hand had started to tremble. She tried to tell herself to calm down and take a breath but the headlights continued to flash in her wing mirror.
    Then she made her biggest mistake.
    She’d been forcing herself not to look in the rear-view mirror but Esther’s resistance deserted her as her eyes flicked upwards. The driver in the blue car was in his late-twenties like her, wearing a baseball cap. As soon as she saw his face, she couldn’t look away. His eyes were so wide that she could see the red veins almost popping around the edges. His nostrils were flared, teeth bared with flecks of saliva dribbling down his chin, like a rabid dog tied to a post seething with aggression.
    BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
    Finally the light turned green and Esther pulled forward. The entirety of her rear-view was taken up by the bonnet of the blue car as it clung to her bumper. Esther concentrated on the road, taking the turn into the retail park and heading along the side of the pub before turning left towards the giant hardware store. She was hoping the other driver would go right but he stayed tight to her, the roar of his enhanced exhaust overpowering, even through her closed windows.
    Esther kept her speed steady, following the arrows on the tarmac that led around the car park. Still the car hugged her bumper and she risked a glance in the rear-view mirror. This time the man was steering one-handed, holding a phone to his ear with the other. His eyes were swollen with fury as he nodded towards her car. Esther knew that if she braked, there was no way he could avoid shunting her. She looped around the one-way system until she was close to B&Q’s front entrance. With another glance backwards, she pulled into the nearest space and tugged the handbrake up. She hoped the other car would continue past but instead it spun around, the driver wrenching the steering wheel and starting to encircle her.
    Esther slapped the door lock but didn’t feel too protected, despite the clunk of the central-locking system. As the other car’s tyres squealed on the dry ground, Esther spun to face the front of the store, hoping someone would emerge. Aside from a scattering of other empty vehicles, the rest of the car park was deserted, the only movement the blue car racing around.
    Esther realised her hand was drumming the steering wheel with anxiety, her foot jammed tightly underneath the brake pedal. She didn’t want to look at the driver but couldn’t stop herself. He was accelerating in a circle around her, flashing the car’s lights and jabbing a finger in her direction. As he veered around the front of her car again, he was mouthing obscenities that didn’t take a lot of lip-reading ability to understand.
    At the realisation that he’d put his phone down, Esther remembered that she had hers. She plucked it from the passenger’s seat, wondering who to call. Charlie was at work and couldn’t do much from there, so should she call the police? Or perhaps even the hardware store? They might have a security guard who could help. Without dialling a number, Esther held the phone to her ear, hoping it would be enough by itself to make the other driver leave her alone.
    Doof-doof-doof.
    This time it was Esther’s heart, not the car’s stereo, as if