Page 34 of A Little Jaded
With a slow nod, he steps back, giving me room to breathe. “Do you feel safe at Eternal?”
My brows pull as I consider his question. “Why?”
“Because I can’t hang around during your shifts. I have practice and school and?—”
“I don’t think Drake will do anything while I’m in the shop,” I tell him. “He’d wait to get me alone.”
“So as long as you wait inside after shifts, you should be good?”
“I think so, yes.”
His chin dips again. “Let me pack my shit, then we’ll grab your things.”
My eyes pop. “I’m sorry…two things. One,”—I lift my forefinger into the air—“why do you need to pack? And two”—I add my middle finger—“You want to pick up my things right now?”
“One”—he mirrors me, lifting a finger into the air—“the cabin’s a thirty-minute drive from town, and Reeves said you shouldn’t be alone until we know Drake’s finished being an asshole, so yeah. I’m moving in with you. And two,”—he liftsanother finger, going toe to toe with me in the middle of his kitchen—“yes. We’re gonna pick up your shit right now. Let’s go.”
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” I hedge.
He tucks his hands into his pockets, rocks back on his heels, and turns toward the hallway. “And I don’t give a shit. Come on.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
EVERETT
She’s curling in on herself. I can see it. Feel it. The heavy dose of anxiety. The fear. Of her boyfriend. Of the unknown. Of…me?
I glance at her from the corner of my eye and crush the steering wheel with more force as we drive down the highway toward Cedar Springs. The trees whir past us, blurring into different shades of brown and gray. The leaves have long since fallen, and winter’s right around the corner. Fuck, it’s already here, and it’s the only reason I agreed to drive Raine everywhere in the first place. I can’t stop thinking about our earlier conversation.
That isn’t a problem for you? Putting your life on hold for me?
I’ve been putting my dating life on hold long before Raine stumbled into my life. Sure, I’ve had some casual hookups and shit, but anything real has always felt out of place in my life. Family. School. Hockey. A relationship’s never been on my radar because I haven’t had time for it to be on my radar. With everything in my life, I live by one rule. When I’m all-in, I’m all-in. And I’ve never found a girl worth being all-in for. It’s why I’m okay putting off any potential hookups withrandom girls for the woman beside me. Because right now? Now, I’m all-in to help her escape the shitstorm she’s been tossed into without a life raft. I think it’s why my friends went quiet in the kitchen. Why they looked at me with hesitation. Knowing if I agreed to this, everything else would be put on the back burner until I saw it through, which is what I’m doing. Seeing it through. Even if I’d rather be anywhere else. After seeing the bruises on her face, I’ve been all-in, and I won’t rest until Drake’s out of her life for good.
“Take the next exit,” Raine whispers between gnawing on the edge of her thumb and staring blankly out the passenger window.
Flicking on my blinker, I merge into the far right lane and take the exit. It’s dirtier here. More urban, maybe. Less of a small town like Lockwood Heights. We rarely come up this way. There’s no need. But still, it makes me curious. About the girl beside me. Who she is and where she’s from. The girl’s been nothing but a vault, and I don’t know why.
“Turn left at the light,” she murmurs.
I do as I’m told.
“It’s the gray building,” she adds.
A minute later, I pull into the parking lot, and she directs me around the back. When I find a parking spot near a set of stairs, I cut the engine and wait. Raine’s lips part with a deep breath, and she stares up at the building. But she doesn’t move. Doesn’t reach for the handle to climb out of the car. She merely sits there.
“Do you think he’s home?” I ask. I considered bringing up his whereabouts before we left. Then, I decided he shouldn’t have the power to choose when we swing by to grab her things. It isn’t up to him. It’s up to Raine. Well, and me, but it’s beside the point.
With a soft shake of her head, Raine continues gazing at the building. “He should be in class, but we have a video onour doorbell, so he’ll know we’re here as soon as we approach the front door.” She hesitates and presses her lips together. “Maybe you should stay in the car.”
“Not gonna happen, Raine.”
Tearing her attention from the looming building in front of us, she turns to me. “I don’t want to rock the boat.”
“Not rocking the boat is how you got here in the first place,” I remind her.
Her head falls forward, and she takes a deep breath. “Right.”
Part of me wants to ask if she’s having second thoughts. If she’s wasting my time. If she’s going to go back to him. If she’s really done. The other part?