“What?” I bark, heading for the door. “You’re walking in the dark? Where?”
“Um… I can’t see the street sign from here, and I still don’t know Nolan well enough to tell you. I know I should get an Uber, but…” She sighs. “I needed a minute to gather myself before walking in the door and getting questioned by my roommates. They’ll no doubt be desperate to know how it went, and they’ll take one look at my face and…” Her soft whimper makes my chest hurt.
“I’m coming to get you.” I thunder down the stairs, plucking my keys out of the bowl and shoving my shoes on.
“You good, man?” Wily calls from the dining room.
“Gotta go out” is the only answer I can manage before bolting out the door. “You got me a street name yet?” I say to Dani.
“Ty, you don’t have to come get me. I’m sure you have better things to do with your time.”
“I’m comin’. I hate the idea of you wandering around at night by yourself.”
“I have pepper spray in my bag.”
“That’s not the point. I’m sure you can defend yourself just fine.” I hop into my SUV and start the engine. The phone changes to car audio as I reverse out of the driveway.
From memory, Dani had some definite fight about her. I remember her scrapping with a girl in high school once. We were at a party, and this chick made a play for Atlas, even though she knew the guy was taken. Dani was furious and tried to get her to back off. The girl got handsy, and Dani staked her claim like a freaking ninja.
Atlas just stood there in awe while I waded into the fight and broke the girls apart before someone lost a chunk of hair. Girls fight mean. They don’t seem to have the same unspoken rules as guys do. They just go for it.
Dani came away with scratches on her face, and the other girl was sporting a bloody nose and a fat lip.
Nowthatwas a shit show.
I’m really curious to find out what tonight’s shit show looked like. It better not have been anything like that, because if that asshole laid a hand on her, he’s gonna have to pay the price.
“I’ve just reached the corner of Tenth and Cedar,” Dani cuts into my thoughts. “Do you know where that is?”
“Yeah.” I turn left from my street and head her way, probably going a little too fast, but there’s this urgency to reach her quickly.
She’s crying.
It’s dark.
She’s all alone.
I’ll take care of her, Atlas. I promise.
She sniffs again and I cringe, hating that she’s so upset.
“So… he wasn’t sleazy. I’m hoping like hell he wasn’t handsy.”
“No.” Dani calms my nerves. “He didn’t even kiss me goodbye. Not that I would have wanted him to.” She makes anoise, and I can picture her shuddering. “He was just… Look, some girls might like having dinner with a guy who talks nonstop about himself and how great he is, but it’s definitely not my thing. We didn’t have a conversation. He spoke, and I was forced to listen. And then…” She huffs.
“Then what?”
“He didn’t offer to pay for dinner. He handed me the check and asked if I wanted to split it or if I was going to pay the whole thing since I asked him out.”
“Aw, hell no,” I bark. “He did not fuckin’ do that.”
“He did.”
“Please tell me you split it.”
“No,” she whines. “I paid the whole thing because I was so pissed off, and I just wanted to get out of there and away from his clueless ass. I’m not being old-fashioned expecting the guy to pay, am I?”
“No. He should have at least offered, and then it’s up toyouto say if you want to split or pay or whatever.”
