Through the glass, I watch his jaw flex. For a second, I’m not sure if he’s going to punch the hood of his car or come back around and shake me, but by the way he’s raking his hands through his hair, I can tell he’s barely holding it together.
Did I scare him that much?
Once Ryan turns on the car, he turns the heat up on high and pushes all the air vents toward me, even though I’m still in his jacket and his arms are bare. He puts the car in drive and sets off toward home without saying a word.
A tense silence fills the car. I have no idea what’s going on in Ryan’s head. He’s been compassionate and irate in equal measure since he stormed into the restaurant, and I wish I knew which emotion was winning right now.
After a few minutes, I can’t stand the quiet anymore.
“Well, on the plus side,” I say, forcing a weak laugh. “My readers are going to love ‘The Time My Date Maybe Tried to Roofie Me.’ It’ll get clicks for days.”
“So you think that’s funny?” he mutters.
“Well, I?—”
“And then calling me like that and scaring the shit out of me?”
My eyes widen. “No, of course not.”
“Seriously, Pippa, how many more of these are you going to go on?”
I cross my arms. “Enough to get to twelve. Kind of the point of the articles, remember?”
Ryan slams on the brakes right before a stop sign, sending me jolting against the seatbelt. “Well, maybe you should be writing some better fucking articles.”
I gape at him.
“Wow,” I say tightly. “Victim-blamingandcareer advice. Really checking all the boxes tonight.”
His hands flex on the wheel. “I’m not blaming you. I’m blaming every asshole who thinks they can lay a finger on you and just walk away. Do you have any idea how badly I want to go back there and find that asshole so I can just…”
My lips part but no words come out when I see the darkness in his stare.
“You need to stop with this madness, Pips. It’s not safe.”
“Are you serious right now? These articles are going viral. It’s some of the best stuff I’ve ever written. I’m not stopping.”
“Quit lying to yourself, Pips. Your boss is just exploiting your humiliation,” he says through gritted teeth, not even looking over at me. “She’s sending you into shit situations that endanger you, just to get views for a stupid fucking magazine.”
Oh, fuck that.
I’m tired of Ryan putting down everything I write. It’s like he doesn’t even try to get what we do atBelladonna.The headlines sound like old-school clichéCosmomagazine ones, but the actual writing goes under the surface. It’s sharp, honest, and incisive, and I worked hard as hell to get staffed there.
“Actually, I get to control the narrative on what I write,” I snap. “I’m literally the one writing my story. And my editor loves the 12 Dates pieces, so at leastsomeonevalues my writing skill.”
Ryan’s jaw clenches even tighter. He’s going to break a tooth if he’s not careful, and you know what? He’d deserve it.
Well, if he’s not going to talk, fine. I’ve got plenty more to say.
“For the record, I’m not doing anything I didn’t want to be doing. I’ve been meaning to get serious about dating for a while now, anyway. Ingrid just gave me the push I needed to actually try. I’m literally getting paid to do this, so even the shitty dates are worth it.”
“Are they?” Ryan’s voice is knife-sharp. “So it was worth a guy practically scaring you to death tonight?”
I take a shaky breath and glare at Ryan. “I had it handled, asshole.”
“So that’s why you called me to save you?”
“I wasn’t trying to call you. I wastryingto call Cat, but I hit the wrong button.”
