My baby, er car, was ridiculously fast and breathlessly beautiful. She was my absolute pride and joy. Ezra thought he was hot stuff because of his sleek Alfa Romeo, but we both knew mine was the superior automotive vehicle.
His was the economy version of fast. Mine was the real deal.
I mean, Ezra’s Alfa was fine. It ticked a lot of boxes for a lot of people. But mine was hands down just better in every way.
Faster.
Nicer.
Prettier.
Pricier.
The total package.
Porsche 911, candy apple red. Hard top, of course, because I wasn’t a total douche. And perfect in absolutely every way.
But now she wasn’t going to start because I’d stupidly left the lights on.
You’d think, after all the bells and whistles she’d come with, she’d also be equipped with a tiny robot that turned off lights when their driver happened to forget.
The car automatically unlocked as I got closer. I slid into the driver’s seat and wrapped my hands around the leather steering wheel. I switched on the ignition and waited for the revving purr of the engine rumbling to life.
She groaned. She sputtered. She made a sound that in a human would have been considered a hacking cough. I stopped trying to get her to do what I knew she couldn’t right now.
Damn. I turned back to Lilou, knowing Wyatt and Benny would help me. The parking lot was really dark though. And I didn’t love the idea of walking back to the restaurant alone.
It wasn’t that far, my rational mind reasoned.
But far enough, my past hissed into the quiet solitude of the car.
I found that I didn’t want to leave the safety of my driver’s seat though. I preferred the silence here. The loneliness. The isolation.
Dropping my forehead on the steering wheel, I attempted to start her again. She went through the whole dramatic inability to start all over again.
“You don’t want to leave either,” I murmured, finding tears pricking the corners of my eyes. “I don’t blame you. I liked it here too.” Tears wet my cheeks and I had to sniffle quickly to keep snot from dripping over my lips. “But I’m sure we’ll like the next place too. Maybe. Eventually… If they don’t fire us first.”
I sucked in a shaky breath, readying to let out a full-blown sob when a knock at my driver’s side window had me jumping out of my seat and screaming at the top of my lungs.
When I gathered my wits and enough courage to identify the intruder, I saw that it was Vera’s brother standing outside.
Vann Delane.
Not a serial killer. Not a rapist. Not a mugger.
Just Vann Delane.
Quickly wiping at my soggy cheeks with the backs of my hands, I tried the automatic window button first before I remembered the whole car was dead. Pushing open the door, I leaned my head out and faced him. “Yes?”
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said. “I thought I heard a cat in significant need of assistance. And found your car instead.”
I pursed my lips together, wondering if he realized the insult he’d just delivered or if it was a total accident.
My Porsche 911 was not a kitten.
Nor did she sound like one.
She was a regal lioness and she could bite your head off if I let her.
