“She doesn’t sound like it,” I told him, glancing down at my phone as I put in the address I was going to need to get a ride to. “She asked me to go see her, so I need to get back home, and drive up there.”
“Drive where?”
I didn’t glance over to him as I hit the search icon to find a ride on the app. “Dallas. She lives in Dallas.” I grabbed my purse and watched the screen blink as it searched.
“What are you doing?” Rip asked instantly.
“Trying to get a car to take me back home,” I told him, still looking at my screen. “My friend dropped me off.”
I heard him shove the stool back instead of seeing it. “I’ll take you.”
Thathad me glancing up at him. “You don’t have to.”
“I’ll take you, and don’t say anything about the favor either.” He was already up and making his way around the table. “Let’s go.”
I blinked, but… I hit the icon to exit the app.
Maybe I should have argued with him a little more, but… maybe he’d count this as the favor once he really had a chance to think about it. Not that I held much hope since driving me to San Antonio hadn’t counted, so I doubted driving me a few minutes away would, but…
His choice.
I nodded and took off toward the door, waving absentmindedly at the coworkers who watched me leave, giving curious glances, probably because Rip was right at my heels behind me. It took seconds to get out of the bar. Rip pointed down the street, and half a block down I spotted his yellow truck. In no time at all, we were at it and he’d unlocked the passenger door to let me in. The second my seat belt was on, he pulled onto the street.
“You good?”
I took a breath, not realizing that I was staring out the windshield. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little worried about my sister,” I explained, thinking he didn’t know her name. “I’m just surprised she called me, I guess. Not that surprised her place got broken into. Her apartment isn’t in the greatest neighborhood I’ve ever been in.”
“She lives by herself?”
“No, she’s got a roommate.” I took another breath in and out of my nose. “I’m sorry, Rip, do you need me to give you directions?”
“I know how to get there.”
Another breath in, another release of it. “Thank you so much for driving me,” I told him.
“Uh-huh.”
I eyed the clock and swallowed back a yawn. It was going to be after midnight by the time I made it to her house. I’d gotten up at 5:45 that morning. I could make some coffee, and I’d make it just fine. Well, as close to fine as possible. Worst case, I’d roll down the windows and let the air wake me up.
I must have been in my thoughts longer than I imagined because the next thing I knew, Rip was pulling his truck into a driveway.
My driveway.
I needed to get it together. Calm down. Focus and get going as quickly as possible.
“Thank you so much for the ride,” I managed to tell him.
Rip’s gaze was pretty intent on me as he put the car into park and leaned back in the seat, and I watched as his eyes flicked to my house over my shoulder before returning to me. He licked his lips before he said in that boss-man voice that told me not to argue, “Get your things. I’ll wait out here.”
Uh. Maybe he had had a little more to drink than usual. “You don’t have to wait. My neighborhood is pretty safe.”
I doubted anyone would ever give me a slower blink than the one he shared with me in that moment.
I watched as he paused and looked at the bracelet I’d put on that morning. My fun thing of the day was an old bracelet Lily had made me years ago that said LOVEYOU in white beads with black lettering. He sighed and flicked his eyes back toward my face. “Luna, I’m taking you to Dallas. Get your shit.”
Chapter 13
“You really don’t haveto do this.”
