She let out an adorable squeak and put a hand over her stomach.
‘Are you hungry?’ I asked, smiling as I pulled up at a traffic light.
The noise came again, only louder. I chuckled. ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’
Her head shook furiously. ‘No. I’m fine.’
‘It seems your stomach wouldn’t agree with that statement.’ Whether it was my comment or the loud gurgle coming once more from her belly, Fallon shifted in her seat, angling her body away from me and crossed her arms over herself.
I turned my attention back to the road as the lights changed. Unable to keep the frown from my face.
‘You’re hungry, Fallon. When did you last eat?’
I couldn’t see her face clearly because she lowered it to her lap, where her phone was perched. She didn’t say anything.
‘Fallon,’ I said in a harsh tone. ‘When did you last eat?’
I wasn’t quite sure why I was so desperate for that information. Something in my brain catalogued her body language, and I knew that whatever she was about to say would piss me off.
‘You need to take the next right.’ She muttered, ignoring my question.
Her stomach growled even louder, and her arms tightened around her waist like she was attempting to muffle the noise.
My hands turned white on the steering wheel. ‘Fallon, for fucks sake. Answer the damn question.’
‘It doesn’t matter!’ she barked. ‘I’m fine. I’m not hungry, and we need to hurry.’
I flew past the next turn she’d told me to take.
She looked out of the window and rolled her eyes. ‘Oliver, what the hell? You need to do another bloody u-turn now.’
She was wrong. There was only one thing Ineededto do right then. For some reason, the idea of Fallon sitting besideme, so hungry she was physically uncomfortable, made black spots dance in my vision.
‘What on earth are you doing?’ she asked as I did several illegal manoeuvres around a roundabout before eventually turning into a shopping centre car park. I pulled up behind a long line of cars.
‘What do you fancy?’ I rested my right elbow on the door, keeping my hand on the steering wheel, and pointed to the oppressively large Starbucks menu.
Her eyes bugged out of her head.
‘We’ve got somewhere to be, like rightnow,’ she cried.
I shrugged—keeping a lid on my frustration. ‘You need to eat.’
She shook her head like she couldn’t believe this was happening. ‘No, I told you-’
I swivelled in my seat, so I was facing her head on and levelled a stern gaze at her. Her brown eyes met mine and shot a wave of something hot straight down my spine.
‘If you can tell me that you ate breakfast this morning with your usual cup of coffee from that infernal contraption, I’ll get out of this line. If not, you’re going to order several things off the menu and one of those ridiculous coffees you love that makes me feel slightly nauseous.’
I stared at her with an unflinching gaze. She glanced down at her lap, the movement making her seem much smaller. Her personality was one that shone. It brightens every room she enters like a burst of sunlight. Seeing her shrink like this… hurt.
I just needed to get her to fucking eat something.
She twirled one of the rings around her fingers like I’d seen her do a million times during the meeting.
‘I’m fine.’ she repeated weakly.
I couldn’t take the look on her face. The corners of her eyes that usually creased in laughter or frustration—usuallydirected at me—were gone. Her body deflated like a balloon running out of air.
