My heart picked up speed, my fingers hovering over the keyboard.
Being at my place meant I was on home turf. I could tell him to leave if I needed to. I could leave his if I wanted to, but it wasn’t the same.
It felt different. And I wasn’t sure why that thought freaked me out so much.
Before I could talk myself out of it, my phone rang.
I sighed and answered, tucking the device between my ear and shoulder. “Hello?”
“Was I too demanding?” Brooks’ voice was low, teasing, like he already knew I was overthinking this.
I let out a slow breath, my muscles relaxing at the sound of him. Three days apart felt like a month.
"It’s better when you ask nicely," I mused.
"I knew it." He rustled around, and I pictured him in bed, probably naked, the way he always slept. My pace quickened to my car.
“I’ll even let you borrow my toothbrush and a shirt,” he continued.
“Ever the gentleman.”
I sensed movement behind me and looked up instinctively, my body going rigid when I spotted two figures leaning against the alley wall.
They were watching me.
I gripped the mace in my bag, my pulse spiking, my fight-or-flight instincts flaring up so fast I felt a little dizzy. It could’ve been the same two guys from before.
Or it could’ve been someone else. Either way, I didn’t want to find out.
I unlocked my car fast, slid in, and locked the doors before I even exhaled.
Brooks was still talking, oblivious to the way my hands trembled slightly on the wheel.
"Just got in my car," I said, forcing my voice to sound normal. "I guess you should tell me your address?"
A pause.
“That’s right. You haven’t been here. Wow, what a milestone in our relationship.”
Relationship.
The word lodged itself in my chest, making my grip on the wheel tighten. He said it so easily, like it was just a fact. Like we were a we.
And maybe we were.
I wasn’t a fool. This was more than what we had two years ago—that was just lust, heat, something temporary.
This?
This was starting to feel dangerously close to something permanent. “Got it,” I said, my phone buzzing.
“I’ll let you go so you can focus, but drive safe, baby.”
That baby had me suck in a breath. I pulled up the map for directions when the back of my neck tingled.
I kept checking my rearview mirror, my hands still tight on the wheel. The figures had disappeared, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. I’d learned early on—trust your gut. If something feels off, it is.
I thought about getting another job, one in a better neighborhood, but that wasn’t exactly an option when my shifts had to be flexible for clinicals. So, for now, I just had to be smart.
