“Come one, motherfucker. Start.”
It didn’t.
“Goddammit!” I shouted, slamming the heel of my palm against my steering wheel. “Fuck!” I gripped the wheel with all my might, resting my forehead on it as I screamed through clenched teeth. “Fuck,” I whispered. “What do I do?”
Uber. I’d have to get an Uber, which would take longer. And would they even let me put Kenny in the car? It might depend on the state I found him in. I refused to even think of what the car repair bill would be. Perhaps it would be better to find a new old car to drive.
“I’m fucked,” I whispered.
A knock at the window had me jumping so hard that I whacked my knee on the steering wheel. The adrenaline coursing through my veins made it so I didn’t even feel the collision.
Ryder stood at my window, bundled for the weather and so damn handsome it should be criminal.
“What?” I barked as I manually cranked down the window.
“Get in my car. It’s on, and it’s warm. I’ll take you wherever you need to go.” His breath wafted out in a white cloud of steam.
I blinked. “I…” Ryder was bailing me out of trouble. “Really?”
He grinned. “Yes, really. Don’t be stupid. Please get out and hop in my car. You seemed like you were in a rush.”
“I was. I am.” I scrambled out of my vehicle, remembering at the last second to lock the doors, though if someone stole it at this point, they’d be doing me a favor. “What about your closing duties? Your shift isn’t over.”
He waved away my concern. “Trevor’s covering it. I owe him a steak dinner.”
We slid into his SUV at the same time. Warmth immediately surrounded me like a full-body hug. The heated seats were a treat I’d never experienced. Normally my ass froze everywhere I drove.
“Where we going?”
“Um, one sec.” I pulled out my phone and rattled off the address the caller texted me a little while ago. “Not sure exactly where it is.” But I knew it wasn’t anywhere we wanted to spend much time.
Ryder’s eyes widened when the route appeared on his phone.
Yeah. Shitty side of town. Ryder probably never dreamed of venturing over there, let alone driving his eighty-thousand-dollar car through that neighborhood in the dead of night.
“All right. Let’s go. We’ll be there in eight minutes at this time of night. Or should I say morning?”
I nodded as he drove out of the lot, but my attention was five steps ahead on what state we’d find my brother in. “Yeah.”
I stared straight ahead, willing each light we neared to remain green. For his part, Ryder kept quiet, but I could feel hisfrequent glances my way. Anxiety for Kenny had me gnawing my lower lip and bouncing my leg like a spring rested beneath my heel. Every terrible scenario I could think of ran through my mind, from Kenny murdering someone to some drug slinger kidnapping him for a ransom I could never pay.
“Hey…” Ryder’s large hand landed on my thigh, squeezing.
I stopped bouncing.
“I have no idea what’s going on, but it’s going to be okay, Alex. Whatever it is, I’ll help you out. I’ve got your back.”
I stared at his profile as he drove. He had a slight shadow under his eye, speaking to the late hour and long shift on his feet. He drove with confidence in his designer coat, looking like he belonged right there at the helm of his pricey vehicle while I sat in my thrift store jacket and big-box sweats. Still, he’d jumped to my aid, no questions asked. His hand remained on my leg as he drove, anchoring me to reality. Without it, I’d be lost in my head, continuing my journey down Worst-Case Scenario Lane.
Who was this man? We weren’t friends. Would he do this for any guy whose dick he liked to play with?
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked as we pulled onto the highway. “I’m not trying to pry. You don’t have to say shit. I’ll take you wherever you need to go anyway, but if you want to bounce anything off me…” He shrugged.
I sighed. No, I did not want to talk about it, and it had nothing to do with who he was or wasn’t to me. I didn’t talk about my brother to anyone. Trevor was the only person in my life who’d met my family, and even he didn’t know the extent of our trials. But the idea of unloading some of my burden in that moment of turmoil was too good to pass up. I could hate myself for this later.
“It’s my brother.”
His eyebrows jumped halfway up his forehead as he kept his focus on the road ahead. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”
