Man, she would never get tired of hearing that voice. “Yeah. I’m getting dressed, now.”
“Okay. If you want that one, hand it to me. I went ahead and started checking the rest of the stuff out to save time.”
Doing as he’d asked, Charlie flung the suit over the top of the tiny room’s door.
“Thanks. I’ll be right up there.”
“No hurry. Pretty sure it’s gonna take a while.”
She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Charlie had no doubt Derek had just rolled his eyes, even though she knew he was secretly happy with the choices she’d made.
They were much more her style than anything she’d ever worn with Caleb.
A trickle of fear made its way deep into her gut. He’d beat her senseless if he ever got to her again, but Derek had assured her they were safe here.
Refusing to let Caleb ruin her day, Charlie pushed those dark thoughts aside and went in search of her tall, blond friend.
She found him just as the girl behind the counter was handing him a receipt.
“What are you doing?” she asked a bit louder than intended.
He looked confused. “Uh...payin’ for the stuff?”
“You didn’t have to do that.” Her eyes slid to the cashier and then back to him. “I could’ve paid for it.”
Rather than address her statement right then, Derek smiled at the young girl, thanked her again, and used one hand to hold the many bags of clothes.
With the other, he gently used Charlie’s elbow to guide her out of the store.
Speaking low so only she could hear, he said, “I didn’t want your credit card being used in case Caleb’s trackin’ it.”
“Oh.” The fear was back. “I-I didn’t think about that.”
She should have. The last thing Derek did before leaving his house was to disable her phone so Caleb wouldn’t know where she’d be.
A familiar feeling of self-loathing rushed over her. She could hear Caleb calling her an idiot and berating her for not having thought of that.
Don’t let him in. You’re stronger than he is.
“No big deal.” Derek winked, putting her more at ease.
“I’ll pay you back,” she told him as they stepped out onto the sidewalk.
“We’ll worry about it later. The important thing is you got the stuff you wanted.”
Walking to his car, Charlie studied him from the corner of her eye. He genuinely didn’t seem worried about the amount of money he’d just shoveled out for her.
Granted, it was nothing compared to what she usually spent on Fifth Avenue. Still, she didn’t like the idea of him paying for everything.
As if reading her mind, he teased her by saying, “You act like I just took you on a shoppin’ spree at one of those fancy New York stores.”
She rolled her eyes. “I hate those places.”
“You do?”
Charlie nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, the clothes in them are amazing, and the people working there are always nice to me. Their styles just aren’t....”
“You?”
