"Wait, you mean to go see your friend? Don't take the bus. I'll get someone to drive you both days."
My face heated up. "You don't have to do that. I can look it up and probably just walk." I pulled out my phone and waved it. "Now that I have the internet at my fingertips."
Fabian was already putting his phone to his ear. He glanced at me and smirked. "Hey," he said as the person on the other line picked up. "I need a favor. My sister needs a driver for a few days next week.” He gave me a thumbs-up. My jaw dropped. I was getting chaperoned? By who?
Fabian saw the look on my face and read my mind. "I'll text you details later. Thanks again, Swayze."
“Wake the fuck up! I’m not trying to babysit all day,” Swayze shouted at the empty cabin. Georgie and I stepped out of the woods.
“I’m up. Just let me feed Georgie, and we can go.” I brushed past Swayze, going up the stairs and into my cabin. He followed me, despite not being invited in.
He whistled. “I wish I was allowed this kind of setup.” He nodded to my bed. It wasn’t just a cabin bunk like the standard issue ones in all the others. This was a bed for a house. It had the softest mattress and was huge.
I quickly fed Georgie, ignoring Swayze’s remark. I hadn't wanted all this stuff, but Fabian had insisted.
“Ready?” I asked instead.
He jiggled his keys.“Let’s go. I have shit to do.”
“Like what? Didn’t you get the day off with pay to do this?” I asked.
“It’s not a day off if I’m doing what my boss wants, is it?”
Fair.
We left my cabin, and I had to struggle to keep up with his pace. Even if I didn’t have my short leg, I would have struggled. He was practically jogging. I climbed into his truck on my own, and he slammed it shut behind me. We were peeling out of the staff parking lot an instant later.
He turned the music up. Billy Talent poured through the speakers, and I instantly recognized the song and began to sing it under my breath. I bobbed my head and stared out the window. I hadn’t gotten a good look at the town when I’d originally returned. Everything looked just as it had when I left.
“You know this song?” Swayze asked suddenly.
“I love Billy Talent. They inspired one of my first tattoos.” I lifted the skirt of my dress, revealing my inked thigh. I pointed to the words permanently placed there.
You can’t fix me.
“It’s from?—”
“River Below,” he finished. His expression softened for a moment and then turned icy again. We stopped at a red light,and he pulled out his phone, putting the song on. He turned the volume up even more. I was enjoying his music up until we pulled into a parking lot and he turned the car off.
“Where are we?”
He opened his door. “You have a hair appointment in five minutes. Come on.”
I grimaced but opened my door. “It’s too early for this.”
He rolled his eyes, and when I got around the truck, he gently pushed me along. “Your brother is paying me good money to make sure you get your hair done and you buy new clothes. Go get in the fucking chair, and I’ll go get us some coffee or something.”
I stumbled over my feet as he kept pushing me forward.
“I hate salons. They always want to talk,” I complained.
“I’ll sit with you,” he offered. “You can talk to me instead.”
I laughed. “And what do you propose we talk about for the next four hours?”
Swayze looked me up and down. When they came back up, it was a slow gaze that sent chills through me. He grinned.
“You can tell me about all the other tattoos. I bet there’s a few I can’t see, aren’t there?”
