He shook his head, adjusting the collar slightly before looking at me.“You don’t owe me anything, sweetheart,” he said.“I’m just glad I was here to help when you needed it.”
Sweetheart.
My brain short-circuited for half a second.
We just stood there looking at each other.And I, God, I would have given anything to know what he was thinking in that moment.
Anything.
“I should get to work,” I said, breaking it before I did something stupid.
He nodded once.“Uh, yeah.I’ll follow you.Make sure you’re good.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
He huffed out a quiet laugh, sliding his sunglasses back over his eyes.“Yeah, I do, baby.My dad and the club would have my ass if I didn’t.”
Baby.
That did not help, not even a little.
I nodded like that made sense and turned quickly, heading for the driver’s side before I could overthink it.
I climbed in, hands gripping the steering wheel a little tighter than necessary as I started the car.
He was still there behind me.
I could feel it even without looking.
I pulled back onto the road, checking my mirrors out of habit, and there he was.
Right there, following me.
My chest felt tight.
Confusing, because this wasn’t supposed to affect me anymore.
I was done.
I had said I was done.
And yet, he showed up when I needed help.
I focused on the road and not thinking too much about the fact that he was right behind me the whole way.
We hit town quicker than I expected.
The Dairy Bar came into view, lights on, open sign glowing.I turned into the lot and parked in the back like I always did.
Jude pulled in behind me, engine cutting off a second later.
I hesitated for half a second, then leaned out the window and lifted my hand in a quick wave.
“Thanks,” I called.
Because I was not getting out of this car to have another conversation with him.
Absolutely not.
