His smile widened. “Tobias likes punctuality.”
“I noticed that too.”
Ben opened the rear door for me before I could reach for it myself.
I hesitated for half a beat, still not used to that, then climbed in.
The interior was just as absurd as I remembered. Soft leather, quiet air, tinted windows, the faint clean scent of a car that had probably never known fast food crumbs or old receipts stuffed into cup holders.
Ben closed the door behind me, then got into the driver’s seat.
This time, there was no Tobias sitting across from me.
That should have made the ride feel less intense.
Somehow, it didn’t.
As the car pulled away from the curb, I glanced down at my phone, then out the window at my apartment building slipping behind us.
“So,” I said after a moment, raising my voice enough that Ben could hear me through the open divider, “um… is everything okay?”
His eyes flicked briefly to mine in the rearview mirror.
“With what?”
“The security thing.”
“Ah.” His tone stayed smooth, untroubled. “Nothing for you to worry about.”
Which was not technically an answer.
I waited, hoping he might continue.
He did.
“Tobias’s property has certain access protocols. After yesterday, we decided it made more sense to limit unknown vehicles coming and going from the estate.”
“Oh.” I shifted in my seat. “Did I mess something up by using rideshare? I was going to go by train, but then realized how far a walk it’d be from the station to Tobias’s.”
“No, you didn’t mess anything up at all, Cove.”
The answer came quickly enough that I believed it—mostly, at least.
“This is just easier,” Ben added. “Safer, too.”
Safer.
I looked out the window again, watching the city slide past in streaks of pale morning sun and glass.
“Okay,” I said quietly.
And maybe I should have questioned it more.
Maybe there was something strange about how easily a decision had been made around me and then handed over like logistics, neat and already settled.
But the truth was, some part of me was relieved.
I didn’t have to arrange anything.
