“I don’t need to.”
He heard it all in her voice and would’ve preferred to see it on her face in person, but timing was everything. Heavy was a patient man, for the most part; a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.
“Whatever, sir.” It was all Cyren could say. He was right again.
Heavy finally made it to the window to pay and headed in her direction.
“This shit smells good. Want me to see if your fries are hot?” he asked.
“Sure. Wait, no,” Cyren said, laughing. “That was a trick question. You told her to make sure everything was fresh.”
Heavy chuckled, hopping into the left lane. “Quick on your feet. Impressive.”
“Clearly, I have to be with you.”
“I see.” His voice held a smile. “That might be a problem.”
Cyren leaned back in her seat, smiling to herself. “For who?”
“For me.”
Her smile widened. “That sounds like a good thing to me. Can’t let you catch me slipping again.”
“Damn”—he laughed—“it’s like that?”
She laughed softly, shaking her head. Cyren wasn’t talking about the fries.
“Mhm. Mr. Smooth Talker. You still haven’t told me how you got my number.”
“If I tell you, you gotta do something for me.”
Cyren sucked her teeth. “Nope. I’m hanging up.”
Heavy laughed. “No, you ain’t.”
She hated how confident he sounded.
“Watch me.”
“Before you do all that threatening,” Heavy said, his tone softening just enough to make her listen closely, “you feeling better today?”
The question caught her off guard. It was so simple. So genuine. Cyren knew he wasn’t talking about her hangover she kept telling him she was going to have. She looked out the window at nothing in particular, contemplating her next words. The mood had shifted, but she wasn’t sad about it.
“I am, actually,” she admitted. “Even though I almost called in so I could sleep.”
“That’s good. You can always rest when you get off.”
She swallowed past the emotion creeping up unexpectedly. “True. Thank you again for getting my mama a cake. That really made my night.”
“It was nothing. You ain’t gotta keep thanking me for doing something I wanted to do.”
His words wrapped around her chest in a way she didn’t know how to process.
“And for checking on me today,” she quietly added.
Heavy was silent for a beat before speaking again. “You’re welcome. Get used to it.”
Cyren blinked. “What does that mean?”
