“Don’t know. I’m not his mother. Maybe he’s doing some soul searching.”
The trucker’s gaze meets mine as we reach the exit. His eyes look lost and broken.
“Please,” he mimes at me. “Please…”
As we pull onto the highway, I watch the trucker shrink in the mirror, but I can’t shake the terror in his eyes.
Chris clutches the wheel so hard the whites of his knuckles glow like tiny moons. He honks his horn at a BMW and flips him a finger.
“Prick,” he snarls under his breath.
Who the hell are you? I follow his smooth, chiseled jaw all the way down his sun-kissed neck until I reach those forearms.
And why are you so damn hot?
The flashing lights of a stationary police car steal my attention, and I glance at the speedometer. He’s doing seventy in a thirty zone. And he has two driver’s licenses that aren’t even his.
“Chris! Slow down! The cops are…”
I fall silent when he slams his foot on the accelerator.
SIX
Chris
The red-haired rookie cop I spoke with earlier catches my eye as I hit the gas. When he realizes who’s driving, he lowers his speed gun and turns his back.
“What the hell was that?” Harper gasps. “That cop literally just ignored you doing like triple the speed limit.”
I shrug. “He must not have seen me. I’m Mr. Invisible.”
“You’re Mr. Weird.” Harper falls quiet, and when I turn to her, she’s staring at my rearview mirror.
Great. Here we go.
“Are those dog tags? Were you in the army?” she asks, leaning closer and squinting. “Just checking they don’t belong to some other random guy. Were you a soldier?”
I pull up at the red lights and stay silent as I wait for the signal to change.
“Good chat, Private Collins. You should probably get a refund on your elocution lessons too,” she grunts.
I hit the gas. “Don’t call me that.”
“What? Private Collins?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, Mr. Touchy.” I switch on the radio to avoid any more questions. Harper sits up and points across at my window. “Stop! I need to grab something.”
“What?” I ask.
“That liquor store. They have cheap deals.”
I glance across the street at the broken neon sign. “For what? Candy?”
“Alcohol, dummy.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “I’m not buying alcohol for a kid.”
“I’m not a kid!” she shouts. “I’m twenty-two years old.”
“Exactly, kiddo.”
Harper folds her arms. “I told you to stop calling me that, Private Collins. And I don’t need you tobuy me anything. I just asked you to stop. It’s only a ten-minute walk back to my place from here. I’ll be fine.”
I nod and keep driving.
“You don’t appear to be stopping the car?” she snaps.
“Correct,” I reply. “Because we’re not stopping to buy alcohol and you’re not walking anywhere. I told your dad I would get you home safely and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Fuck! What is it with these traffic lights? Hit one, you hit them all.”
I turn to find Harper biting her lip. She looks exactly how I remember her mother.
“What’s funny?” I ask.
“You,” she says. “Hit one, you hit them all. It’s a veryold man thing to say.”
I raise an eyebrow. “You’re insufferable. I’m not an old man.”
“If you say so. You know what else is an old man move? Stopping youngsters from having fun. I’m sure you drank at my age,” she says.
Nope. I was a soldier at your age, seeing things no human being should ever have to see.
“Taking me to the liquor store will prove you’re not old,” she adds.
Ha.
I smirk. “That’s the worst attempt at reverse psychology I’ve ever seen.”
“Thanks,” she says.
“Wasn’t a compliment.”
“I know. I’ll take it as one, gramps.” I choose to stay quiet. “So it’s okay for you to serve alcohol to girls in your club? Because most of them are probably my age.”
“Yup.”
“Fine. You win,” she mutters, and I lower my foot as the lights change.
But Harper Reeves is definitely her mother’s daughter, so I know she’s not finished.
“I’ll just walk back here after you drop me home,” she says. “Hopefully nothing happens to me in all those dark alleyways…”
Fuck.
“So old,” she mumbles as I hit the gas. “One rule for one, another for someone else. Hypocrite. Hope my dad doesn’t go mad when he knows you made me walk to the liquor store. He won’t be very?-“
“If I take you to a liquor store, will you shut up for five whole minutes? Think you can do that?”
“Maybe,” she replies. “But you’ve missed the exit.”
I turn to her, but my eyes are immediately drawn to that pink bra. Her cheeks flush pink when I lift my gaze to her sea-blue eyes.
“I didn’t specify which liquor store,” I say. “Now please, for the sake of my ears…just shut up.”
Harper draws an invisible zip across her lips and claps her hands.
God, she’s cute, I think, turning back to the wheel.
She’s also your best friend’s daughter…
“Are you insane?” Harper says as I pull up outside the liquor store. “I’m a starving art student. I can’t affordthese prices. That’s why I asked you to stop at the other place.”
I switch off the ignition. “When’s the party?”
“Party?” Harper’s exaggerated frown piques my curiosity.
“What party?”
“The one at your house.”
Her eyes flicker away. “Don’t know what you mean. I don’t know anything about a party at my house.”
“Okay.” I twist the keys. “Guess we’ll just leave then.”
“Fine,” she huffs. “It’s tomorrow night. But it’s just a small kickback. And…” Harper slumps back into her seat. “Forget it. You wouldn’t understand. You’ll just think I’m a loser.”
I twist in my seat. “Try me.”
“I struggle…” She picks at her fingernails. “To make friends and stuff.”
“Loser.” Harper lowers her head. “Hey, I’m kidding.” I reach across to nudge her, but a blue spark flies from my finger and zaps her arm. We both stare down at my hand. “That’s new.”
“Yeah,” she mumbles. “Hope you’re insured. I’m going to sue you for that lightning bolt attack.”
I chuckle. “Where there’s blame, there’s a claim, huh? How much you thinking?”
I reach into my door compartment and pull out my wallet. I then slide out a bunch of hundred-dollar bills.
“Here,” I say. “You don’t need to explain yourself to me, kiddo.”
“Okay, Private Collins.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.