9. Tyler #3
She winks at me before twisting her bubblegum around her finger and pulling it back into her mouth.
“Jesus Christ, Reba. Let’s get you a cup of coffee.”
She turns and crawls toward me on the hood. I’m shocked she hasn’t dented the damn thing all to hell.
“Oh! I have an idea!” She flips again to sit on her ass and crosses her ankles, completely ignoring my statement. “Let’s have a drink together. Come on. Bury the hatchet. You say all the things you hate about me, I tell you you’re a prickly prick, and then we move on.”
Shaking my head, I step to the coffee pot, pour her a cup, and top mine off. I extend the mug to her and she scowls when she looks down into the cup. “This isn’t how you bury a hatchet.”
“Best I’ve got,” I say with a shrug.
She hands the cup back to me and kicks her legs forward to slide off the hood of my LeBaron.
Her bare skin squeaks against the polished metal.
I barely have time to set her cup behind me before she stumbles.
I catch her by the forearms before she can faceplant.
She completely ignores her almost-wipeout.
“Well, it’s been lovely visitin’ with you, but I should get on up the road.”
I’m shocked by how well she’s speaking despite whatever she’s had tonight, but I can’t let her ride a bike out Creek Road.
She’s halfway to the door when my body catches up to my mind. I beat her to the door, barring my arm across the opening. “I’m not letting you ride a bike home. I don’t want to hear tomorrow that they found you in a ditch after somebody ran you off the road.”
“Aw, would you be sad if I died, Ty? Would you miss me?” Her finger combs through the stubble on my neck, and she tips up her chin. Those blue eyes bounce over my face and if I were so inclined, I think she’d let me kiss her.
Not let me.
She might even want me to. My stomach is tighter than the time her pinky brushed mine. It’s official. I found the feeling again.
“Your brother would kill me.”
She lifts a shoulder and laughs. “Well, then we’d both be dead.”
I sniff in a breath, stiffening myself against her touch so other parts of me don’t go stiff. “Call someone to come get you or you’re sleeping upstairs.”
"Are you kidnapping me?" she asks. "Holding me hostage for ransom? Bad news for you, I don't think many people would pony up for me.”
I don’t care for this statement and I’m pretty sure it’s patently untrue. She could call anyone and they’d come get her.
"Are you sleeping upstairs, or am I calling your brother?”
Her teeth clench and her eyes narrow.
She hesitates, clicking her phone’s screen on and thumbing through her text messages.
"I'll be fine on my bike,” she tries.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and slump against the door frame. “Someone will kill you or abduct you."
"Oh, like what you're doing now?"
I don’t like that she’s right. “I’m trying to keep you safe, Reba.”
Her eyes soften for a second, but a sneer returns to her lips. She grips my chin and wiggles it. “You just can’t bear to let me out of your sight.”
She heads toward the back of the shop. "Is this where my accommodations are? Do I get to sleep in your crusty sheets?"
I growl and try not to lose my cool. “My sheets are not crusty!"
I lock the front door of the garage and flick off the lights before I follow her up the stairs to my apartment. I cringe for fear of what she might find, of how she might judge my living arrangements. To my utter shock, she has the sense to lower her voice for Ellie’s sake.
“Is that her bedroom?” she points past the kitchen to a closed door.
“Yes. Sorry, all I can offer is the couch. There’s a blanket on the back of it. If you need another—”
She waves a hand. “That’s plenty. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll let you use the bathroom first.” I scratch the back of my head. “I don’t think there’s an extra toothbrush right now. I just opened the last one a few days back.”
She shakes her head to stop me, her voice tired. “I’m good, Ty. You can go first.” She hesitates. “Guess you’re still looking after me, all these years later.”
My stomach tingles and I want to say something smartass about her being uncontrollable, but I get tongue tied. “I guess. Anyway, I’ll just,” I thumb over my shoulder toward the bathroom.
When I come back out, Becca’s already asleep, the blanket loosely draped over her.
I curse myself for not taking the AC unit out of the window yet, because it’s pretty chilly at night.
The wind blows straight through. It’s fine in the bedroom, but I’ve woken up cold the last few mornings as the season’s changing.
I open the storage bin with more blankets in it and grab two.
I tuck another one tight around Becca’s shoulders and pin it under her knees.
My lips ache with the urge to give her a little kiss, and that’s just one more thing to add to the list of weird time warps that are happening right now.
“Night, Reba,” I whisper into the dark before I dip into Ellie’s room. I’m usually awake until my mind wears itself out, but tonight, I feel more settled than usual.
And for the first time in a long time, I feel less alone.