Chapter 1 #2
I scrubbed a hand along my jaw, the reflex to help battling the voice in my head telling me not to get involved.
“Maybe I’ll—”
I stopped her with a light touch to the arm, careful this time. “Hang on.” I nodded toward her phone. “Where are you trying to go?”
She turned the screen so I could see the red pin. “Uptown. I think. Unless this map is lying to me, which feels possible at this point.”
I scanned the busy street—the traffic still snarled, the trains not back to normal yet after the post-game surge. “We can walk a bit. Get you somewhere easier to navigate until things calm down.”
Her brows lifted, those blue eyes sparkling in the streetlights. “We? If you’re thinking about robbing me, I should warn you, it’s a bad idea. I’m very nice, and you’ll feel extra bad when you realize I have literally nothing to my name.”
A real laugh—surprising and unguarded—broke through. “Good to know,” I said. “I’ll cross you off the list.”
She smiled, quick and bright, then went back to her phone.
“Come on.” I tipped my head east. “Worst case, you end up with a great story about narrowly avoiding a mugging.”
She slipped her phone into her pocket and fell into step beside me. “I feel very reassured.”
“Good,” I said. “I’d hate to ruin your first night in the city.”
Her eyes flicked to me, studying my face mostly hidden in shadows between my hood and hat. “Huddy, right? Is that your name?”
I stared down at her, waiting for the realization of who I was to click, but it never did. So instead of giving her anymore, I just nodded.
“Huddy,” she repeated, one brow lifted. “What kind of name is that? Sounds like a nickname.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets, avoiding looking up at the Chicago Storm banners hanging from the streetlights brandishing my name and face. “It is.”
She waited for more, eyes bright with curiosity, but I didn’t offer an explanation.
“Just Huddy?” she pressed, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips.
“Just Huddy.”
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “So, if that’s the nickname, what’s the real one? Hudson? Humphrey? Horatio? Oh, wait!” She pointed at me. “Herbert. You look like a Herbert.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep the grin from slipping. “Not even close.”
“Okay, Huckleberry,” she tried, leaning toward me like she was deadly serious about solving this mystery. “Harold? Sir Wallace T. Hudsington the Third?”
A laugh broke free before I could stop it—low and rough, the kind I hadn’t heard from myself in far too long.
Her face lit up as if she’d won something, and her shoulder bumped into my arm. “There it is. I knew you could smile.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I muttered, but my lips still twitched.
“I’m Daisy,” she said, then glanced up at me with mischief written all over her face. “Since you so kindly asked.”
I shook my head, barely holding back another laugh. “Nice to meet you, Daisy. Welcome to Chicago.”
She grinned, the look so natural on her face I couldn’t help but stare. “Thank you. I always dreamed of moving here, but I am very afraid to admit I already regret it.”
This time it was my turn to arch a brow as we stopped at another crosswalk. A gust off the lake cut down the street, rattling the banners overhead and carrying the smell of exhaust and chili dogs from a cart farther down the block.
“Already?” I asked, glancing at her. “That didn’t take long.”
She laughed, but it came out a little breathless. “I know. It’s dramatic. I’ve been here for maybe six hours.”
“Dangerous amount of time. Long enough to panic. Not long enough to know anything.”
“Exactly. I haven’t even met my Craigslist roommate yet.”
I stared down at her, disbelief obvious on my face.
She held a hand up, then started walking again when the light turned.
“I know, I know. Dumb decision. It was impulsive, and the pictures looked nice, and I didn’t do no research like Vi assumed.
” She turned around, walking backward one step in front of me once we’d crossed the street.
“That’s my older sister. Much more responsible than me. Worthy of robbing, probably.”
Again I grinned, unable to remember the last time I’d smiled this much in a single day. “Noted.”
“I did research, kind of, and a friend of a friend of a friend vouched for this new roomie, so I don’t think I’m moving in with a serial killer? But it wasn’t until I got here and put my bags in the closet of a room that I realized what I was doing. So I ran.”
I nodded, understanding that feeling all too well. “And got on the wrong train.”
“And got on the wrong train.” She waved an arm in front of us, gesturing at the steam rising from the manholes, a rat scurrying along a brick wall, and the garbage overflowing out of the trash can. “Taking in the beautiful sights Chicago has in store for me. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
I brushed at my beard to hide my smile. “Okay, yeah. Maybe this part’s not selling it.”
She glanced over, hopeful. “But there’s a better part. Right?”
“There is,” I said without hesitation. “I promise.”
That earned me her full attention.
“Once you’re past the chaos, it’s nice,” I said. “Uptown is a little eclectic. You can see the historic bones of the city there, but it’s a mashup of old theaters, late-night diners, music spilling out of bars, and lake access that’s more low-key.”
Her steps slowed a little as she listened. “Okay, that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“The city grows on you.”
We stopped near a train entrance, the familiar rumble echoing up from below. I nodded toward the stairs, already dreading the idea of letting her go. “Blue Line will get you downtown. Then you can catch the Red north from there.”
“Thank you.” She pulled her sleeves down over her hands, looking from the stairwell and back to me. “For not robbing me. And for walking me this far.”
“Anytime.”
She didn’t know that this little walk had been exactly what I needed to pull myself out of a negative spiral. How badly I’d needed the quiet, anonymous companionship.
Daisy didn’t move right away. Neither did I.
The train rumbled somewhere below us, the sound rising through the grate like a reminder, but we stood there a beat too long, caught in the space between going and staying.
She took two steps toward the entrance, then stopped and turned back toward me. “Truth or dare?”
I blinked, not at all expecting that. “What?”
She grimaced, her nose scrunching up in a way that was decidedly cute, then looked away. “Sorry. I’m panicking about going home again. And that sounded a lot smoother in my head.”
I followed her gaze to the stairwell, the Blue Line sign glowing above us, ready to take her out of my night. Back to whatever waited for her beyond this corner. This was where it ended, where I went back to my own spiral, with my own uncertain future yawning before me.
“I shouldn’t have said anything. I’ll just—”
“Dare.”
She looked back at me in surprise, a slow smile spreading over her face. “I should have known you’d be a dare guy.”
“So.” I pushed my hood back and lifting my hat to readjust it over my hair. “What is it?”
Her shoulders angled toward me, turning her back to the train whistling down below us. “I dare you to spend the night with me.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline, and her hands quickly covered her face.
“Not—” She waved a hand between us, cheeks flushing. “Not like that. I don’t mean sleep together or anything. I—” She stopped, exhaled. “I’m very bad at this.”
I tucked my chin, trying to hide my amusement, but also more than a little intrigued by whatever she was offering.
She peeked up at me, clearly mortified. “I mean. You’re very hot. Objectively. But this is not me hitting on you.”
A smile slipped out before I could stop it.
“Objectively,” I repeated.
“Yes.” She waved a hand over my body. “Tall, dark and handsome really does it for a lady. Everybody’s type. Not my type, but you know, other people’s. I’m not making this better, am I?”
“No.” I was glad my beard hid how big my grin had spread, not wanting to further her embarrassment past this gentle tease. “I can’t decide whether I’m flattered or insulted.”
Daisy made a little mock frown, nodding her head back and forth. “On second thought, a Craigslist roommate and my inevitable murder sounds pretty good. So I should—”
She jerked a thumb over her shoulder toward the train station, and I reached out to grab her arm, letting my big hand circle her dainty little wrist.
“I would love to spend the night with you, Daisy.”
Her big blue eyes tipped up toward me, glancing back and forth between my own, looking for a hint of sarcasm.
I slid my hand down her forearm until her small hand was in mine, then traced a thumb over the back of her hand.
Even this small touch with the sleeve of her shirt between us was enough to make my heart race.
Not like before when panic was on the horizon, but like the beginning of a hockey game, where I knew this was about to be the night of my life.
“Now I believe it’s my turn,” I said, my voice a little rougher. “Truth or dare?”
“Truth,” she whispered, not breaking eye contact.
“Do you like cheeseburgers?”
Instantly, her face split into a wide grin, eyes alight with so much life it felt a little bit like staring at the sun. “Why, yes, Huddy. Yes, I do.”