CHAPTER SIX
Brian
The patrol car pulls onto the highway, lights going dark as it disappears down the road. I head back to Lynn’s car and grab what she’s got crammed into the trunk. It isn’t much, but not because she’s a light traveler. I’ve seen her pack multiple bags for a day trip with girlfriends.
This is different. Two ratty boxes with scuffed corners and a duffel that’s seen better days.
Her car isn’t in much better shape. Bald tires, faded paint, and enough dirt on it that I’m surprised the damn thing made it this far. By the looks of it, she’s had about enough of life on the road too.
I haul the boxes out, slam the trunk, and toss her stuff into the bed of the truck. By the time I climb inside the cab, she’s sitting as stiff as a board in the passenger seat, arms crossed, lips pressed together.
I know that look. She’s chomping at the bit to rip me a new one for showing up and ordering her around. I’m probably breathing too damn loud too.
Not this time.
Damn it, I’ve been patient. I’ve stood back and watched her bounce from one thing to another, while she figures out what she wants without sticking my nose where she swears it doesn’t belong.
I’ve watched her leave, come back, and been there more times than I can count when one of her plans blows up in her face.
And every time I hear the same damn thing. I’m just like Logan, and not the boss of her.
Bossing her around isn’t what I want.
I want her to look at me and see me. Not her brother. Not the asshole who pulls her butt out of the fire when things go haywire.
Me. The man who knows she’s capable of more than she gives herself credit for, if she’d just stop running long enough to figure it out. I’ve waited longer than she’ll ever know for her to finally stay in one damn place long to see me as more than someone trying to impede her path.
I grip the steering wheel and turn the key in the ignition. I know what Lynn needs, even if she fights me every step of the way. She’s got to make a choice, one way or another.
I pull onto the highway. The truck fills the silence, but not the impatience growing in my gut. I glance at Lynn, but she’s staring straight ahead, glaring into the night. I’m still trying to figure out what I can say that won’t start another argument when she beats me to it.
“You didn’t have to throw my stuff around like that.” She cuts her eyes toward me. “I have valuables, you know.”
She’s hell bent on picking a fight with me.
I tighten my grip on the week. “Can you stop the attitude for one minute?”
Her head snaps in my direction, her scowl deepening. “I didn’t ask you to come.”
That does it.
I steer onto the shoulder and hit the brakes harder than necessary. The back tires skid through the gravel before the truck comes to a stop. Lynn grabs the Jesus handle with one hand and braces the other on the dash.
“What the hell, Brian?” she yells. “Are you trying to kill us?”
“No, damn it.” I throw the truck into park and turn toward her. “You called me, remember?”
“By accident.” She tilts her head. “You were an inconveniently wrong number.”
“Unbelievable.” I shake my head. “Then what the hell do you want from me, Lynn?”
“I want you to stop acting like I’m your problem to fix.” She practically throws the words in my face. “When I want your help, I’ll ask for it. You’re not my family, and you’re not the—
“I know, I know. Not the boss of you,” I say, frustration gurgling in my throat. “Have it your way.”
I reach across the cab, sliding my hand across her lap and yank the door handle. The door cracks open. “If you want me to leave you out here so damn bad, then there’s the door. Have at it.”
The second the words leave my mouth, I hope like hell she doesn’t call my bluff.
The seconds seem like minutes, waiting for her to shove the door open and prove she’d rather stand on an empty highway in the dark than spend another five minutes with me.
Maybe this is what it’s always going to be like between us.
Fighting and bickering. Me pushing and her pushing back even harder.
Maybe she hates me, and I’m the stubborn bastard who refuses to see it.
Then I look at her. Really see her. Every little line around her eyes, the faint creases worry has left between her eyebrows, and the slightest quiver at the corner of her mouth. She flinches when my gaze meets hers.
And my stomach drops.
Shit.
I scared her.
The realization makes me sick, and I retreat a few inches, but not so far that I can’t beg her to stay if she decides to go.
Her gaze drops from my eyes to my mouth, and every thought in my head stops. I know what I want that look to mean. Hell, I’ve imagined it enough times. Lynn looking at me and seeing potential rather than a pain in the ass. Wanting me for one damn second the way I want her.
Her tongue slips across her bottom lip, and heat punches low in my gut. She draws a slow breath and reaches for the door handle. Reality comes rushing back as she grabs it and slams the door shut.
She settles back against the seat and folds her hands in her lap, a sudden calm washing over her features. “Thank you for coming to get me. Please take me to Briar’s house. She’s expecting me.”
All the fight leaves my body.
I ease back behind the wheel, a little dazed at how quickly everything changed. “You sure you don’t want me to drop you at Logan’s.”
“I’ve had enough humiliation for one night.” Her voice is quiet—so controlled that I’m not sure I prefer it over her yelling at me. “I don’t need another lecture.”
She turns toward the passenger window, smaller in a way, like she’s shrunk herself. I watch her for a second before putting the truck in drive. Nothing about tonight sits right with me. Neither does knowing I’m the one who put that look on her face and sucked the fight out of her.
I pull back onto the highway and keep my eyes on the road. “I’ll touch base with Logan tomorrow and make arrangements to get your car.”
She turns her head and looks at me, some of the fire returning to her eyes, but not enough to keep the fight alive. “Don’t bother. I’ll figure it out like I always do.”
That’s what I’m afraid of. She always figures something out, then packs another bag and keeps running.