“Jesus, that’s good.” I took a few more sips, leaning back and closing my eyes, enjoying the sweet and sour flavors mixing with the silence of the night. Sometimes you don’t realize just how loud your surroundings are until the moment you finally have silence.
“Uh-oh.”
Eyes still closed, I mumbled out a lazy, “What?”
“Would you say your boy toy is the murdering type?”
I cracked an eye open, wondering where his line of questioning was going, but the sight of his pale face had me shooting up and whipping my head around to see where his gaze was focused.
Garrett stood on the other side of the patio fence, his face partially obscured by the night, and his fists clenched at his sides.
What in the world was he still doing here? I set my drink down, turning my body to face him. “Garrett?”
He blinked, telling me he heard me, but he didn’t tear his eyes from Nate. On the outside, he looked cool and detached, but I knew better.
“She’s not interested.”
Nate’s eyebrows shot right up his forehead, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure even fucking Pluto knows that.”
“Good.”
I put a shaky hand out to stop Nate’s continued rambling and tried not to panic. Why did I feel like I’d just been caught cheating? “What are you doing here?”
The skin around his eyes twitched as he looked at me, and something flashed across his face. It was there and gone in a blink, but I’d seen it. Hurt. “I told you I’d be here.”
Oh god. I’d thought he meant he’d see me back at the duplex, not that he’d literally wait for me to get off work. He’d been sitting around waiting, only to find me meeting up with a different guy as if I’d just disregarded his message. Fuck. My next words tumbled out of me like word vomit.
“Nate’s a friend from work.”
“Good to know. Let’s go.”
I chewed my lip. “My Jeep is here,” I said lamely.
“You’ve been drinking, you’re not driving.”
“I haven’t even finished one drink. And you drank tonight too.”
“Hours ago. You’re not driving. Harry and I will come pick it up later.” He cocked a thumb over his shoulder, “Get in the car, Madison.”
Realizing I didn’t have much of a choice unless I wanted to be thrown over his shoulder, I stood stiffly, scooting past Nate’s chair with a muttered goodbye.
“You good to go with him, Curly?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Thanks, Nate.”
He shot a sympathetic look my way, but he didn’t say anything else to either of us.
Garrett walked one step behind, reaching past my body to open the door to his Nova for me. I slipped in, eyeing the plastic bag of items sitting at my feet. The man had been working on the baby blanket for me while he waited for me to get off work. God, I was such an asshole.
He climbed behind the wheel, not speaking or looking my way as he buckled in and pulled out of the lot. The silence between us was deafening.
I didn’t know what to say or do. I wanted to apologize for hurting him, but he hated my apologies. The act alone would only succeed in making him angry.
I unbuckled my seatbelt the second we pulled into the driveway, determined to at least be outside when he yelled at me, but the low tenor of his voice stopped me.
“Don’t run off.”
“I’m not running, I’m just getting out. We’re here.”