Page 46 of Avenged

“What? Me? No, just ran for the phone,” she said. Her chest was rising and falling as if she’d run a mile. But our moment had left. She’d pulled away, back to Violet and her role as the serious adult, responsible for their whole world.

But now I knew she was inside there. The young Jersey. The one who needed to laugh and have pillow fights and defend her comic book heroes. I was determined, more than I’d ever been before, to let that Jersey out. To have that Jersey be the one who we saw the most, and the serious Jersey, with the weight of an entire world on top of her, be the one we saw the least.

? ? ?

I hadn’t heard her leave. After we’d watched both Hellboy movies, we’d argued about who was sleeping on the couch. She’d wanted me to take my bed back while Violet was in New York City, but I’d refused. Seeing as there was no way someone her size could move me, she’d flung her hands out in frustration and gone to bed with a quiet goodnight. My body had called to me to follow her there, but my brain had kept my ass on the couch. Then, I’d passed out.

This morning, she’d proven she was just as apparition-like in her movements around the cottage as she’d been at Leena’s Victorian, because she’d gotten ready and left without me hearing a thing. For some reason, I heard her come back in, though. I opened my eyes and saw her standing by the door, twisting that damn ring.

I sat up, the blanket falling to the floor, and I saw her gaze skim my naked torso, down to my workout shorts and the morning wood I was sporting, and then quickly look away.

“Morning,” I said, unable to keep the tease from my voice.

She flexed her hands around her keys and avoided eye contact with me but said, “I’m sorry to wake you on your day off.”

I was surprised she knew I had today off, but then again, maybe I shouldn’t be. I knew her schedule at the bookstore better than I knew Dawson’s at the marina. That hit me like ice. Jersey was good at distracting me from the person I really needed to be thinking about.

“It’s all good,” I told her. “I don’t sleep much more than six hours most nights, anyway.”

When she didn’t budge, I realized she needed something, and she hated every minute of having to ask for it. She really was independent to a fault.

“Do you think you can give me a jump?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized what they sounded like, and her face heated, but God, I wanted that girl back from last night. The one who laughed at pillow fights and tickles. “I mean…my car.”

I asked, “Why does your car need a jump?”

“Needs a new battery, but I’m heading to Derby, and I don’t have time to fix it right now,” she told me, glancing toward me and away. I didn’t know what to respond to first—that she was going to see the specialist, that she knew how to replace the battery in a car, or that she needed one to begin with.

I stood and stretched. “Let me get dressed, and I’ll drive you.”

“I don’t need you to drive me. I just need the battery jumped.”

“Jersey, I’m not letting you drive an hour away in a car that won’t start. I’ll just take you.” She rubbed her forehead, but I didn’t care if she was frustrated. I pushed my point. “Look, it’s easier for me to go with you now than get a call later that you need someone to come get you in Derby.”

I wondered if she’d even call me. I wasn’t sure who else she had on her list of people to call with Mandy and Leena in Texas, but I wasn’t taking the risk. I didn’t give her a chance to argue with me more. I just headed down the hall to the bathroom, making short work of brushing my teeth and relieving myself. I went to my room and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. The room smelled like her now, and I let myself take in the bed where she’d been sleeping, but then grabbed my shoes and headed back out.

“Do we have time to grab coffee?” I asked, because I wasn’t really firing on all cylinders until I had my caffeine in me. She looked down at her watch, and I could tell she was worried about the time already.

Instead, she said, “Probably, but really, I can take myself if you’ll stop being stubborn.”

I couldn’t help the snort that escaped. “I’m the one who’s stubborn? That’s a hoot.”

I grabbed my wallet, my keys, and my sunglasses and opened the door, waiting for her to walk through it. She hesitated. I could tell she was resisting the entire thought of me being with her. Whether that was because of last night, when she’d let her guard down, or if it was because she truly hated the thought of anyone taking care of her, I didn’t know.

She finally shouldered her bag and walked out. I opened the passenger door of the pickup for her. She ducked her head and climbed in with a barely audible, “Thanks.”

When I got in, I asked for the address so I could put it into the GPS app, and that was the last thing she said to me for a long time. She was silent, staring out the window. She’d retreated to whatever corner of the world she lived in on most days.

“You’re good at that,” I said.

“What?” she asked, turning to look at me.

“Disappearing.”

She looked away again, not out the side window, but out the front, weighing what I’d said. Weighing how she would respond and deciding how much of the truth to tell me.

“I don’t mean to,” she said quietly, as if the layer I’d pulled away from her last night hadn’t completely grown back. As if she was at least trying to respond instead of purposefully hiding away.

“Where do you go?” I prodded.

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