Page 29 of Blue Moon

And that had the potential to be problematic. By its nature, Ryder’s work meant he needed to keep a low profile, and there had already been speculation about their relationship after videos leaked of the fight in San Gallicano. Thankfully, the sound had been garbled and nobody seemed to know the details of the argument. Luna hadn’t commented, nobody from Blackwood was going to talk, and the others involved had kept their mouths shut. So far.

“I’m not gonna add fuel to the fire, moon. I’ll walk behind you, the same as I always do when I’m acting as your bodyguard.”

“Right.”

“Let’s make the most of this month, okay? You get every Monday off?”

She nodded. “Usually, I just watch TV when I don’t have to work, but we can go look for the earrings if you think it’s important. They’ll let me in. Do you have a car?”

He’d borrowed a pool car from Blackwood. “I do. Have you ever thought about learning to drive?”

“Mom didn’t think it was a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s dangerous. There are usually reporters following me, and they drive like maniacs. She figured it was safer for me to have a driver.”

A valid point, but he suspected the greater motivator had been Amethyst Puckett’s desire to control her daughter. Easier for her to keep Luna under her thumb if Luna couldn’t escape easily.

“And what do you think?”

“I think…I think there are times when I’d like to drive into the middle of nowhere and just scream until no more sound comes out.”

Not quite what Ryder had been expecting, but at least she was being honest. “You’d have to lose the paparazzi first, but I can give you some tips on that. How do you feel about getting a learner’s permit?”

“How would I do that? Is there a test?”

“Of basic driving knowledge, yeah, but we can practise for that.”

“And can we find a female instructor?”

“I was planning to teach you myself.”

“Really? I always knew you were brave, but…wow.”

Ryder chuckled. “If I can supervise my teenage sister, then I can teach you.”

He’d been twenty-one and home on leave when Phoebe had begged him to sit in the passenger seat while she got some extra driving hours in, and in hindsight, he’d rather have ridden a bicycle across a live firing range. The L and R written on her hands in Sharpie when she climbed behind the wheel should have been an indicator of what was to come, ditto when his mom wished him luck and jokingly suggested he wear his body armour. At least, he’d thought at the time she’d been joking. Anyhow, Phoebe thought stop signs were optional, and she’d tried to drive the wrong way around a roundabout.

“You’re even braver than I thought. But we’ll have to find somewhere quiet because if I’m going to crash, I don’t want to do it live on social media.”

“We can sneak out. Trust me, I’m good at that.”

The building had a rear entrance, which wasn’t as secure as Ryder would have liked, plus an exit in the parking garage. He’d find a way to get her out of the building on the down-low.

“How do I buy a car? I mean, I do have one—I got it free from a dealership in exchange for modelling work and a few Insta posts—but it’s in the garage at my house if Mom hasn’t sold it.”

“Can she sell it? Is the title in your name?”

“You mean the paperwork? I think so. I remember some guy asking if Maara was my surname, and I had to tell them it was Puckett. Man, I hate that name.”

“Why didn’t you take your father’s name?”

“Is Luna Fotherington-Gale really that much better?”

“Fair point.”

She shrugged. “There was something in the child support settlement. Dad agreed to pay more if Mom took full custody and I didn’t have his name.”

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