Page 30 of Blue Moon

Luna acted as if she didn’t care, but that little quiver of her lips said she did. And she should be upset. Her father had paid to erase her from his world.

“Want me to go get the car for you?”

“Mom will never hand it over.”

“I wasn’t intending to ask her. Do you know where the key is?”

Luna’s jaw dropped. “You’d steal my car?”

“It’s not stealing if it’s yours, moon. It’s retrieving.”

And if he could keep Luna distracted with groceries and learning to drive, maybe she’d forget he had a cock and they could rebuild the relationship they’d once had. Yeah, he wanted more, but the friendship had to come first. And it was the best part. When he thought back to his time with Neve, it wasn’t the sex he missed the most; it was the fun times they’d shared. Weekends spent on the beach paddleboarding, swimming, and surfing. Cheering on the Jags because although Ryder had lost his taste for football, Neve still loved to watch a game. Shopping at the Riverside Arts Market because Neve loved to buy pretty things she didn’t need.

“Mom keeps the keys in the hallway. There’s a table at the side with a drawer.”

“What kind of car is it? I’ll get someone to check with the DMV that it’s registered in your name, and then she can’t cause any trouble.”

“If you think she can’t cause trouble, you don’t know my mom very well.”

“I meant with the cops.”

“The cops? They might remember the car from the last time.”

“What ‘last time’?”

“A guy from the dealership parked it on the side of the highway to take pictures, and I was sitting there on the hood in a bikini when six cars drove into each other, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Which I guess is another reason I never learned to drive if crashing is that easy. I mean, it was a straight road.”

“Moon, if I saw you at the side of the road in a bikini, I’d probably crash too.”

“Really? Huh. I thought you were a better driver than that. Anyhow, the car’s a BMW. Mom also has a BMW, but mine’s easy to pick out because it’s pink.”

Ah, fuck. “Pink?”

She nodded, beaming. “A fuchsia-pink convertible with bubblegum seats and glittery side mirrors. They painted it specially for me.”

“Maybe I could just get you a different car?”

How much would the monthly payments be for a non-pink BMW? Say, black or dark blue. Ryder would have headed straight for the nearest dealership, but Luna’s face fell, and he knew he’d do anything to put the smile back.

“You love the pink car?”

She nodded.

“Then I’ll get the pink car.”

10

LUNA

Delete, delete, delete.

Seriously? Mom was resorting to burner phones now? I’d blocked her number, but still she managed to get under my skin. Couldn’t she take the hint?

Over the past four months, her messages had gone from fake concern to guilt trip to plain nastiness. Then fake apology, and now we were back to being nice again. Or whatever passed for nice when you were my mom.

Mom

The past few weeks have been traumatic—why don’t you come home so we can talk things through?

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