Page 17 of Drive To Survive

Fuck, this kid was too adorable.

Everly slapped her palm against her forehead in an exaggerated fashion. “Of course you don’t. Silly me.”

“I am hungry, though,” Rhett admitted.

“Well, if you won’t eat feet, I guess we’ll have to go for a burger, then.”

“Awesome,” Rhett replied, a grin breaking across his face.

“Right, well, I’ll leave you to it.” I tousled Rhett’s hair. “See you in a few days, little bud.”

“Do you like burgers?” Rhett asked, squinting as he looked up at me. He shielded his eyes from the sun and waited for my answer.

I blinked slowly. Fuck. The kid wasn’t subtle. How the hell did I handle this?

“Come on, you,” Everly said, lifting Rhett and putting him in the back of the car. “Mr. Palmer has better things to do than answer your never-ending list of questions.”

Her easy dismissal fired up my stubborn gene. I gripped the top of the door and bent down, peering in at Rhett. “I love burgers.”

Rhett grinned, his gaze popping from me and then to his mother. “He can come, can’t he, Mommy?”

Everly studiously avoided glancing in my direction as she fastened Rhett’s seat restraints. She also ignored his question.

I’d curse myself for this decision later, but right now I couldn’t think of anything I wanted more than to sit down to a burger, fries, and a shake with Everly and her son.

“Well, can I come?” I asked, challenging her to refuse.

She straightened. Her eyes traveled over my face, then took a journey down my entire body, lingering on my groin area. When she lifted her head and caught my eye, a flush inched across her cheeks, and she instantly looked away.

“If you like.”

Well, that answered that question. She fancied me. I fancied her.

Question is, are you willing to do anything about it?

“I like,” I murmured. “I’ll follow in my car. Where are you going?”

“Archie’s,” she said. “It’s Rhett’s favorite.”

I scratched my cheek. “Never heard of it.”

She made a weird sound, then shook her head. “No, I don’t suppose you would. It’s in Wilmington, on McDonald Avenue.” She chuckled. “The irony.”

My lips twitched at her attempt to lighten the atmosphere between us. “I’ll meet you there.”

Her eyes locked on my mouth, and then she cleared her throat. “Sounds good.”

NICO

With no parking spaces directly in front of Archie’s burger joint, I eased my car around the corner and parked on an adjacent street. I’d lost track of Everly’s vehicle on the way here, but as I climbed out and locked up, I spotted her rusty pickup truck parked on the corner, a short distance from the diner.

I still had no idea what the fuck I was doing here, given I’d made several promises to stay away from a woman who had more than enough shit to deal with without me dumping more in her lap. I carried around far too much bitterness for someone as soft and warm as Everly. I’d only bring her more heartache, and she didn’t deserve that.

Rhett. I was here for Rhett. Something in that boy’s eyes had called to me on a human level. His excitement at the track today had lit him up from the inside out, but as soon as the elation wore off, his demons would return.

Mine always did.

I pushed open the door to Archie’s, the noise inside hitting me. The place buzzed with customers, every table full to capacity, and servers scampered around holding trays of burgers and fries and milkshakes high above their heads as they tried to keep up with the never-ending demand. I spotted Everly and Rhett sitting in a booth. The two of them had their heads buried in a large plastic menu. I ignored the weird feeling churning my stomach and headed over. Everly glanced up and smiled as I approached, then motioned to the empty bench across from her.

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