Page 80 of More To Us

"I'm guessing you dated her?" Kira asks as she gets on her bike.

"Yeah," I mutter.

She just nods and takes off on her bike.

Great. Now Kira's mad because Lauren was flirting with me. Now I know how my brother, Jake, feels. He dated a ton of girls before he met Ivy and they're always coming up to him and flirting, even with Ivy there.

"You're mad," I say as I catch up to Kira.

"I'm not mad." She glances at me. "I know you've dated other girls. Probably a lot of other girls. The thing that's irritating is that she flirted with you even after you told her I was your girlfriend."

"I know. It was rude. Sorry."

"She's the one who owes me an apology, not you."

At least Kira's not blaming me for this.

"How long did you date her?"

"Just for a few weeks. Last April."

"Where'd you meet her?"

"She's a bartender at one of the bars we play at. Let's not talk about her, okay? I don't want her ruining our day."

Kira smiles. "I wouldn't let her do that."

"Good. So new topic. What are you thinking for lunch? I'm starving."

"Me too. Maybe Mexican? I know it's not the healthiest but I'm really craving it."

"There's healthy stuff at Mexican places. And I splurge on the weekends."

"Then let's do Mexican. But I need to clean up first. I stink."

"You don't stink, but yeah, I'll take you to your apartment."

It takes an hour to bike back to my truck, so by the time we get there, we're both starving. I give her one of the protein bars I brought.

"These are really good," she says, looking at the label on the bar. "Where'd you get these?"

"They sell them at the gym. I'm friends with the manager so he sells them to me at cost." We're driving back to her apartment and I cut through a residential area to avoid traffic. "I could get you some if you want."

"That'd be great. I love these peanut butter ones. If you could—"

"Shit, hold on." I quickly pull over and park on the street because I just watched some old guy fall off a ladder. He's on the ground now, unable to get up. I turn off the truck and jump out and run over to him, kneeling beside him. "You okay?"

He rolls onto his back, holding his arm. He's really old, like 85, or maybe even older.

Kira races over to me. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know."

"I'm fine," he says, in a scratchy voice. "Just need some help getting up."

"Does your arm hurt?" Kira asks him. "Maybe you should stay there. We'll call an ambulance."

"I don't need one. Just help me up." He holds his hand out to me but I hold his arm instead while Kira takes his other arm. We help him up to standing. "Damn ladder," he says. "Gave out just as I was cutting a branch." He's looking up at the massive oak tree that's above us.

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