Page 11 of Solemn Vow

“I don’t want to hear about the bus. I’ll take you home. End of story.” He cups my elbow and gently nudges me to the open door.

It could be another fifteen minutes before the next bus comes, and it’s not like Viktor is going to let me stand there myself. He’ll just stay with me and make everything more awkward. So fine, he can drive.

I climb up into the seat, pulling my jacket from beneath me and getting situated.

He grabs the seatbelt before I can, pulls it across my torso, leans over me, and snaps the belt in place. When he turns his head to look at me, there’s another chill going through me, and it has nothing to do with the weather.

“You know, I’ve lived just fine for the last twenty-two years without anyone bossing me around like this.”

“I don’t think that’s true, but I think you believe it.” He shuts the door before I can respond, so all I can do is seethe as he makes his way around the front of the car to his door.

As soon as he turns the car on, the radio blasts, making me jump.

He turns it down to a reasonable level and pulls away from the curb, seeming to be happy with silence between us.

I’m more than happy to not talk to him. He’ll probably just say something bossier than before, and I have bigger things to think about right now.

Like how I can get another two grand in two weeks.

“Just drop me here. You can’t pull in front of the building today. There’s maintenance going on.” I point to an empty spot at the corner.

“There’s a closer spot.” He continues to an open spot two doors down from my building.

“You don’t need to park.” I grab the door handle as he comes to a stop, but his hand on my knee stills me.

“I’m parking.” He moves his hand and parallel parks in one try.

I’m not a driver, but I’ve seen more than enough people try to navigate parallel parking on this narrow street to know it’s harder than he made it look.

“Happy?” I snap at him once he puts the car into park.

“Not yet. But soon.” He turns off the car.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m coming up with you. We haven’t finished our conversation.” He gets out before I can stop him.

I groan to myself and push my door open. He grabs it just as it swings over the curb and gives me a disapproving glare.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I want to.” He shuts the door and again presses his hand to my back, leading me right to the front door of my building.

I clench my teeth. The sooner I get upstairs, the sooner he’ll go. I make my way up the stairs to my apartment with him right on my heels.

“The new locks are working well, yes?” he asks as I push my key into the top deadbolt.

“Yes, but my landlord is pissed about it…”

He lifts a shoulder. “I’ll talk to him; he won’t bother you about it again.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Don’t. You’ll just scare him and the next thing that will happen is I’ll be out on the street.” I can barely afford the rent here right now; if I have to move, I’ll never be able to come up with the next payment.

He stares at me a beat. “I’ll be nice.”

I huff. “Nice. Something tells me you’re not a nice guy.”

He cocks an eyebrow. “I drove you home, didn’t I?”

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