Page 60 of If Our Hearts Collide

“I’ll give you a ride wherever you want to go, Penny. Can you just ask? Is it so difficult that you are unable to relinquish this desire you have inside to make everything so complicated?”

My hands prop on my hips, as I stare at him. The driver of the other vehicle passes by Collins’s idling SUV and stops in front of us.

“Who is he? Do you even know him?” When I don’t answer, he rubs along his jawline while closing his eyes. When he opensthem again, I know I’m in trouble. “Please clarify if I’m wrong. You called some random person to give you a ride, and they just pulled up in a rusted tin box?”

“Maybe.”

My toes curl, making me wince when my blisters rub against the flip-flop straps. Shit. I bite at my bottom lip to suffer through the sudden pain.

“Have you lost your mind?”

His words sting, and I don’t think he has a freaking clue just how much. “No. But you have,” I bite back.

“It’s moments like these that solidify the fact that you need someone to watch out for you. Your brothers were one hundred percent correct in taking that initiative.”

I take a step toward him, placing my hand on his muscular chest from pure annoyance, as I push with all my might. “Back off.”

“You’re the one coming at me, little girl, not the other way around.”

“I’m not little.”

Oh, do I hate being referred to that way.

All my life I’ve been the baby of the family. My nose flares as I push harder. And harder. And?—

Nothing. I don’t even move this boulder of a man. Not even an inch. If anything, I’m just entertaining him.

I hear the car door open and smell the pungent scent of something more than just nicotine.

“Ya need my help, miss? Dis guy bothering you?”

In unison, Collins and I turn toward what can only be described as a walking stereotype—fresh out of a classic nineties movie. Between the sideways hat, the cigarette resting behind the ear, the stained white T-shirt, and the nasty scent of a skunk, I think there is no way in hell that Collins will ever let me getwithin a yard’s radius of this once-a-pizza-delivery vehicle and this teenaged hoodlum.

And I know the junk-mobile used to be for pizzas because I can see the outline of an entire pie molded into the rusty side.

The boy clears his throat again and moves his fists to be in front of his face, in a self-defense pose.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Collins asks, taking in the scene and then looking at me for a reaction. But I don’t give him one. Because what is there to do? I feel like I’m also being pranked.

“I’ve been practicing my moves,” the kid says, slicing his fists through the air. “I made it to level seven inMortal Kombat. That totally has to count for something.”

It only takes one glance at the impromptu karate demonstration for my shoulders to quake. Then I double over, laughing so hard that I fall toward the pavement.

“Penny,” Collins calls, squatting down to brace my landing. “What the hell is going on?”

I look up into his concerned eyes. “This explains why the ride was so cheap. I mean, from Hillsboro back to the city was only like twenty bucks.”

“If you think I’m going to let you get inside the car with that crackhead, you’ve completely?—”

“Don’t touch her,” the kid yells. “I also forgot to mention that I took the junior ninja training obstacle course at the local YMCA. Don’t mess with me.” He bends his knee upward, flicking his foot forward like a broken pendulum. Losing his balance, he stumbles backward, breaking his hold and crashing into the side of his beat-up vehicle.

I just can’t stop laughing. Tears drip down my cheeks as I remain curled up in a ball on the driveway. “He’s a ninja,” I echo.

“I’m basically a badass to the first degree.”

Not fazed in the slightest, Collins helps me up. He hands me my bag that managed to spill out a bit onto the driveway. I shoveitems inside in a hurry, careful not to miss any of the action. And then with calculated coolness, he turns to me, leveling himself with my face. “This is not up for debate. We are going to walk down to my SUV, and you’re going to get inside without any type of argument. Understood?”

But before I have a chance to answer, Collins is already escorting me. I cringe as the kid starts to yell at him.

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