Page 24 of Leashed

Chapter Nine

Sage rushed to the door to answer her buzzer, the gentle chime loud in the early morning hours of her silent apartment.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” a gravelly voice replied. “Need a lift?”

Pressing the button to allow him into the building, she stepped out into the hall and watched the elevator crawl up to her floor. “Bo!” she whispered as the doors slid open. “What are you doing here?”

He trudged over to her, passing her a large cup of coffee. “I have no goddamn idea, but C hasn’t shown up to stop me, so it can’t be that bad a decision,” he grumbled, his sunglasses hiding his eyes. “You ready?”

She looked down at the phone in her hand. “Since I guess I’m not calling a cab, do you want to come in and sit for a few minutes?”

Without replying, he kicked his work boots off on his way into her kitchen. Racing to her room to gather her things first, she joined him at the table and took a sip of coffee. “You really don’t have to do this. Let me at least cover a tank of gas for everything you’ve done for me.”

He looked at her over the top of his sunglasses, his exhaustion evident in his eyes. “I’d say it was my pleasure, but I’m running on three hours of sleep, so let’s just leave it at no problem.” He pulled the lid off his cup and stood, adding some cold water before he walked toward the foyer. “Let’s get going and we can hit a drive-through for some breakfast.”

She followed him out the door, one eye on his locked-down expression as they rode the elevator in silence. He opened the passenger door for her and she climbed into his truck, catching sight of the third book of the vampire series sitting on his dash. Bo fumbled with his keys, cursing a streak under his breath while he got hold of them and started the engine.

“Kind of a dick in the morning, aren’t you, Sunshine?” she asked, clapping her hand over her mouth as the snarky words leapt from her.

His hand froze on his seat belt.

“I’m so sorry,” she gasped. “That was so, so rude.”

He shook his head and tucked his hair behind his ears, adjusting the rearview mirror. “Sunshine?”

She winced. “I’m so—”

“You have got to stop apologizing for sh…for stuff,” he huffed, signaling and easing onto the road. “And ‘dick’ is my default mode for pretty much every situation.” He glanced over at her. “Every situation.”

Refusing to acknowledge the blatant innuendo accenting his point, she feigned interest in the radio. “How do I turn this on?”

“Same way you turn anything on. Push the right buttons.”

She bit her cheek to hide a smile. “Are you going to be inappropriate the whole drive to the library?”

Turning the stereo on, he motioned toward the book on the dash. “I’ve been reading soft-core vamp porn for two nights straight. This is me censoring myself.”

*

Sage paced herbedroom floor, her phone clutched tight in her hand as she rehearsed what she was going to say.

“It’s not you, it’s me,” she whispered, wrinkling her nose in disgust when she heard the words out loud. “Our lives are going in different directions.” Pausing, she tried it again before groaning and moving on. “I’m not ready to be in a relationship. I’m not ready to be in a relationship longer than five years.”

Flopping facedown on her bed, she gave up on the platitudes.

She’d had an amazing day, her spirits high and her smile genuine no matter what tiny inconveniences she encountered.

Until Nixon called to remind her not to be late for their date, his comment to dress her age a veiled strike against the red shirt she’d worn to the casino two weeks ago.

The change in her mood had been instantaneous, the stress and tension of pleasing Nixon and her mother a stark contrast to the comfort she’d felt with Bo that morning while the two of them ate breakfast in his truck, the radio on low.

Rolling onto her back, she tapped on Nixon’s name.

She needed to end it. Now.

A sudden pressure built up in her chest and she gasped, dropping her phone as she pressed her palms against her ribs, her lungs struggling to fill with air. Minutes ticked by, the crushing strain easing into a dull ache. As her breathing leveled out and the heaviness eased, she wrapped her arms around herself and sat up.

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