Page 5 of Juno

“What’s wrong with my car?” She stared him down and he just smiled at her. All her girl parts seemed to do a little dance when he flashed her his sexy smile. One thing about Saint that she knew for certain, he was a heartthrob, and in high school, he had quite a reputation for dating his way through the female population. He was out of school by the time she got to high school, but he was pretty famous around town for his antics. She had been friends with Dare, his younger brother since they were in grade school, and Juno could remember when their parents died. Her mother and father made her go to the funeral to pay her respects to Dare for his loss, and God, she felt out of her element, not knowing what to say to her friend and his older brother. Dare didn’t seem like the same boy she had known since second grade and that made her sad. She worried about her friend, but after a while, things went back to normal between the two of them. Saint became Dare’s guardian, and she remembered him telling her how relieved he was that his brother was going to take care of him and not put him in foster care where he’d probably have to move away.

Saint stood from the pavement and held his good hand down to help her up. “Well, for one, it’s a grandma car,” he said.

“It is not,” she insisted, taking his offered hand. Saint practically lifted her off the ground completely as he helped her to her feet. “Did my so-called friends tell you to say that?” she asked. “Making fun of her is mean since she might be my new home soon.” He rolled his eyes at her as if he didn’t believe a word that came out of her mouth.

“No,” he said, “I have eyes and can see for myself that it’s a grandma car. How about you drive my truck?”

She looked over at his truck and back at him. “You’ve got to be kidding. I can’t drive that thing, it’s a tank.”

“You’ll do great,” he insisted. “It’s about as long as your grandma car, so you’ve got lots of practice.” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to slap him or laugh. He was serious and seemed to be in a good deal of pain, so laughing was out of the question, and unfortunately, so was slapping him.

“Fine, I’ll drive your truck, but I want it noted that I’m doing so under protest. And if we get into an accident, I won’t be held accountable.” Saint unlocked his truck, and she helped him up into the passenger side. He handed her the keys, and she sighed and took them. The thought of driving his truck terrified her. Any newer cars did. She was used to her old car.

She got into the driver’s seat and adjusted the seat, having to move it practically all the way up to the steering wheel. “I think that I might be too short for this thing,” she breathed.

“Can you reach the gas pedal and break?” Saint asked.

She touched both with her foot and nodded, “Yes,” she said.

“Then, you’ll be fine,” he grumbled. “Can you help me with my seatbelt?” She reached across his body and grabbed the belt, pulling it across his chest and buckling it into place.

“Comfy?” she asked. He gave her a look as though she had lost her mind by even asking him that question.

“I have a broken arm and you’re asking me if I’m comfy?” He had a point. She decided to go with the old adage that silence was golden as she buckled her seatbelt and started the truck. “I’m sorry,” he breathed. “I’m a horrible patient and when I’m in pain, I can be a real asshole.”

“No kidding,” she mumbled to herself.

“Again, sorry,” he said. “I appreciate you taking me to the hospital. I owe you one, Juno.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” she insisted. “You got me out of my jam with Bruno, so let’s call things even,” she said. He had saved her ass back at the club, but it hurt her pride to admit that to him or anyone else. She had always been an independent woman, capable of taking care of herself. But if Saint hadn’t followed her into the club, she didn’t know what would have happened.

“So, you had questions that I agreed to answer while you drove,” he reminded. “Let’s have them.” Juno had almost forgotten what she wanted to ask him until she brought up him rescuing her from Bruno.

“Are you sure that you don’t mind?” she asked, suddenly feeling awful about playing twenty questions with him while he was in so much pain.

“Ask away,” he insisted.

“Okay, why did you follow me into the club tonight?” she asked. “I thought that we settled things in your truck. You agreed to keep my secret, and we’d go our separate ways,” she said.

“Right, and I was about to pull out of the parking lot when I saw you run back into the club. I knew that no one else was around, and I wanted to make sure that you got back to your car safely. You can’t be too careful on that side of town.” She knew how dangerous that side of town was. She had been working over there for four years now. But working closer to home might have gotten her recognized before now, and she couldn’t risk that happening.

“You didn’t need to wait for me. I can handle myself on that side of town,” she insisted.

“What about your boss?” he asked. “Were you handling yourself with him?” Saint wasn’t playing fair, and that plain pissed her off.

“Hey, you could be a little bit nicer to me. I am driving you to the hospital,” she reminded.

“And I appreciate you doing this for me, but why can’t you accept my help tonight?” She hated asking anyone for help and admitting that she needed it wasn’t something that made her comfortable.

“I don’t like accepting help,” she said. “I appreciate that you got me out of a sticky situation, but I could have handled him.”

Saint sighed and shook his head, staring out the windshield. “You’re hopeless,” he whispered.

“I am not,” she spat.

“You are, but I’ll concede if that will stop this conversation from continuing,” Saint said.

“Deal,” she agreed. She was tired of talking about him coming to her rescue and whether or not she actually needed his help—because she didn’t, but Saint would never accept that. Juno just wanted to concentrate on getting him to the hospital and having him patched up so that she could go home and crawl into her own bed. She might not have her apartment for very much longer and she wanted to enjoy it while she did.

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