Page 116 of Three for a Girl

“Don’t supposed you could give me a ride home?”

Carter frowned, looking Chad up and down. “Home? You all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Let’s go find your car then—”

“No!”

“No?”

Romeo’s firm voice came back to him. Beassertive. Polite, but assertive.

“Leave the car, it’s fine where it is.”

“Leave the car?” Carter shook his head. “Christ, you wouldn’t have me leaving one of mine.”

“We’re not all car enthusiasts like you.”

“But it’s your car.”

“It’ll be fine for a bit, I’ve got gas at home, it’s closer than any garage.”

“Right … but what if—”

“Thank you.” Chad said, tugging the back door handle. “I really appreciate it.”

He slid onto the back seat. Carter watched him in the mirror, but didn’t say anything. He lowered his sunglasses back over his eyes despite the first sprinkling of rain on the windscreen.

“So where am I heading?”

Chad told Carter his address, and he drove up the road to find a place to turn around.

“And you’re fine with leaving your car in the middle of nowhere?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll get the gas, then we’ll find your car.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

The fields passed by the window in a blur. They looked greener in the dullness, more alive than when the sun had blared down on them. The grass, plants and trees all lifted themselves higher, knowing rain was coming. The hell they’d lived through was about to ease.

“Chad?”

He tore his gaze off the window and fixed it back to Carter. “Sorry?”

“I said what brings you this way?” Carter asked.

“I was at Kerion and Ellen’s place.”

Carter lifted his eyebrow. “To help with the evidence against Andrew?”

“There’s still a few loose ends.”

“Nothing screams guilt like jumping off a bridge to avoid arrest.”

“I was up there with him, didn’t seem like he was avoiding arrest, more giving up hope. He looked like a tortured soul.”

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