Page 38 of Courtside

SAGE

Of all of the people in Charleston who could have happened upon her and her broken down car, it had to be David Hughes.

Oh, and Sage wascompletelyfine.

She had a phone, and she was wearing perfectly suitable walking shoes. She was only a few miles from home, and it wouldn’t be a big deal at all to walk back to her apartment.

She’d popped the hood because that’s what she thought she was supposed to do, even though she had no fucking idea how to fix whatever was going on beneath it. If the smoke pouring out from what she guessed was the engine was any indication, it probably wasn’t a simple “pour some more oil in the car” kind of problem. Pulling on some of the tubes that wound through the dark cavity probably wasn’t her best move, but come on, she needed to at leastpretendlike she knew what she was doing.

But it was all fine, because she could handle a broken down car. She was independent. Competent.

This was no big deal.

“What happened?”

Shit. David was still there, now looming over her like some sort of stoic, stubborn bear in the night.

“The hood started smoking and I pulled over,” Sage explained, wiping her grease-covered hands on her jeans.Shit.Those were probably ruined.She slammed the hood shut. “Well, thanks for stopping, but I’ve got it from here.”

David blinked at her, his thick brows pulling down in confusion. “Have you called a tow truck?”

“Yeah. They’ll be here in about an hour.”

“How are you going to get home?” David’s voice had dropped lower somehow, and she willed her body to cut the shit when her skin broke out in goosebumps.

“I’m going to walk.”

David barked out a laugh. “Like hell you’re going to walk.”

Bristling, Sage turned to face him, hands planted on her hips. “What? Are you going to stop me?” She circled to the passenger side of the car, wrenching the door open and grabbing her bag before returning to the driver’s side. She wrestled the key out of the ignition, manually locking the door before stashing the keys on the tire as instructed by the tow company. She left her gym bag, seeing as there weren’t any valuables inside. “See you later, Coach.”

There wasn’t a sidewalk on this section of the road, so she started walking on the small strip of pavement before the road sloped down into what was probably wet marsh down below.

“Seriously, Sage?” David’s voice called out from behind her. “Can I please give you a ride?”

“I’m fine!”

She heard what sounded like a low growling noise, but she kept going. She was perfectly fine, and she would show DavidfuckingHughes that she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to prove,” he shouted, and Sage found her feet coming to a stop. “And I honestly don’t give a shit, because Icannot,in good conscience, leave you alone to walk home in the dark. So if you don’t want to ride in my car, then fine. You’ve made it very clear that you have no interest in listening to me. But if you walk, I’m going to drive behind you with my goddamn blinkers on until you make it back to your apartment.”

Sage turned around to look at him. She couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but his body was impossibly big where he stood beside her car. She was torn between wanting to punch him in his beautiful face and, even more terrifying, the urge to run back to him.

“Why are you like this?” she asked, holding her ground.

“I could ask you the same thing, Lefty.”

Sage sighed. “Fine.” She started back toward the two cars. “You can give me a ride, but it’s only because the thought of you driving behind me at two miles an hour is absolutely humiliating.”

She could hear his chuckle as he held open the passenger door for her. She climbed up into the leather seat, and he firmly shut the door behind her. She shook her head —of course, he was also the kind of man who opened car doors for women.

When he got into the driver’s seat, Sage shifted so that her shoulder leaned against the window. As the engine purred to life, loud music suddenly filled the car.

“Sorry,” David said, fumbling with the volume dial and turning it down.

She recognized the song. “Chili Peppers?”

David nodded as he glanced back over his shoulder to check for oncoming traffic. It was excessive, since he’d be able to see anyone by their headlights in the rearview or side mirrors, but hey, she wasn’t complaining if he wanted to take extra precautions to drive safely. They pulled out onto the quiet street.

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