Page 96 of Gloves Off

I swear to fucking god, Georgia, if you don’t share your location, I’ll call my parents and they’ll be over in a heartbeat.

Ugh. He’s no fun. My good humor pops like a balloon. They would show up, too, because they’re kind like that.Don’t do that. Of course my doors are locked.

Share. Your. Location.

I roll my eyes, but I do as he says.

Good. Thank you.

I hate being told what to do, but a tiny part of me arches at him sayingthank you. I bet he had to force it out.

How long until your ride gets there?Alexei texts.

Not sure. They said the tow truck could be a couple hours.

In my hand, my phone starts buzzing.

“It’s fine—” I start.

“A couplehours? I’m calling you a ride.”

“It’s fine. I can’t leave my car here overnight, anyways. There’ll be nothing to come back to.”

“We can only hope,” he mutters, and I snort. “There’s a car on the way for you.”

“Alexei.” My tone is sharp. I hate when people make decisions over my head like this, without involving me.

“The car will be there in ten minutes. I’m arranging for a tow truck. A faster one.”

“You’re so controlling,” I tell him, but my words have no heat.

“Georgia, I’m not letting my wife sit alone in the dark in her car.”

The wordsmy wifearc through me like electricity. I have the urge to keep playing with him like this, but then I think about his wedding invitation and the fun gets sucked out of the whole thing.

“What does the car look like?”

He rattles off a make and model.

“Okay. Thank you. I’ll look for it. Bye.”

“Hold on. Stay on the phone until he gets there.”

“You can see his location and my location, can’t you?”

“Just...” He lets out a heavy exhale. “Stay on the phone with me, and don’t argue.”

There’s something in his voice, a tiny shard of softness, that makes me pause.

“Okay.”

Another pause. “Thank you.”

“Wow.” My mouth curves again. “Twothank yous in one night. You hit your head or something, Volkov?”

I say it without thinking. In my mind, I see the hard hit he took tonight during his game, and a ball of worry knots in my stomach.

He makes a low, amused noise. “I can saythank you.”

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