Page 88 of Not Fooling Anyone

I’d asked him Saturday if he meant for it to be a date, but he only said it was whatever I wanted it to be. I guess the ball’s in my court, then. But what should I do with it?

His SUV pulls up outside, the tension in me easing now that he’s here. I swear I don’t normally need rescuing, but he seems to be making a habit of it. And honestly, he’s pretty good at it too.

“You doing okay?” he asks as I join him in the parking lot, enfolding me in his arms.

I breathe him in, drawing comfort as I hug him back, the heavy yoke of responsibility around my shoulders lifting temporarily.

“I’m fine. Just worried my boss will be mad if I’m late.”

“You want me to try and figure out what’s wrong with the car or just take you to work?”

“I’ll worry about fixing it later. I’d rather get a ride for now if that’s okay with you.”

“Hop in.”

He leads me to his passenger side, opening the door for me. No one’s ever opened a car door for me besides him.

He rounds the front of his SUV, getting in and buckling up. “All right, where am I going?”

“Element. It’s on—”

“Oh, yeah. I know where it is.”

He reverses out, tapping his thumb against the steering wheel as he turns onto the main road.

“You’ve been there before?” I ask. Now that I know him, it doesn’t seem like his type of spot.

“A couple of times. A guy at the gym had his bachelor party there earlier this year. I stopped by for a bit.”

“You have fun?”

He shrugs. “It was okay.”

“Did you dance with anyone?” That’s mostly why anyone goes. To get drunk and dance.

He hesitates for a moment before answering. “Yeah.”

I stick my hands under my thighs, unsure why I’m asking all this to begin with. Like I reminded myself earlier, he’s allowed to have done whatever he wanted in the past.

But that still doesn’t stop me from asking, “Do you… dance with girls a lot?”

He opens and shuts his mouth a few times. This might be the first time I’ve ever caught him off guard.

“Not excessively,” he finally says. “But every so often, yeah. Not since I met you, though.”

I nod, unsure what I even wanted his answer to be.

“I know you sort of not really said before that you don’t date,” he says, “but do you ever… dance with guys? Or girls. You know, whatever.”

A small smile escapes me, despite the serious topic. “There was a guy, back in high school.” I take in a breath, releasing it slowly. “He was the one who started that rumor.”

“Oh, shit,” he mutters, pausing to make a right-hand turn. “That actually makes a lot of sense.”

The blood pumping through my veins goes icy. “What?” He doesn’t know about Cody, does he? About the rumor?

He glances over at me, reaching out to take my hand. “I just meant for someone to hurt you that way, after you had let them in close… I get why it must be hard to trust guys. To think they might do something like that again.”

I swallow, my palm turning sweaty, but he doesn’t let go of my hand. “I thought for a second you might know what happened. That maybe Savannah had told you.”

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