Page 32 of Somebody to Save
Beckett chuckled, and I knew that wouldn’t work. He was too much of a gentleman to leave me standing in front of my workplace on a cool night. Or at all.
“I’ll drive you to your car. Just tell me where it is.”
I rolled my lips and managed to keep my groan in my head. Although we didn’t know each other super well, I knew he wasn’t one to let something like that go. He was going to make sure I was home safely no matter what.
Which meant I had to tell him the truth.
“It’s actually…inside the gate. I…umm…I live here. And before you start judging, it’s only temporary. I just had to move out of my old apartment with the crappy boyfriend quickly, so when they offered me a place here, and at a discounted rate, I took it.”
He slowly rolled around the curved drive and back toward the resident’s entrance. Trying not to look at him was difficult, and I caught him glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.
“I would never judge you, Bubbles.” And there was sincerity in his voice that made it easy to believe him. “Can you open the gate?”
He motioned to it, still closed in front of us, and I scrambled for my purse. I found my keys and jammed the button hanging from my keychain. The gate slowly rolled open.
“That’s really nice of them to give you an option to stay here,” he said.
Nodding, I instructed him to go around the first two buildings and stop at number five.
“Yeah, we have several vacant units right now, so it works well for them, too.”
He pulled into a free spot at the end of the row and put the car in park, clicking thestart-stopbutton to kill the engine.
“Oh, you don’t have to—” I began to say, but he cut me off with a quick, hard look. Yeah, I knew I wasn’t going to win that argument either. He pushed his door open and stepped out of the car as I gathered my things and went to open my own door. But Beckett was right there, swinging the door open for me and offering me a helping hand.
I took it, and he wove our fingers together. My heart stuttered at the familiarity of the gesture, and I didn’t attempt to remove my hand. I really didn’t want to.
“I’m on the first floor, just around this—”Corner,I was about to say, but I couldn’t finish my sentence. A few steps beyond the corner, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Beckett stopped, too, and looked back with a deep furrow in his dark brows.
“Addison, what?—”
“Addie?” Owen asked, and a shiver whipped down my spine. And not a good one.
Beckett’s gaze slowly swung up to see Owen leaning against my apartment door, a sad-looking bouquet in his hands, and a thoroughly distraught expression marring his boyish features. His hand tensed in mine, and I worried that he’d pull away. The thought made me want to make sure it didn’t happen, and I squeezed his hand once. So tight that he couldn’t question my intention or desire.
“What—what are you doing here?” I finally found the nerve to ask.
“Waiting for you,” Owen explained, like it was any explanation at all.
“Whyare you here?” I rephrased my question.
Owen’s attention bounced from me to Beckett and then toour joined hands. Even from several feet away, I could see his jaw work and the anger start to wash over him.
“We need to talk.”
Licking my lips, I squeezed Beckett’s hand again and glanced up at him as I passed, hoping he’d catch my silent request that he follow. I walked toward my apartment door, and I heard his faint steps pick up behind me.
“We don’t,” I said flatly, and I pushed past him like he was no one and fitted my key in the door. Striding into my colorful yet cluttered space, I knew Owen would follow me, and I spun on my heels to see just that. I stood in the middle of my living room with my arms crossed as Owen clutched the flowers in his hands and Beckett closed the door behind him.
His expression was hard, and I hoped he didn’t scare easily. He edged past Owen and walked toward me. Stopping next to me, he leaned down to my level and whispered, “I’ll be right here if you need me.”
I gave him a grateful nod and watched him only for a second. He continued deeper into my little apartment and into the kitchen, where he leaned casually against the cabinets. Where he could watch but not intrude.
“If you want to talk so bad, then talk.”
But Owen looked beyond me. “He’s just going to stay, then?”
I tilted my head and put on my best uncaring mask. “Well, I invited him. You on the other hand…”
