Page 40 of The Anti-Bachelorette (The Anti-Bachelorette 1)

He just shrugs, and my dad lets out the first laugh I’ve heard from him all week. “She’ll be fine. Let’s get you guys on the road before it gets too late.”

Alaric nods and heads out to the garage to load in the bags, and I follow behind. My dad gives me a big hug and then tells me to get going, so I hop in the passenger side of Alaric’s truck. Before Alaric gets in, him and my dad say a few things to each other that I can’t hear, and then he gets in and we take off.

???

We drive for about an hour in pretty much silence. Alaric has the radio on low, so at least there is some sound. I don’t really know what to say to him. We aren’t exactly friends even though we’ve slept together now. I can’t just act how we usually do. The mean banter between us just feels all so childish now.

He finally speaks first, breaking the silence between us. “Are you hungry?” I hear my stomach actually growl. I just had a frozen meal for lunch today at work, and I barely ate that. I was too worried about what was going on to be hungry. Now though, I am starving. I nod my head. “Yeah. I could eat.”

He glances at me and then grins. “No burritos though. I don’t want your food all over my truck when you devour it.”

I just laugh. “My bear eating ways are not exclusive to burritos. Better schedule a detailing appointment for after this week.”

He smiles back at me, and I am glad some of the tension between us broke. We pull into a fast food drive-through and order some burgers and fries. I turn and look at Alaric as I take a bite of my burger. “Where are we going exactly?” I murmur through a mouth full of food.

Alaric looks at me. “You couldn’t wait to ask that until after you swallowed?”

I roll my eyes. “Oh shut up.”

He smirks back. “Uhm... at least another 3 hours tonight. Maybe lay low there for a couple of days, and if necessary, head accross the state border after that.”

I look more seriously at him. “You seem like you’ve done this before.”

He gives me a half smile. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll take care of everything.” He glances over at me. “Are you okay?”

I’m thrown back a little at his concern. I raise my eyebrows at him. “Do you care?”

He just rolls his eyes. “Yes Emory.” Then he looks back at me. “I’m sorry you are involved in this. That was never my intention.”

I don’t know why I do it, but I reach over and grab Alaric’s hand and give it a little squeeze. “This isn’t your fault.”

He looks down at my hand just as surprised as I am that I grabbed it, but then he does something I was not expecting at all. He wraps his fingers around mine and leaves our entwined fingers resting on his leg like he needs my support right now. I don’t pull it away.

We drive another couple hours and then stop for a bathroom break and to get gas. I head into the gas station while Alaric pumps the gas. I browse for a couple minutes grabbing some snacks and drinks for the rest of the drive.

I bring my items up to the counter. The guy at the counter is pretty heavily flirting with me. We are kind of in the middle of nowhere right now, so he probably is just bored and doesn’t see that many people. It is innocent enough, so I flirt back.

I am laughing at something he just said when I feel an arm wrap around my waist. My initial reaction is to fight off whoever is grabbing me, but then I hear a familiar voice in my ear. “You ready?”

I glance up and look at Alaric with a raised eyebrow asking 'what in the world are you doing', but his face doesn’t give any answers away. I quickly pay for my few items, and then we head back to his truck.

I hop in the truck and pull the door shut. I just look forward for a moment, and then I turn toward Alaric. “What was that?”

He glances at me for a moment and then goes to start up the truck. “What was what?”

He’s really going to play dumb like he doesn’t know exactly what I’m talking about. I just motion my hands forward. “That whole touchy thing in there. Like you are my boyfriend or something.”

He does that thing where guys place their hand on the chair next to them and turn their heads over their shoulder to back up. With the way his muscles flex, I can’t help but check him out as he does it. I know the time isn’t appropriate to be thinking about these things, but after the way he grabbed me back at the gas station, it’s all I can think about.

He just grunts. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

The fact that he’s lying about it, just makes it more obvious that it meant something. I turn back to look out the windshield, and a small smile appears on my face. Was he jealous? Is that why he got all possessive back there?

I turn and look at him, and his eyes meet mine. I give him a huge smirk. He smiles back at me and then grumbles. “You were taking forever. I just came in to get you.”

I smile back at him. “Mhmm.”

???

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