Ezra smiled.

Rin muttered something under his breath.

I stared at him, but I didn’t say anything regarding his comment. I didn’t entirely catch all of it anyway, and it wouldn’t have helped my position if I called him out on it. Instead, I felt it was best to ignore him and continue with my plan.

“I want to offer a compromise,” I said. “I promise not to be any trouble. I need to lay low for just a few days. I’ll be on my way once my friend can come to get me, and that will be the last you see of me.”

“And if you end up being trouble for us?” Rin asked. “Then what?”

“I’ll leave. It’s only a few days I’m asking for. Long enough for my friend to come help. Nothing longer.”

Ezra turned to face him. “Think about it.”

“I am,” he snapped.

“Sure,” Ezra said. “While you’re at it, consider another point.”

“What are you going on about now?” Rin asked.

“If she leaves, and something were to happen to her, even you wouldn’t be okay with that.” Ezra returned his attention to me. He nodded once. I softly smiled.

I had no idea what I had done to earn his good graces. I assumed it was who he was as a person. He was gentle, kind, and saw the best in people.

Rin groaned. “Fine. But I swear, if I so much as breathe a hint of trouble because of you, you’re gone.”

I nodded. “Agreed.”

“And you will be sleeping on the couch,” he said.

“Fine by me,” I said.

Luke sighed. “Now that we have finally solved this problem, we need to visit another.”

“Oh, for the love of…” Rin muttered.

Luke faced me. “You’re going to need your things.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” I said. “I promised not to be any trouble. I can make do with what I have.”

“Getting your things won’t be any trouble at all. Especially when it will make sure you are as comfortable as possible,” he said. “Once you tell me where you left your car, I will go and grab your things. I can use the time to check things out, while I’m at it.”

“I’ll go with you,” Rin said.

Both Luke and Ezra stared at him with confused expressions.

He sighed. “I need the run.”

I had a feeling there was more to his excuse than what he said. He didn’t bother hiding how very put off he was by me, and I wasn’t sure why. I only had a few ideas that made sense, but until I could get a direct answer from him, I could only speculate. I wasn’t going to push the issue either. I got what I needed from them. I didn’t need to cut off my nose despite my face.

“Okay,” Luke said. He faced me, waiting patiently for me to do my part.

I explained where I parked again. Luke paid attention to the words I used, absorbing them as though he was committing them to memory, nodding at various points during my story. Once he had a solid idea of where I parked, he stared at me with an expression I couldn’t understand.

“You ran all that way?” he asked.

I nodded. “It wasn’t easy by a long shot.”

“I know,” he said, with an impressed smile. “The difficulty is what makes the point so impressive.”