Page 64 of Flame True

In the stony silence of his sleek car, Mulberry crossed her arms.

“I can go out, you know.”

“There’s nothing wrong with going out, Mulberry, but I’m supposed to stay with you and know here where you were.”

“You knew I was with my mom, and she has people on her. So no harm done, okay?”

“Were you hoping for harm?”

“Of course not,” she spat out.

And she wasn’t. She really wasn’t.

“Not harm,” she said, her voice thick with trying not to cry. “I don’t know. I guess I wanted to prove that all of this wasn’t in my head. Okay?”

Nick glanced at her but didn’t say anything.

He turned on the highway, flipped his playlist on, and Mulberry spent the whole drive texting her dad.

The screen on the console flashed with an incoming call.

“Hello, Xander.”

“Do you have Mulberry with you?”

“Yes.”

“Can you stop by Axis Management? Finn and Janette and bringing Grace.”

“Okay, we’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Is he mad at me?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. For some reason, she didn’t want to disappoint Xander.

Nick’s habit of not answering her right away drove her to distraction. She played a game on her phone until they reached the underground parking lot of Axis Management.

She looked up when she felt the heat of his gaze on her.

“You care about disappointing Xander?”

Mulberry bit her lip. “He seemed to really care about my mom and me. I guess I don’t want to be trouble.”

“Then maybe don’t arrange photo ops,” Nick said.

His tone made her flinch. He took her hand in his. “Sorry. Look, I know you are in a tough situation, and I will try to be more considerate, okay? Just give me a heads-up if there’s something you want to do.”

“Okay.”

“And no, Xander doesn’t really get disappointed by people. His loyalty always comes first, and he cares about you a lot for whatever reason.”

A lump formed in her throat.

She regretted calling Glitz magazine and Lena and setting up the whole going to the grocery store thing.

Nick came around to her door, opened it and took her arm.

At the door, he pressed his thumbprint against a scanner. The scanner beeped and opened.

“Mulberry!” Her mom called.

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