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And for whatever annoying-ass reason, the thought of her going on this trip makes my stomach twist. Which pisses me off because whether or not Claire Ackerman goes to Florida shouldn’t be any of my damn business.
She stops dead in her tracks, and this time, I do turn around to look at her. I guess making her second-guess her plan was easier than I thought. It was so easy that I don’t even try to hide my smirk.
“Us?” she asks.
I glance around before looking back at her. “What?”
“You just said the train isn’t going to pick us up. And I’m not getting in your car.”
My smirk fades. “So? And why not?”
Her eyebrows pinch together as she studies me. “Um because I barely know you. Why do you want to come with me anyway?”
For a second, I’m not sure how to answer her. My instinct is to clarify that I don’t want to go with her at all. It’s more like I feel like I have to—like someone has to, and I’m the only idiot around to do it. Locking my eyes on hers, I hate how sad she looks. She’s like a fucking puppy, and even assholes like me don’t want to see a sad puppy. Finally, I settle on, “Because I’m worried about you.”
It’s the truth. Even if I don’t understand it.
Giving me a dubious lift of her brow, she says, “You’re worried?” and it’s clear she doesn’t believe me. “You don’t need to worry about me, Aiden. I can do this on my own.”
I scoff. “Yeah, maybe when you’re sober.”
“You can’t come with me.” She crosses her arms like it’s going to make her look more intimidating.
Well, I wasn’t expecting this; I’ll admit that much. “What?”
“You can’t come with me,” she says again, and I swear I see her almost stomp her boot.
I can’t go with her? She should be thanking me. I should get a community service medal for doing this shit.
I try my best not to sound like an asshole as I spit out, “I can’t come with you?”
Claire seems to falter slightly, but it doesn’t last long. Her arms are still crossed when she answers me with a definitive, “No. I need to do this on my own.”
My eyes float past her and land on two guys making eyes at her ass in the alley behind us. Okay, maybe they’re just talking to each other, but she doesn’t need to know that. I walk up to her, closing the gap between us. Keeping my voice low, I say, “Fine, go alone. But you have no idea what you’re doing, and I still stand by what I said about that dress.” I make a point to look past her at the two guys and add, “And from the looks of things, they agree with me.”
She glances over her shoulder before staring up at me with the trace of a scowl. “Seriously, Aiden?”
Crossing my arms, I ask, “What would you do? If those two guys cornered you, what’s your incredible line of defense?”
Even in the dark, I can see her gears turning. Her head whips around to glance at the guys standing behind her before she turns back to me. She opens her mouth, but I don’t give her enough time to get a word out.
“Something you should probably think about.” Stepping away from her and heading the other way, I throw a casual hand over my shoulder. “It was nice seeing you, Claire.”
I can’t believe I almost went to Florida with her. What was I thinking? Well, I know exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking that this half-drunk girl has no business traveling alone.
But what can I do? She didn’t listen to reason, reverse psychology didn’t seem to do the trick, and scaring her out of it just made me feel like a dick.
Life is so much easier when you don’t give a shit.
8
Claire
I’m not sure what just happened, but as Aiden Lewis walks away, something inside me doesn’t like it. He’s trying to spoil my celebration of independence, and honestly, he’s a little rude, but something in the back of my mind screams with every step he takes.
I glance back at the two guys Aiden pointed to and immediately whip my head back around because they are looking at me. I try to imagine what I would do if they did approach me. What would I use to defend myself if I were in trouble? Throw a boot at them?
They might only look this way because of the argument we just had in front of them, but either way, my gin-infused confidence has been washed away by a sobering force that can only be described as Aiden Lewis.
