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He looks down at me, and I try to keep calm as he stares me down.
“Okay, love.” He gives in, and we switch to my SUV. He pulls his Escalade into the garage, where it will be secure.
I drive us to the outskirts of town, where the small campus is located. When we pull up to the dorm for Franci, the hair on the back of my neck rises. I look around. At first, I don’t see anything, then I check again, and there he sits in the shadows. I pull out my phone as we wait for her to come down, and I send him a quick text.
Rogue
I thought you were giving her space.
Gambit
This is me giving her space. I have to make sure she’s safe.
Rogue
Thank you.
Gambit
Wow, that must have hurt.
Rogue
You don’t know.
The back door opens, and she gets in. I turn to look at her and know there is something going on. She’s got dark circles under her eyes and her skin looks paler.
“Hey, kiddo, you okay?” I phrase it as a simple question, but when I watch her shiver, I know she’s going to lie to me.
“I’m good.” She sees Leif in the passenger seat and turns to look between the two of us. “Is this what I think it’s going to be?” She smiles, but it doesn’t go to her eyes.
“I know you aren’t a kid, but we thought you should know?—”
I’m interrupted by her phone going off. She looks at the screen and ignores it before she sets it down.
“Go on,” she says.
“Everything okay?” I wave to the phone.
“Oh yeah, just a study group partner who wants to grab coffee. I told him I had plans.” She brushes it off, but again that gut feeling causes my stomach to churn. I look over when I catch a movement out of my peripheral and see Leif’s body tighten up.
“This the guy you told not to call you back months ago?” he asks, and I look between the two, not knowing what’s going on.
“Wait, what?” I ask. She never said anything to me.
“It’s no big deal. He’s harmless.” She blows it off again. “Now tell me. I know you didn’t break up yet. Are you getting married? Moving in together? You both have dogs, so that’s not it.” Again, her smile doesn’t go to her eyes, and I’m left to leave it be for now because I don’t want to upset her. I look to Leif, and he sees it too.
“If you don’t want this, Franci?—”
“No. No. No,” she says. “I’ve been waiting for this day for years. Tell me.” Franci actually gives me real emotion this time. She bounces in her seat and shakes her hand at me.
“We are going away together in February for a tattoo expo in New York.” I look at her in the rearview mirror as I pull away from the curb and we head to the mall.
“How’s that going to work when she’s a workaholic?” She smiles at us, and I turn to Leif, but he holds out his hand for me to come up with an explanation I want to give the girl I raised.
“Leif has been helping me with some of my issues. It’s time I took off work and lived my life too.”
“Dang, dude.” She leans up between the seats and pats his arm. Right now, I’m wondering if I was wrong because she’s more animated and joking. “I love Ley, but she has a lot of issues. Are you licensed to kill too?” They both laugh, and I look behind me. I see the truck following several cars back, but it’s the nondescript rental car between us trying to go unnoticed that catches my eye. They aren’t very good at this.
