Just ten minutes. That was all I needed. Just ten minutes of not calculating. My thoughts blurred at the edges. The audiobook drifted into a dream.
A sharp knock jolted me upright. I sucked in a breath, heart hammering. Someone was at the window. I blinked hard, disoriented. Mel’s face peered in through the window, eyebrows raised.
Mel was the fearless leader of the Grimm Reapers and the best jammer out there. She had also been one of my closest friends for years and saw straight through my bullshit, even when I wished she didn’t.
She tapped again. “Belle!”
I yanked my earbuds out.
“You look like a startled raccoon,” she said.
I scrubbed a hand over my face.
“What are you doing sleeping in the parking lot?” she asked, glancing around.
I stretched, trying to shake off the haze.
“Killing time.”
“In a sauna?”’
“It’s breezy.”
She leaned back slightly, scanning the inside of the van. Her gaze lingered on the folded blankets. The storage bins. The little fairy lights.
“I really wish you weren’t sleeping in here,” she said.
I hesitated. “It’s fun. I have everything I need.”
Mel’s jaw tightened. “Belle.”
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “I like small spaces. Very hobbit-core.”
She did not laugh. “You can?—.”
I cut her off because I was not having this conversation with her again.“Don’t say it. I will not take your couch again. I’m not a stray.”
“No. You’re not a stray,” she shot back.
The look on her face was too much to bear. I looked away, staring at the steering wheel.
“I’ve got it,” I said quietly.
Mel studied me for a long second. “You look wrecked,” she said.
“Bad morning with dad.”
She didn’t press.
“Practice starts in forty-five,” she said instead. “You coming in or are you planning to nap until scrimmage?”
I inhaled deeply. Time for derby. Blessedly, time to turn my brain off.
“I’m coming,” I said.
Mel stepped back from the window.
“Good. Because if you hit like you look, someone’s going through a wall.”
