“What was that about?” Penn asks the second he’s gone.
“I have no idea.” I shake my head in confusion.
Penn studies me for a long moment.
“You about ready to head out?”
“Yeah.” I slide out of the stool, my leg giving out from underneath my weight the second my foot hits the floor.
Penn catches me with ease, reacting so quickly it’s almost as if he anticipated it, which I know he couldn’t possibly have because not even I knew that was going to happen, but that’s how fast he moved.
“Shoot. Sorry.” I attempt to push out of his arms, but he doesn’t let me.
“You’ve overdone it.”
“It would appear as though I did,” I grumble bitterly.
“Let me help you.” He dips, and before I know it, he’s lifting me in the air.
“Penn,” I object as he cradles me against his chest like a freaking infant.
“Relax.”
“I can walk.” I insist.
“And I can carry you,” he shoots back, not giving me much of a choice as he totes me through the bar like a freaking accessory.
While I’m extremely annoyed, that’s certainly not all I feel. I have to resist the urge to wrap my arms around his shoulders and snuggle my face into his neck the way I would have done all those years ago.
I’m pretty sure I don’t take a single breath until Penn lowers me into the passenger seat of his pickup truck, and even then it’s ragged and uneven.
All these years later, and he still has a way of making me feel like a silly girl who can’t get a grip on her emotions.
Guess it’s true what they say; some things really do never change.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Penn
London shifts in the seat next to me, whether because she’s uncomfortable or nervous, I can’t say for sure. Seven years ago, I would’ve known the exact reason for her apparent restlessness, but today, I don’t pretend to know anything at all.
“Can I ask you something?” I glance in her direction for a brief moment before my eyes return to the road.
“Okay.” It’s the first word she’s spoken since we left the bar five minutes ago.
“What happened?”
“You’ll need to be more specific. What do you mean what happened?”
“To your leg. You said you got injured. What happened?”
“Alec hasn’t told you?”
“Alec knows?” I don’t try to hide the irritation in my voice. I assumed he knew more than he was saying, but having it confirmed makes me weirdly angry with my brother.
“So he didn’t tell you.” She thinks on that for a moment. “I got hit by a cab.”
“You got hit by a cab?” I phrase it like a question, not sure if she’s actually telling me the truth or messing with me. Again, another thing I wouldn’t have had to second-guess before she left.
