Page 86 of Forever Relentless

The knob for the headlights. I hadn’t turned it off. I had a dead battery. “Shit.” My eyes closed in despair. “Only you, Briar.” I tried the engine again. Nothing. Not surprising.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

“Is this a sign?” I asked the heavens as I scrolled through my contacts. “Or a punishment?”

I pressed dial.

He didn’t answer.

No wonder. I wouldn’t either, I surmised. I looked around the dark side street I’d parked on. I couldn’t remember if there were parking restrictions during the day.

My phone rang, and I jumped. “Hi?”

“Everything okay?” Noah didn’t do what I expected and ask me if I’d changed my mind.

“My battery is dead. Does Dustin’s car have cables?”

“Doubt it. His car is newer, and so is yours — jump leads won’t work.”

I looked at my dashboard. “Why?”

“The engines in newer models are encased in plastic. If they die, they need more than simple leads. Unless you want to take the casing off? I don’t know if it’ll work, and I’m not touching Dust’s car like that.”

That made sense.

“Did you forget to turn off your lights?” He sounded amused.

“No.”

“You lying to me, Sterling?”

With every bone in my body. “No.”

“I’m coming back.”

A few minutes later, he pulled in behind me. I watched him unfold himself from Dustin’s car. It looked painful. Noah wasn’t that much taller than Dustin, I didn’t think, but he clearly had longer legs.

Nice, strong, thick legs.

“Will you behave?” I grumbled.

He rapped on the window.

The power obviously didn’t work because the battery was dead, but I still tried to open the window anyway by pushing the button.

Noah didn’t hide his grin, and he opened the car door. “Hey.” He tapped the window button. “Won’t work.”

“Yeah, I knew that. Muscle memory, I think.”

“Yeah.”

I got out of the car. “Do you know anything about cars?”

“Yep. I know if you put the key in, it starts. If you press the accelerator, it goes forward. If you press the brake, it stops.”

I felt my stomach sink. “That’s not even basic driving.” He was mocking me again. “You said all those things about the engine, you said casing.”

“Yeah. And? Just because I know the words doesn’t mean I can fix it.”