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“But mostly not,” I added for him, and he laughed, not about to correct me.
I geared the car into drive but before I pulled away from the curb, I cast one last glance toward the woman.
She was feeding another squirrel. Or maybe it was the same one. Either way, she was paying no attention to us, too absorbed in her task to notice my black Dodge Charger barely twenty yards away. I smiled slightly as I entered traffic.
And at that moment, I couldn’t even be irritated by just how far behind schedule we were running or be worried about what Duke’s test results might say. A bit of her peace seemed to fill me, and I found myself beginning to hum the Harry Potter theme song under my breath.
Next to me, Duke arched a curious eyebrow, instantly picking up on my unusual, non-annoyed behavior, and then he followed the path of my recent glance out the passenger side window. When he went as far as to twist in his seat to stare after the woman still sitting in front of Beriss, my gut knotted with tension, just knowing he was going to—
“What was that?” he asked, coming back around to blink at me questioningly.
My hand flexed around the steering wheel.
Feigning innocence, I said, “What was what?”
He motioned over his shoulder. “You totally just checked that chick out.”
I sent him an incredulous glance, sputtering, “What!?” even as my heart began to beat a little faster. “I did not.”
“Yes, you did.” Grinning, he pointed at me, which only made my face heat with guilty humiliation. “You checked her out hard.” Then he gave a delighted laugh and drummed his hands on the dash, exclaiming, “This is awesome. Vaughn has a crush.”
“Oh, shut up,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “And put your seatbelt on.”
With a sniff, he ignored his seatbelt. “As if we even have the likelihood of wrecking with you driving, grandma.”
I sighed and shook my head. “You’re such an ass.”
He laughed again, reveling in my discomfort. “And you’re blushing like a sixth grader.”
With no good comeback for that, I merely sighed and ground my teeth irritably, all the while choking the steering wheel in a death grip.
It was times like this I wished I’d been an only child.
Meanwhile, Duke hooted out his amusement until the shine of it started to wear off. Just when things settled down and I thought he’d moved past teasing me, he announced into the silence, “Her name’s Lucy, if you were curious.”
Glancing over as I stopped us at a light, I caught the tail end of his shrug. “Or she goes by Lucy Olivia a lot.” He turned to meet my gaze. “Her cubicle’s three down from mine at Beriss.”
Returning my attention to the light, I cleared my throat. “Good to know.” I kept my voice sarcastic so he wouldn’t pick up any interest in it, all the while, I decided Lucy was a good name for her. It fit.
“She’s kind of clumsy, though,” Duke went on, despite my lack of response. “Always seems to drop shit in front of my cubicle. But…” He gave another loose lift of the shoulders. “It makes her bend over a lot, so I can’t really complain.”
The devilish gleam in his smile told me there was more to the story, so I guessed, “You trip her on purpose, don’t you?”
He sputtered out his typical guiltily caught laugh, crying, “What? She’s got a nice ass. And hasn’t caught on to what I’m doing yet. Can you blame me?”
“Yes,” I said with all seriousness, getting us through the intersection as the light turned green. “It’s a dirtbag move. Now put your damn seatbelt on.”
He grumbled but finally obeyed, clicking the safety harness into place before glancing up and saying, “Want me to get her phone number for you?”
“Yeah, would you, please?” I asked, deciding to just play along because I knew this was going to be the fastest way to get him to drop the subject entirely. “And then maybe you could come on our first date with us,” I added, blinking my lashes at him hopefully. “You could sit between us at the movies and even walk her to her door with me at the end of the night.”
Grinning, Duke slugged my shoulder. “Hell, for you, buddy, I’d follow you guys all the way into the bedroom and show you where her g-spot is.”
“God!” I finally cracked a smile and shook my head. “You really are a twerp, you know that?”
“Yeah.” He sighed as if refreshed by the insult and rested his head back on his headrest. “I know.”
The boy sounded so proud of himself that I had to glance over, hoping to soak in some of his joy.
