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“Yeah.” I leaned in closer to him. “You’re almost finished here, right?”
Ace glanced to his watch. “A few minutes to close up.”
“You live close by?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Dean straighten, his gaze hard on the side of my face.
“NoLib,” Ace said, and how did I guess? Northern Liberties was the trendy, hipster-y neighborhood not far from where we were in Center City. “My place is small, but I’d love to show it to you.”
“I’d like that.” Then I turned to my sister, pointedly ignoring Dean. “If I stay, how are you going to get home?”
“I’ll drive,” she said, and I lifted my brow.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. My sister hadn’t gotten her license until she was nineteen because of her epilepsy, and she still didn’t like to do it.
“I’ll be fine,” she assured me with a smile, and while I wanted her to be more confident behind the wheel, I also didn’t want to force her to do something she wasn’t ready for. When I refused to move, she slid me an icy glare. She hated that I “babied” her, but I didn’t know how else to be with her. She was mybabysister.
Dean butted in. “I can drive you home if you need a ride.”
I wasn’t sure if he was offering to be nice—which, what?—or if he was doing it to get under my skin, but either way, I didn’t like the possibilities of what him driving her home could turn into.
I ignored him and removed my apartment key from the ring to hand to her. “Text me when you get home.”
West Chester was only about an hour from Philly, but it was after nine o’clock, and the idea of my sister driving at night always made me nervous. Because I knewshewas nervous.
At this point, I didn’t know if proving this point with Ace was even worth it anymore.
But then the sweet summer child said, “I rode my bike here,” and I swore I heard Dean snort.
He was such a dick, and I wasn’t going to let his arrogant ass ruin this for me.
I curled my fingers around my phone and faced Ace. “That’s fine. I can drive.”
He nodded and held up his hand. “Gimme five minutes.”
“I’ll be waiting outside,” I said and spun away to retrieve my coat before slipping an arm around Kennedy’s shoulders. “I’ll be home in a few hours.”
“Don’t rush on my account.”
“I’m not.” I refused to meet Dean’s gaze as I buttoned up my long black pea coat and slung my purse over my shoulders. “See you later.”
“Have fun,” Kennedy said, and Dean’s mirthless chuckle trailed me out of the door.
“Make good choices, Novak!”
“Suck my dick, Hargrove!”
CHAPTERFOUR
Dean
It was the week between Christmas and New Year’s when all time ceased to exist, and the only things to eat and drink in the house were cheese and orange juice. The office had officially closed for the week, but I’d taken a few files to work on while I was home, although I hadn’t been able to make myself even open my laptop.
But that was the best thing about Novak & Novak. They respected the nine-to-five workday, and we weren’t required to attain 2,000 billable hours. Everyone worked together and supported each other with cases, so we didn’t have to break our backs every day.
Or, at least, that was how it used to be for me.
