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“What…what are you doing here?” she finally stammered, and I didn’t answer her. Instead, I walked toward her. She started attempting to get up when she saw me coming but then winced and sat back down.
“I think I twisted something,” she mumbled.
Yeah, I thought so too, but the confirmation made me want to go in and break his ankles, too, although I wasn’t exactly sure why I was having such a strong reaction to the entire situation in the first place. Charlotte and I had only met on a few occasions and couldn’t even be considered acquaintances. I was pretty sure she and her entire family hated my guts.
But she was my ex-wife’s sister. So I guess it was normal for me to be a little protective.
You call this little? a mocking voice taunted, but I ignored it.
“Stay there,” I said when she kept struggling to get up. The words startled her, but she was even more surprised when I bent and examined her ankle, noting the slight swelling. I palpated it lightly, and she shifted in discomfort, but it didn’t look like she was in too much pain. It wasn’t broken, just sprained, most likely.
“Don’t try to walk on it for at least a day or two,” I said. “It’s not broken, but it will hurt some. Put some ice on it when you get home.”
“Are you a doctor?” she asked.
“No, but I know a lot about broken bones.”
Her eyes flared, and she swallowed. I noted the apprehension in her features. She was assuming the worst, but I was used to it. I knew I was a scary motherfucker.
Her second swallow was interrupted by a yelp as I swung her into my arms.
“Wh—what are you doing?”
I ignored her as I walked to my truck, which was parked in my driveway. She was stiff as a board in my arms but seemed too shocked to struggle until, with just one hand, I pulled open the door and dumped her onto the passenger seat.
And then, while I walked around the truck and got in the driver’s seat, she was still staring at me with open-mouthed fascination.
I push started the truck. “You still live with your parents?”
She jerked as if shot, and her mouth pursed together. “Yes. It’s a viable living option for people who can’t really afford to move out.”
“Relax. I didn’t say it to offend you. I said it so I could type the address into the GPS.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders lost some of their tension, and an adorable redness spread across her cheeks.
And then, like a lightbulb went off in her head, she started again and said, “Wait, you’re driving me home?”
I responded by pulling out of the driveway instead and getting on the road.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she mumbled hurriedly. “Really. I can call a cab or an Uber or something. I’m sure they have those around here.”
They did, but she was not going to be sitting on the ground waiting for one.
“It’s out of your way,” she continued. “All the way on the other side of town. Plus, I’m sure you have work or…something. Not that I know anything about whether you work or not or anything about you. Or what you do when you’re not in bars—” The last part of her sentence cut off as if she never meant to say it. One glance at her face out of the corner of my eye showed that I was right. Her eyes were wide with horror, and her face was now a tomato color, almost matching her hair.
“Shit, I didn’t mean to say that,” she muttered to herself. “I didn’t want to talk about it. I still don’t want to.” Her eyes bounced back up to mine, holding my gaze firmly. “So we don’t talk about it. Agreed?”
I smirked. At least we were on the same page about something.
“Good. That’s good. We’re not talking about it because what is there to talk about, really?” I could tell she was babbling out of nerves now as she continued gesturing around. “Although I thought you left town already. I mean I didn’t think you would come back after that night…” It was like another bomb dropped between us. “Erm…that night…look, I know it’s awkward for me to talk about it, but…I don’t know how to keep my mouth shut in moments like this. So if we can pretend it never happened, that would be great. But you didn’t know it was me, right?”
“Yes.”
She paused. “Yes, you knew it was me, or yes, you didn’t know it was me?”
I nearly smiled for real this time. “Yes.”
She was quiet for a frustrated second and then heaved a deep sigh, clearly deciding to let it go. “I’m sure you want to know what we were arguing about back there.”
