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She hung up and immediately started scrolling.
“Problem?” I asked blandly.
Eva shook her head without looking up. “My car won’t start. David, my mechanic, can’t get to it until tomorrow, and I have practice in twenty minutes. Why are there no Ubers around when I need them?”
I snorted. “Because we live in a college town and the drivers know the real money is at bar close. They’re all sleeping.”
She dropped her arm to her side with a resigned sigh. “You’re not helpful, even if you’re right.”
“I can be helpful.” I closed the book and set my empty smoothie cup in the sink. “Let’s go. I’ll give you a ride.”
Those ice blue eyes zeroed in on me with a suspicious look insultingly similar to Cole’s. “Why?”
“You told me to come back less of a jackass. I thought I’d try it since you asked so nicely. Do you want a ride or not?”
Eva shoved her phone into the side pocket of her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Okay, I can roll with this. Practice is at the athletic center, Jeeves.”
I chuckled as I followed close behind her out the door. “I knew you liked it when I called you Princess.”
Her shoulders stiffened a tiny bit, but she threw a bored look at me. “You can call me whatever you want as long as you get me to practice on time. I have an upstart cheerleader to crush.”
I admit, she piqued my curiosity, but I managed not to ask. Eva threw her bag in the back and buckled in before leaning against the headrest with her eyes closed. The athletic center was only a couple minutes away, on the side of campus closer to us than the rink.
As I stopped at the single traffic light between our house and campus, Eva rolled her head toward me and asked the question I’d been expecting for the last twelve hours.
“What’s the story with you and your brother?”
My lips twisted as I considered my options. If I told her nothing, she’d latch on and start digging, but if I gave her something small, she might be satisfied enough to focus on her own problems. I wasn’t sure what she was looking for though. The light changed, and I drove the next block and a half to the athletic center with her gaze on me.
I pulled in and stopped in one of the rare shady spots at the edge of the parking lot. Shadows from the leafy branches above us swayed in the breeze, and the surrounding forest, thick with greenery at the end of the summer, made it seem like we were alone in the world, at least for a little bit.
Neither of us made a move to get out as I shifted to face her. “What do you want to know?”
“Which of you works at Wildcat?”
That one was easy. She could get the information in half a second by asking anyone who worked there. “He does.”
“But not always.”
I gave a dry laugh. “No.”
“You work his shifts sometimes. That first night, that was you.”
“That was me,” I confirmed, but I didn’t admit to the rest of it.
“Why?”
I looked past her at the trees. That was a tougher question. “He’s my little brother. If he needs my help, I’m always going to say yes.”
Her forehead scrunched. “I thought you were twins?”
“I’m older by two and a half minutes.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that checks out. You’re too bossy to be anything but a first-born child.”
I sighed. “He’s going to make a play for you. I need you to tell him no.”
Eva laughed and tucked a long, limber leg under her. “I’m already following your stupid hands-off rule with the roomies. I don’t need you taco blocking me with anyone else. You have your showers and whatever puck bunny throws herself at you. I haven’t gotten off in months.”
