He growls, and suddenly I’m not entertained anymore. I snap my eyes open, and an ice-cold trickle of fear spreads up my spine.
“Sorry,” I murmur, focusing on his cheek stubble. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m being shitty.”
His hands grip the steering wheel tighter as he stares straight ahead. “You have a concussion. It’s a miracle you’re even speaking coherently,” he says, his voice clipped. “You should sleep.”
I squirm in my seat. Why would he bother to do any of this? Guilt gnaws at my core, and I feel like a burden.
“If you didn’t want to be around me, you didn’t have to drive me,” I blurt out, my voice cracking.
But before he can answer, an annoying chime blares near my feet.
And that’s when I notice my purse on the floor for the first time, with my cell phone’s obnoxious ring sounding through the satchel.
Groggily, I pull the black bag onto my lap and fish out my phone.
It’s Devyn.
I groan.
“Do you have to answer that?” River asks quietly, finally looking over at me. We’re stopped at a red light, and I hold his gaze as I reject the call.
I shake my head. “No. I’ll text her.”
“Her?” he asks.
“My coworker. The one I would have asked to give me a ride,” I mumble, looking down at Devyn’s text.
Checking in. You okay?
I try to give her the condensed version.
I’m fine. Got hit by a car, but I’m okay. Mild concussion. Got a ride home.
I place the phone on my lap and close my eyes, waiting for the inevitable freak out.
A series of rapid electronic chimes goes off and I switch my phone to silent, not wanting to deal with Devyn’s inevitable freak out.
“Holy fuck,” River says. “You must be popular.”
“Just an overprotective coworker. A little manic, and she worries too much.”
“Humph,” he grunts. “Is there anyone else you need to call?”
I frown at his strange tone. “Um, no,” I mumble, fighting to ignore the ache in my head. “Not really. I don’t need everyone worrying about me when they should be worrying about April.”
“So, no boyfriend or anything like that?” He asks it quickly and conversationally, but I realize what he’s doing.
He’s fishing for information.
How very detective like of him.
In any other instance, I would assume he’s interested. But this is all out of obligation.
I snort. “No.”
“Why is that funny?”
I keep my eyes closed and sigh. “Because the last person I dated was a piece of shit, so I don’t recommend you call him.”