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“Excuse me?”
“When you lie, you touch your ear.”
My eyes drifted from the road to him. “Wait. How…”
“Really, Lanes. Like you said. We’ve known each other almost our whole lives. I notice things.
I didn’t think Nero noticed anything about me, and it’s not like the ear touch was a secret. My brother called me out for it all the time. But Nero never had.
What else had he noticed? Maybe I wasn’t as invisible as I thought I was.
If he knew I was lying, then there was no point in keeping the charade going. Besides, whether he knew me or not, I knew him, and there was no way in hell he was going to let this go so easily. I didn’t need to tell him everything, though.
“The light came on two weeks ago. I’ve been ignoring it.”
“Then why the hell are we driving all the way to Philly? We could have taken my car.”
A laugh burst from my lips. “Oh, because there’s so much room in a two-seater Porsche. I can barely fit in that car.”
“I could have taken the Jeep.”
“The amount of gas we would have used if we took your Wrangler. Are you insane?”
“Like I would have had you pay for gas.”
“Exactly, and you’re doing me a favor, so I wouldn’t expect you to pay for the gas.”
He turned his head on the headrest, and though I couldn’t see him, I could feel his eyes boring into me. Heat spread up my neck and into my cheeks.
“Are you having money issues?” The sincerity in his tone would have brought me to my knees if I were standing.
“No.” I glanced at him, and his eyes lingered on my hand that fell from my ear. Damn it!
“Lanes, if you need money—”
“No!” The word burst out of me like an egg rolling off the counter, fast and explosive. “I mean. I’m fine. I’m figuring it out.”
“You just have to ask.”
“I will be fine. I just wasn’t expecting my oven to take a shit on me and for my rent to go up. It’s one month. I’ll be fine.”
“How much do you need?”
“Nothing. I need nothing.” I hit the brakes as the cars in front of us slowed to a stop.
“Lainey, you need money. I have money. Stop being ridiculous.”
“I have worked for everything that I have. Unlike other people, I don’t take handouts.”
The skin along his jaw tightened. The air shifted, a heaviness falling between us. “Like me, you mean.”
My head snapped toward him. “What? No, that’s not…”
“You don’t have to say it. I know what people think and maybe they’re right, but I thought you of all people… actually, I don’t know what I expected.”
“Okay, hard stop, buddy.” I let go of the wheel and made the universal sign for timeout. “I never said anything about you.”
“You didn’t have to. I can read between the lines. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”
