Life's Too Short (The Friend Zone #3)(22)

Shit.

My heart launched into rapid fire. “Yes, is everything okay?” I swallowed.

Adrian came up behind me and peered out into the hall. “Officer Sanchez,” he said, over my shoulder. “How are you?”

Recognition crossed the cop’s face and he broke into a smile. “Copeland! You live here?”

“Going on five years,” Adrian said. “How’s the wife?”

He laughed. “Pregnant again. Haven’t seen you at the gym lately.”

“Been busy. In the middle of a jury trial. What seems to be the problem?”

Officer Sanchez looked back at me, still smiling. “Yeah, we found your car wrapped around a tree over by the fairgrounds this morning, Ms. Price. Nobody in it. Do you know anything about that?”

His posture had gone casual the moment Adrian popped out. There was nothing accusatory about the question. But I could feel my pulse thrumming in my throat anyway. “No,” I said, hoping I sounded normal.

“Did you give the vehicle to anyone to drive?”

Adrian squeezed my elbow discreetly from behind. “Sounds like it was stolen. Probably a joy ride,” he said.

Officer Sanchez looked over my head at Adrian. “The keys were in it. It wasn’t hot-wired.”

Adrian’s breath tickled my ear as he spoke to me. “Didn’t you say you lost your keys, Vanessa?”

He was coaching me. And standing sooo close. Ridiculously close. It was on purpose. He wanted the officer to think we were together.

He was lending me his credibility.

He’d known me less than a week, he knew nothing about what was going on, and he was stepping in to defend me, giving me the benefit of the doubt and protecting me from whatever repercussions there could be from this. I didn’t know why he was doing it, but I couldn’t be more grateful. I was freaking out.

I nodded. “Yeah, actually. I lost the keys a few weeks ago,” I lied. “I’ve been using the spare.”

Officer Sanchez nodded, but his eyes felt like they were studying me all of a sudden. “Where were you last night at around three a.m.?”

Adrian laughed. “Where do you think she was?”

Officer Sanchez looked back and forth between us. Then he chuckled a little. “All right, buddy. I’ll write it up as a stolen vehicle.” He looked back at me. “It’s in the impound. Here’s the info.” He handed me a card.

I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry, um…was there any blood or anything? Do you think anyone got hurt?”

Officer Sanchez shook his head. “Hard to tell. The airbag deployed, but we canvassed the immediate area. Nobody dead in a ditch. I think they ran off on their own two feet.” He nodded up to Adrian. “Hey, you need to get back to the gym to spot me.”

Adrian’s laugh practically rumbled against my back. “Will do. Have a good day. And tell Karla I said hi.”

As soon as we stepped back inside the apartment and the door closed behind me, I darted for my phone.

I dialed Dad. It went right to voicemail. Then Annabel. Voicemail too. Brent would have answered, but he blocked me after I told him he could have my Gucci backpack when he got a job. Arg!

“Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. I have to go.”

I started grabbing things, shoving wipes and hand sanitizer in the diaper bag, running to the kitchen to get the bottle I’d left drying on his sink. I had to collect Grace and her swing. My fan mail was all over the floor. I was so panicked and flustered I couldn’t organize myself.

Adrian crossed his arms, watching me spin in circles around his apartment. “Who was driving the car?” he asked.

The hospital. I needed to call hospitals.

“My dad. I bought him a car to use. He’s on probation, he probably got scared.”

“Probation for what?” he asked.

“Health code violations. Stuff in the yard.” I stopped in the middle of the room, panting, the diaper bag swinging off my elbow. “Do you think your friend knew you were lying?”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. There were no injuries, no property damage. Unless he has video footage, he can’t prove anything and he knows it. It’s not worth his time. I relieved you of any liability and saved him the paperwork and a trip to your dad’s house. And I knew it wasn’t you. I could hear you up with the baby at three a.m.”

I nodded, too freaked out to feel bad that Adrian was awake with us in the middle of the night, and I dove past him to grab Grace’s BabyBj?rn off his table.

“Hey.” He put his hands on my shoulders to stop me as I whizzed by him. “Breathe for a second.” He dipped his head and looked at me with those deep green eyes. “What do you need?”

I swallowed. “I need…I need you to watch Grace,” I said quickly.

It came out before I even had time to think about it. But I did. I couldn’t take her on my scavenger hunt across hospitals and jail cells. And I definitely couldn’t take her to Dad’s.

Adrian nodded and took the diaper bag off my arm. “Of course. I got it. Go do what you need to do.”

“Are you sure?” I asked breathlessly. “You can handle it?”

He looked me in the eye. “I’m very sure. Go. She’ll be fine with me.”

He had this strong, steady, take-charge thing about him. The air of someone who was used to being depended upon. He was so capable and I wondered offhandedly if this is what other people’s dads were like.