His Princess (A Royal Romance)(86)

“See? She needs a ride,” Karen announces.

She starts to leave. “Young lady, I’m not done with you. We’re going to talk about skipping school, and trespassing.”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Quentin interjects. “The trespassing part. She didn’t hurt anything.”

Karen beams at him, and I scowl.

“Stay in school, though. I’ll head home, when you’re ready to go you can—”

“Watch TV with us,” Kelly demands, seizing his wrist.

I sigh. “I’ll just be a minute.”

“Yeah,” Quentin says as Kelly half drags him to the living room.

I rush upstairs, checking my watch. Not much time. I hurry through a quick shower to get the Burt-sleaze feeling off my skin and dry as fast as I can before pulling on stockings, a skirt, and a blouse. I redo my makeup a little and slip into a pair of pumps and as I descend the staircase, Quentin watches the entire time.

He continues to fix his eyes on me, and not Spongebob Squarepants, as he stands up.

“You look nice.”

Kelly whispers something in Karen’s ear. Probably, Oh my God, he said she looks nice.

“We should go,” I say quickly. “I can’t be late for this.”

I already have my bag packed by the door. I reach to grab it but Quentin beats me, and I have to snap my hand back before I touch his wrist. He has big hands, lean and hard like the rest of him, with long fingers. He swings the door open and gestures for me to go first, with a smirk.

I have to fight off a smile as I pass through the door, and remind myself: this * sprayed me with a hose this morning. I put on a good scowl and stalk down to his car, where he of course opens the door for me and deposits my bag between my legs after I’m in.

Once he’s inside and he starts the motor, he says, “I’m sorry about the hose thing. I was a bit of an ass about it.”

“It’s a little late.” I scowl.

He shrugs and backs out of the drive, stopping with a jolt as a horn blares behind us.

It’s Mrs. Campbell, the self-appointed HOA block captain, who lives two doors up. She drives by in her Audi and gives us both a good, long stare, her thin lips pursed, before speeding up. Quentin sighs and backs the rest of the way out.

“Thank you for eating the pie,” I say quietly. “They’d have been heartbroken if you spat it out.”

“It tasted like packed dirt.”

I burst out laughing, and Quentin snickers.

“Keep the rest of it away from me, please.”

I only laugh harder, and swipe at my eyes. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long, long time. I fall back in the seat and sigh.

“Tired?”

“Yeah. Up before five, class runs until nine at night.”

“I’ll pick you up.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I don’t have anything better to do.”

I snort. “What do you do, anyway?”

He shifts in his seat. “Right now, I’m, uh…on vacation.”

I sit up and glance at him in the rearview mirror. “That’s not a job.”

“Well, I’m a…contractor,” he says. “I mostly work from home. Ah, technical stuff. Very complicated.”

Something about his manner is off. I could almost believe he doesn’t want me to think he’s a nerd, but there’s hardly any danger of that. As soon as I look at him, my eyes trace along the sleeve of tattoos on his muscular arm from where his wrist rests on the steering wheel to his shoulder, stopping to stare at the bandage on his bicep.

“Law school, huh?”

“Not yet. I’m finishing my bachelor’s so I can apply. That’s going to be fun,” I sigh. “I’ll probably have to stop sleeping entirely. Maybe I’ll skip it if I can use the degree to get a better job, but…” I trail off.

Not likely, unless I move, which isn’t an option. I don’t think I could afford to rent a truck, much less put down a security deposit, and the girls like it here, or at least they like the town. God, I’m trapped in this place. A gilded cage.

“You shouldn’t let that * treat you that way,” he says, a little growl edging into his voice.

“What, exactly, am I supposed to do?”

“Stand up for yourself.”

“I stand up for myself, I get fired.”

“It shouldn’t be that way.”

“Lots of things shouldn’t be that way,” I say, a sad sigh dragging on my voice. “They are anyway.”

He nods. “Yeah. That’s true.”

Suddenly his gaze goes distant, like he’s staring through the world, to the other side. He looks hurt, and not whatever is under those bandages. I can’t help but reach across the bench seat and touch his shoulder. He jerks and the car swerves a little.

“Uh, sorry.”

“You were somewhere else for a while, there.”

“Yeah. Guess I was.”

I cock my head. “Where?”

“Long story,” he says curtly. “Not very interesting.”

I shrug. “If you say so. The turn is up here. Castlebrook College.”

He turns off. “Never heard of it.”