Craving The Player (Amateurs In Love Book 1)(31)
Pushing out a breath, I tug on Braden’s arm and start leading us through the restaurant, focused on the exit. Neither of us speak a word until we get outside, and now that the sun peeks through the clouds, shining in my eyes and fresh air fills my lungs, I have no idea what to say. I must look like such a child, not being able to stand up for myself. I had to let Braden of all people come save my ass. Fuck.
The wind blows harshly against my skin, acting as a reminder of just how sweaty I must be. Nerves make me sweat like I’ve spent hours in a sauna. My cheeks are on fire, either from the utter embarrassment that I feel right now or if I’m still mad—I can’t tell which. Not right now.
The hand once held in Braden’s slaps against my thigh as he drops it and steps back. His brows are scrunched between his eyes as he avoids eye contact, opting to stare down at the concrete instead. The silence continues to grow, acting like a barrier between us that I’m extremely grateful for.
Wanting nothing more than to get away from here and end this little charade, I say, “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
He straightens his back and looks at me again. The softness I saw back in the restaurant is long gone, replaced only by a familiar, vacant stare. “No worries. You looked uncomfortable.”
“That obvious?” I laugh lightly, unable to keep it to myself. When his lips stay pulled in a tight line, I feel another wave of embarrassment wash over me.
“Like I said, don’t worry about it. You shouldn’t let people talk to you like that.” His eyes dart around the parking lot. He looks like he wants to be anywhere but here. With me. “My mom’s actually still inside, so . . .”
“Right.” I nod. “I need to go anyway. My car’s still at work.”
“Yeah. I heard it’s going to rain. Might want to hurry.” He shoves his hands in his pockets, shoulders tight.
I nod again. “I guess I’ll see you around, then?”
“Yeah. I’ll see you around.” He turns and walks back inside seconds before I feel the first raindrop splatter across my forehead.
I think that sounded an awful lot like goodbye.
Chapter Fourteen
BRADEN
Rain pelts down from the dark sky, soaking into the material of my t-shirt, making it cling to my skin. The temperature seems to drop with the press of a button. I shiver, soaked through and through.
“Seriously? What next? Being struck by lightning? Stepping into an ankle deep puddle and losing my shoe?” Sierra shouts from behind me, the anger in her words so prevalent that I begin to feel guilty for leaving her standing there alone and upset.
I can feel a ball of flaming anger bounce around in my stomach for the way I’m acting, but I need to walk away. I need to leave her there and brush off the feeling of protectiveness that’s now burrowing itself in my chest. It’s a new, uncomfortable feeling that I know right away I don’t like nor have any reason to be contemplating in the first place.
Then I think about her boss and the way he watched her when she got back to their table—like she was a forbidden fruit that he couldn’t wait to take a nice juicy bite out of. Yet he didn’t stand up for her, not once, when she was belittled right in front of him.
It pissed me the fuck off and I knew that I had to do something. Sierra puts on a hefty image of perfection and bravery in front of others, but she’s not made out of impenetrable armour. Nobody is.
But regardless of what I know I should do, I stand here in the rain anyway, watching her shake like a fucking leaf in the middle of a busy parking lot and wonder how I’m supposed to put distance between us when she’s standing so defeated, soaked from head to toe and stranded without a damn car. I’m not exactly the good guy, but I’m not the bad guy either.
Sighing, I spin around on my heels and choke back a laugh. With drenched brown locks sticking to her pink cheeks, head thrown back and eyelids fluttered shut, Sierra looks beautiful—peaceful even, even though I know she feels the opposite. I don’t bother fighting back my grin as I push my sopping hair away from my face and watch her, the view uninterrupted.
She drops her head now, staring at her open-toed shoes. Her head shakes, fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. The tension in her shoulders keeps her body rigid as she kicks at a cement barricade and groans in pain. She looks like she wants to light the world on fire and watch it burn to ash. It’s a sight that has me on the balls of my feet, anxious to be by her side so we can do it together. God knows how much I would love to watch every single one of my problems burn to ash.
“You want a ride?” The offer slips out before I can stop myself. Five minutes ago I was ready to leave her out here alone and delete her number before I ended up walking off the edge of a cliff, falling face first into an abyss of the unknown. Now I’m offering her a ride home? My head is sending me more mixed signals than the milfs I see at the gym.
Sierra’s pretty pink lips part when she spins around, relief washing over her, tense shoulders dropping. If she were offended by my offer, she didn’t show it. “Uh, yeah. Sure. If you don’t mind.”
I reach into my pocket and dangle my car keys in the air with a brief nod to let her know that it’s not a big deal. “It’s the red one.” I head for my car but stop after a couple of steps, suddenly frozen in place, watching as her eyes begin to shine and her bottom lip trembles ever so slightly.