Drive(30)

And he was about to get back as good as he gave.

With Neil and Paige in the kitchen cooking dinner together, I grabbed my keys and made my leave. I was at the foot of the stairs when I heard my name.

“Stella?”

I turned to find Reid with his mouth parted as he looked me over. His brow was covered in fresh sweat as he ran his fingers through his hair. I was already beginning to melt, but even more so under the weight of his stare. Hazel eyes scanned my face before they dropped to scour my body. I let him feast, and I was actually happy about the fact that he caught me all dressed up with some place to go.

“I wouldn’t go up there if I were you,” I said with a nod over my shoulder. “They kind of have a love fest thing going on. Things are about to get freaky!” I waggled my brows with a laugh while his gaze rested on my lips.

“And what do you have going on?”

“Sweet revenge, my friend,” I said lightly. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” I moved past him and was caught by the arm. His warm fingers seared my flesh, and I stared at them until he took them away.

“Look, uh. I was actually going to ask for a ride. You going downtown?”

“Yeah, my ex has a show.”

Reid’s lips twisted in a knowing smirk. “Revenge, huh? What did he do?”

I thought of the months I’d spent with Dylan and came up with the truth. “He forgot about me.”

“He won’t make that mistake again,” Reid said as he nodded toward my dress.

“Are we being nice now?” I asked before batting my lashes.

“We can give it a try.” He smirked and my pulse sped up. “So, how about a ride?”

“I can’t take you back here.”

He shrugged. “It’s cool. I’ll find a way.”

“Let’s go.” In Neil’s Chevy S-10, Reid gave me directions downtown, and I pressed my brows together when we pulled into a gas station.

“This is where you needed to go?”

He nodded before he pulled an envelope of money from his pocket. Curious, I got out with him with a lie about being thirsty. Inside, he walked straight up to the attendant, grabbed a MoneyGram form, and then started filling it out.

Taking a soda from the fridge, I stood in line behind him and peeked over his shoulder to see he’d addressed it to Courtney Crowne, his mother. He was sending her five hundred dollars.

Once I paid for my drink and we were back in the truck, I couldn’t help my question.

“Everything okay at home?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure?” I asked with an easy tone. “’Cause that was a lot of money.”

His jaw ticked and his eyes went cool. “Wow, you really need to practice the art of subtlety.”

“What’s the money for, Reid?”

He looked at me pointedly. “None of your damned business, Stella,” he snapped. Still idling, I slammed the truck back into park and turned on him.

“Okay, well, I’m not one to pry—”

“Allow me to call bullshit on that,” he said as he ripped his eyes from me and looked out the window.

“Okay, maybe I care about the fact that you can’t pay your rent and never have shit to eat and you just sent two weeks of tips to your alcoholic mother!”

“She needs it,” he said simply, his eyes still on the passing human traffic outside the window. I cranked up the AC as the dry heat filtered through the cabin.

“Why? Why does she need it? To buy more booze?”

“Hey,” he said as his head snapped back in my direction. “Chill out. This isn’t a discussion you get to have with me. Take the fucking hint.”

He was right. One hundred percent. And it meant nothing.

“What the hell, Reid? Does she know you’re going through a hard time and can barely lift a tray with a broken arm to work? Does she know you have no furniture in your house and sleep on a mattress top on the floor?”

His pride moved front and center as he glared at me. “Again. None of your damned business, Stella. I can take care of myself. What the hell do you care?”

“I just told you, I do. And I know what you told me about them. So, now, I’m wondering why you’re here wasting away in that apartment to support your deadbeat parents!”

“It’s for my father’s fucking insulin, okay? He’ll die without it. They don’t have insurance and it’s fucking expensive. She’s working and she can’t do it alone, alright? It’s life or death, Stella. He doesn’t get that medicine, he dies!”

I shrank in my seat as I looked over at him. He was fuming, his chest heaving as he clenched his fists.

“I’m so sorry. Reid, I’m sorry.”

“Fine, whatever,” he said, opening the truck door. I gripped him by the waist of his jeans and yanked him back in. Frantic to make it up to him, I grappled for words as he stared at me as if I’d grown two heads. Utterly clueless as to how to make it right, I pulled him to me in the most awkward hug imaginable, and he froze at the contact. Body twisted, I wrapped my arms around him as he blew my hair out of his face.

“What are you doing?” he asked through a mouthful of my hair.

“I’m hugging you,” I said into his neck. Irish Spring drifted through my nose and caused a flood of the warmth I was growing used to, and had started to crave. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”