Page 16 of Just This Once

“I was hoping for a little more detail, likewhatthey serve.”

“I don’t know.” He scowled and shrugged. “They serve food. Surf and turf and salads and shit. I don’t create the menus. I just know it’s some new, fancy-ass restaurant everyone’s been raving about.”

“Fancy?” My eyebrows lifted in interest. “Do you need a reservation to get in?”

He squinted at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Obviously.”

Obviously. Hmm. I might keep the place in mind.

At the bridge that crossed the bay, I turned my attention to the inside of the car, trying to figure out why he needed two enormous display screens, only to realize the song playing was that Shaboozey one about everyone being tipsy.

“Oh, hey. It’s your theme song,” I announced smarmily and reached for the volume to turn it up, except Parker lifted his hand.

“Don’t fucking touch my radio.”

I immediately lifted my hands and drew back. “I was just going to turn the volume up.”

“Don’t care. Don’t touch it.”

“Wow. What crawled up your butt and died?”

Jaw flexing as if seeking patience, he narrowed his eyes as he glared over at me. “You did. Would you kindly remove yourself so I can relax again?”

“Fine,” I said, pressing my hands back into my lap. “Silence it is, then?”

“Thank you,” he breathed.

I turned to stare out the window at the water we were crossing, but the car was way too damn quiet for my taste, so I spun back to him a second later.

“You’re not drunk, like, rightnow, are you?” I had to ask because I knew how much he adored his alcohol.

He directed a severe glance my way. “Not yet. But I’ll definitely need to be after this.”

“Cute,” I shot back with an unimpressed sneer.

“Is this what you consider silent?”

I opened my mouth to counterattack, but a car in the right lane that we were passing tried to merge left with us before we were all the way around them, and Parker had to swerve and honk and flip them off then curse for a couple of minutes before settling down again.

Throughout it all, I sat there calmly with my hands in my lap saying nothing, so I really didn’t deserve it when he cast me a feral glower and snapped, “What?”

I lifted my hands with anothingkind of shrug, refusing to speak.

He scowled harder, then sniffed with ire before setting his elbow on the window ledge and rubbing at the center of his forehead.

Two minutes passed without another word, where he kept sending me hostile glances before he finally burst out, “Oh my God, just fucking say it already.”

I lifted my eyebrows in surprise. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“As if,” he scoffed. “Youalwayshave something to say.”

“Well, I guess I’m fresh out of words, then, because I have absolutely nothing to say now.”

Pausing at a light, he squinted at me in disbelief and chewed on the inside of his lip before quietly asking, “Did he hurt you?”

Utterly confused, I glanced around before asking, “Who?Airportguy?”

“No. Paul.”

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