Page 26 of Betrayed

When we got back to the car, I reached to open the back door, but Blake stopped me.

“Would it, um, be okay if I sat in the front?” she asked, looking at her boots. “I don’t like feeling like I’m being chauffeured around.” My dad had a driver, but I usually preferred to drive myself.

Hell yeah, it’s okay.

“Of course.” I opened the passenger door.

“Thank you.”

I closed the door and jogged to the driver’s side. Before opening my door, I wiped the goofy grin off my face.

We’d only been on the road for a few minutes when Blake broke the silence. “What does AJ stand for?”

“Andrew Janerek.” No one had called me by my first name, the one I shared with my father, since the day he left and I swore to never use it again. “But no one calls me Andrew.”

Ever.

“What’s your middle name?”

“I don’t have one. My mother and father couldn’t agree, so they didn’t give me one.” Later in life, I heard my father was so pissed off at my mom for daring to argue about giving me a middle name he smacked her around as soon as they got home from the hospital.

That’s where I got my temper.

“What about you? Do you have a middle name?”

“Promise you won’t laugh?”

“No.” I smiled. If she was asking, then I probably would. “Come on, out with it.” I prodded.

“Edith.” she said, her eyes daring me to laugh. “It was my grandmother’s name.”

I didn’t think her middle name was laughable.

Blake Edith Davenport.

“Your initials spell bed.”Don’t go there.

“They do.” She tried to be serious, but the smile on her face gave away her amusement.

We settled into comfortable conversation for the rest of the drive.

When we got to Grannie’s, Jack was waiting by the door. I dropped Blake off, leaving her in his care while I parked.

By the time the bells above the door chimed my entrance, Jack had introduced Blake to Meg, Emily, Beth, and Mary. Surrounded by the outgoing, friendly women, Blake looked likea deer in the headlights. Their efforts to make her feel welcome had the opposite effect.

I stepped up behind Blake and offered silent comfort. My right hand wanted to reach out and touch her, but I knew that’d be a problem. Not only would it piss off Blake, but the gesture wouldn’t go unnoticed.

Jack wasn’t the only one in the room with eagle-eyed observation skills.

Mary looked at me over Blake’s head. “I hear my coffee is worth driving ninety minutes to try,” she said with a laugh.

“Without a doubt.” I smiled.

“Blake, would you like to sit with us and relax for a bit, or do you need to study?” Meg asked.

Blake looked at me, several emotions crossing her face.

“They’ll understand if you can’t,” I whispered.

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