Page 14 of Heartstruck at Dawn
Soon.Okay. Well, maybe hewasplanning on calling me.
Shit.
I thanked Ren for dinner, said goodbye, and stepped into the car. Caleb rode in the passenger seat next to Aaron.
He. Was. Furious.
I thought he would sit with me again on the way back. Since Aaron knew about us, it was the perfect moment to spend time together without having to hide. But he didn’t want to sit with me, and I didn’t blame him. He probably thought I liked Ren. And I did, but not in the way he was thinking.
Caleb didn’t say a word to Aaron or me on the short ride home, but I knew I could explain. I just needed him to give me the chance to do it.
As we approached the building’s entrance, Caleb jumped out of the moving car. This time the car wasreallymoving and not about to stop like when he usually performed that move. He closed the door as he walked away without looking behind.
I guess he wasveryeager to get as far away from me as possible.
Aaron hit the brakes roughly and told me to remain inside the vehicle as he stepped out to join Caleb, locking me inside the car.
What thehellis going on?
Aaron didn’t park right in front of the apartment building’s entrance but a few feet back. I looked in their direction and saw them arguing with a tall guy wearing jeans and a dark red hoodie. I could recognize that silhouette if he were standing in a crowd.
Thomas.
I wanted to step out and see what the problem was for myself, but I was locked in. I couldn’t open the doors from the inside. That’s when Thomas turned around, somehow sensing I was inside the SUV.
He seemed flustered. Upset. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t let me handle it.
Thomas made a run for it and stepped outside my window, banging it a few times with his fist. “Billie? I know you’re in there. Please, I just want to talk.”
As much as I tried pulling the handle, the door wouldn’t budge because I was a child that needed child-lock protection enabled on the SUV’s doors.
Aaron removed Thomas from beside my window and tossed the car keys to Caleb, who stepped in the driver’s seat and sped away.
I didn’t enjoy seeing Thomas in that condition. It made me anxious and sad. He was clearly hurt, and I knew I could probably fix things if they just let me talk to him.
“Caleb, what’s going on? Let me talk to Thomas. I know how to handle him.”
“I’m sure you do,” he replied with a stiff bordering on a sarcastic tone.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Tell me what’s going on,” I demanded. I was a second away from losing it. I knew Caleb was pissed off and sulking about the blind date, and I knew he was quick-tempered, but I didn’t understand what was going on with Thomas. I was expecting him to explain.
“Let me concentrate on getting you safe from thatpsychofirst, and then we’ll talk.”
SAFE FROM THOMAS?They reacted as if he were a convicted felon. I knew Thomas had a hard time with the breakup, but that didn’t make him apsycho. Caleb was exaggerating, as he always did. And the blind date had only made things worse, making his tolerance level drop to the floor.
Caleb parked a few blocks away and sat silently behind the wheel, staring out the window with a tense jaw. I crawled to the front and sat next to him on the passenger seat.
“Caleb?” I placed my hand on his arm. “Please talk to me. You know I hate being left in the dark. What’s going on?”
He wouldn’t reply, so I reached out for his hand and held it in between both of mine because I knew I needed to address the blind date situation first if I wanted to get any answers out of him.
“Look, Caleb, I had fun tonight. I’m not going to lie about it. Ren turned out to be a really nice guy, and I found it distracting to talk to him. I completely forgot about the SOS beacon,” I explained, tugging on his hand to have him look at me.
He finally did, and I continued. “I don’t feel attracted to him. I’m sure we can become good friends, but that’s it. It just—didn’t feel right to leave him.”
“You gave him your number, and hey, you’re only twenty years old, you’re single, and living in New York City, for crying out loud … You should be allowed to have some fun.”
There were more than a few maddening concepts in that statement. But, single? I released his hand from my grasp.
