Page 32 of The Obvious Check
“Savannah?”
I scramble to the other side of the car, staring at the black curtain, not knowing what to do.
The potential murderer knows my name. But how?
“It’s me, Cade. You know, the guy who asked you to his hockey game?”
“Cade?” I breathe out his name, not sure what I’m supposed to do. The star of my fantasies is outside my car/home at midnight, and I'm wearing threadbare pajamas with holes in embarrassing places.
“Are you in there?”
He knocks again and I shake the nerves from my limbs. Then I lean forward, pull the curtain back with trembling fingers, and roll down the window. I nearly lose my breath when I see his face illuminated by the harsh streetlamp. The unforgiving light carves shadows into his angular features, and his eyes look darker than usual.
“Uh, hi, Cade. What are you doing here?” I try to play it cool, which is a little hard when I’ve been caught sleeping in my car.
“Well, I had a hankering for some late-night chicken, and I saw your car here. I thought I’d check you were okay?”
“I’m good,” I squeak out.
“You sure? Looks like you’re having a little car trouble.”
I shake my head and offer him a tight smile. “No, my car’s working just fine.”
His thick brows knit together, his eyes studying me. “Then why are you sleeping in it?”
“I’m not sleeping.”
“No, but you’re lying in the back seat with a blanket and have curtains up. Feels like you might be trying to get some privacy.”
Privacy that he’s taking away, I might add.
“Yeah, well, my apartment’s being fumigated, so I can’t go back there until they’ve cleared it for entry.”
Did he believe the lie? It was the first pathetic excuse that popped into my head.
He nods before looking around the deserted parking lot and then back at me, his green eyes piercing me in ways that make me feel completely exposed.
“So you’re sleeping in your car?” he asks, and I hear it. The mild disgust in his voice that confirms what I already know. He’s disgusted by me and how I’m living. I can’t say I blame him. I am too.
“I had nowhere else to go.”
“What about Luke’s? Can’t you go to his?”
“Luke’s?”
“Yeah.”
Without warning, Cade opens the car door and shuffles inside, leaving me no choice but to move over and make space for him. My car is pretty small, but with Cade sitting in it, it feels like I’ve suddenly been transported into a clown car. His broad shoulders make it impossible to move and his body heat radiates toward me like a furnace I want to press myself against.
“Isn’t Luke your boyfriend?” he asks, staring at the headrest. “Isn’t that why you gave him those tickets I got you?”
“No,” I answer too quickly to come up with an excuse for how I know him. “I just sold them to some guy for the money.”
Gosh, it sounds harsh when the truth hurts more.
“Savannah,” he says my name bluntly, glaring at me with disbelief clear across his face. “Are we still going to pretend I don’t know where you work?”
“Um…”
