“Yes.” Her answer was immediate and held emotion in her tone.
“I miss my last Crew too.”
“Why did you leave?” she asked.
“Because I couldn’t stay in it and move forward at the same time,” he repeated her words.
She smiled over at him.
“Plus, I like to feed on witch’s power, and Jess moved away, so I followed the snacks.”
She shook her head. “You almost had me with your lines.”
He pulled into her driveway and parked behind her 4Runner. “What line?”
“The acting like we both left our old lives for similar reasons to build rapport with me. You almost had me.” She pushed her door open and got out, closed it, and left him staring after her.
He’d meant it. That wasn’t some line. He wouldn’t have ever been able to move forward if he had stayed there. He just hadn’t realized that until he had been listening to her talk about the reasons for leaving her old friends. He hadn’t known how to say it out loud until she had done it first. Sure, he’d moved away because of Jess too, but so much had happened at the end of histime in Sister’s Edge that he couldn’t stomach any longer. He’d roasted everyone, and especially his old Alpha, Derek, on the way out.
Maybe Tammy was right.
Perhaps she was the smartest human he’d ever met.
Maybe she had been correct when she’d said they were sitting in the space between their old selves, and the new selves they didn’t quite know yet.
Tawk sure as hell didn’t know who he was here.
Chapter Five
Tawk started reversing out of her driveway, but Tammy waved her hand at him.
“Yeah?” he asked through his open window.
“Do you want to come in?”
“For cupcakes,” he said carefully.
“Just for cupcakes.”
He put the truck into park and rolled up his window, then cut the engine and got out. She thought he would come straight for her so they could go inside, but he made his way to her 4Runner instead, and asked her to, “Turn on the lights.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she called as he undid the latch under the hood and lifted it easily. “I don’t need a hero.”
“I’m not trying to be a hero. Maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to see what engine you’re running in this thing.”
“It’s stock. V6. It’s the 3.4 liter.”
“How many miles on it?” he asked.
“Two hundred thirty thousand miles and was still running like a top until the battery went.”
“The battery looks new,” he observed, poking around under the hood.
“I got it maybe three months ago.”
A frown was etched onto his face as he scanned around the battery, moving his head to get better angles. He pulled out his phone and turned on the light.
She shrugged. If he wanted to fiddle with her truck, who was she to stop him? She’d been having to switch the batteries out too much. Maybe he could figure out what was draining them so fast.
