I gave him a dubious look. "Oh, really? Then what is it?"
He gave it some thought. "Protection."
I felt my eyebrows furrow. He was tall and muscular. And, as I'd seen firsthand, he could handle himself just fine. I asked, "Protection from what?"
"Say yes, and you'll see."
Now,thatmade me curious. But it wouldn’t change my decision. Even if I believed what he was saying – and I still wasn't sure that I did – I wasn't going to be anyone's date for money.
No.That was the kind of thing my mom did. And, as I constantly reminded myself, I wasn't my mom.
I said, "I can't take your money."
"Why not?" he asked.
How to explain?"Well," I began, "it sounds like you need a favor more than anything."
"And what if I do?"
"Then I can't charge you for it." I tried to smile. "I mean, you've already done me a ton of favors tonight, so I'm sure I oweyou, not the other way around."
"No," he said. "You don't owe me anything."
I didn't bother hiding my disbelief. Thanks to me, he'd crashed a car, gotten into a fight,andhad been nearly molested by my mom.
Of all these things, it was the crash that worried me the most. I was no car expert, but I did know that the damage would cost a lot more than a thousand dollars.
As if reading something in my expression, he said, "Stop thinking about it."
"About what?"
"Everything." His voice became deadly serious. "You don't owe me."
I sighed. "How can you say that?"
The car ahead of us started moving again, and he turned his attention back to the road.
As we inched forward, I gave our surroundings a worried glance. "What do you think the holdup is? I hope it's not an accident."
"Trust me, it's no accident."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I know what's ahead."
"What?" I asked.
"You'll see." He gave me a sideways glance. "Assuming you say yes."
"To what? Pretending to be your girlfriend?"
He gave a half-shrug. "Psycho-jealous girlfriend would be better."
In spite of everything, I had to laugh. "Okay, now Iknowyou're joking."
"You think so, huh?"
"Honestly, I don't know what to think."
