"Eh, you're not a guy. Besides, I'm glad I have it." I glanced over at Chloe. "Otherwise, I'd have never brought you down here."
"Yeah?"
I nodded. "I might take a lot of chances in life, but with your safety? No way I'm risking that. Not ever."
She was smiling again. Her tone was teasing when she said, "You couldn't have bullet-proofed one of your nicer cars?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Let's say we drove the Lexus. We'd be taken for an easy mark." I shrugged. "Or a drug dealer. But in this thing, we're practically invisible." I glanced around. "It's perfect for stuff like this."
"Stuff like what?" she said.
"Seeing things without being seen, watching without being watched. A car like this in Rochester Hills, yeah, it sticks out like a sore thumb. But a place like this, it's just part of the landscape."
"But why the bullet-proofing?" Chloe took another look around. "It's practically a ghost town."
I turned to give her a serious look. "Just because you don't see people, it doesn't mean no one's around. Besides, I use it for a few other things."
"Like what?" she asked.
I grinned over at her. "It's a secret."
She gave a small shake of her head. "What?"
I laughed. "No more serious talk. Remember? You hungry?"
She nodded, and I turned left at the next corner, wanting to leave all the ugliness behind. It was funny in a way. Some might say that I'd ditched the ugliness years ago, when the money started rolling in.
But some things, you never left behind. Even when you moved away, parts of it stuck with you. And sometimes, they dirtied the new things, the pretty things, the things you wanted to protect from all that.
I gave Chloe a sideways glance. During the past couple of days, she'd seen the worst of what a guy like me had to offer.
From now on, it was my job to show her the best. I glanced at my watch, wishing we had more time. I recalled my original promise. No matter what, I wouldn't make her late for work.
But damn it, I really wanted to.
Chapter 30
A half-hour later, we were holding hands over dinner. I gazed at her across the table, wondering how I'd gotten so damn lucky. We hadn't made it official, but the way it looked, we were back together.
If I had my way, we were going tostaytogether.
"So," I said, "tell me about your brother. You said he's pretty smart, huh?"
She gave me a sheepish smile. "Oh come on, you don't want to hear about that."
She was wrong. I did. If I had my way, he'd be my brother too someday. Or brother-in-law. Whatever they called it. Either way, he was important to Chloe, so he was important to me.
But that wasn't the only reason I wanted to hear about him. On that night we'd first met, after she'd practically scraped me off the hospital sidewalk, she'd talked a lot about Josh. I might not have looked it, but I'd been listening.
Back then, family was a funny thing for me. My mom was a druggie, and my dad was a guy I barely knew. I loved my sister, and I loved my grandma, but even those relationships weren't always easy – because the more I loved them, the more I worried for their safety.
But Chloe, she'd grown up in a different world. I wanted to hear more about it.
I grinned over at her. "So, uh, you hiding something? Don't tell me he's flunking out?"
