“Yeah?Is that a problem?”
She scoffed.“Do you have any idea of where I lived in LA?”
I shook my head.Although given her current apartment, I had an idea it hadn’t been in the best neighborhood.
“Watts,” she replied flatly.“I always carried pepper spray and had an open phone call to one of my friends if I ever had to leave my car.And we’re staying in Manhattan Beach tonight.Wow.”
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that, actually.What’s with your apartment in Vegas?Or Henderson, I guess.You can afford better.Bailey is living in that secure complex with a pool and a gym near the Strip.Why aren’t you living someplace like that?”
“Because, unlike some people, I’ll be damned if I’m living paycheck to paycheck.Half of everything I make goes into long-term investments.I drive a shit car and live in a shit neighborhood so I can save my money.”
I nodded like I understood, but I really didn’t.Halfher paycheck?No wonder she was living so skint.“And what are you going to do with all that money you’re saving?”
She sighed and stared out the window at the LA traffic.“I don’t know.It’s my cushion, I guess.I have to save because I don’t have any family to fall back on.It’s just me.”
“You have your friends,” I replied softly.“And you have me.”I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she turned and gave me a disbelieving look.“I hope you know you could reach out to me for whatever you need, regardless of what happens between us.You’ve officially taken up a permanent corner of my heart.I think it was your smartass comments that got me.”
Her stiff smile melted into a genuine one.“Really?”
“Really.”I had to keep my eyes on the cars in front of us, but I infused all my feelings into the word.Then I laughed.“It can’t be news to you that you’re a smart ass.”
“Ass.”She snorted and shoved my shoulder with a grin.
I grinned the rest of the way through the LA traffic, but something she’d implied stayed with me for so long.Alice felt like she didn’t have a support network.Her ex had really done a number on her.He’d gone from being her whole world to stealing from her and shoving her out of the family they’d made together with their band.
Fucker.
Now I was determined to show her that she could rely on me.I’d be there for her no matter what happened between us.Alice deserved the fucking world.And she deserved to feel safe.
We spent the rest of the drive with her playlist filling the silence between us.I don’t know what she was thinking, but I was trying to come up with ways to prove myself to her.And mostly coming up empty.I needed some grand gesture to show her what she meant to me, but what?
It was a relief when I turned down Ocean Drive and my familiar townhome loomed just a few blocks away.
“Wait.Your place isonthe Strand?”
“Uh yeah…?”The accusatory note in her voice had me confused.Hadn’t I told her that?
“Your place isn’t in Manhattan Beach, it’sonManhattan Beach?”
“Is that a problem?”
She didn’t answer.After I pulled into my garage and stopped the car, I turned to look at her.Alice had her arms crossed over her chest and her head bowed.
“What’s going on?I thought staying here for a few days would be a good escape.No one will know us, and we’ll blend in on the beach.”
She scoffed.“You shirtless will never blend in anywhere.”
“Thank you?”It didn’t exactly sound like a compliment, but I decided to take it as one.“What’s going on?Why are you pissed?”
“I’m not pissed.”She sighed and finally turned to look back at me.“It’s just reminding me of how different we are.You’re a fucking millionaire, and I literally live in the Vegas slums.”
“Maybe you should move.”
She gave me a dirty look.
“I’m not saying that to be an ass.That area isn’t safe.You deserve better and you need to start taking care of you.You need to spend a little more on yourself.Especially now, with Parker being an ass.I worry about him finding you at your apartment.That place has zero security.I couldn’t sleep last night until I got your text that you were in bed.”
“Noah,” she whispered.“I’m fine.Grady hooked me up with self-defense classes a few years back after a roadie got handsy with me.”
