Run

Chapter Thirteen

"For reals, yo, is this guy a unicorn or something?" Celia sucked down her Coke and pushed the cup away. "Men like that don't actually exist."

"Mmph." I swallowed the last bite of fajita and wiped my mouth. "They do. You just have to wait for them to grow up. And Trevor's not perfect." A picture of his jaw, taut and steely with anger, flashed through my mind. "He's got flaws, same as everyone else. His just happen to be more manageable than others."

Celia glared at me. "Liar. After what you told me, you're a lying liar and your pants are definitely smoking."

I made a show of twisting around to check out my ass, grinning when Celia snorted out a laugh. "Totally not. Trevor has manners and he's not afraid to use them. He's also mature enough to have figured out he'll get a hell of a lot more action if he's nice to me." His wicked clever tongue helped matters.

She propped her chin on her hand and frowned, humor fading. "In all seriousness, I'm happy for you, Ken. He sounds amazing."

Aside from his need to soothe away all my hurts, real or imagined, Trevor was pretty amazing. "I like him." A lot. "He's a lot of fun to hang out with. That's pretty much all it is."

Her look said uh-huh, yeah, and monkeys have wings. It was all it was. I'd known him for a matter of weeks. I'd have to go home eventually, whether it was Bend or Bellingham; I couldn't run forever. Austin was proving to be a great way station so far, but it wasn't home.

I had more immediate concerns, though, like getting my car back. I rubbed my sweaty palm along my thigh, working up the courage to ask Celia for a ride to the auto body shop. She'd ask questions, if she hadn't already heard it from Gwen, which meant there was a possibility she'd go off on some rant about needing a safer place to stay.

"Think you could do me a favor?" Casual. I was casual. So cool I was a glacier.

She balled up her napkin and tossed it on her plate. "As long as it doesn't involve bloodshed or breaking into CIA headquarters, sure."

I shook my head. "Neither, I'm afraid. I need to go pick up my car and don't really know the buses well enough to take one out there. Could I get a ride?"

The vinyl creaked as she slid along it to the end of the booth. "What'd you do, get in an accident?"

"More like someone busted out the driver's side window." I scooted out and stood, tossing a couple bills on the table. "Tommy's brother cut me a deal." I'd managed to figure out the bus from Trevor's to the diner with the help of his laptop, but I hadn't thought to look up the route from the diner back to my apartment.

"Mommas, you've got to move out of that shithole." She shook her head and made her way to the front door without another word, flip flops slapping against her heels.

She didn't say anything more about it on the drive to Calvin's, though. "Wanna grab a beer?" I asked as I climbed out of the car. I figured the least I could do was buy her a drink for not chewing me out like everyone else seemed to want to.

"Sure."

Anxiety dug claws into my stomach and gripped tight as I glanced around the front lot. No Adam. Of course there was no Adam. There was no reason for him to be here two days in a row, unless he was picking up a car today as well.

Calvin came out of the office with a sheet of paper in his hand. "Managed to get the window at a lower cost than expected." The amount on the paper was about a hundred less than he'd quoted me the day before. Whether he was telling the truth or if he was taking pity on me, I didn't care. I handed over the cash and picked up my keys.