“Sure thing.”
As he walked out, part of me wished I would’ve taken him up on his offer, if only because my feet were starting to ache in these shoes, and he was right—it’d be a furnace outside. But no matter. It wasn’t like I was in a hurry to get home anyway.
I grabbed my satchel and made sure the room was in order before flipping off the lights and locking the classroom door. Taking my earbuds out of my pocket, I waved to the weekend receptionist and then pushed open the glass door that led outside.
As soon as I did, I was tempted to haul ass back inside. It wasn’t a quick summer shower, it was a torrential downpour that had me seeking shelter under the awning. The water covering the parking lot was already deep enough to soak a man’s socks, and as I looked down at my pressed slacks and shoes, I knew they wouldn’t be surviving the long walk home.
Great.The one day I hadn’t checked the weather, and it was a freakin’ monsoon outside.Not the way I want my day going.I thought about calling my parents, but I struck that idea down. Let them pick me up this time and they’d do it every time, and that wasn’t how I wanted to earn back my independence. I reached into my pocket for my cell phone to call an Uber, but cursed when I realized I’d left it on my kitchen counter.
A figure running across the parking lot caught my attention. Ollie hadn’t brought an umbrella either, and his clothes were already soaked through as he got to his car. As he backed out and headed toward the exit, I dashed out under the awning and waved my arms to get his attention. It was against my better judgment, and I didn’t really know the guy, but fuck it. I wasn’t walking home in this storm.
Ollie slowed to a stop next to me under the covered area and lowered his window.
“So,” I said, shaking the rain out of my hair, “how about that ride?”
twenty-one
REID
AS SOON AS I shut the door, trapping myself in an enclosed space with Ollie, I began to think that this had been a bad idea. The strange feeling in my stomach was back, and it occurred to me then that I’d gotten in a car with a guy I really didn’tknowat all.
It’s a two-mile drive. He’s not gonna pack you in the trunk. Calm the hell down.
“Little wet out there,” Ollie said with a laugh as I buckled in.
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting rain, or I would’ve come better prepared.”
“Me too.” He wiped his face with his hand and then ran it through his hair. The rest of him was soaked as well, making his clothes stick to his skin.
Jesus, he’s ripped.With his shirt clinging to his massive chest and biceps, he somehow looked even bigger. Or maybe it was just the way he filled the small space we were in.
Why am I even noticing another guy’s muscles? That’s fucking weird.
Ollie put the car in drive. “Where to?”
“The Garden Lakes complex.”
“Okay.”
“You know where that is?”
“I do. Why do you seem surprised?”
I shrugged. “It’s kinda hidden, I guess. My friends were always missing the turnoff.”
“Ah.” Then after a pause, he said, “I had a boyfriend who lived over there.”
That made me do a double take. A boyfriend? He was gay? I don’t know why that news left me dumbstruck, but it did. “Had? Did it end badly?”
As we pulled up to a red light, Ollie looked my way with sorrow in his eyes. “Yeah. You could say that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said as the light turned green and his focus returned to the road.
“Breakups are the worst. I mean, how do you go from being so close to someone to practically a stranger overnight? You know?”
He white-knuckled the steering wheel and stared straight ahead. “Yeah. I’m still figuring that out.”