Accidental Bibliophiles

Chapter 8

Jack

Bri and I walk quietly to the parking lot and I notice she stays close beside me, our shoulders brushing occasionally. I follow her towards her car and watch her as she stops next to it and turns to look at me. 

"Do you need to go home and get some things?" I ask her. She shakes her head and pops her trunk, pulling out an overnight bag.

"I started reading up on ways to deal with this kind of situation. One thing that women who went through what I am said over and over was to have a bug out bag." she explains. 

"That's good. You were smart about it." I say, patting her arm gently. She grins at me, making anxious little butterflies blast through my gut. 

How could this guy have fucked up so royally? If I had a girl like her I'd treat her like a queen.

"Do you want to follow me to my place?" I ask her. She bites her bottom lip and looks away.

"He knows what kind of car I drive." she says. I nod in understanding, grabbing her other bag and putting them both in my backseat before opening the passenger door for her. 

"Let's blow this popsicle stand." I say, trying to keep my voice light, throwing her a wide smile. 

As she slides into the car I survey the area. There's hardly any cars left and I don't see douche bag from earlier either. I go around and get into the driver's seat, starting the engine and driving away. I can nearly feel the tension radiating off of Brielle's body in the seat next to me. I reach across towards her and offer her my hand. She looks up at me and smiles again, grabbing onto me and holding tight. I can't imagine how someone could be so cruel to such a sweet woman. 

"Basil! I'm home!" I call when we walk in the door. I hear his paws clicking against the floor as he hurries towards us. Bri lets out a cheerful shriek when she sees him, dropping to her knees and rubbing his face as he looks up at her with pure love in his eyes. She smiles and rubs her nose against his and I wonder fleetingly if it would be weird to ask her to do the same to me. 

I shake my head, trying to get that thought out of my brain as she stands and looks at me. 

"I like your place." she says warmly. 

"Thanks." I respond, wondering if I left my dirty laundry on my bedroom floor again. "You want to take Basil outside for me while I get my room set up for you?" I ask. 

"I can just take the couch, it's no big deal." she says, walking towards it. I put my hand on her back and gently nudge her towards the back door. 

"Absolutely not. You can have my bed." I say, handing her a tennis ball. "Throw this." I say. 

She follows my instruction easily, tossing the ball into the back yard. Basil takes off on a dead run, barking as he chases the neon green ball through the yard. Bri smiles and I nudge her again until she's in the yard. She turns to look at me, smiling sweetly and I feel a weird sensation swish through my body. A kind of lightness I've never experienced before. She opens her mouth to say something, but I need to get out of here before I do something stupid. Like grab her by the back of the neck and smash my mouth on hers.

"Be right back." I say quickly, shutting the sliding door and rushing towards my room. 

I don't have time to do much. I strip my sheets from the bed, grateful that Everett told me to buy another set for emergencies. This is definitely an emergency. I pull my phone out and dial him as I flop on the bed like a starfish, trying to get the new fitted sheet on. 

"Hey, man. What's up?" he asks when he answers.

"There's a girl in my house!" I respond, panic dripping off my tone.