Wait.
She bolted upright suddenly, looking around. Humiliation and horror flooded through her.
Maybe it was just the dream.
She wiped the side of her mouth for drool—clean—and hazarded a glance at Travis.
“Don’t worry. You didn’t set off any car alarms. But you may want to undertake one of those sleep studies. There’s surgery for that.”
Just when she didn’t think she could be more mortified, he finally looked over and held her gaze. Then smiled. Wide. Revealing actual teeth. She slugged him. This time he chortled.#p#分页标题#e#
“Must have been some dream. You kept saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ through most of it.”
She didn’t say a word. She couldn’t. “Just a dumb dream.”
“It’s nearly two a.m. I don’t think anything’s gonna happen. I’ll take you back home so you can try to catch some real sleep.”
“No, thanks. I brought my car.”
The incredulous look on his face gave her her first feeling of unease at her choice. “You left your car—your Mercedes—somewhere in this neighborhood?”
“It has an alarm and state-of-the-art theft protection.”
“Well, unless it’s the Batmobile and that theft protection includes a bulletproof armor, then I think there might be a problem.” Leaning forward, he twisted the key in the ignition and pulled away from the curb. “Show me where you left it.”
Five minutes later, they were back where they started. Sure enough, her car was gone. Not even a piece of glass from a broken window as proof she’d parked there.
“You want to call the police?”
In the grand scheme of things, getting her car back was the least of her concerns. She’d give it and everything else up if she could get Darcy back. “I’ll file a report in the morning. Right now…I just want to go home.”
Fortunately he decided not to add any further comment on the subject and pulled back out onto the street.
“You never told me, where’d you get this little beauty?” she asked and reached out to pat the car’s dash.
“I’m just borrowing it.”
“Duh. You said that. From who?”
He glanced to his left and then back to the road before he answered. “My sister. Who’s affectionately named it Bonnie. So no hating on the car.”
He had a sister? Her stomach started to twist. “Um, do I know her?” Please say no, please say no…
“You do.”
Of course she did. And although she had no clue who Travis’s sister might be, she had little doubt that his sister knew her. And she doubted that was a good thing. She was almost afraid to ask. “High school?”
“How’d you guess?” He glanced over at her. “But if you’re afraid she was a victim of your terrorism in high school, you’ll be relieved to find out she wasn’t. She went to West High.”
“But you just said high schoo—”
“She’s a teacher at St. Andrew. Claire? Claire Brennan. She’s in the mathematics department.”
A vague memory of a dark-haired beauty came to mind. If she wasn’t mistaken, usually hanging around with Saint Allie, the two thick as thieves. That couldn’t be good. “How is it that she went to West but you attended St. Andrew?”
“My mom and aunt were alums. Knew the principal. That and my grades and test scores qualified me for some tuition assistance, which was the reason I helped out in the computer lab. Part of the deal.”
“I didn’t realize that academic scholarships or assistance, whatever you call it, was even available.”
“You wouldn’t, would you?” he said in such a way that she was immediately filled with mortification.
She started to apologize and stopped. She was being ridiculous. Why should she apologize for having had money? And why did she care so much what Travis thought of her? This last thought was the most troubling. Changing topics seemed best. “So does your family still live here, then?”
“You could say that.”
Wow, he just really didn’t want to give her anything, did he? She tried again. “Do you visit them often?”#p#分页标题#e#
Another long stretch of silence followed. He’d apparently decided not to even offer her a response. Her frustration reached its limit.
She was just trying to be nice.
“I get it. I was a grade-A class bitch back in high school. I treated you horribly and so many others I can’t even remember. I get that. And you know what? I’m truly sorry. There’s a long list of things I regret, so take a number. But I’m really trying here. Why is it okay for you to know all the embarrassing personal details of my life and I can’t even ask you something as simple as how your family is?” When he remained silent, she smacked the knob on the old radio and it came to life. More eighties. “Fine.”