“No woman left behind, you know?” AM said awkwardly.
“No explanations necessary. It’s smart,” I reassured her. “Finn will make sure she gets home safe.”
I put one hand on her lower back as I guided her through the crowd to the bar’s rear entrance and held open the door with the other.
“Shit, did you bring a coat?” I pressed the remote starter on my car and hurried us to the vehicle. Even though it wouldn’t be heated fully, inside the car was warmer than out here in the cold.
She shook her head and pulled my sweatshirt tighter around her even as she asked, “Do you need this back?”
“No, I’m fine.” I wasn’t, actually. My Texas blood wasn’t well suited for the cold. But there I was in the frozen Midwest, ass-deep in snow at times, with a coat in my closet made of the wool of at least five sheep and wearing two pairs of socks at a time inside my old Marine boots. I once saw some dude tromping in the snow wearing shorts and boots and wanted to go punch him in the face. Wearing the wrong gear in bad weather doesn’t make someone look tough. It makes them look stupid.
“What is this car?” AM asked, trailing her fingers across the smooth hood of my sports car. I followed behind and opened the passenger door for her.
“Audi TTS. Three-sixty horsepower. V-eight. All-wheel drive.” I ticked off the important components of the car as she swung herself into the seat. When I climbed inside, she was taking deep breaths and stroking the soft leather.
“It feels very luxurious.”
“Drove this puppy all the way from San Diego. Got three tickets, got out of three more.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“Still had my Marine Corps sticker on the back. Some of the state troopers either were former Marines or knew someone who was and let me go with a warning. Still, insurance is a friggin’ bitch.”
“Hmm. I may have you drive me everywhere from now on.” Her voice had a dreamy quality to it, like she was imagining something really good.
I wondered if AM had any idea how suggestive that sounded. I was guessing no, but if she didn’t stop stroking the leather seat, I might have to pull over. Changing the subject before I proved to her that I was only one step above the pig I’d described myself as, I asked her, “You ever get in a fight? Learn some self-defense moves?” I wanted to know exactly how the rumors about her had started, if she’d been attacked or something, so that I could figure out how slowly I needed to take things with her. And who I needed to hunt down and destroy.
“Not really. I know they offer some on-campus classes, but Ellie and I have never gone.”
“Do you know what a pressure point is?”
“Maybe.”
“It’s a weak point. Place pressure on it and a girl like you could take down someone twice your size. Like Zhang Zhi.”
“Who?”
“Chick from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” At her blank face, I added, “House of Flying Daggers?”
“I never would have pegged you for a Chinese art house film buff.”
“I’m not. I’m a fight film buff. Chicks throwing down? Even better.”
“So I could bring down a guy your size if I knew pressure points?”
“Right. Like this Clay Howard the Third.”
At his name, a silence filled the car and I could only hear the muted roar of my 360 horses eating up the pavement between the bar and AM’s apartment.
“How do you know his name?” she finally asked. I didn’t tell her I’d wrung it from Mike along with her address. Dude did know everything.
“I heard that he hurt you.”
“Do you think that Clay raped me?” Her voice sounded far away, and I snuck a quick glance in her direction. AM’s face was averted, looking out the passenger side window.
My muscles tensed at the word and the image it evoked of AM helpless under some guy’s power. “Did he?” I asked through clenched teeth. At the thought of it, I wanted to crush his head between my hands until it popped off.
AM’s reply was a short humorless laugh. She said nothing else the entire drive, preferring to look out the window. The smallness of the car’s interior placed her close to me, but it felt like we were yards apart. Despite the heated interior, a chill hung in the air—much like the tiny crystals of ice formed on the window by the condensation from her breath. I swung into her apartment complex and parked the car in the farthest back corner, where the lights couldn’t reach us. I wanted to hear the truth from AM’s mouth because until we had it out, she was never going to let me in.
I didn’t turn off the engine and AM didn’t jump out like I thought she would. I’d been prepared to chase after her.