Liv tilted her head, her gaze still on him.
Adam cleared his throat and looked to the cop. “Yes, ma’am, everything’s fine. It was all just a dumb misunderstanding. I provoked him.”
Liv gave him a tight smile and then turned to the officer. “Can I give my statement at the station?”
“Sure, you can head over. I’m going to wait for the medic to show up to make sure he doesn’t need to go to the hospital.”
Liv nodded, gathered the luggage, and headed toward the parking lot without looking back. One issue down, another much bigger one to go. Because Finn had been provoked. But his reaction had been over the top and…scary.
He’d helped her last night, but maybe she wasn’t the only one who needed it.
chapter
EIGHT
Finn stepped out of the holding room at the police station to find Liv sitting in an orange plastic chair, her foot bouncing with impatience or nerves and her attention on her phone.
He let out a breath. Olivia Arias—forever hardheaded. Of course she hadn’t listened to him and had let his dumb-ass behavior ruin her morning with her friends. Frustration filled him. But when she looked up and he saw the wariness in her face, it broke something inside him. She was here. But not the same version he’d kissed last night. She’d seen who he was. Now she was guarded. Scared of him.
As she should be. He’d acted like a goddamned lunatic. This was exactly why he’d planned to keep to himself while he was here. But seeing that look on her face was like watching a shiny thing rust before his eyes—the only shiny thing he’d been allowed to touch, and he’d tarnished it.
“You didn’t have to come here,” he said, trying to keep his voice quiet despite the ringing phones and noise of the station.
“I know.” She stood and gripped her elbows like she was cold. “You left your keys, so I drove your SUV here. I figured you’d need it. The officer said I could get a ride back to the hotel with him, but I wanted to wait to make sure you were okay.”
Finn glanced at the officer manning the front desk. “Do you want to ride with one of them?”
She gave him a once-over, a wrinkle between her brows. “I don’t know.”
“I understand if you do. I know I scared you.”
“You didn’t—” She bit the inside of her lip and glanced at the desk. “Are you free to go?”
“Yeah.” He cocked his head to the side. “Come on. Let’s talk outside. If you decide not to ride with me, you can come back in.”
“All right.” She grabbed her purse to join him but kept enough distance between them that he felt like they were miles apart.
He pushed the door open and let her walk out into the bright sunshine first. She pulled a pair of sunglasses from her purse and slipped them on, hiding her eyes from him. When they were out in the parking lot, away from the controlled chaos of the station, he stopped and faced her. “You okay?”
She frowned. “Are you?”
“Yeah. The guy isn’t pressing charges. Not sure why, but he gave a statement saying he provoked me.”
Her lips lifted at one corner, the effect more grim than amused. “I had a little heart-to-heart with him. Glad he listened.”
Finn blew out a breath and squeezed the back of his neck. “You didn’t have to do that. I deserved whatever they were going to charge me with. I…” He squinted at the road behind them before looking at her again. “I lost it.”
She crossed her arms, tough in stance but worry creasing the corners of her mouth. “You did. You were…scary.”
He wanted to reach out to her, take that troubled look off her face, but he hooked his thumbs in his pockets to keep his hands to himself. “I know. I’m sorry. I could tell you reasons why it set me off, but that doesn’t excuse how I acted, so it doesn’t matter. I should have more control than that.”
She rubbed her arms, even though the temperature was probably already in the nineties. He hated that he’d put that chill in her. “Can you drive me to my car? The girls moved breakfast to brunch, so I’m going to try to meet up with them.”
He shouldn’t have felt so much relief, hearing that she was willing to ride with him, but it untwisted something tight inside his chest. He took the keys she offered. “Of course.”
They climbed into his black SUV, the interior baking in the heat even with the tinted windows, and he put the air conditioning on high. Liv had tossed his bags into the back seat, along with her laptop case, and had set his cell phone in the cup holder. She’d taken care of him even when he’d scared her.
He turned out of the station. “I’m really sorry you’re going to be late to your breakfast. I could’ve gotten a cab back to the hotel.”