“I’m driving you,” he said.
“I—”
“I’m driving you.”
We walked down the front walk, around to the side of the house where there were a few cars parked. One of them a sleek black sports car. “Get in.”
“Are you mad?”
“Get in the car.”
I slipped in the passenger side as Ronan got in behind the wheel. The engine started with a roar, and we took off so fast my head hit the headrest.
“Why areyoumad?” I cried.
“I’m not.” He shifted gears like we were in some kind of car race, and I grabbed the seat belt, slipping it over my body.
“You just always drive like you’re behind in the Indy 500?”
His lips twitched like he wanted to laugh.
“Was all of that true?” I asked. “Someone killed the senator?”
“Yes.”
We rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill. If we turned right, we would head down to the highway. Left we went up to my house. He didn’t turn the car. He didn’t press on the gas.
“I’m that way,” I said, pointing left.
“I can take you anywhere,” he said. “Right now. Any place away from here.”
He wasn’t looking at me and it wasn’t... romantic. It wasn’t about me and him. It was about the Constantines and the Morellis. It was about Caroline and being clever.
I realized with a sinking heart that maybe everything, every moment between us was about Caroline and being clever.
Motherfucker.
“I need to go home,” I said. “Frankly, I don’t know if any of this is true.”
“The fire chief—”
“Talked to you? And not me? That’s convenient.”
“You think I’m lying? You think Caroline is lying?”
“I think I’m being manipulated. You talk to the fire chief; she has some private coroner. Suddenly every terrible thing that’s happened to me is about the Constantine and Morelli feud. I mean... listen to how ridiculous all that sounds.”
“Call the fire chief.”
“I will. When I’m home. When I’ve had a goddamn cup of coffee.”
“You can’t stay there, Poppy. It’s reckless. Stupid. You could—”
“I know!” I shouted. “I know I can’t stay there and I won’t. Okay. I won’t stay. But my stuff is there. My...” I looked down at my dead phone. “My phone charger. My purse. Money. I need to get organized to leave. I can’t just vanish.”
He turned and looked at me. Really looked at me. And my mouth was dry and my anger fizzed and popped but so did everything else I felt for him.
“There’s something going on,” he said. “Something... I don’t know about. And I know about everything.Everything, Poppy.”