Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series, стр. 10

“No,” I tried walking a bit quicker, but he sped up.

“You can’t outrun a car.” He was exasperated as he too sped up the smallest of amounts.

“Shame my parents weren’t greyhounds.”

“This car can go very fast, so I think you’ll break your ankle before I have to slow up. Get in the car, Ivy.”

“No. Are you planning to follow me all the way home?”

“If that’s what it takes to make sure you don’t walk home alone, yes. Do you seriously think I’m going to let you walk through back streets of Exeter at midnight by yourself?”

I stopped walking; the car stopped too.

“Your whole chivalry thing is a little annoying, you know that?”

“Well, you can tell me off the whole way home.”

If he was going to follow me anyway, at least if I got in the car then I could say goodbye sooner and not have to put up with the anger I felt towards him. I turned to the BMW, he took this as a sign of relenting and leaned over to pop open the passenger door again.

“Alright,” I sighed and climbed in. Okay, it was quite a bit warmer in there. I wasn’t going to admit that to him though.

He pulled smoothly away from the pavement and headed through town, though he said nothing. One hand was balanced tensely on the steering wheel, the other gripped the gearstick hard, the knuckles turning white with the pressure. I didn’t particularly want to speak either. The anger was practically sizzling through the veins of my whole body now. Why did he have to capitulate to Ellie’s charms?

“Are you serious?” The sudden question had a surprising amount of volume in such a small space, his deep voice gravelly with rage. “Walking home alone at this time of night?”

“It’s not as bad as you make out. It’s a safe town.”

“Safe? That means nothing! It only needs to happen once. Statistics say nothing,” he shook his head and focused on the road. “I can’t believe your friends didn’t stop you.”

“Well, that’s not fair to them.” I scrunched my hair again, wishing the nausea in my stomach would stop. Great, the second conversation I had ever had with the guy and it was an argument. “I told them I was getting a taxi.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

I shifted uncomfortably, rearranging the handbag in my lap. For some reason my anger made me a more bitter person than usual. I decided to throw it in his face, aware of the classy and rather expensive BMW we were sat in.

“Because they cost money. Something I do not have a lot of at the moment.”

Some of the tension from him seemed to vanish at these words. He removed his hand from the gear stick and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well, I can’t argue with that.” He stretched his neck for a minute, causing his black hair to tip across his forehead. “Right, pull out your phone.” I did as instructed. “Add a new contact, here – this is my number.” He pulled back the sleeve of his long black t-shirt where a phone number was written in biro across his arm.

“Why is that there? A rather strange place to keep it,” I commented with the smallest of smiles.

“Long story. Add me as a contact and if you’re stuck in town again, I’ll be your taxi.”

“You can’t do that.” Just before he dropped his sleeve, I got a glimpse of something else dark on his skin, a curve of writing of some kind. Did he have a tattoo? For some reason, that thought sent my stomach into somersaults of intrigue. “You have a life, I can’t call you every time I need a lift, chauffeur.”

“Yes you can, princess,” he turned the car onto campus just as I saved the contact. I was tempted to tell him off for the princess jab, but I had called him chauffeur again, so I didn’t have much ammo.

He wasn’t going to accept a no to his new proposition anyway, that meant there was little point in dragging him into another argument. We fell quiet, listening to the bumps of the wheels on the tarmac until we pulled up outside my block.

“Thank you for the lift,” I felt some of the anger dissipate as I opened the car door. After all, it was a sweet gesture. I was glued to the seat all of a sudden, my legs swinging freely outside of the car. I was being cruel on purpose and that was not fair. “I’m sorry,” I turned my head to look back at him. “For earlier, I mean. I didn’t mean to interrupt you and Ellie and whatever was… well, I just wanted to talk to her about something. I had no idea you were…” I trailed off, not wanting to say the words out loud.

Once again, his dark features were lit up by the building’s outdoor light.

“You didn’t interrupt anything. Honestly.”

I felt myself wince and he raised his eyebrows at my reaction.

“You don’t believe me?”

“Well, it certainly didn’t look like nothing.” I climbed out of the car, not really knowing what to think.

“Ivy?” His voice called me back to bend down and look at him through the open door. “Whatever it looked like, it was nothing.”

“Oh dear, then you better be careful,” I felt my lips turning up in a knowing smirk. I knew Ellie well, if she hadn’t got what she wanted, she wasn’t going to give up that easily.

“Why?”

“Ellie will come after you with all guns blazing now.”

He looked terrified at the thought.

“Night,” I quickly shut the door, feeling both thrilled that I had seen him again and terrified of what Ellie would do next.

“I just don’t understand,” Ellie moaned as