Free No Such Thing as a Free Ride by Shelly Fredman

sound, I eased my way down to look though the crack. An unblinking blue eye stared back at me.
    Holy shit!
I hurled myself against the door with all my might, smashing into Bunny’s forehead. The force knocked her off her feet and sent her crashing to the ground. I flew out of the closet and tripped over her army boots. She was out cold.
    I stood on wobbly feet, trying to catch my breath. At that moment, Nick appeared in the doorway. He glanced down at Bunny’s prone body and then turned an appraising eye on me.
    “Thought you were going to be right back, darlin’.”
    “Yeah, well, I got a little tied up.”
    Nick slung his arm around me, smiling. “I see you handled it. That’s the important thing.”
    Less than a moment before, I’d battled a maniac in a life threatening situation, but now all I could think about was the way my stomach flipped whenever Nick looked at me.
    My chin was caked with blood and I had cobwebs clinging to my boobs. Acute embarrassment took over and I raked a hand though my hair, as if
that
would make me look presentable.
    “Ready to go?” he asked.
    I filled him in as we walked back to his truck. “I don’t know where Crystal disappeared to, and I’m worried about what’s going to happen to her when Bunny wakes up. Maybe I should find her and take her home with me.”
    “I know you want to protect her, Angel,” he said quietly, “but it doesn’t work that way out on the streets. You need to be available, but let her come to you.”
    Driving around with Nick again seemed the most natural thing in the world. It was almost as if that awkward little scene in his apartment three months prior had never happened, and I was just as happy to pretend that it hadn’t. Denying unpleasant memories is an Alexander family tradition… which explains why there are huge gaps in our family tree.
    Still, the sting of rejection can make even the most secure individual (for which I don’t even remotely qualify) act in regrettable ways. So, when Bobby called me on the way home, I may have led Nick to believe DiCarlo and I were a
bit
more involved than we actually are.
    “Oh, hi, Bobby,” I breathed in a ‘come hither’ tone. “It’s good to hear from you.”
    “Brandy, I just saw you yesterday. Why are you talking so weird?”
    I made a big show of clearing my throat and asked, “What’s up?”
    “Well, I was calling to see if you were busy on Saturday night, because the Phils are playing the Red Sox and—”
    “Saturday night? Let me think… no, I’m not busy. That sounds
wonderful
! I’d love to—”
    “Oh, uh, Bran, I was actually calling to ask if you could watch Sophia for me. See, I’ve got a date and Eddie’s mom usually baby sits, only she’s got the flu and—shit. I’m sorry. I just thought since you and I decided to cool it for awhile, that—y’know, I’d—Listen, never mind. I’ll ask somebody else.”
    I sat there feeling like an ass and praying Nick couldn’t hear Bobby’s end of this ridiculously humiliating conversation.
    “No! Hey, Bobby. We are totally
on
for Saturday night. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
    “You sure?”
    “Absolutely! Ta-ta.”
Oh, jeez. Did I really just say “ta-ta”?
    I glanced over at Nick, trying to discern an iota of jealousy.
Nuthin’.
And now I was stuck babysitting Bobby’s kid. Well, that’s just fabulous.
    Nick pulled up in front of my house and cut the engine.
    “Thanks for the ride, Nick,” I said, looking down at my lap. The adrenalin rush I’d felt when I was fighting for my life had slipped away, and I was left with an indescribable feeling of loss. I hadn’t allowed myself to think about the girl in the hospital or Crystal’s fate out on the streets or even the circumstances that drove Bunny to the other side of sanity. But it hit me now like a punch in the face and I swallowed hard to keep from crying.
    “Okay if I stick around a while?” Nick asked. He opened his car door and hopped out, not