"Thanks for letting me use your phone."
"You're welcome. Did you take care of everything?"
"Yeah, I just needed to call my mom so she wouldn't worry. I don't get service out here, and if I didn't answer eventually, she'd call the Culbertsons to come check on me."
"And you wouldn't be in your apartment."
"Exactly."
"Did you tell her I kidnapped you?"
"No."
"No? What'd ya tell her?"
"That I spent the night at Taylor's and I left my phone charger at home."
Jason looked down at her as if she was joking, and Hannah shrugged.
"What? I didn't want her to worry. If I told her that I was in a deserted cove on a stretch of river I knew nothing about, having hot sex with a guy I just met, she might question my judgment."
"Are you questioning your own judgment?" he asked. The subject of all that transpired between them hadn't been brought up in the light of day and he was wondering if she had regrets.
She looked up at him and smiled sweetly. "Not really."
"Good," he said giving her a squeeze.
She stayed there wrapped in his arms for a few minutes without either of them speaking.
"When are we going back?" she finally asked.
"Whenever you're ready."
"What if I'm not ready ever?"
"I'd say we have two days worth of food, if we make it stretch."
"What if we catch fish?"
"If we catch fish, we could maybe make it four."
She laughed. "I guess I assumed we'd head back soon. You're already three hours late for work."
"Yeah, but I'm the boss."
"So, if I said the word, you'd just cancel everything and stay out here with me another day?"
"I'd do just that, actually."
She hesitated, but eventually breathed a resigned sigh. "I really should be getting back home. I was supposed to be buying a car from Michael at work later this week, but he said there's a chance I could pick it up today or tomorrow."
"What kind of car?"
She smiled. "A lambo." She could feel his chest shake as he laughed.
"What really?"
"A Nissan Sentra that's at least ten years old—maybe fifteen."
"That's okay as long as it won't leave you stranded."
"I don't think it will. Michael said he's never had any trouble from it and he's maintained it over the years."
"I'll bet you're excited."
"You have no idea. It's not so much that I want to be driving all the time. It's just nice to know I'll have the option."
Hannah was excited to get the car, and that was all fine and good, but that wasn't the only reason she wanted to go back to Nashville. She was falling so hard for this guy, that when she pictured her feelings in cartoon form, she was in the shape of an airplane in an uncontrollable nosedive. She was falling fast and hard, and knew deep down that might not be a good thing.
"You wanna use my phone to call Michael?"
"Oh, no. I really should be getting back."
"How about some breakfast first?"
They prepared and ate breakfast, which included a drink from the really nice espresso machine that came with the boat, but had never been used. No one bothered learning how to use it, so they made coffee in a regular old coffee pot one of them picked up at Target.
Jason ordered an Americano when he came to the coffee shop, which was a drink that didn’t include steamed milk. He put one sugar in his coffee to take the edge off, but never ordered one with cream or milk. Hannah asked if she could make him a drink of her choice, and he told her to do whatever she wanted.
She added a little sugar to his espresso before pouring enough froth on top to qualify it as a Cappuccino. The froth was more so she could draw a design that ended up being a boat that she drew by manipulating the froth and coffee with a toothpick. He took a picture of it with his phone before taking the first sip. He enjoyed the taste of it and said he may start ordering a Cappuccino from time to time.
They decided to spend some more time out on the water after they ate, and ended up arriving at the dock around 3PM. Jason was carrying both bags in one hand and had a tight grasp of Hannah's hand with the other as they approached the parking lot.
"Oh, shit," he mumbled.
A blonde bombshell got out of a shiny, red convertible sports car wearing tight black pants and spike heels. She was done up from head to toe with two wrists full of black and gold bangle bracelets. She leaned against her car as Jason and Hannah approached.
"What are you doing here, Reagan?" Jason asked.
Hannah dropped his hand, and he didn't even seem to notice. His eyes were trained on the girl who'd been waiting for them.
"I'm here for you," she said. "I've been trying to get in touch with you for like two days. You're not answering my calls or texts. Cam told me you were planning on coming out on the boat yesterday, so I came looking for you. Luke said you'd just left, and you had supplies for a day or more. Anyway, I just crashed at my sister's place down the street and had him call me when he heard you come in."
"That was only like fifteen minutes ago," Jason said, confused.
"I know. It only took me a minute to get here. I was waiting for him to call. I was worried about you."
Hannah walked to the other side of his car. She could still hear and see them perfectly but at least she wasn't right there in the midst of everything.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I need to talk to you." She glanced at Hannah. "Alone."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, I've just been thinking about everything and I wanted to talk to you."
"I don't even know what that means, Reagan. If there's something you need to talk to me about, you can do it right here."
She looked at Hannah then at Jason with a pleading expression. "It's sensitive stuff, Jason," she said in an extremely vulnerable voice.
Hannah hated her stinkin' guts.
Jason huffed in frustration as he opened the trunk and put their bags into it. "We're headed back to Nashville now. I need to go to my office for a little bit once I drop Hannah off. If you need to talk for a minute, you can stop by."
She smiled like she'd gotten her way. "I'll see you in a few," she said. She adjusted her oversized sunglasses and gave Hannah a friendly wave that had fakeness dripping off of it.
"I'm so sorry," Jason said when they were in the car and already on the road home.
"About what?" Hannah asked. She was trying to act unaffected, but she knew how stupid the question was once she asked it. He looked over the console apologetically and grabbed for her hand, which she gave him.
"Reagan's been a friend for a long time," he said. "Since we were kids."
"Oh, yeah." Hannah smiled and shrugged and squirmed in the passenger seat. She was trying her best to keep it together, but the shock of seeing one of his gorgeous lady-friends in the flesh was a little much for her to handle. That girl was more dressed up than Hannah had ever been in her life, including prom and weddings—and on a Tuesday at three o'clock when she was just hanging at her sister's, for crying out loud. "I figured you guys knew each other since she knew Cam and Luke and everybody."
Jason gave her a reassuring smile, but was distracted and mostly stared at the road.
"You can just drop me at Common Grounds if you want," she said as they approached Belmont. "I want to talk to Michael, and I can just walk from there."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, that'd be great."
Jason pulled into the alley and parked in the little lot behind the coffee shop.
"Thanks for taking me there," she said. "It was really beautiful."
"Thanks for coming with me," he said. He touched her arm, but she only let it stay there for a second before pulling it away to reach for the door. She stopped and leaned in for a super-quick kiss on the cheek before she got out.
"Call me sometime, if you want," s
he said.
His brows drew together. "If I want? I just assumed I'd be talking to you later."
"Like today?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I thought so. Are you not talking to me or something?"
"I'm obviously talking to you," she said. She laughed a little. "I'm talking to you right now."
"I'll call you later then," he said.
"Okay, sounds good." She smiled and got out of the car.
He met her around back, where he helped her get her bag.
"Thanks," she said when he handed it to her.
Nothing the atheist was coming in for his shift, and caught sight of them in the parking lot.
"What's up?" Jason said as Nothing walked by. Nothing nodded and smiled, and then proceeded to stare at them unabashedly as he went by, shuffling his feet in the gravel. Jason pulled Hannah into his arms and bent to put a kiss on her cheek. Nothing stared straight at them taking in the way Jason seemed to be trying to prove a point. Hannah's heart pounded at his touch even though it was slightly broken at the thought of where he was headed.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Of course," she said.
"I promise you have nothing to worry about with Reagan," he said, reading her mind.
"Oh, I know that. It doesn't matter."
He took her by the jaw and made her look at him. "It matters. It matters to me that you believe me when I say that."
"What? That there's nothing for me to worry about?"
"Yes."
"Definitely." She kissed him goodbye, slung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the path that led to the front door.
"Hannah was makin' out in the alley with Famous Jason," Nothing said as she walked in the front door. There were six or eight people within earshot, including Taylor, and they all heard him.
"You were kissing Famous Jason?" Matt asked. He seemed extremely surprised, and Hannah didn't quite know how to take that.
"I'm sure Hannah will tell me all about it in the back," Taylor said. She grabbed Hannah by the arm. "I'm taking my break."
"You don't have to tell me the whole story if you don't want to," Taylor said as she clocked out. "I was just trying to save you from the—"
"I know. Thank you. I knew Nothing saw us, but I didn't know he'd make an announcement about it."
"I guess they'd all find out sometime anyway since he comes in here all the time."
Hannah sighed. "God, Tay, I don't know what to make of everything."
"What's up? Did you guys hang out?"
Hannah laughed with no humor. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means we spent the night on a houseboat."
Taylor's eyes got wide. "You spent the night with him?"
Hannah tried to shrug it off. "He knew I had the day off and he's got this really nice boat that his dad never uses."
"Is something going on with you guys or was it just a one time thing?" Taylor was quiet for a second and then continued, "He didn't hurt you, did he? Because if he did then I—"
"He didn't hurt me. We had fun." Hannah paused and was about to add, "Until the Housewife of Beverly Hills showed up," but Michael came in the back office before she could say anything.
"Hey girls," he said. He immediately got busy looking through drawers for whatever he'd come in for, but looked over at the girls when he remembered something. "Hannah, Sally's ready to go home with you whenever you are."
Hannah knew he was talking about the Nissan even though she'd never heard him call it Sally. "Really? Do I just go to your house and pick it up or what?"
Michael smiled. "Yep."
"How do we do it? Is there like paperwork or something when you buy a car?"
"We have the title, and we'll just sign it over to you. It'll be up to you to get it registered and get insurance and all that, but I had the oil changed the other day knowing it was going to you. It should be good to go."
Hannah stood up and hugged Michael. It was fun news in the midst of a whirlwind of emotions, and she was glad for the distraction.
"I heard you rolled up with Jason Lane," he said as she hugged him.
Hannah's shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly at the mention of Jason's name, but otherwise she faked it. She gave him a big smile. "Yeah, he hired me to do some work, and we hung out a little bit," she said.
"Oh, because I heard you were connected by the mouth in the parking lot."
"I'm gonna kill Nothing," she said.
Michael laughed. "Take it easy on him. It's not every day we get to see a love connection in the alley—especially with two people we love so much."
"It's not a love connection."
Michael looked at Hannah as if he was a little surprised by her negativity, but Hannah didn't care, she just went back to the subject of Susan in an effort to brush the whole thing under the rug.
"I'm off the rest of the day today and all day tomorrow," she said. "Would it be okay for me to come by and pick up the car?"
"Of course. We want you to." Michael reached past her to grab a piece of paper and pen from the desk. He lifted it to his chest and began to scribble. "Here's my wife's number. You have mine. Just let us know when you're coming by."
"I can bring you by there when I get off tonight," Taylor said. "I'm off at eight if you want to come back up here."
"I'd offer the same, but I'm closing tonight," Michael said.
Hannah smiled, unable to hide the excitement that came over her at the thought of having her own car in a few hours. She looked at Taylor. "If you don't mind, I'll come back up here before you get off."
"Not at all," Taylor said. "I'm excited for you."
"You remember where I live, right?" Michael asked. He waited for Taylor's nod. "I'll let my wife know you're coming."
Chapter 16
Hannah and Taylor drove to Michael's the instant Taylor clocked out. Hannah had three texts and one call from Jason that evening, but she chose to ignore them. She decided to let the whole situation (and her feelings about it) simmer for the rest of the day. She was just planning on telling him she got stuck working when he dropped her off or something. She was extremely excited about picking up her car, which worked out, because she wasn't really in the mood to deal with pesky things like feelings.
Michael's wife, Shelley, was really nice. The business of signing over the car only took about five minutes, but she was a really sweet, outgoing lady and wanted to talk about other things like their goals and life in general. They were sitting at the bar in the kitchen when Michael and Shelley's little girl brought a photograph in an 8x10 frame and held it out for Hannah and Taylor to look at.
"That's when I met Cam Bishop the other day," she said proudly. Taylor reached for the photo with an excited expression, and Hannah followed suit, oohing and aahing over it. The little girl was so proud; it was impossible not to be happy for her.
"Michael knows one of Cam's friends through the coffee shop, and we happened to see him at the concert," Shelley said. "We were just hoping for an autograph or something, but Jason took us back stage." She pointed to her daughter. "Jacey had her little friend with her, and they treated them both like little princesses."
"We know Jason," Taylor said. "He's a good guy."
Shelley slapped a hand to her forehead. "Duh, I should have known you'd know him since you work there too. I didn't even think about that. So you know what a sweetheart he is."
Hannah blushed and cleared her throat uncomfortably, but held her tongue.
"Yeah, he's a really cool guy. Is this all we need?" Taylor asked, pointing to the title that was sitting in front of them on the bar.
"Yep, that's it. Oh, except for these, I guess." She took a set of keys from a little row of hooks that was hanging on the wall. "Be careful with the inside door handle on the passenger's side," she added as she held out the keys. "The silver stuff is peeling back a little bit and it's kind of sharp. I almost cut myself on it the other day. Michael was
gonna put duck tape around it, but I told him to let you take care of it in case you had a better idea." She smiled and reached out to give Hannah a farewell hug. "Oh, I can't believe I almost forgot since this is kind of a big deal. Michael text me a few minutes ago to tell me he wasn't sure if he ever told you it was a stick."
Hannah smiled. "He gave me a ride one time and I noticed," she said. "It's no problem, I actually like driving a standard."
"Oh, good," Shelley said, "he was worried about that."
The girls passed out hugs to Shelley and their daughter before heading out to the driveway to check out Hannah's new ride.
"Sweeeeet," Taylor said, looking down at Hannah, who had just sat down in the driver's seat.
"You like?"
"Totally. You look good in that."
Hannah smiled and turned to adjust in the seat. Sitting in her new car felt both familiar and foreign at the same time, and she was slightly nervous about getting from point A to point B in it. She put the key in the ignition, but didn't start it.
"I'm off tomorrow if you want to hang out right now," Hannah said.
Taylor gave a shrug of agreement. "I don't have to be at work till three tomorrow afternoon. I have to find three or four people to help me with an event, but that's just a few phone calls."
"What event?"
"It's at the Hall of Fame. It's just some tire company who's having a party for their employees."
"What day?"
"Next Saturday, remember? I already told you about it and you said you had to work."
"Oh that's right," Hannah said.
Taylor was trying to make a way for herself in the event planning business and was getting more and more responsibilities at her other job. Sometimes she needed to hire friends to fill a few spots. Hannah had done it a few times and had a lot of fun.
"Is it just serving food and drinks?" Hannah asked.
"Yeah, you know, white shirt black pants. It'd be three or four hours tops, and I've done an event with this company before and they know how to tip."
"I'd like to do it. I'll see if I can trade shifts with somebody."
"All right, just let me know in the next couple of days because I've got to get it squared away. Are you coming over?"
You're Dangerous Page 12
