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“I figured I was driving.”
I shook my head. Be alone in a car with him? I might as well sign away my life if he were truly a killer. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I invited you out. It’s polite of me to. Besides, anywhere around here doesn’t have a lot of parking.”
I didn’t need to be reminded. Parking became impossible the closer one got to the city center. Anything free was either full or a tiny spot next to the road. And considering parallel parking was impossible for me to comprehend, I knew that wouldn’t be an option. When I’d gotten here, I’d won the lottery purely by finding a garage that was free to park in.
Where we were eating, I might not be as lucky.
“Okay, fine.” My survival skills must have been near zero. “You can drive. But that still doesn’t answer the question of where we’re going.”
“Wherever you want,” he said.
“I don’t think the places I frequent are the kinds of restaurants you’re used to.”
One corner of his mouth tugged into a smile. “Try me.”
If I got any joy out of the day, it would be seeing Levi struggle to deal with a busy mom-and-pop place that I loved.
“Mas Tacos Por Favor in East Nashville,” I said as we walked into the lobby.
“What you want is what you get,” he said.
I smiled to myself, wondering what he was going to do when he saw that this was a literal hole-in-the-wall and not a nice restaurant.
We entered the parking garage and he unlocked an Audi that was worth more than all of my previous cars combined.
“Nice car,” I remarked. I got in carefully and told myself to brush off after eating. I would never live it down if I ruined something so pretty. “How many souls did you steal to get it?”
“None. I bought it like other people do. With money.”
“Ah, yes. The thing we must have in order to live. How could I forget?” I looked out the window as he pulled into traffic, biting at my lip. It was easy to let my anger get the best of me, but Ineededthis job, no matter how much I was going to hate it. Sebastian was my only connection who worked full-time, unless I begged my favorite coffee shop for a barista gig.
It didn’t take long to get to the eastern side of Nashville. Since it was the middle of a workday, the restaurant was somewhat slower than I was used to seeing, which meant it was easy to park on one of the nearby roads.
Levi found a spot a block away and parallel parked with ease.
He was hotandcould drive? It was unfair.
I thought he was done surprising me, but then he got out of the car and walked around to my side. His hand landed on the door handle and opened it for me.
“Uh, what?”
“Can I not be a gentleman?”
“You can, but ...” I trailed off. I had no idea what to do in the face of Levi being nice to me. It sent a warm feeling into my chest for all of one moment before the memories ofwhyhe was being nice hit me again.
I didn’t need to let my guard down like I had nine years ago. That much was for sure.
I had no idea where their little rivalry was these days, but Levi had pulled ahead with his company. If Calvin still cared, and I knew he probably did, then he would be trying to catch up as the new CEO. They weren’t in the exact same field, considering Levi worked in mental health and Calvin in hospital care, but it was under the same umbrella.
And that meant Levi would come formeagain. He had the perfect opportunity to, considering I also needed something.
He’s not being nice to you for you. It’s who your brother is.
My little mantra made it easier for me to look him in the eye while I got out of the car.
A silence settled over us as we walked to the restaurant.