Page 60 of Protecting Kelli
She was and she wasn’t. But since Flash was tired, andhe was her ride home, she didn’t want to hold him up. She nodded.
“All right. We’ll make the rounds and say bye to everyone then head out.”
Of course, saying goodbye took another full hour. As they moved around the house, then into the backyard to talk to the people out there, Flash never left her side. Either kept his arm around her waist or held her hand.
As they were finally walking out the front door, Flash said, “Whew! I thought we’d never get out of there.”
“You’re going to see your teammates tomorrow, right?” Kelli asked.
“Yup. Why?”
She shrugged. “Just wondering.”
“It’s a thing,” Flash said, as if he understood what she wanted to know without her having to say it out loud. “We never leave a get-together without saying goodbye or see you later to everyone. We’ve learned the hard way that life is too short.”
That made sense. And it explained a lot about how close these men and women were.
Flash led her toward a gray Honda Pilot SUV parked on the side of the road.
“Wait, is this your car?” she asked, as he opened the passenger front door.
“Nope. I’m stealing it,” Flash said in a deadpan tone.
“Whatever. But how’d it get here?”
“Wolf and Dude went to my house and picked it up for me, and brought it here.”
“How’d they get your keys?”
“Probably from Kevlar.”
Kelli turned in the doorway before climbing in. “How’dheget them?”
Flash leaned in and put one hand on the door, the other on the roof of the vehicle, effectively caging her in. Oh, she could’ve ducked under his arm and gotten away from him, but why would she? She was right where she wanted to be. Surrounded by Flash.
“We all have copies of each other’s house and car keys. We never know when we might have to leave our car somewhere, and one of the others will need to pick it up for us. It’s just what we do.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. Now climb in. It’s dark out here, and while the neighborhood has cleaned up a lot, it’s still not totally safe.”
With that, Kelli moved, getting up into the seat. To her surprise, Flash pulled the seat belt and held it out to her. She’d never had anyone do that before. It was…nice. Once she was buckled in, Flash shut the door and walked around to the other side.
He started the SUV and they were on their way. They didn’t speak much as he drove her to her apartment in La Jolla. She gave him directions and before she was ready, he was pulling into her parking lot.
A ball of dread sat in her throat, and it was all Kelli could do not to burst into tears. She was feeling extremely emotional. It was silly. She was safe, not buried underground, her belly was full, and her phone was crammed with numbers from who she hoped were a bunch of new friends. But the thought of walking away from Flash was actually painful.
He went around to the back and got her suitcasesomeone had obviously put into his SUV, pulling the handle out after he’d placed it on the ground. Then he walked toward her, stopping a couple of feet away and holding out his hand.
He didn’t speak, didn’t simply grab her, he waited for her to reach out to him.
Which Kelli did without hesitation.
It wasn’t even a question about whether he was going to walk her to her door. This wasn’t like a first date, where she would be leery of letting a man she’d just met know where she lived. This was Flash. They’d been through hell together. She had no qualms about him knowing which apartment was hers.
Her complex was several stories high, and she was on the fourth floor. She had a great view and could just see the ocean between two other buildings. It wasn’t super fancy, all the apartments had outside doors accessed via long walkways on opposite sides of the building. She’d heard some people complain that the complex felt like a huge motel, but Kelli had always loved it. Enjoyed being able to get fresh air when the ocean breezes were kicking.
Neither spoke in the elevator. Kelli didn’t know what to say, anyway. Thank you? Don’t go? I had a good time? None of those options seemed terribly appropriate.
