Page 14 of Drive
To his horror, Jacques realized she’d been in the hospital the last twenty-four hours, and by the looks of her, it had been a longnight.
She opened the door to the back seat with a faraway cast to her gaze. And when she ducked her head inside and met his eyes, she gave a jolt of surprise as if she hadn’t expectedhim.
“H-hi,” she said, frowning. She looked down at her phone, blinked in realization at the screen, and looked back at him. “Sorry… I’m kind of out ofit.”
Clearly lost, she looked like she’d had no idea he’d be driving heragain.
A protective urge swelled in his chest. “You okay?” he asked as she sunk into his backseat.
Rainey tilted her head back on the headrest. “Yeah… fine,” shemuttered.
She was anything but fine. Beautiful — even though she looked exhausted — but hardlyfine.
He should have put the car in drive and moved away from the curb, but, watching her, he couldn’t bring himself to dothat.
“Yousure?”
Her watched her close her eyes and run her slender hand over her forehead. “I just want to go home,” she murmured, almost inaudibly. He wouldn’t make her say it twice. Without another word, he put the car in gear and drove. But he kept glancing at her in therearview.
Just as he turned right onto Ambassador, heard a soft slap, and he looked back to see Rainey’s hands fisting through her hair, her fingers white-knuckled from the strain, her jaw clenched inanguish.
“Why…” Her voice sounded choked. “…why do shitty things happen to good people while shitty people get apass?”
Jacques resisted the temptation to pull over. Instead, he kept driving and peeked back at her. “Wanna tell me what’s wrong?” he askedgently.
She met his eyes in the mirror and dropped her hands, but he could see she was fighting back tears. Rainey shook her head. But then a moment later, she spoke, her voice a little more even. A littlestronger.
“My sister’ssick.”
“With pneumonia? She doing worse?” he asked, recalling their conversation the daybefore.
In the mirror, she held his gaze with a hint of surprise. “Youremembered.”
Jacques sniffed a laugh. “Yeah, it was onlyyesterday.”
She watched him for a second, and as she did, he saw something change in her eyes, but he couldn’t place what itwas.
“It’s… not just pneumonia. She found out this morning she has something else… aplastic anemia.” Rainey looked away, shaking her head. “I’ve never even heard of it, but apparently, it can killyou.”
He blew out a breath. No wonder she lookedexhausted.
“That is shitty,” heagreed.
They stopped at the light at Settler’s Trace. “I’m sorry,” shesaid.
He craned back to look at her over his shoulder. “Whatfor?”
The side of her mouth turned up just a fraction. “You sent me a text yesterday, and I didn’t respond,” she said, her hazel eyes locking with his. “I actually didn’t see it until about three o’clock this morning, and I figured I’d seem crazy answering itthen.”
He felt his mouth twitch. Relief settled in his spine. “Not in myworld.”
She frowned a little. “What?”
Jacques pointed his index finger skyward and rotated it, indicating the car. “Uber drivers have late-nights.”
“Oh,” she said, giving him a tired smile. “I guess so… Well, I’m sorry for not texting back. It’s been a crazy twenty-fourhours.”
“I believe it.” He nodded. “It’sokay.”
