waited for him to close down the gym for the night. As he finished up, they walked out and he turned to lock doors. After he finished, he looked for her car in the parking lot.
“I usually walk here, ” she explained. “It’s close enough to campus and my apartment, so I don’t use my car unless it’s cold or raining.”
Zane frowned. “It’s not safe for you to be out at night like that. Once you develop a pattern, someone can easily keep track and follow you.”
Melanie smiled. “I carry protection and stay alert.”
Zane scrutinized their surroundings before responding, almost as if he was searching for someone. “It’s still not safe. Drive your car when our trainings last until after dark.”
Melanie tried not to read to o much into his over-protectiveness. She should just be content they were going to be spending time together outside the gym.
“Okay,” she replied.
Zane shook his head at her, tuning in to the fact that she wasn’t taking him very seriously. She smiled in return; she could tell he was dead serious about her not being out at night. Melanie had a bad habit of thinking that just because she knew so many different types of self-defense, such as boxing, judo and wrestling, that she had the ability to defend herself. Luckily, so far she had never been forced to use her skills to defend her life. Zane was right, though, she did need to be more careful. If she made a mistake in overestimating her abilities, it could be the last one she made.
“I have extra clothes in my bag, so I can just change at your place after we get the movie,” Melanie told him. “Any movie you want to see?”
“What were you going to rent?”
As Melanie thought about what she ’d planned to rent, she blushed. Her taste in movies wasn’t typical for most women; she tended to like the raunchy ones, but she’d never shared that secret with anyone.
“I was just going to see what’s at Redbox,” she replied without looking him in the eyes.
“Really ? You expect me to believe that?” Zane was laughing at her now. She had to remember that he’d known her as a kid and could tell when she was hiding something.
“Oh, just some silly comedy, but we can look together and pick one .” Melanie forced herself to sound casual as they walked to his car.
He opened the passenger door of his 4-runner and she slid onto the leather seat. As he went around to get in the vehicle, she pulled up the Redbox app on her phone.
“Do you like comedies or action?” she asked him.
“Any movies out right now that are both?”
She scrolled through the list, looking for movies that seemed to meet the criteria. “Have you seen 21 Jump Street?”
“No . That works for me,” he replied.
Melanie reserved the movie at the closest location. “You can drop me off at the box; there’s not always much room to park.” He pulled up to the curb and she hopped out to get the movie.
As she put her credit card in, she saw the message stating her movies were on the way. Crap, why was it plural…? Shit! The other movie had already been reserved, so it was sending both out.
She glanced back to see if he was watching . Fuck, he could see everything. She grabbed both movies and walked to the vehicle.
“Did you see another movie you wanted to watch?” He looked amused.
“My other reserved movie came out too, but I can watch it another time.” Melanie started to put the movies in her bag, yet before she could finish the movement, his hand snaked out and grabbed them out of her hand. Damn, he was always so fast.
He looked at the movie and laughed out loud. “‘Piranha 3DD’?” he inquired.
“Shut up , Zane. I saw the first one on HBO, so I felt like I needed to watch the second one, too.” Melanie was embarrassed. No one knew she liked watching naughty movies.
“I have no problem watching a movie named after a breast size .” He smiled at her.
“Yeah, I know ; a movie full of naked women, what guy wouldn’t?” She
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Undenied (Samhain).txt
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