He slitted his eyes and smoothed a hand over the top of his head before bending to grab the handles of his gym bag.
“Got stoned. Got booted out.” He held the bag up in front of my face. “She banished me to the trailer to learn some responsibility.” His voice took on a high-pitched quality on the last two words. I suspected it was an imitation of his mom’s. She was a smart woman, Leon’s mom. I couldn’t hold back a light chuckle.
Leon shouldered his bag, then picked up a mid-sized box and rounded the car with quick strides. I grinned to myself when he tugged at the passenger side handle, knowing it was locked.
Juvenile, I know. But still funny.
Dipping to look through the glass, he quirked up a brow and tapped out a quick rhythm with his knuckles. “Don’t be a dick, Alissa.”
I glanced away and pressed the lock release. He quickly tossed the bag into the back, followed by the box, then lowered himself into the seat and twisted to face me.
I took a quick look behind me and narrowed my eyes. “All your worldly possessions? You could have carried that shit.”
“Slight exaggeration,” he said, a schoolboy grin forming on his pouty mouth. If I didn’t loathe the sight of him, I might have found it cute.
Grumbling under my breath about blonde assholes and their limitless capacity for lies, I pulled the car away from the curb.
“Thanks, Snow Queen.” Leon rubbed his palms over his thighs and settled back in the seat. “Didn’t think you had it in you.”
“What? Driving?” I quipped, leaning forward to peer round his head.
“Nope. Being nice to me.”
I shrugged. “It’s a one-time event, to make us even. Don’t get used to it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of—”
“And don’t ruin it by saying stuff,” I muttered.
He gave a short laugh before reaching behind him to adjust the hood of his sweat jacket. “Where’s Riley tonight?”
I knocked the blinker on and steered the car around a corner, pressing my foot down on the gas. “Home, if I had to guess.”
“I called her five times. She’s not answering her phone.”
Eyes scanning the road ahead of me, I clucked my tongue. “Don’t know what to tell you, Bradshaw. Except maybe, take the hint.”
He ignored my comment and started looking around the car. “Got snacks in here, or what?”
“Snacks?” I shook my head. “No. It’s a car, not a fucking vending machine.”
Chuckling, he turned sideways and perched his ankle over his knee. I could feel his stare burning a hole into the side of my head.
I flicked my eyes to his and shot him a scowl. “Stop looking at me, Pretty Boy.”
“Stop looking at you?” he parroted, his eyebrows shooting up.
“Oh, look, home sweet trailer.” I edged the car inside the entrance to the trailer park and shifted into park. “This was awesome. Now get out and let’s never do it again.”
“All this hostility,” Leon mused, smoothing his long fingers over his shadowed jawline. “Some people might think you’re covering up some deeper feelings for me.”
“And those people might want to schedule a psych evaluation. Now get your ass out of my car.”
His lips parted in a wide grin, the moonlight glinting off his shiny, white teeth. “On it, Snow Queen.” He kicked at the door with his worn converse, swinging it wide before hauling himself out and moving to the rear door.
After he’d collected the box and dumped it on the ground by his feet, he came back to the front of the car and hooked his hands over the roof, leaning inside. “You did a nice fucking thing tonight, Lissa.” Those sapphire eyes twinkled with humor. “You’re gonna have to slaughter some babies or kittens or something to make up for it, huh?”
The edges of my mouth twitched; I locked