Paradox (Unearthly Paradox Series Book 1)

Chapter 8

The sea breeze died as the sun disappeared behind my house.

Lilly kicked back her chair and stood. "I guess I better get going."

"Unless you want to stay the night?" I asked, surprising myself.

"I would love to, but my mum would kick my ass if I don't come home and study for exams." She pushed her chair in. "I'll call you if she lets me out for good behaviour."

I smiled, thinking how nice it must be to have a parent that actually cared. I got up and followed Lilly inside. She picked up her bag and headed for the front door. "I'll see you later."

"As if I'm going to let you catch a bus home." I grabbed my keys and purse.

"You sure?" she asked. "I mean I don't mind catching a bus."

I raised an eyebrow. "Nobody likes taking the bus." I went into the garage with Lilly following.

"Thanks," she said.

When we got in the car, I asked, "Where to?"

"I live over in Broadbeach Waters. Off Monaco Street."

"Sorry, I don't know where that is. You're going to have to give me directions."

Lilly lowered her sunglasses from the top of her head to cover her eyes. "You know this car has GPS, right?"

I took a left at the end of the street. "Yeah, I plan on figuring out how to use it one of these days."

She reached out, brought up the satellite navigation system, then began pressing buttons on the screen. "There you go. Now you'll be able to find your way home."

I slowed at the traffic light. "Which way?"

"Right."

"So do you have any preferences to where you want to stay for Schoolies?"

"You'll need to turn left at the next light. And I don't really care where, as long as it's in Surfers. I don't want to have to find transport back to the hotel." As I turned left onto Monaco Street, she added, "Two streets up on the left then first right."

I followed her instructions and pulled up in front of a single-story Balinese-inspired house that I presumed was on the water by the canals that we passed on the way over.

"Thanks for dropping me home." Lilly pressed a button on the screen. "The car will tell you how to get back." She grinned and hopped out of the car.

I leaned over and said, "Thanks."

"I'll call you if I can come over."

The way she said it, I was pretty sure I would be spending the weekend alone. "Have fun studying."

She rolled her eyes. "Seeya." She closed the door and headed up the path to her house.

By the time I got home, I wanted to rip the damned Sat Nav out of the dashboard. The voice telling me where to go seriously grated my nerves. I didn't like being told what to do—even by a computer.

When I pulled into my garage, the voice kept repeating, "You have arrived at your destination."

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to turn the damned thing off. I was sure it had malfunctioned. I couldn't be that technologically impaired. "Stupid friggin' idiot!" I yelled as the voice continued.

"You always talk to your car?" a sexy voice asked.

I whipped my head around. Blood instantly flooded my cheeks when I saw Jett leaning against the garage wall. "I wasn't—" I shook my head and waited for the colour of my cheeks to return to normal before I got out of the car. "There's something wrong with the car's computer chip. I can't get the Sat Nav to turn off."

He started toward me. "Let me take a look."

I sucked in a sharp breath as he brushed past me and sat in the driver's seat. Within seconds, the annoying voice was silenced. "There you go."

I leaned into the car. "How the hell did you do that?"

He turned his head to look up at me, and I just about stopped breathing. Our faces were only inches apart.

"Um... never mind." I straightened, refusing to be so easily infatuated. "I won't be using that thing ever again." I stepped back, put my hand on the car door, and waited for him to get out.

An easy smile spread across his face. He turned the engine off, got out, and casually leaned against my car as if he belonged there. The self-confidence he exuded was like nothing I'd ever seen. I guessed that kind of thing only came with someone who had as much power as his family did. Thinking about his family's business should've sent me running, but Jett made me feel anything but scared. Maybe it had something to do with him possibly saving me from being raped. Victims were known to form attachments to their rescuers. But the problem with that theory was that I wasn't sure he had been my hero.

I noticed Jett was staring at me. "What?" I was happy for him to look at me for the next ten hours, but I didn't want him knowing that.

He smirked. "Nice way of saying thanks."

I dipped my head as my face flushed again. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." He pushed off the car and walked out of the garage. "See you around." He strolled down the driveway and onto the footpath without looking back.

I slammed the car door, closed the garage, and went into the house. I was so angry with myself for practically turning to putty whenever he was around. God, I didn't even need to be around him—I just needed to think about him. Maybe I had post-traumatic stress disorder and needed counseling after all because I definitely wasn't turning into that girl.