Micah frowned. That was rude, even if the man wasn’t exactly wrong. (He’d caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror after his shower this morning, and the bags under his eyes rivaled the size of some of the potholes on Queen’s side streets.)

Anyway, Zoe – who’d once again been pulled away by her impatient co-worker – was probably right. It was time for him to head home. “I was just getting an Uber, actually,” Micah said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and wincing when he saw he had three missed calls from Tessa. She must have dropped by his apartment and was probably wondering where he was.

“Let me drive you,” Ren offered. “That way you don’t have to worry about fare. Plus, the back seat of my van is really spacious.”

Micah fought to mask his incredulity, but he didn’t think he completely managed it. Did that line actually work on people?

“That’s okay. I wouldn’t want to put you out.”

If Micah was looking, he probably would have seen the annoyance cross Ren’s face before he schooled his expression, but he was too busy searching his pockets for whatever spare cash he had to leave as a tip. “You wouldn’t put me out. It’d be my pleasure.”

Micah put his money on the countertop before climbing down from his chair. “The Uber’s only five minutes out, so… thanks, but no thanks.” He turned to walk away, but-

“At least let me wait with you!”

Micah tensed when the man – Ren – grabbed his shoulder. Even with his thought process being fogged by too much vodka, he knew Ren was being weirdly persisted.

“Like the bartender said, there’s a lot of creeps out there.”

She was referring to you, Micah wanted to say. But the Uber was only five minutes away, and he doubted the guy would try anything on a public sidewalk, so after a moment, Micah just shrugged. “It’s a free country.”

He regretted his compliance almost immediately.

Ren didn’t say anything while they waited outside for Micah’s Uber – just stared at Micah out of the corner of his eye – like he was trying to be subtle, but failing miserably. The silence was painfully awkward, and Micah was debating the merits of canceling the Uber and just walking to the subway when-

“Did you hear that?”

Micah felt himself tense in reaction to Ren suddenly whipping his head around in the direction of a nearby alley.

Micah frowned. “No.”

“It sounded like shouting, like someone was yelling for help.”

Admittedly, Micah was pretty buzzed, but he didn’t think he was so drunk that he’d miss a noise like that. Regardless he took a step closer to where Ren indicated and listened closely.

After a minute of nothing but silence – well, as silent as it got on a city street, anyway – Micah shrugged. “It was probably just a stray.”