Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Vernon was privileged.
And North Campinah, along with his three sons and one daughter, owned or ran almost the entire town. The main drive had been renamed Scott Campinah Drive.
That Campinah, the one who volunteered at the county’s fire station because… No one really knew. He was also twenty-six. No wonder Aly was shitting bricks right now.
I grinned. “I bet he has staminaaaaa.”
Harper barked out a muffled laugh.
Aly flushed, her shoulders loosening up. “God, you guys. He’s ten years younger than me.”
I shrugged. “Love is love.”
“I know, but ten years? Everyone we know has kids. I feel like I’m fucking a kid. And his dad…” She sighed. “He’s a member of the Good Ole Boys Network, if you get my drift.”
That soured me. Right. Asshole. But still… “Fuck him being a kid. He’s twenty-six, and I bet you he had to volunteer against his dad’s wishes. You know his dad just wants him to work for him. That takes character. Say it straight. I bet he’s mature, isn’t he?”
“I just don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Hello?” Harper burst out. “Why are we not talking about the good part? How’s the sex? You two were thumping all night that night.”
Aly turned red all over again.
I shook my head. So far the road trip was quite entertaining.
Aly shot Harper a glare. “You just wait. We’ve given you time after Justin left, but it’s your turn to talk too, buddy.”
He eyed her. She eyed him right back, for as long as she could before needing to look back at the road. Then Harper rotated around, finding me. I sat back, finding Aly watching me in the rearview mirror.
Right.
This was a coming clean sort of road trip. I’d not signed on for that.
I remembered another reason why the three of us became friends. We’d bonded over the not-talking part of hard life situations. Aly getting it from a rich twenty-six year old, Harper’s breakup, and all the shitshow in my life—dammit.
Why weren’t we flying?
It wasn’t until we were driving through Sullivan, Missouri, that Harper broke.
“Justin wanted to marry me. That’s why we broke up!”
“What?!” Aly said. “That’s amazing.”
“For you maybe, Miss I Want To Marry a Millionaire Farmer and Instead I’m Boinking a Super Hot and Young Fireman Stud. Marriage isn’t for everyone, sweetie.”
I grunted, on his side.
No one should get married.
Ever.
We’d been switching off driving, and I took over in Oklahoma City. I could go another four hours before needing to stop.
Harper had sprawled in the back, needing nap time. He’d been the last to drive. Aly could handle four hours. Harper could do two. Not me. I enjoyed a good eight hours. I forgot how much I loved road trips.
Good thing we hadn’t flown.
I was overruled.
We stopped in Amarillo, Texas, for the night. Sixteen hours on the road, and everyone was tired… Or they should’ve been.
I wasn’t.
I was wired, and I didn’t know why.
The closer we got to California, the more tight I felt.
It was as if I was a wire, and both ends were being tightened, tightened, tightened. I wasn’t quite to the point of snapping, but I was close.
Aly found me in the hotel’s bar. I was ready for bed, head wrap and all except my pajamas were a normal legging and an oversized sweater. My sleep tank was underneath.
She slid into the chair across from me and eyed my drink.
“You know all about my bed-capades with Scott, and now we know we don’t need to hate Justin. Him wanting to marry Harper is a good thing. But hon?”
I bristled, hating and loving that hon part. I knew I wouldn’t want to hear what she was going to say. But I also knew she loved me, and that’s why she was going to say what she was going to say.
“It’s been three months, almost four. You don’t get on with your sister, but here we are—on a road trip going to get her. You gotta talk.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “You know you gotta talk.”
I didn’t want to talk.
That meant thinking about what he’d done to me, remembering it, being back there, and God, I didn’t want to go back there. Also, Shane’s question haunted me.
Why had I stayed? I didn’t know myself.
I shook my head. “I can’t. Not yet.”
She tapped my drink. “You are not a drinker, and you’re here after riding for sixteen hours, having a drink. Kali, that says everything.”
That wire tightened another notch, but I still didn’t snap. Not yet.
It was coming.
9
SHANE
“How’s it going in Frisco?”
I was surprised Max held off as long as he had. We’d arrived two weeks ago, and since then it’d been a shitshow.
Which is what I told him, adding, “What did you expect?”
I’d taken his call outside The Bonfire, a local hangout we’d adopted with the other Red Demons already in the local Frisco charter. It was a bar just for us, and instead of being on the outskirts of town, which is what we usually chose so we could be rowdy and not get complaints, The Bonfire was smack dab on the main street that ran through Frisco.