Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“How so?” he asked, arching a brow.
“Easy. Drop me off at the airport, and I’ll call my mom and dad, tell them I just landed. They’ll pick me up, and then when the tournament is over, I’ll have them take me back and you can pick me up again. Trust me — they don’t check my flights anymore. They’re used to me just taking off and going places. And this way, no one will see us together.” I leaned an elbow on the console, then rested my chin in my hand as I smiled up at him. “Our little secret is safe, Brittzy. Promise.”
He frowned at that, and I saw his fear wash away, something like guilt and regret taking its place. “Grace, I hope you don’t think—”
“TAKE THIS EXIT!”
I cut Jaxson off with excitement buzzing through me, my eyes glued to the billboard until we blew past it.
“Wha—?”
“Now!” I said, grabbing for the wheel. I made sure the exit lane was clear, and then tugged enough to steer us toward it.
Jaxson slowed down, batting my hand away as he took over. “Okay, crazy, please don’t get us killed.” He shook his head, but he was watching me with both confusion and amusement as I bounced in my seat. “You have to pee or something?”
“Nope, I just found our next road trip pit stop.”
He cocked a brow, pulling to a stop at the red light waiting at the bottom of the exit. And it was perfect, because all I had to do was hold my grin and point to the sign across the street.
IRIS FESTIVAL — 17.4 MILES
It had an arrow pointing to the right, and I waggled my brows when Jaxson looked back at me. I’d completely forgotten the Iris Festival was happening, and we’d just happened to drive through the right part of Kentucky that we ran into it. It was an EDM festival, a multi-day one with dozens of artists and thousands of attendees. I knew without looking that a general admission ticket would be all we could get this late, but that was all we needed to get in and dance.
Jaxson sighed like it was the last thing he wanted to do.
But he cut the wheel right, and I thought I saw him smile when I threw my hands up in an excited squeal of victory.
Big Fucking Trouble
Grace
The Iris Festival sprawled the length of three football fields, with two grand stages and a playground of fair-like games and rides in-between. We heard the music before we even parked, and now that we were inside, it thumped through me like a heartbeat.
“This is heaven,” I said, eyes wide as I took in the sparkly outfits, the creative flags flying from poles in every direction, the bubbles and the glitter and the lights. Everyone was smiling, laughing, dancing, and just… vibing.
“You think God likes to party, huh?” Jaxson asked, looking around with a mixture of awe and concern. He had on dark aviator glasses and had pulled his ballcap low to hide his face. I hadn’t even thought about that — him getting mauled by fans — until we’d pulled into the parking lot. But when I’d given him an out, he declined, saying it would be fine.
He assured me he wasn’t as recognizable as my brother was, that only real hockey fans tended to realize who he was.
Still, that had to be hard, to have to think about that any time you wanted to leave the house.
“Oh, she definitely does,” I said. “She also approves of cute rave outfits and house music.”
“God is a woman now?”
“Always has been. Keep up,” I teased, and then I threaded my arm through his and dragged him toward the Ferris wheel.
Fortunately, no one realized who Jaxson was. My bet was they were likely high and wouldn’t recognize their own brother if he were here, let alone a hockey player from Tampa. It may also have been that even if he had been recognized, everyone left him alone.
Whichever it was, I was thankful. It felt like I had Jaxson all to myself.
We didn’t talk about how long we planned to stay, but hours passed in what felt like minutes. We rode the fair rides — bumper cars, the zipper, a huge slide we rode down on something that looked like a burlap sack. Our favorite was the Gravitron, a spaceship-looking contraption that spun us around so fast we stuck to the wall inside it. I tried to hold my hand out and ended up having it come back and slap me right in the face because I couldn’t fight the centrifugal force. I’d never seen Jaxson laugh harder than he did then.
We ate turkey legs and funnel cake and drank blue lemonade out of a cup shaped like an alien.
We wandered the vendor booths, where I found a light-up pink cowgirl hat and a pair of yellow star sunglasses that I immediately had to purchase. I also wrangled Jaxson into an LED mask with lights that danced to the beat of the music.