Page 63 of The Devil's Fire

“I promise I will make it up to you when you come back, okay?” my father embraced me and kissed the top of my head before leaving.

“Looks like it’s just the two of us, Michael. What do you want to do?”

Michael had an exaggerated thinking face with his index finger and thumb on his chin. Then he snapped his fingers as an idea popped into his head.

“I know exactly where to go! You will love it there.” He rose to his feet and grabbed my hand.

“Oh, where?” I asked excitedly.

“It’s a surprise.” He snickered.

“I hate you.” I groaned. I love surprises, but only if I didn’t know about them. To tell me it was a surprise was something my curiosity couldn’t handle.

And he knew that.

“You know, since I’m leaving in a few days…” I trailed off and Michael glanced at me. “Can I drive your car?”

“Ha! No.” He scoffed.

“Come on, Michael! Let me just try it this once, and I promise I won’t ever ask you again!” I put my hands together and gave him my best puppy eyes. “Please?”

He gave me a long look, with a small frown forming on his face.

“… Fine.” He sighed, not happy about it. “But only this time!” He looked at me firmly to make it clear.

My eyes widened when my pleading actually worked.

“Oh my God, I love you!” I gave him one big, tight hug before I ran to the driver’s seat, but stopped when Antonio made his way to me.

“Antonio, we are just going for a ride, and maybe grab something to eat.” I smiled. Instead of saying anything, he looked back and forth between us before shaking his head.

“No. You’re driving with me.”

“You don’t get it,I’m finally allowed to drive his car.” I tried to explain to him how big of a deal this was.

“I don’t care. You’re driving with me.”

“Don’t tell her what to do.” Michael got in his face. My heart started racing when I saw Antonio’s face darken.

“And what are you going to do about it?” He stepped closer to Michael, daring him to challenge him.

“Michael, don’t…” I grabbed his arm to pull him back. I feared they would try to kill each other. And how exactly do you stop a fight like that? Fucking beats me.

“Please, Antonio, can you just follow us in your car?” I asked with a soft smile. I had to separate these two quickly before things escalated.

Antonio gave Michael a long stare and then walked back to his car. My shoulders sagged in relief.

“Come on, let’s have fun!” I tried to lighten the mood and skipped to the driver’s seat.

As soon as I sat in the car, Michael started cracking up like crazy. He was laughing his head off, teasing me about my short legs and the fact that I had to move the seat all the way up to reach the pedals.

“Don’t crash, the airbag will kill you.” Michael continued with his lame jokes.

“Shut up before I kick your ass!”

“With what? With those short legs?” He screamed with laughter and slapped himself on the thigh.

“You’re such a bully.” I grumbled and started the car with a roar, and the sound filled me with exhilaration as I drove.

---