Page 21 of Exile and Embrace

She pushes her sunglasses on top of her head, pinning those dark waves back.

“Finn, there is no way that you’re going to be the one doing all the driving for the rest of the trip. Once we’re done here, let me take a turn. Get some rest.”

“Not going to happen. You drove yesterday. My turn today.”

Ava rolls her eyes to the sky. Her chest rises and falls with the slow inhale. “You’re going to drive me insane. You’ve barely said a word to me since we left the motel. Now, you’re talking to me in as few sentences and syllables as possible.”

Even though I know I shouldn’t, I smirk. “Yup.” The pop I put at the end of the word makes her eye twitch.

Ava storms away from me, yanking open the door to the gas station.

It swings shut behind her while I hit the button to pop open the gas tank.

I’ve barely finished filling the car when she comes out with a bag full of snacks. Not a word leaves her mouth as she settles back into the passenger seat and rifles through her bag.

It’s only when she produces a chocolate bar that my stomach starts to growl.

I can’t remember the last time I had a good chocolate bar.

“Are you going to give me a piece of that?”

She glares at me as I slide back into the car before cramming the remaining half of the chocolate bar into her mouth.

I smother the smile that tugs at the corners of my mouth. Smiling right now would only piss her off more, and I really want some of her snacks.

“Come on. I’m hungry. Please tell me that there’s something for me to eat in that bag.” I twist the key in the ignition, still not quite used to driving a car again. When it rumbles to life beneath me, I clench the wheel a little tighter.

Ava opens a small bag of chips and tilts it upside down, dumping half the bag into her mouth.

“Fuck.” I reach over and snag the bag away from her. “You’re so fucking stubborn. I’m sure that stubbornness is going to be the reason I throw myself off a cliff while we’re in Oregon.”

She shrugs and looks out the window. “Well, maybe your ghost will talk to me more than you do.”

I set the bag in the cupholder and pull out a few chips. “Maybe.”

Ava’s face darkens to a bright shade of red. She reaches for the bag, aiming to steal the snack back, but I swat her hands away. “You don’t get snacks if you’re not going to play nice.”

“And who said that I was ever going to play nice?”

She pulls her sunglasses out of her hair and settles them back on the bridge of her nose. “We’re trapped together for the foreseeable future. If us getting tipsy last night and fucking is going to make you act like someone who’s never touched a woman and is absolutely terrified of them, then this is going to be a long fake engagement.”

Just the mention of what happened last night is enough to send the blood in my body rushing south.

I grunt at her, shifting in my seat just enough to relieve some of the ache.

“So…” I draw out the word until she glances over at me. “What’s the situation with your father?”

Even though we should clear the air about what happened last night, I don’t want to. Not if it means driving to Oregon with a raging boner.

Ava rolls her bottom lip into her mouth. “It’s a long story.”

“Good thing it’s a long drive.”

“My father sold my sister to a sex trafficker. Well, would you look at that. Not that long of a story after all.”

My knuckles turn white as I picture her father’s throat instead of the steering wheel. “Is there more to that story?”

“Not a whole lot. He always seemed like the doting father, which is why this doesn’t make sense. It’s why I need to get to Portland and get some answers. Going to my mother and asking about who my father really was isn’t an option.”

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