Page 114 of Rebel Summer

“Fine.” I pulled a handful of candy out of the bag before handing it over to him. There was a narrow slit of a window in the center of the cage door. It was wide enough to deliver meals to people sitting inside and toss Tootsie Rolls toward the desk. My first attempt glanced off the corner of Beau’s desk.

“Pathetic, Books,” Dax said as he lined up his shot. I laughed when his attempt didn’t even make it to the desk.

“Eh, I’m not too worried,” I said, getting into the game. My enthusiasm began to wane, however, when after five minutes of trash talking and goading, the closest we’d come was wiggling the camera a bit.

“Are you regretting driving the car?” he asked, throwing another shot, his candy landing in a pile on Beau’s desk.

I thought for a moment. “No. I keep waiting for regret to show up, but so far…I’m still on a high.”

Dax shot me a look. “Maybe the high is from something else.”

Heat bloomed on my cheeks as wide as I took in a shaky breath. I needed to get a grip. I was in jail with Dax Miller.

JAIL.

This was not a time to flirt. I needed casual Dax and Ivy back if I was going to survive the night here. Currently, I had enough energy zipping through my body to power a small building.

“You mean when I actually got to drive the cult classic 1969 Chevy Chevelle?”

“The second-best thrill of the night.”

He leaned casually against the cell door, one hand in his pocket as he studied me. Every part of me wanted to walk up to him and bring us back to where we had left off in the car. Judging from the smoldering fire in his gaze, I’d bet he’d be willing.

Instead, I clasped the wall of the holding cell to keep me from moving toward him.

But my brain had already taken flight, soaring high in the clouds. I relived the strength of his arms pulling me onto his lap. The softness of his fingers brushing the hair from my face. His warm body pressed against mine, and the?—

“Are you leaving on Monday?”

His careful question pulled me from a car of tangled limbs and back to reality. His stormy eyes on mine.

“According to my dad.” I threw another candy, and to my shock and amazement, it was a direct hit. The camera tipped backward. I raised my hands in triumph.

Dax smiled. “Ten hours.”

Suddenly, I felt hollow inside. Like I’d spent all of my money riding a carnival ride that ended too quickly and left me feeling empty and slightly nauseous. The hours didn’t mean anything anymore. This past week, I had gotten really good at fooling myself into thinking that reality didn’t exist for me. That my summer on the island would never end. I walked farther into the cell, still not tempted by the frumpy bed and instead, sunk down the wall onto the cold ground at the foot of the bed.

“Do you want to go?” Dax sat against the opposite wall from me, his legs stretched out in front of him.

Did I want to go?

That was the question of the hour.

“I’ve worked my entire life to get a job like this. I finally get to teach a class. I don’t think I have much choice.”

“After the class, though? From what you told me on the boat, you’ll be doing more research.

“But I will be teaching one day,” I insisted. My voice was strong and clear, though in direct contrast to my cloudy thoughts. “Look, I know what I told you on the boat. It probably sounded bad. It’s a great career, and it’s paid for now, and I think I’ll enjoy it. It’s just hard to find jobs right out of graduation, so I…it’s hard to…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say or how to end it. My brain was a mess of words and numbers. My heart hadn’t even entered the chat.

His jaw clenched slightly as he looked away. “As long as it’s you that wants it. That’s great. But life is hard enough without trying to manage somebody else’s expectations.”

I didn’t have to ask who he was referring to.

“Look, things with my dad go back a long way.”

“Tell me.”

I scoffed. “We’re literally in jail right now. We don’t need to get into all of this. We need to sleep.”

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