Page 53 of Muddy Messy Love

Slade shakes his head. “Not mine. It’s my cousin’s. He owed me a solid. Let me have it for the night to take out my chicky-babe.”

His girl. His chicky-babe.Wow, I really have come up in the world.

“Didn’t know you were a Bellamy Ford fan, by the way.” I grin, and Slade’s neck blooms pink up to his cheek. It’s the first time I’ve seen him blush, and I bite back my amusement.

He recovers quickly. “You know damn well I’m not. Had to get your attention somehow, and chicks love that mushy shit.”

I roll my eyes. He shouldn’t have spoken. He killed it.

Slade looks at me, noticing I’m unimpressed. “Aw, c’mon, babe, don’t be like that. I meant every word.” He squeezes my thigh before returning his eyes to the road, and I stare at him, perplexed. The “bullshit” sign flashes violently in my head, but it needn’t bother. I already know. What I’m wondering is if he’s always been this transparent? Or did his skills deteriorate in jail? In any event, staying detached will be easier than I thought.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“The boys are hanging at Razz’s. Thought we could swing by. Introduce you.”

Once upon a time, meeting his tribe would have made my life. Now I’m wondering why he bothered asking me out if he wants to smoke weed and play Xbox with his mates. Cole jumps to mind then, stirring my stomach. I’ll bet he’s at home playing with Ella. Or cosied up with Hannah on the couch. What I wouldn’t give for that placid life. The white picket fence. Stability. A soft place to fall amid the scent of freshly baked cookies. Hannah strikes me as the type who’d bake.

My stomach grumbles, but I blame it on a hunger easily fixed. “Think we could grab food first?”

Slade nods once, then cranks the music. More hammering EDM. I open the window an inch to rid the stale ashtray stench and watch everyone go about their business trapped in their own little worlds. I don’t like deceiving Beth. It feels awful. I should have told her the truth and dealt with her ire. After everything she’s done, it’s the least I could do.

You’re rotten, Avery Lee, and everyone can smell it.

The quaint sandstone shopping centre has a chemist, delicatessen, hairdresser, and fish-and-chip shop, all lined up under a grapevine-lavished bullnose verandah. It’s desertedconsidering the time, yet Slade parks down an adjacent street rather than the car park.

He cuts the engine and looks at me. “Fish and chips it is. I’ll grab some for the lads too. They’ll have the munchies.”

We climb out the car, and Slade tucks my hand in his as we walk. The public display of affection shocks me. Other than that night at Mia’s and last Monday’s hug, it’s never happened. Too risky. Someone might have seen, and Zoe might have found out. I can’t say it doesn’t feel nice either, because it does. His hand is warm. Skin pleasantly rough. But it doesn’t fit mine like I imagined, and it’s sad we never did this before fucking.

Across the car park, tyres screech, gravel spits, and the air electrifies. Slade and I freeze, gaping at a black coupe that jerks to a stop five metres away, chrome rings looped across its grille. Wheels like golden starbursts.

“What the fuck?” Slade says as the driver’s door flies open.

A figure surges from the seat, and my blood drains into my boots. “C…Cole?” His shoulders are rigid. Fists clenched. WTF line trebled in fury. But his glare isn’t pointed at me—rather, Slade.

What the hell?

Slade looks down at me and tugs the side of his mouth into a smirk. “Aw, you got a jealous boyfriend, Aves? You shoulda told me.”

Dropping Slade’s hand with a brusque shake of my head, I intercept Cole’s charge and stop him. His chest burns against my palms, and a current tingles through my arms, but I’ve come to expect as much when we touch. It’s like our energy melds in some delicious way. “Why are you here?” I hiss.

He rips his eyes away from Slade and meets mine. The anger in them softens, but his chest heaves with flustered breaths. “Get in my car, Avery.” He refixes his gaze on Slade, and his nostrils flare, but I stiffen.

“What? No. Why would I do that?”

“Avery,” he growls, this time without sparing me a glance. “Get. In. My. Car.” He steps around me and charges for Slade. He grips him by his hooded collar, twisting the fleece in his fist, and my mouth gapes.

Cole leans into Slade’s face, towering over him a good three inches. His body is lean and muscular—elegant—compared to Slade’s jailhouse bulk. “You’re a piece of shit. You know that?” Cole spits.

“That right, pretty boy?” Slade smirks in classic Slade style. “If you’d kindly remove your hands, I’m sure we can settle this like gentlemen.”

Cole growls. “She could go to prison if she’s caught in that hot car of yours. Do you know that? Do you even care?”

My heart trembles, and my stomach splats to the ground. I look at Slade as my head grows dizzy. “You… You stole it?” The question comes strangled and high, and Slade presses his mouth into a hard line, darting his gaze to the ground.

Oh my God.

My body sways.

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