Page 78 of Crave Me

Chapter Twenty-Six

Dallas

“You’re late, dickhead,” Sawyer spits at me.

“So, blow me, shithead.”

I toss my bag and gear into the back of Carter’s SUV and move to help tie down our snowboards to the roof.

“Off to a fantastic start fam! Sooo excited to be stuck in a fuckin’ car with you three cheerful Sally’s for the next six fuckin’ hours,” Carter chastises.

“Are you leaving your pregnant wife behind, Casanova?” Sawyer quips back.

“Ah, so lover boy is out? I’m good with Casanova. And fuck no, I will never be a father. I’ll be the cool-as-shit funcle who lets them have extra cake on their birthday and try weed for the first time when they’re teenagers,” Carter says, and I laugh loudly.

“Do you wanna die, asshole?” Sawyer says through his teeth. Carter’s right, he’s much grouchier than normal, so I simmer down a bit.

Sawyer and I step on the side bars on opposite ends of the SUV and reach over to lock everything in place on the roof.

“Hey, you doin’ okay? Kinsey is staying with her, she’ll be fine, you know that, right?”

“I’m just not ready to be away from her. I just got her back.”

“I get it. But you made her your wife and put a baby in her, she’s not runnin’ this time.”

“Yeah. You’re right, just uneasy.”

We tighten the straps down tight, making sure our precious cargo doesn’t go anywhere when we’re flying down the highway. Sawyer double-checks the straps before speaking, “Yep! that ain’t goin’ anywhere. Alright, we’re good to go. Get in, idiots, we got a mountain to get to!”

Signaling the end of our conversation, the four of us climb into the car and get comfortable for a long-ass drive up north. Mount Baker, get ready for the Hayes boys.

About an hour into the drive, Carter pulls out his cooler with road sodas and cracks one open, handing it to me before doing the same for himself. I take a long pull of the beer, even though it’s the ass crack of dawn still. My head is still fuzzy from everything that happened with Blaire. I’ve never experienced anything like that before, so fully lost to another person. She’s so damn perfect. I fucking hate that I have to leave her for two days.

Liam continues to play his shitty-ass music from the passenger seat, nineties alternative rock blaring from the speakers. If he plays something by Third Eye Blind one more time I’m tempted to tie him by his ankles and drag him from the tailgate the rest of the way to Demming. I relax in my seat and try to tune out the noise, looking out my window at the cars we pass on the highway like I did when I was a kid, bored out of my damn mind.

“Hey, Casanova,” I say to my youngest brother, “dare you to moon this semi comin’ up.”

“Hold my beer.”

Carter hands me his drink, unbuckles and lifts himself so his ass is in the window, drops his pants, and does a little shake just as we’re passing the semitruck. A horn blares several times and we both lose it, laughing in our seats.

“Are you two fuckin’ ten? You’re gonna get us killed. Haven’t you seenJoy Ride?” Liam yells at us from the passenger seat.

“You talking about the movie with Paul Walker?” I ask, still wheezing in laughter.

“Yes, idiot and Steven Zahn.”

“Who cares, he’s not going to track us down and try to kill us, just laugh and quit being a little bitch.”

“You wanna walk the rest of the way?”

I roll my eyes and look at Carter, who’s still laughing. At least he’s trying to have some fun. Sawyer and Liam need to take a chill pill, or this is going to be the year we all kill each other on this trip.

Five long-ass hours later, including a handful of stops to grab food and switch drivers, we pull up to our Airbnb not a second too soon. Carter throws it in park, and hauls ass up to the front door, fumbling with the keypad to unlock it, I’m assuming to take a leak.

“Fuckin’ finally. Being cramped in there with you idiots once a year is enough to drive me mad,” Sawyer says as he steps out of the passenger seat and stretches his body.

“You know we still have to drive back, right?” I ask just to piss him off.

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