Page 61 of Surge

"I'm not hungry."

He turned the music up loud enough where I couldn't talk and peeled out of the parking lot.

About fifteen minutes later, we pulled into my driveway and he turned off the car, turning toward me. "Do you understand what happened back there?"

"He pulled you over because you're black."

He looked out the front window at the garage door. "My father warned me that the people... the police... wouldn't care how rich I am or what my last name is."

I put my hand on his arm and this time he let me. "You could report him."

He snorted. "And what are you going to do? Testify that my brake lights were fine?"

"If I need to."

"It won't matter. In that officer's eyes, I'm just a black man in an expensive car, driving through a rich town with a white girl in my passenger seat. I can't wait for this year to be over to go back to where I'm not judged." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Where is that?"

"Nowhere. Forget I said anything." He looked down at my hand on his arm. "You should get inside."

"Do you want to come in and work on homework or something?" I just wanted to make sure he was okay.

His eyes met mine. "Or something?" The corner of his mouth pulled up. Typical guy. "I thought you hated me."

"It's complicated." It was more complicated than I'd care to admit to him. "Thought you could use the distraction from... life."

I could use the distraction as well. For whatever reason, sitting in the car with him, despite what had just happened, had made me feel calm. I was probably just going crazy.

"I can come in for a bit."

He followed me to the door, and once we were inside, we dropped our bags. "I'd offer a tour, but you already know your way around, don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He flopped down on the couch and patted the seat next to him. "Let's talk."

My stomach growled and I pulled my uneaten dinner out of my bag. "Want a sandwich?" I unwrapped it and bit into it.

He grabbed it from me as I sat down and took a bite of it, scrunching his face. "It's drier than a piece of beached seaweed."

"That's an interesting comparison." I laughed and took the sandwich back, handing him the small bag of pretzels. "It fills me up."

"Do you not have any money?" He popped a pretzel in his mouth. "Jax said-"

"Why is he pretending he cares?" I put the half-eaten sandwich on the coffee table. "One minute you guys are threatening my best friend with a sex tape, and the next you're showing concern for me. It's like you have multiple personalities."

"We could say the same about you." He took a few more pretzels and threw the bag on the table. "One minute you hate our guts, the next you're inviting us into your house."

I pulled my leg up on the couch and turned toward him. "I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to answer me honestly."

He pulled his own leg onto the couch, his shin touching mine. "Depends what you're about to ask me."

"I saw you, Morgan, and Jax swimming that night." He was going to think I was crazy. "And I filmed it."

"Of course you did." He stood, looking down at me. "It wasn't on that camera?"

Before I could stop him, he reached for my bag and started looking for my cell phone. "It's not in there, and even if it was, I'm not stupid."

"You just told me you had a recording of us. That's pretty stupid." He dropped my bag and laced his hands behind his head again like he'd done in the parking lot. "You need to destroy it."

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