Page 11 of Cruel Devotion

He had. Over by the vertical outdoor heating elements on the patio space, he passed a joint to Britney.

Aha. No worries about stinking like weed, then, huh?

“There you are,” I said.

“Oh, hey. I was just about to come find you and see if you wanted to head out,” he replied. Tipping his head toward Britney, he smiled. “I was going to walk her back to her dorm.”

Bro’s getting some tonight.

“Yeah, sure. I’m done for the night.” It was unusual to leavethisearly, but I wasn’t feeling like myself tonight, and it wasn’t just because of Haley creeping into my thoughts.

“Yo, Eli,” someone else said from near the driveway. “Check this out.”

I walked over, shoving my hands into my pockets to keep them warm. Finn and Britney joined me, strolling toward the guy and taking in the sight of the classic car parked on the pavement. He was a closer friend of Preston’s than he was of mine, but he was an okay dude. I paid him to write one of my lame-ass Brit Lit papers the first week of the semester.

“Nice wheels, huh?” he said, opening the driver’s door to the antique. “Preston said his dad just got this thing for him as an early graduation gift.”

I scoffed, nodding. “Nice.” I wasn’t sure what else I could say. One of the clearest distinctions between me and Preston were our backgrounds. He came from money, and my family was strictly low-middle class. He had laidback parents who let him have wild parties at their mansion when they were out of town, and my parents were so strict and hard-to-please that they used a tracking device on my phone to know where I was. They didn’t trust me to do anything but throw a fucking football, and it had taken years not to let that sting as harshly.

“Wanna take it for a ride?” he asked as he turned the ignition and slid out of the seat.

“Nah.” I shook my head. “I’m good.” I had no interest in playing around with some rich dude’s toy. I wasn’t desperate to take a walk on the wild side like that.

“It looks so shiny,” Britney said, leaning down to peer through the windows.

“You can feel the horsepower.” Preston’s friend laughed. “Do me a favor. Step on the gas and rev her up.”

I only now remembered that this guy had been using crutches lately.

“Preston said I could come check it out, but the surgeon said I can’t put pressure on my foot for another three weeks.”

I chuckled. “Sure, I can sit in the car and rev it up. What, are you some antiques buff?”

“No. But I wouldn’t mind seeing this thing purr.” He walked around the car, getting in the passenger side.

“Eli, you sure?” Finn asked.

I waved him off. It wasn’t like I was drinking and driving. The car was parked and would remain so.

In the dark interior of the classic car, the hints of polished leather assaulted my nose. Itsmelledrich in here, like this was a car that the bluebloods of long ago drove.

“Damn…” I said slowly, running my hand over the dash.

“Isn’t it something else?” the other guy said, sitting in the passenger seat and closing the door. “Fuck. I’d kill to have something like this someday.”

Speak for yourself.I’d never owned a car at all, not even a beat-up clunker of a hand-me-down. Since my parents were too stingy to let me have a car, despite letting me get my license five years ago when I turned sixteen, I mooched off Finn all the time. Or walked.

“Go on.” He prompted me to step on the gas. “Let her purr.”

I smiled, feeling like I was someone else to fool around in here. I doubted I’d ever have another chance to sit in the driver’s seat of an expensive rarity like this again.

Moving my leg further in, I felt for the gas pedal and fitted the sole of my shoe over the flat piece. One downward flex of my foot made this bad boy growl with the raised throttle.

“Damn,” the guy said, laughing.

I stepped down again, increasing the pressure to keep the gas hitting the engine for longer, but the guy in the passenger seat leaned over. Before he could correct himself and sit straight again, he knocked his elbow into the gear stick.

Oh, shit.

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