Page 56 of Worlds Collide

Oh God, what if he’s not?What if he does like me like this? I don’t like me like this—mostly because no one’s ever reallylikedme. My brother has tolerated me all these years, I know that’s true, but I guess Derek does like me. Or at least he used to...

“Fuck,” I hiss down at my feet then look up at CJ. “Fine, but you’re going to regret giving me any kind of say as to where all that money goes.”

“I don’t think I will. Now, why don’t you go through the house and grab anything you want to take with you and I’ll finish packing up here. I know what you’ll need.”

“Okay, but please packsomeclothes. I know you secretly want to keep me as your sex slave, but we do have to go out sometimes.”

He snorts and shoves me toward the closet door. “Go.”

I don’t know how, but he just made me smile less than an hour after one of the most upsetting things that have happened in my life.

CJ is his own kind of magic, and I want to bask in him.

I go through the house, thinking that I might not actually get back here for longer than three months. With the way I’m feeling right now, I really don’t think being close to Hawk is possible at all, so I pack up two of my guitars, all my Mom’s notebooks, and my own. I grab a few hard drives and my laptop, and lastly, I take my favorite photo of Mom. I don’t know exactly when it was taken, but it had to have been around her early twenties when she arrived in LA with Aunt Lyla, because she looks like a baby.

It’s the way I always want to remember her.

I go up and find CJ muttering to himself, something about a steamer? And he’s folding my shirts neatly.

“You’re gonna have a real hard time with me if you’re a neat freak.”

“Please,” he scoffs without looking up—I guess he heard me coming. “I’m just neat. You’re a slob. I have to go to the cottage to get my things, but I’ll be back?—”

“I’m done packing.” I put everything I collected in the second suitcase and close it without another thought.

“Fine,” CJ says with a sigh and an eye roll then stands. “You’re gonna need your passport.” He kisses me quickly, and leaves me temporarily shut off or some shit then walks by me. “I’ll just go quick?—”

“Wait,” I tell him urgently. “I’ll go get Rich and we’ll meet you up there with the car so you don’t have to bring you bags here.”

“Oh, good idea.” He nods and walks away.

“Passport?” I whisper to myself. Where the hell is he taking me?

“Italy?”I demand when CJ finally tells me. I nagged him while we drove all the way to LA so he could get some things, including his passport, from his apartment. But it’s only now, after he’s back in the SUV and his suitcase is in the trunk, that he’s finally told me.

“Yes. The best place in the world.”

“Uhh.” I stall for something to say. Just the thought of being so far away from home...

From Hawk and Derek.

Fuck. Okay, looks like we’re going to fucking Italy.

“I don’t know about the best,” I say, just to contradict him. I’m nice like that. God, what does the guy see in me?

“It is. Especially Lake Como. The villa is a bit old fashioned, but all the bathrooms were updated a couple of years ago, I think.” He frowns to himself but then looks back up and smiles. “It’s hard to get there unless you have a boat because the road is narrow and twisty and all of that, but we have a boat.” He smiles triumphantly but Rich, the mean man, bursts his bubble.

“We’re going to need a vehicle,” he says without mercy.

“There are cars at the villa,” CJ says without missing a beat. “We’ll get the boat from the marina in Como, and sail over to the house and park the boat there.”

“Do you know how to drive a boat?” I ask CJ, kinda expecting him to sayobviously, I’m a trust fund baby. But once more, Rich butts in.

“I do.”

“Of course you do,” I mutter.

“What’s that?” he asks from the front. “You’re thankful I’m going with you so no crazies kill you? Aww, don’t mention it, it’s myjob. And no matter how hard you make it, I’ll do it.”

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