Page 80 of Heart Sick Hate

“Of course you did.” I roll my eyes as Crew’s phone starts ringing through the car speakers.

“What?” he answers.

“Have you seen Echo?” Rhett’s voice comes through, and my insides are in knots.

“No, why?” He glances over at me and smirks.

Asshole.

“Just checking.” He pauses, clicking his tongue. “I heard Adam came to see you.”

“Mm-hmm.”

He looks away now, his jaw clenching. Crew rarely sees Adam, so I’m not sure what to make of the tension that welled at Rhett’s comment.

“Everything good then?” Rhett asks.

“Fucking peachy as always.” But Crew sounds the opposite of it.

“All right. You coming to dinner tonight?”

“I had to take a quick trip out of town. Sorry.”

Now I can’t help but wonder if this wasn’t planned specifically to avoid something.

“I’ll be back in a day or two,” Crew says, gripping the steering wheel.

“Let me know if you hear from Echo.” Rhett’s tongue clicks with the word, and the tension is palpable in the car—in all the things being left unsaid.

“Sure thing.”

“And Crew…” Rhett pauses. Silence so thick you could slice it. “Never mind, we’ll chat when you’re back.”

Crew ends the call, and we sit in silence for a minute. I’m not sure if he’s waiting for me to call Rhett or jump out of the car, but I don’t do either. Crew’s avoiding something by taking me to Oakland, and I need the escape right now.

As if he reads my mood, he reaches over, planting his hand on my bare thigh. “It’ll be all right.”

I’m not sure he can make that kind of promise, but it feels good to hear it from him, so I lace my fingers through his and tip my head back.

“You can pick the music if you want.” He tips his chin to the stereo feeding music through the car speakers.

Someone is screaming while the drums go wild.

“It’s fine.”

“You don’t like this music.”

“Doesn’t matter.” I close my eyes and lose myself in the screams. “I don’t want to think right now.”

He releases my leg to turn the music up. It’s terrible. Loud.

It’s Crew.

But instead of grabbing the wheel, he takes my hand again. And all I can do is hope the screams and the road help me escape whatever feeling wells up when he does.

The car turns and my neck jerks, waking me up. Crew squeezes my hand, and I glance over at him.

“You’re cute when you sleep. Almost sweet.”

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