Page 48 of Honeysuckle
“You were just there.”
“Some of us have lives outside of Harbor,” I bit out, reaching through the open window in the backseat to pop the lock on the car. I chucked my duffle bag in and turned to look at him. “I’ll be back. You can tuck me in later—how’s that sound?”
“Patronizing.” He rolled his pretty blue eyes at me, and I had to shove back the snarl that formed on my lips at the traitorous feeling of thinking it was cute. “Your girlfriend might not like it, though.” He smiled.
“If that’s you fishing, I don’t have a girlfriend,” I said as my phone vibrated again. I looked down to see the texts rolling through and shoved it away in my back pocket.
“Tell your girlfriend that.” Dean looked at the phone with a smug expression.
“You’re going to have to work a lot harder than that to get under my skin, Tuck,” I said. My tone was controlled, but all I wanted to do was get on the highway and scream at the top of my lungs.
The irritation building from the constant vibrating in my pocket, combined with Dean’s incessant need to figure me out, was making me lose my mind.
“Doesn’t look all that hard.” Dean smirked.
I wanted to hit him.
What would that solve?Nothing. It would simply be kicking the Hornet's nest, and they were already operating on a hair trigger with me as the target.
“You gonna make it into Lorette in that thing?” He asked next, when I didn’t respond fast enough.
“I made it here in this thing.” I scowled at him and popped the driver's side door. “Not everyone has a daddy to buy them a brand new truck,” I snapped, looking at the deep red vehicle behind him.
“It’s been sitting on the lot in the cold, but…whatever you say, Logan.” He stepped back from the car. "And it’s aJeep, not a truck.”
“Oh, so twice as expensive. Did he wrap it up with a bow for you?” I rolled my eyes and slammed the car door in Dean’s face. I shoved the keys in the ignition and prayed that the car didn’t embarrass me. For the first time since I pulled it from the junkyard on Twenty-second Street, it started without trouble.
It had taken me two weeks to get it running—and a new block heater tokeepit running—but it did its job when I needed it to, and I didn’t have to bus anymore. I pulled noisily from the parking lot, leaving the team behind, and for the first time in two weeks, I was finally alone.
I gripped the wheel tightly, inhaling as deeply as I could, and screamed.
I didn’t stop until I couldn't breathe, and then I did it all over again.
It felt fucking amazing.
Every ounce of malice poured out and dissipated into the air. I hadn’t realized how much pent-up aggression I was holding onto until that point, but with it all out of my body, I loosened my grip on the wheel and let my shoulders relax back against the cracked leather seat.
The engine gurgled, causing the car to sputter and skip.
“Fuck,” I swore, as smoke began to billow from beneath the hood.
TUCKER
Thesmokewasthefirst tell that his car was on my side.
I pulled up behind him on the road and hopped out onto the pavement, checking for cars before heading to his driver’s side.
I watched his chest rise and fall in one very angry breath before he rolled the window down. “Don’t say it,” he grumbled.
“I won’t.” I shrugged; I felt bad for him. His comment about my vehicle hadn’t been wrong. My parents had bought it for me on my eighteenth birthday. It was a present for graduating and I was making payments on it, but that wasn’t the point.
It was a show of wealth, and I had rubbed it in his face.
“Get in theJeep,” I teased.
“I’ll call a cab, Tuck. I don’t need your charity.” He waved me off, but I didn’t move.
“It’s not charity. You can take my dinner schedule for the week to pay for gas,” I offered, knowing that showing him it wasn’t a handout would help. That was the thing about Josh—he needed to feel like he was doing it on his own or he wouldn’t do it at all. I had figured that much out over the last two weeks.
