Page 92 of Play Me
I also don’t know where Astrid and I go from here. I’m not even sure where she wants to go from this point. Desires and intentions have been put into the universe, and now they must be dealt with. But it’s not like Astrid is just another girl who I nearly kissed. It’s her. She’s my coworker and practically my boss.
Although I’d never admit that thought to her.
I climb into my seat and start the engine. Stretching my arm along the back of her seat and getting a whiff of her perfume in the process, I back out into the street. She sits quietly, not saying a word until I put the truck in drive.
“Is this a good time to bring up the fact that we brought Hartley?” she asks.
“Are you always in work mode?” I grin at her. “Sometimes you can let other people figure their shit out, you know.”
“Oh no. Not me. If I see a situation unfolding and it looks like chaos, I need to clean it up. Put things in order. And the fact that we just left your brother miles from his house without even letting him know really disturbs me in the greatest way.”
I chuckle. “Well, let me clue you in on a little fact. Hartley knows every person at the fair, so I have the utmost confidence that my little brother can figure out how to get home. Further, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hartley’s already home, in bed, with his eyes closed.”
Astrid eyes me skeptically.
“Hartley staying out late is like you letting someone else be in control.”
She scoffs. “While I understand that analogy, I’m sort of offended by it.”
“Good for you.” I stop at a sign and wait for a family to cross the street with their dog in tow. “So did you have fun at the fair?”
“That’s what you want to talk about?”
I shrug, looking at her puzzled. “What do you mean? I feel like that’s a reasonable, polite question to ask.”
“Okay. Fine.” She cocks her head to the side, mocking me. “Yes, Gray. I had such a lovely time at the Sugar County Fair. Your friends are so kind, except for Brooks, and I feel blessed to have experienced the local brew even though it tasted like warm kangaroo piss.”
“Did you just say warm kangaroo piss?”
She sits back as I press the gas again but doesn’t answer me.
“How in the hell do you know what warm kangaroo piss tastes like?” I ask, laughing. “And you were worried about rabbit shit giving you rabies. It sounds like you need to worry about something else.”
Astrid sighs. “It was an expression. You know what I mean. But in all seriousness, yes. I did have a nice time at the fair. It was … cozy. I’m not a hug lover by any stretch of the imagination, but it felt like a warm hug in an unobnoxious way.”
I bite my lip to keep from laughing and flip on my turn signal.
I’d love to know what’s causing Astrid to be so talkative tonight. I was afraid she’d clam up at the fair and not want to talk to anyone, but that wasn’t the case at all. She and Hartley spoke for quite a while. Brooks obviously engaged with her, the fucking dickhead. And I saw her laughing with Jasper and Meadow earlier in the evening.
Is it the alcohol? The fresh air? Is she just nervous?
Does she want fucked?
“Did you know that I’ve been to three festival-type situations in my life?” she asks.
“No, I didn’t know that. And while I don’t know the average number of fairs that people visit, I feel like that’s on the low end.”
“I went to one when I was six. I still have the glass bottle I filled with colored sand. Then I went with Gianna’s family when I was thirteen or fourteen to a fair in Kentucky. Audrey and I went to the state fair here a couple of years ago for a concert.”
“I’ve been to more than I care to remember,” I say, turning onto a gravel road. I discreetly reach down and adjust myself without her knowing. “Sugar County has this one in the spring, and then the town of Sugar Creek has one in the fall. We’d go to a few other local ones around, too. Dad loved nothing more than a good corn dog and throwing darts at balloons.”
She grins. “This sounds like a celebratory community.”
“You could say that.”
“I wish I could,” she says, a taunt thinly veiled in her tone. “I was hoping to have a firsthand account of fireworks tonight, if you catch my drift.”
My body tenses, every muscle growing so tight that I nearly wince.Is she serious right now? Because I can make that happen.I groan.God, I’d love to make that happen.
