Page 138 of Soul So Dark
“You race a lot of things, huh?” I peer at him out of the corner of my eye.
“I used to have a fast car, too,” he smiles, letting up on the gas only slightly.
“You don’t anymore?”
He shakes his head with a hint of disappointment. “No, I still have the bike, but the car is long gone. Had to replace it with something more practical.”
I shoot him a coy smile. “Are you reliving your glory days in my car right now?”
“You could say that.” He doesn’t take his eyes off the road, but his dimples give away the smile lurking just beneath.
“What do you do for fun now that you don’t have a fast car? I mean, besides destroy other people’s cars with buckets of pickles.”
He breaks into a smile. “The usual—concerts, bikes, video games.But,if you still want to keep me around after tonight, maybe I can drive this one every once in a while.”
Jesse keeps sounding better by the minute.
“I guess that depends,” I cast him a sideways glance, “where are we going?”
“I don’t know,” he cocks his head pensively, “have you ever been out to the Iron Rail High Bridge?”
Instantly, my breath catches.
The old railroad bridge.
“Yeah, actually.” I clear my throat. “I grew up near there.” But I haven’t set foot there in six years.
“Really?” Jesse replies. “I’ve ridden some of the trails around there. Want to go?”
The truth is…I don’t know. But when I look at Jesse, I’m reminded that it was a long time ago. I didn’t know him back then, when everything happened at the end of freshman year—notreally.I met him in a mosh pit, then he disappeared, and now he’s traversed time and space like a relic from the past, except he doesn’t know about any of my baggage.
“Sure,” I finally say, this time with some resolve. “Let’s do it.”
As the Civic snakes up the windy road, I can’t help but laugh to myself at how much more I’m enjoying the ride up here this time around compared to the last, when I was crammed in an SUV with a bunch of girls while they talked about Colson and his friends—the fuckboys.
Gross.
I immediately recognize the stone wall at the overlook as Jesse comes to a halt in the clearing. He kills the engine and opens the door, exiting the car. But I’m still sitting in the passenger seat, contemplating whether to get out. But before I can make a decision, my door opens and Jesse leans down.
“Are you coming?” he asks, extending his hand to me.
Before I can talk myself out of it, I grab his hand and let him help me out of the car. But instead of letting me go, he rotates his hand and weaves his fingers through mine as he leads me across the clearing. We stop at the stone wall, pausing to look out over the vast expanse of forest.
When I look up at Jesse’s profile, he looks so content. I should be, too, but I’m still trying to tamp down all the dark memories threatening to ruin this moment.
He glances down at me, as though he can sense it. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just…”There’s no way I’m explaining all of this to him right now.“I haven’t been up here since I was 15. There was a lot of stuff going on back then that I don’t like thinking about.”
“I get it.” He leans back on the edge of the wall. “Do I just need to distract you? Talk sweet to you some more?”
“I wouldn’t say you’ve talked sweet to me,” I reply with a roll of my eyes.
“Really?Shit,” he chuckles. “I’m usually better at this.”
“Are you?”
He snaps his fingers. “You know what it is? You know me by how Ifeelinstead of how I sound.”
