Page 556 of Hell Hath No Fury
“This isn’t an off-road vehicle, you dick.” Bellamy frantically steered around tree trunks and massive boulders, tossing Wolf and me around like rag dolls. Branches smacked the windows, driving my anxiety levels up. Then suddenly, the thick foliage parted and the headlights reflected off a lake.
“Brake, Bell. Brake!” Hendrix shouted, then grabbed onto Bellamy’s leg like he could force it over the pedal. “Push it down, you ball of shit.” More weed-scented smoke filled the car. “Make your brakes your bitch!”
“Oh, shit, Nora.” Wolf dropped the hand holding his joint. “I hope you can swim…”
I stared ahead at the dark lake we were hurtling toward. I could swim but not while trapped in a sinking car in muddy, dark water. The thought had my chest squeezing in panic. I grabbed Wolf’s hand, squeezing his fingers in a death grip as I watched the water loom closer and closer.
“Fucking shit!” Bellamy pumped the brakes so hard his knee hit the steering wheel. “We’re going in!”
Hendrix grabbed the handle to his window and frantically rolled it down. “When we go in,” he said way too calmly, “just swim out the windows.”
I reached for the handle of my window, but it swung limply around, doing fucking nothing! “It’s broken!”
The car skidded in the grass. Slowing, but not fast enough. I held my breath and tensed, ready for the impact, and then—wham! I slammed against the back of Bellamy’s seat when the vehicle came to a sudden halt.
The headlights shined over the water only a few feet away, and everyone in the car took an audible breath. “Way to use those brakes, Bell,” Hendrix mumbled.
Wolf passed the joint to me. “Wanna toke?”
I yanked my hand from his and snatched the joint, inhaling while I glared at the back of Hendrix’s head. “Swim out the window?” I took a couple more drags until my heart slowed and my muscles uncoiled.
“It’s solid advice.”
“Not when the window is broken!”
“Hendrix,” Wolf huffed, “you don’t even know what solid advice is.”
Bellamy put the car in reverse, and we slowly started back up the hill. “That’s the damn truth.”
By the time they dropped me off at home, I was semi-high, fully traumatized, and thanking God I hadn’t been brought back here in a cop car or a hearse.
CHAPTER THREE
Nora
All day Saturday, Wolf and I sent teasing texts back and forth. He told me to wear a lace thong, but I had a better idea…
Drew’s Porsche turned onto Victory Lane. The Hunt brother’s house sat at the end of the street, in the dark, the white peeling paint bright in the moonlight. Music thumped through the open windows. People crowded the sagging porch.
Drew parked by the curb. “I still don’t understand why you called Wolf to pick you up instead of me.”
“Everyone knows, if your car breaks, you call those guys.”
“Or…” She opened the door and got out. “You like him.”
“Nowthat is far-fetched.” And that, I was pretty sure was a lie even though I didn’t want to admit it.
I enjoyed our banter way too much. While there was a lot of foreplay, there was also a lot of hanging out before and after. Watching TV. Talking. I chalked it all up to us being polite, but deep down, I knew it was much more. I carefully climbed out of the low-sitting car. Drew’s dress I’d borrowed was short, and instead of the lace thong, I’d opted not to wear underwear. It would make mine and Wolf’s rendezvous that much easier.
“I thought you were over your hatred of Bellamy,” she said.
“Just becauseyousee the benefits of his dick does not meanIlike him. I tolerate him.”
We stepped onto the sagging porch just as the sound of something shattering came from inside. I tried to think whatthey could be breaking. Not like Hendrix had a lot to smash in his house, aside from the TV… maybe windows.
“This is going to be such a shitshow,” I mumbled.
“When has there ever been a single party at Hendrix’s house that wasn’t a shitshow?” Wasn’t that the damn truth?
