Page 31 of First Comes Revenge

I like how comfortable he is touching me. I like how he always makes me feel like I’m under his protective wing.

We stand in pleasant silence for a minute or two before a car pulls up.

“Our chariot,” he says, gesturing to the car.

I let him open the door of our ride for me. He comes around the other side and thanks the driver, who is a very large, very round man with thinning hair. “Sure, sure,” the driver says.

“You keep saying you’re a rogue,” I say to Jameson. “But you act more like a gentleman. Opening doors for me. Using your fancy legal team to try to fix my problem. Taking me on sweet fake dates… I have to say I’m beginning to think you lied to me and you’re actually a decent guy.”

“No, never,” he says. “The gentleman act just gets you to let your guard down. Trust me. My true intentions are entirely rogue-like.”

“The zoo, eh?” the driver asks loudly. He turns halfway in his seat, paying concerningly little attention to the merging maneuver he’s attempting.

“That’s right,” Jameson’s voice is tight. He gestures toward the road. “Ideally, we wanted to arrive in one piece.”

“Hah!” The driver laughs and cranes his neck all the way around to try to share a smile with Jameson. “You want gum? Either of yous? I charge less than the gas station. I got a guy who hooks me up with gum in bulk. Whole pack for two bucks, one piece for a quarter. But if you take any, you gotta give me five stars, see?”

“Um, no thanks,” I say.

“He’s got a little deal with a guy who unloads the palettes down at the dock. One or twos go missing and nobody is too upset, you understand? He still has to find transportation for them and handle distribution, so it’s not like he can give the gum away or nothin. But if you want any, I can get it to you cheap. Call it three packs for two bucks. One time offer.”

“If I buy your gum, will you watch the road?” Jameson asks.

“Five stars and I’ll watch the road, sure.”

Jameson stuffs a twenty-dollar-bill in the cup holder and gives me an exasperated look. “Keep the gum. Just get us there alive.”

I smile at him. For some reason, I think he’s only so worried about this guy’s driving because I’m in the car. I’m used to protectiveness from my brother, but Jameson’s flavor of protection is different. I love my brother, but it usually feels like his protectiveness comes from a place of pride. Like he sees a sleight against me as a sleight against his own honor. Jameson seems to genuinely care about me.

It’s probably sad that the way Jameson acts towards me feels so new and exciting. Having a guy be decent shouldn’t be such a novelty.

Our driver nearly crashes several times. Once was because he craned his neck to look at some young woman on the street, then he tried to make eye contact with Jameson, and a few more were because he was laughing with his eyes closed at something on his radio show.

By the time we get out at the zoo, I feel like I just had a near-death experience. “Holy crap,” I say a little shakily. “Maybe we can just walk next time.”

“No kidding.” Jameson looks after the driver.

“Did you just give him five stars?”

“We had a deal,” he says, shrugging. “I’m a man of my word, after all.”

I roll my eyes. “Rogue’s code?”

“Something like that.”

I take in the scene once we’re safely out of the car. The zoo is strung up with Halloween themed lights in orange, purple, and green. There are spooky inflatables positioned by the ticketing area of a big skeleton cat and a goat wearing a witch hat. Little mummy-wrapped cat paws cut from cardboard are sticking out in a line along the grass leading to the entrance.

“This is cute,” I say.

Jameson puts his arm around me and pulls me to his side. He’s taking it in with me, andGod, I can’t stop feeling like there’s nothing at all “pretend” or “practice” about this. It feels silly to even call it that. But I guess that silliness is my fault, isn’t it? I’m the one who isn’t ready to admit any of this is real. I’m the one who’s too scared.

“Ready?” he asks.

I nod, but my stomach sinks when I notice the line out front for the first time. On one hand, it’s chillier than I expected and I don’t think my coat is going to be warm enough for standing in a long line. On the other hand, I’m not even sure they’ll let us in with how many people are waiting. “Do you think we’ll get in?”

He taps his temple. “I already have tickets. Got them ages ago.”

“Ages? We only met a few weeks ago.”

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