“I wasn’t. I didn’t want to anymore,” I say as I bury my head into his leather seat. “How did y’all find me?”
Cason’s door closes, and the car jerks as it begins moving. “Little Callaway here is stepping up her game.”
“I tracked your phone. About time you turned it back on,” Jade says. “I was starting to worry.”
“Damn, Jade. You traced my phone?” I chuckle but the act sends a sharp ache shooting through my side. I tense, trying to hold off the pain. The alcohol isn’t numbing the outside anymore. Cason’s Jeep has shitty suspension, and every bump we hit sends another bout of pain through me. But it feels better than the gigantic hole inside me.
“Impressive, right? Who knew little Callaway had it in her.” Cason laughs as I groan.
“Jesse?” Jade asks, “Are you ok?”
I don’t answer right away, and Cason speaks up, “You good, man?”
“Yeah. Fine. I’ll be fine,” I tell him as I breathe through the pain, in and out. It hurts, but not as bad as my heart. That pain is different; it’s suffocating.
“What about my car?” I ask.
“Crank has it. He took it to his shop to assess the damage. It doesn’t look good though.” Cason grips the steering wheel tightly.
“Jesse, what is going on?” Jade asks quietly. “This isn’t like you. You aren’t reckless like this, even in the worst situations.”
“I’ve never had Fallon before. She changed everything,” I whisper and close my eyes. My body is finally feeling the full effects of tonight’s damage.
“Look man, I know shit’s hard right now. But I need you to tell me the truth. Did you wreck on purpose? Jordan’s got everyone thinking he saw you spin your back side,” Cason says.
I know I’ve let everyone down, but I would never do it on purpose. “I don’t know.”
“It doesn’t make sense. You’re the best driver I know. I’ve never seen you lose control, and I’ve watched you long enough,” Jade mumbles, deep in thought. “I saw the ending. You were in control of your car. Jordan let up right at the finish line, almost like he knew.”
“Wait, what did you just say?” I ask as I slowly sit up, trying to avoid any unnecessary pain.
“Jordan. At the last minute he let off the gas,” Jade says again. As she says it, the memory of him backing off comes crashing into my mind.
I meet Cason’s eyes in the rearview. I don’t have to tell him what I need. He knows. With a nod of his head, he lets me know he’s in agreement.
Cason turns his Jeep around quicker than I can get the words out of my mouth.
“Jade, grab my phone and call Crank,” Cason says.
“What? Why? Where are we going?” Jade asks.
With a voice as hard as steel, Cason says, “We’re going to figure this shit out.”
Jesse’s arms around me make me feel safe, protected. Invincible. Or maybe they just feel so right that it’s impossible to feel anything other than amazing.
“How do you feel about a real date?” Jesse murmurs in my ear, shocking my entire body with the slightest touch of his lips.
“What do you mean? We’ve been on a date.” I say. I mean, we kind of have. I guess with everything going on maybe we haven’t done things the usual way. It’s not every day that the girl you’re sort of dating has a crazy ex stalking her.
“No, we haven’t. Not on a real one. I mean going out for dinner, just you and me,” Jesse says as he holds me just a little closer. “No Cason or Jade. No Marcus. Just us, alone together.”
“And how are you going to do that with Jade and Cason across the hall? We haven’t exactly told them about us, this, whatever this is.” I turn in his arms to face him.
Jesse chuckles, “Like they don’t already know. It’s not like we’ve been hiding it. And I’ll tell them the truth—that we’re dating.”
“They suspect. They don’t know for sure,” I say. I pause and look into his eyes before saying hesitantly, “And is that what we’re doing?”
“Well, maybe it’s time for them to know,” Jesse says, “and yes, that’s most definitely what we’re doing.”
“And what makes you think that?” I ask with a smirk. These teasing moments with each other make my heart skip.
“Because I’m pretty damn sure I’m in love with you and I don’t care if the whole fucking world knows it,” Jesse states. He’s so serious, so honest. Like it just is what it is. Like he’s said this to me a million times before already. He’s shown me with his body that he cares, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard those words from his mouth.
I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am in this moment.
“Get up.” Marcus pulls the covers off of me, but I have no plans on moving from this spot in this filthy bed. I’m pretty sure there are bed bugs, but I’d take that over facing my reality with Marcus in it any day of the week.
“Fuck off,” I say as I roll onto my stomach, pulling the covers back up. They come up over me a little too easily, and I look up to my cuffed wrist. The cuff is still there but it’s no longer attached to anything on the other end.
“Get up, I said,” Marcus barks.
I sigh and close my eyes again. I’m not doing anything, especially not for him. Bastard.
The covers are pulled off of me again. “What the fuck Marcus?”
His arms encase me, and I’m lifted into the air. I squirm and try to get loose but it’s no use. He’s still stronger than me. “Put me the fuck down!”
He yanks me into the bathroom as I continue to kick at him. He reaches into the shower, turning on the water just as I try to get in one good kick with my uninjured foot. My aim
