“Of course, it does. Have you seen us? We are good looking. You know what? Come here, Trevor. Let’s all take a selfie. You’re here for our new beginning, too.”
“Oh no, sir. I can’t really impose like that,” Trevor tries to argue, but it’s too late. Gray already has his arm around the poor guy and tosses me the phone.
I get in on the other side of Trevor and reach my arm out. “On the count of three.”
“Oh, dear,” Trevor mutters.
“Wait, on three or—”
I start taking photos, and I know they are going to be real gems. Gray has his mouth open half the time, and Trevor is trying to get away. Poor driver, he’s probably scarred for life. Finally, ten minutes later, we are in the car and heading to town, stopping at our favorite bar. We invite Trevor inside, but he says no. Gray tries to convince him, but I slap his chest, telling him to leave it be. We can’t push the guy too much.
The bar is a dive. The white paint on the wall is no longer white, but yellow from all the smoking inside. It’s peeling, chipping, and there are cracks along it. The carpet has stains, from probably every type of bodily fluid there is, and it’s matted to the ground. I don’t think it’s ever been vacuumed.
“Fellas!” Mikey hollers from behind the bar. “There are my two favorite guys. You heading out of town? Beers on me.”
I don’t turn twenty-one for another week, but Mikey doesn’t care. His family practically owns this town, so he does whatever the fuck he wants. And so do his friends. This isn’t the first beer I’ve had here, and it won’t be the last. I’m sure I’ll be back.
“We are having one last beer before we strike out on our own, grabbing life by the horns, eating the oyster that is the world,” Gray announces, enamoured as he stares off into space.
Mikey leans forward and throws the dirty rag on the bar top. “You sure you want to get in business with that guy? I’m a good businessman. I know people who know people. I can get you places, kid.”
“Hey, I take offense to that,” Gray calls.
“Good. You’re an idiot,” Mikey laughs, yanking Gray’s chain.
An hour passes, then two, then we are on our way to the airport. We board the plane, and then it’s as if I blinked because I’m stepping off the plane in Spokane.
I inhale the clean, crisp air and sigh. I’ve missed home. The air is cold since it’s winter, but I forgot to pack a jacket. I’m so used to California weather now, but the sharp frozen tendrils of the air feel good wrapping around my body.
“Oh my god, my balls. I can no longer feel them,” Gray whines as he cups his junk.
Another car is there waiting for us, and Gray runs to the back door, not waiting for the driver to open it. It isn’t that cold. He’s being dramatic.
The entire ride to my father’s house, I’m on edge. Maybe it’s from Gray’s teeth chattering, I’m not sure, but something is telling me to be ready. Ready for what? I don’t know.
Gray whistles as the gate to the house opens. “Fancy pants.”
“Just my dad. Not me,” I reiterate.
“Still,” Gray doesn’t say anything further as he gets out of the car once it’s parked in front of the house.
I follow suit, grab my bags, and stare up at the large castle before me. At least, I always thought of it as a castle. It’s large and brick with a lot of windows and seems like a house royalty would live in. I don’t bother knocking, since it’s my house, and open the door.
Laughter floats through the air, and my brows furrow. I know that laugh. I set my bags down and look up to see Everly’s mother holding my dad’s hand.
And there, standing in front of her mother is Everly.
Just what the fuck is going on, here?
Chapter 2 Everly
Oh, this cannot be happening.
I twist my fingers together and cast my eyes away from Rowan. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out he hates me. I see the angry gleam in his eyes, the hatred, the betrayal, and I can’t blame him. The way I treated him doesn’t deserve forgiveness.
At the time, I thought I was doing what was right. When I woke up that next morning, in the cab of his truck, wrapped up in his arms, with an ache between my legs from the sex we had the previous night, I loved him even more. I was ready to give up everything in that moment to be with him, to follow him to California.
And that scared me. I didn’t want to be that girl who gave up her entire life for a boy that maybe had feelings for her. I thought it was the right thing to let him go be free in college, to not hold him back, so both of us could still have the lives we wanted.
We wanted to go to school. We picked those schools knowing we would be apart, and that shouldn’t have changed just because we had sex. I didn’t want him to jeopardize his future, and I didn’t want to jeopardize mine. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
And it is still the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with. It hurt every day not responding to him. It hurt every day knowing he hated me, and that I’ve lost my best friend, forever. We shouldn’t have had sex.
Part of me doesn’t regret it. I’m glad my first time and only time that I’ve ever had sex was with Rowan, but if we didn’t have sex, I wouldn’t have run, and none of this would have happened.
I can’t take back what I did. So, I have to live with the consequences, even if they consist
