Shit. That was close.
He looked over at us, dressed in his gray suit and yellow shirt and tie, narrowing his eyes on Damon as he crossed the street. Damon stared back, but when Ashby’s gaze twisted into a scowl, Damon stuck up his middle finger, taunting him.
Ashby looked away, stepping up onto the sidewalk and disappearing into the White Crow Tavern.
I hit the gas, taking off down the street. “What is it with you and him?”
Damon sighed, taking a cigarette out of his pack and sticking it between his lips. “I ruined his daughter.”
“Arion?” Michael asked. “Thought you said she had the brain power of a Pringle.”
“Not that one,” Damon mumbled, lighting his cigarette.
Ashby’s other daughter had to be only fourteen or so. I’d never seen her and Damon together.
But his gaze was turned out the open window now as he smoked, and if I knew anything about Damon, it was that if he was vague, it was on purpose.
Heading up into the hills, I drove down the darkened highway, the sun having set an hour ago and the sky nearly black now.
Kai flipped a page in his booklet. “What is that?” I asked.
“Course catalog.” He flipped another page, harder this time. “A fucking course catalog.”
“Come to Westgate with me,” Michael said.
“Or UPenn with me,” Damon added.
I smiled. “Or Fiji with me.”
“You’re coming to UPenn with me,” Damon told me.
Fat chance.
I flicked the ashes out the window and took another drag. College was months away, but decisions needed to be made soon. If I weren’t a Grayson, I’d never be able to get into Princeton, but the fix was in, and I was off to Jersey next summer whether I liked it or not.
I couldn’t think of anywhere I wanted to be less, but I also couldn’t think of anywhere better to be. That was my problem. As my dad said, “Until you can make a decision, we’ll make it for you.”
Apparently, a beach bum in the Polynesian islands wasn’t a lofty enough goal.
Kai tossed the catalog down on the seat next to him. “My father wants me on my own. He thinks we all need space.”
“From all of us, or just Will and me?” Damon asked, humor lacing his tone.
Yeah, Katsu Mori didn’t think much of us. Damon was trouble, and I was… nothing. At least Michael was ambitious. He was a leader, and Kai’s father respected that as a viable influence for his son.
But Kai just joked back. “Don’t be like that,” he cooed to Damon. “He was really flattered you approved of his taste in women when you adjusted yourself right in front of him at the sight of my mother.”
“In a bathing suit, Kai!” Damon pointed out, looking at Kai over his shoulder. “I mean, what the fuck? Jesus.”
I shook with a laugh, remembering that day last summer we were all at Kai’s house.
“And you all think I don’t have any shame,” Damon said. “If she weren’t your mom…”
“My father would still rip your dick up through your stomach and out your mouth?” Kai retorted.
Damon quieted, settling back into his seat and sticking his cigarette into his mouth. “Daddy’s boy.”
Kai shook his head, but I saw the smile fade as he looked out the window.
“Maybe we’ll stay in the area and go to Trinity instead,” Michael said, “so we can all be close to Kai’s mom.”
I snorted, all of us laughing as Kai rolled his eyes.
I took a puff off the cigarette, realization starting to dawn. It was months away, but it was coming. Different schools. Different states.
New people.
And that’s what scared me the most. People change us. Others become important, while others become less, and soon, we’d be gone.
She’d be gone.
I turned my eyes out my window, the inevitable sitting on my shoulders like a house.
“Okay, Devil’s Night…” Michael cleared his throat. “Probably the catacombs, but keep the cemetery in mind,” he told us. “I’m thinking about changing it up this year. There are some tombs, and that Bell Tower through the woods. What are you guys thinking for your pranks?”
I couldn’t think of anything yet. Nothing good anyway.
“I’m kind of thinking about getting out of town,” Kai answered. “Meridian City. The Whitehall district, maybe. Or the opera house? Maybe book a floor at a hotel?”
“The whole point is to be here with our people,” Damon told him. “On our turf.”
Kai was silent, and I saw him open up his course catalog again, mumbling, “Just an idea.”
I watched the both of them, kind of enjoying how they hardly ever got along. Kai was ready for tomorrow. Damon never wanted to leave today.
I had no idea where the hell I was half the time, let alone where I wanted to be.
An idea occurred to me, though. “The Cove,” I said. “After hours.”
Damon nodded. “That might be an idea.”
I looked over at him. “I heard a rumor the place might not be open much longer.”
“Even better.”
“Too much of a liability,” Michael interjected. “Drunk people get stupid, and stupid people on roller coasters will piss me off.”
Come on. It would be fun. Just us and a few others—invitation only.
But as usual, my ideas were tabled.
“I’ll think of something,” Kai told him. “Something that lets us end the night in one piece, and between the sheets with something pretty.”
“Hell yeah,” Damon replied. “That’s all you had to say.”
I shook my head, remembering what our real priorities were. I rounded the bend, climbing toward the cemetery, but just then, blue and red lights flashed in my rearview mirror, and I spotted headlights charging me from behind.
“Ugh, fuck,” I growled. “That son of a bitch.”
Dammit.
Pressing the brakes harder than necessary, I jerked my truck over to the shoulder and halted, hearing the gravel kick up underneath.
“Will…” Kai started.
“I’ll hold my tongue,” I assured him, already knowing what he was going to say. I pulled the weed out of the center console and slipped it to Damon. “Get rid of this.”
“Dude, what the hell?” Kai barked.
But I ignored him. “Get rid of it now,” I told Damon again, turning off the engine. “And don’t toss it out the window. His dash cam…”
“Goddamn it,” he grumbled, stuffing it into the glove compartment and slamming it closed.
“Lock it.” I threw him the keys.
“You think he knows?” Damon looked at me as he quickly locked my glove box.
I peered into my side mirror, seeing Officer Scott walk up to my side with his flashlight beaming.
“I think Em is smarter than that,” I said.
She wouldn’t complain about last night and the lock-in. Tattling would dent her pride. Not sure how I knew that about her, but I did.
“Think he knows what?” Michael pressed. “What did you guys do? Dammit. You’re always pulling shit when I’m not looking.”
“We didn’t hurt her,” Damon assured.