“Don’t be mad just because you can’t tell the difference between bud and oregano.” Jess laughs. The other guy lunges for him again.
“We want our sixty bucks back!”
“Just give them their money back,” I say. Jess doesn’t make a move, but Dare walks up, standing between Jess and the other guys.
“Get the fuck out,” he says to them. I hear the shocked gasps and whispers, but I don’t understand why.
“Give me my money back and we’ll go,” the bravest and blondest one says, crossing his arms across his baby blue Lacoste polo.
“You’re not getting shit. Consider it a sixty-dollar lesson not to buy drugs from a fucking high school kid,” Dare spits. Jess smirks triumphantly, and the other guy’s pale cheeks burn bright red with rage as he grits his teeth. He wants to argue, but thankfully, he doesn’t. I close my eyes and exhale in relief once they’re gone.
“What are you thinking?” I yell, slapping Jess upside the back of the head. “What happened to keeping your head down and getting through school? Do you want to move back home?”
“They’re just some stupid yuppy college kids, Lo. It’s not a big deal.” Jess tries to play it off because we’re in public, but I can tell he’s feeling sheepish. I see it in the way he averts his eyes and in the nervous laugh that slips out. Siblings know how to read each other better than anyone else.
“This is our only shot. Stop trying your best to mess it up.”
“My bad, Lo. Fuck.”
“How’d you get here?”
“My board,” he says, gesturing to where his skateboard lies on the floor next to the bar.
“I didn’t drive.” I rise onto my tiptoes to scan the crowd that has already forgotten about this little altercation and has gone back to dancing and drinking, but I don’t see Sutton anywhere.
“I’ll take you guys,” Jake says.
“It’s your bar,” Dare points out before turning back to me. “I’m taking you. Come on.”
Dare places a palm at the small of my back and guides me toward the door. I reach behind me, pulling on Jess’ sleeve to make sure he follows. I catch Jake’s eyes as I do, and he shakes his head, as if he’s disappointed.
Dare opens the truck door for us, and Jess flips the bench seat forward to climb in back. I grip the side of the door to pull myself up, but before I do, two hands grip my waist, lifting me up and depositing me onto the seat. It smells like him in here. Like pine trees and leather seats. Dare slams the door shut and walks over to the driver’s side, and Jess clears his throat from the back seat.
“Shut up. You don’t get to give me shit about anything right now.”
“I didn’t say a word,” Jess says, holding his hands up in mock surrender.
Dare hops in and looks over at me, his ocean eyes bright under the dome light.
“Your house?” he asks, turning the ignition.
“My car is at Sutton’s.”
“I’m Jesse, by the way,” Jess says, resting his elbows against the top of the bench seat, chin propped on his forearm. “Lo’s brother.”
“I gathered that,” Dare says flatly. “How do you know those guys?”
“I don’t.” Jess shrugs. “They approached me for some bud when I was skating earlier. Guess I just have that kind of face,” he says sarcastically. “I saw an opportunity to make some cash, so I took it. Told them I didn’t have it on me, and they told me to meet them over here later. I knew Lo was at the costume party. Guess they followed me once they realized it was oregano.”
I roll my eyes, resisting the urge to slap him again.
“They’re East Shore kids,” Dare says. “They wouldn’t do shit.”
“That’s not the point,” I say. I turn toward Jess, and he smothers a smile. “What?” I snap.
“I just know you’re about to lecture me again, but it’s really hard to take you seriously when you look like that.”
I completely forgot I was in costume. I flip down the visor to look in the mirror. My lipstick is smudged, but other than that, I don’t look too crazy. Dare looks over at me, his eyes heating as I fix my lips with the tip of my thumb, and I know both of us are mentally replaying how it got smeared in the first place.
If Jess hadn’t intervened, Dare would’ve fucked me on that desk. I don’t know whether to hate him or thank him for it. I know it would have been a mistake. A big, fat, glaring mistake. I know that, but even now, even after the haze of lust has cleared, I want to do it again.
I shake my dirty thoughts away, turning back to Jess.
“Just…please, Jesse. Try. I don’t want to go back there. I can’t. And if you go back, I go back.” I choose my words carefully, not wanting to get too personal in front of Dare, but Jess knows exactly what I’m referring to. Eric. Mom. Everything.
“You’re not going back, and he’s not getting near you,” Jess swears, his voice resolute and intense. I look at Dare from the corner of my eye, and though I can only see his profile, I see his eyebrows tugging together, curiosity piqued.
I nod to Jess and pat his arm before sitting forward in my seat.
“I’m not sure where Sutton lives,” Dare says, breaking the silence. “Briar mentioned the area once, but I don’t know exactly where.”
I search my brain, trying to remember an address or even a street name, but I can’t focus. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I still have the remnants from his face paint smeared along the insides of my thighs, or the fact that I can still feel his teeth marks there.
“She lives off Lakewood,” I say when it finally clicks into place. Dare turns onto Lakewood, and once he sees my dad’s Toyota, he pulls up next to it.
“Thanks,” I say dumbly, not knowing what else to say, especially with my kid brother in the car, pushing the seat forward so he can slip out first. I’m jostled around from the movement, my palm slapping against the dash. My dress has ridden up, and my tights are ripped almost all the way down to my knees. I clamp them shut, feeling exposed from the cold air that hits my damp thighs. Dare eyes me up and down like he’s getting one last look before I leave. His right hand is on the steering wheel, and he lifts four fingers in a wave with a slight dip of his head.
“Later, Sally.”
“So, you and Dare, huh?” Sutton asks as she pulls an upside-down chair off the table as we prepare to open.
“What do you mean?” I ask, playing dumb. I like Sutton. I like her more than anyone I’ve met here, so that basically makes her my best friend by default. She just doesn’t know it yet. But that doesn’t mean I want to fess up to what happened with Dare. It won’t happen again anyway, so there’s no point.
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter,” Sutton says, pointing a finger at me and lifting one perfectly plucked brow. “He doesn’t talk to anyone. Especially people he doesn’t know.” Is that why everyone seemed surprised when he jumped to my aid?
“You hooked up with Dare?” Jake chimes in from behind the bar. I shoot a look at Sutton, and she mouths sorry with a sheepish shrug.
“I barely know the guy,” I hedge, avoiding a straight answer. It’s none of his business anyway.