“Excuse me?” I say incredulously, my hands flying to my hips.
Brent swallows hard at my response but tries to look unfazed.
“Cut it, the both of you,” Kayden snaps from the driver’s seat. He leans back, arm slung over the front seat headrest.
He casts me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, Sienna. Brent gets a bit weird with shotgun. You mind taking the back?”
“Fine.” My face twists into a scowl as I look at Brent, prying the backseat door open a little too hard and climbing into the truck. “As long as you watch yours, Brent, because I’ll be coming for you. You better be sleeping with one eye open.”
“He rarely sleeps with me around anyway,” Evans says with a sly wink.
Kayden pulls us out of the parking lot. Brent loads up some Guns N’ Roses and we let the song fill up the silence in the car.
I think back to the last time I visited home—that disastrous family dinner when my dad announced his and Alyson’s engagement. I hadn’t heard from him about visiting home again since, despite Alyson nagging me to do so. He’s probably still angry at me for what I did, so I don’t blame him for not reaching out. Maybe I should just be the bigger person and reach out first.
Yeah, I don’t know. My ego isn’t quite ready for that step just yet.
I do wonder how my dad would react if I brought Kayden home. He’ll see us together anyway at the wedding, so I wonder if he’ll approve. Given my track record of dating underground fighters, probably not. But my dad was right to be wary of Jax, viewing him as a terrible influence on me.
I probably should just have listened to him. If I had, we all wouldn’t be in this mess.
“Is there anything we should know before meeting your parents?” Evans asks as he reaches over to the front seat to steal Brent’s phone to switch up the song playlist.
“Well, Pat’s the tougher critic but she usually means well,” Kayden explains, casually gripping the wheel with one arm. “But other than that, they’re both pretty cool.”
Brent turns behind to look at me, neck craning. “When you and Jax were dating, did you visit his parents?”
“Once.” I shrug. “But he was always private about his family. Maybe he knew we weren’t going to last, which is why he didn’t really bother.”
“I’m glad you didn’t go back to him.” Kayden glances at me in the rearview mirror. “At least that’ll take the guilt off of me when I bash his face in next weekend. Which, speaking of finals . . .” Kayden’s voice trails off, uncertainty lacing his tone as he faces Brent. “If you could not tell Pat and Elijah about it, that’ll be great. I just don’t want them to worry.”
“Aw, come on. You know I can’t keep secrets.” Brent moans. “And also, I already told them.”
“Brent!” Kayden scolds.
“I’m sorry,” Brent cries, guilt reddening his face. “They wanted to know what you were up to. They’re not gonna be angry at you, you know that.”
“Somehow, that feels worse,” Kayden mutters.
“It’s okay because he’s gonna win that fight,” Evans says confidently, turning to me. “Jax is gonna be like pow-pow-pow!” He does a jab-cross combo at me and I laugh at how sloppy it is. “And Kayden’s gonna be like the fuck you don’t.”
Evans reels back in slow motion, Matrix-style as he pretends to dodge a few blows.
Sometimes, I wonder if he’s a ten-year-old stuck in a grown man’s body.
“Spot-on impression, Evans,” I deadpan.
Evans lets out a chuckle, then jabs at me—for real this time, his fist making contact with my forearm. Evans winces when he makes contact against the skin, fist reeling back in pain.
“Fuck. That’s all muscle,” he says incredulously as he shakes off the pain.
From the front, Kayden looks at me proudly in the rearview mirror again, as if saying That’s my girl.
“Of course, what did you expect?” I tell Evans.
A challenging gleam hops into his eyes and he punches my forearm again, harder this time. It causes a sting to shoot down my arm. Evans pulls back, looking smugger this time around once he catches me wincing at the pain.
“Okay, now you’re just asking for it,” I mutter, pushing the sleeves of my top up my arms.