“Promise.”
“Can I believe a promise from you?”
He’s silent and then starts driving.
Well, if that isn’t shady…
To my surprise, he drives us to a beach. The water is cold, and I don’t have my bathing suit, of course. I didn’t grab one in all of the frantic packing.
Tyler doesn't have swimming trunks either, so we end up skinny dipping. His backside is in even worse shape as far as bruises than his front is, but I make no comment about that. We splash water at each other, and we dunk each other, and at one point, he's swimming underwater. I can't find him. Right when I'm about to duck underwater to find him, he bursts up out of the water, right between my legs. My balance is off, and I fall backward off his shoulders and into the water. It's hilarious.
It’s perfect.
It’s exactly what I needed to get my mind off things for a little while.
And from the way Tyler laughs, it’s exactly what he needed to.
But there’s no way for things to change. Not between us. Not when the Mutineers are around. I think I’m coming to understand that. They all have their issues. His father is abusive. Shane’s mom is in jail again. Corey’s sister has cancer. Brett’s father is probably a lot like mine, a user, an abuser in his own way.
I’m just as fucked up as they are, and that’s no excuse for the way they treat me. I’ll figure out a way to get them to stop because I’m done running. They’ll rue the day they mess with me because I’m shutting that shit down for good one day or the other.
I’m going to force a way for things to change between me and the Mutineers.
Either we'll all end up as friends or mortal enemies.
Or maybe we’ll end up as something much more.
Only time would tell.