I run my hands back through my hair as I lean over and grab one of Willa’s thin hair ties from the center console. Snapping it around my wrist, I decide that its mine now and will keep me and Wills together for as long as I live.
Bringing my wrist to my nose, I inhale the faint scent of Willa’s hair, blink back tears, then drop my hand on the empty spot next to me.
Wills should be sitting here with me. We should both be going to meet this Aunt Beatrix person and instead, she’s lying dead on Lakyn’s living room floor.
“So, listen,” Lakyn finally says as he clears his throat and pulls the pack of cigarettes from the visor. Then he reaches over and taps Daphne’s thigh, nodding toward the carton of cigarettes and she immediately opens it, handing him a new pack with the most adoring look in her eyes.
I should have left you on the sidewalk of the fucking rest area where you belonged.
“I know you think that you’re being witty or cute or whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve by saying what you just did. The thing is, kid, that cute and witty doesn’t work with me. I’d save the bullshit for Beatrix—she’s more into pitiful, bullshit little boys than I am.”
“Will do, Pops! Besides, it seems like the silent, sneaky, hopeful ones are more your type anyway,” I snipe back as cheerfully as I can.
Lakyn lets out a good-natured laugh as he lights his smoke, inhales deeply, then lets it billow out of the corner of his mouth. He glances at me in the rearview again before he shakes his head.
I brace myself for his next barrage of fatherly love, but instead he begins to tap his fingers along the steering wheel and continues driving.
“Ever been to the desert, kid?” he asks, changing the subject.
“Nope, but I bet your boyfriend has,” I say with a grin. “He’s the reason I’m here in case you were wondering.”
“Don’t make me turn this car around!” Lakyn warns in a forced cheerful tone. “Isn’t that what parents say, or whatever?” he asks, glancing at Daphne.
“Absolutely,” she replies with a vigorous nod and I arch an eyebrow when I catch his eyeroll in the rearview as he turns his attention back toward the road in front of him.
I take the opportunity to lean forward and rest my forearms against the back of Daphne’s seat to look at him. A grin begins to spread on his lips and it’s obvious to me by now that Lakyn revels in the worship of being looked at.
“I got an email one day when I was at home.” He’s going to listen to my story whether he wants to or not, and I’ll prove to him that I’m no fucking liar. “I was browsing the internet, looking for something that I could get for Wills. It wasn’t a special occasion or anything, I just liked being able to surprise her every now and then.”
“Boring!” Lakyn intercedes as he takes another drag of his smoke. I don’t know what comes over me, but I reach over and smack the back of his chair as hard as I can. He lets out a laugh and a grunt. “Sorry, apparently the blonde meant more to you than you’re willing to shut the fuck up about, so go ahead. Did you find any good porn while you were surfing the web, by the way?”
“I’m trying to tell you how I became acquainted with your guy, Pops. Let me finish before you try to be so goddamn loving,” I spit at him. Lakyn cracks his neck, then nods just once which I assume means that I have his permission.Like I fucking asked for it.
“It’s okay, Lakyn,” Daphne pipes up. “I like boys too.”
Lakyn glances at her, his jaw becoming prominent with anger, but instead of replying to her, he looks over at me, then back toward the road.
“I thought I had found the perfect gift for her, so I went to check my bank balance and realized I was a few hundred dollars short of the prize. No big deal though because I knew she’d let me borrow it if I needed it, you know? Anyway, just as I was ready to log off, I decided to go check my email to see if anything worth reading had landed in there when I saw a message that caught my eye. Simplest subject line ever—I dare you.”
Lakyn rubs his thumb against his forehead before he taps the ashes off the end of his cigarette out the window then clears his throat. At this point, I’m not even sure if he’s listening to me anymore, but I don’t fucking care.
He ruined my life by not being there, and then again by having Daphne kill Wills, so I think it’s only fair to return the favor.
“If you can’t tell by now, I opened the email. It contained a few different addresses in Arizona, a tidbit or two about a man that was supposedly my father, and that all-consuming dare in the tagline. I thought, fuck, this could be fun, so I responded. Over the course of a few weeks, the emails remained constant until I was finally able to talk Wills into coming on this fucking road trip. Then the emails turned into text messages, but no matter how hard I tried to turn them into phone calls, your guy wouldn’t answer. What’s up with that, Pops? How is it that you seem to be so in control of everything, but your boyfriend is able to sneak around behind your back?”
When he doesn’t respond right away, I reach over and smack the back of his chair again. Lakyn chuckles as he clicks his tongue against the back of his teeth before he steals a glance at me.
“Were you saying something? I kinda spaced out there.”
I throw myself against the backseat angrily and blow out my breath. In my entire life, I never thought I’d hate someone more than Mom.
Seems I was wrong.
“Forget it,” I grumble as I cross my arms over my chest and glance out the window.Eventually you’ll have no choice but to fucking listen to every word I say.
FOUR
Seventeen Going on Eighteen