Lex’s shoulders drop and his hand releases from the plastic grip. “If you do, I’ll buy you a drink,” Lex says with a wave. “Have a good night, officer.”
With tight lips, he puts on his seatbelt and drives away from the shoulder. He keeps silent until we’re a few miles down the road. “Ben Gurgen Hoffe,” Lex says with a shake of his head. I stare at him because I don’t get it. “Been Jerkin’ Off.” Lex sighs. “Fucking Rodney. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him.”
I laugh. It rips through me and feels so foreign that it makes my stomach ache. Tears that aren’t from pain or fear fall down my cheeks.
“Stop laughing. That was pure fucking luck. I really thought I’d have a dead cop on my hands. Onourhands.”
I can’t stop laughing. I rub the rabbit’s foot. “Guess itislucky.”
Lex’s spine slowly relaxes, and his chest falls forward. He finally lets out a small laugh of his own. When he sobers, the tenor of his voice changes. “You need to be more careful when you drive. We’re lucky your pea-brained husband kept insurance on this car. I checked before we left.” He draws a sharp breath and slowly exhales, a very methodical set of motions he repeats until his rising chest slows. He clears his throat. “You did a great job, bunny,” he says with a reassuring rub of my shoulder. “But you have to be careful when you’re driving, because luck like that won’t happen twice. Even with that damn thing.” He gestures toward the rabbit’s foot.
Lex brushes back his hair, exposing his tattoo again. “Gurgen Hoffe,” Lex says through an annoyed laugh.
“Let it go, Ben,” I tell him, a smile drawing my lips upward.
“Aren’t you tired? Go to sleep,” he commands.
I shake my head. “I’m not tired at all.”
“Then why were you driving like shit?”
“Because I had a lot on my mind. I was hugging the fucking shoulder, not the center line. Not a big deal.”
“Kind of a big deal, rabbit.” He shakes his head this time. “What were you thinking about?”
I scoff. “Nothing.”
“Tell me, Selena.”
“I was thinking about when you spit on me...”
He groans as if he knew that I would bring it up and was waiting for it. “And? What is there to think about?”
I cross my arms over my chest and stare out the window without saying another word. I don’t appreciate his attitude about it. He has no idea what direction I was going to go with it, yet he got defensive from the start. Maybe I was going to tell him I fucking liked it, but now, I’m not telling him shit.
“Oh, stop, rabbit. You didn’t like it? Did it hurt your little feelings?”
His words and the way he says them enrage me. A fire smolders in my gut. I already felt bad for liking it, but now he’s being a condescending fuck about it. I cut my gaze to him and narrow my eyes. “Fuck. You.”
“Don’t get pissy with me, little girl, or I’ll make you sorry for that mouth.”
“You won’t do anything.”
“I’ll pull this car over and choke you with my dick until you see stars. I’m serious, Selena. You donotwant to tempt me.”
I throw my hands up. “Why are we even fighting right now?”
“Because you’d rather fight than admit you liked it when I degraded you. That you liked feelingusedby me.”
“I didn’t like it,” I lie.
His sadistic smirk rubs me all the wrong ways. I hate his annoying smugness. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, rabbit.”
We drive in silence. I’m angry enough that I’m thinking about smacking him, but I’m enamored enough that if he angrily told me to suck his dick, I’d drop to my knees without a second thought.
A sign for a lake draws up on our right. Lex looks twice at it. “Well, that will have to do,” he whispers, finally breaking the silence. He turns off at the exit and drives toward the lake, following the signs until we reach the blocked entrance to the park. He pulls ahead and takes a dead-end sideroad. The car dips and sways over each pothole. He pulls over, and we get out of the car.
A thin veil of moonlight casts a dim glow over the world around us, leaving us mostly in shadows. Lex walks toward a rusted chain-link fence covered in overgrown brush. He pries at the metal, rattling it before tugging back a broken section. He slips through, and I grab some of the clothes from the car and follow him.