“Brock’s the blond with the tattoos on his forearms,” Steele said. “Looks like a surfer had a baby with a tattoo artist.”
“Oh, right,” I said. “I’m sorry, you all seem so alike.”
“That’s amusing coming from the girl who has followed the prescribed path Daddy gave her and her sister.”
I scoffed, but he wasn’t wrong. I had never known any path other than the one my parents had given me.
“Look, let’s stop this, OK?” Steele said, his head in his hand. “Brock is the best of us. He’s the one that keeps us from losing our shit. If he’s gone, everyone else in our circle—Mason, Zack, Connor, Garrett—they’ll lose their shit. OK? Think of it like a chain reaction.”
I knew what I was doing already. I just didn’t want to make it seem like I was giving Steele what he wanted too easily.
“And you guys can’t pool your money?”
“Tara, seriously,” Steele said. “Do you think a bunch of guys working as security officers, gas station attendees, and construction workers have a thousand dollars lying around to bail someone out? Do you think if we had the money to bail him out, we’d be living in fucking Santa Maria like a bunch of punkass teenagers?”
He shook his head.
“Not all of us are Rogers kids.”
I ignored that. Mostly because if I thought about it, I would get pissed off. I didn’t enjoy reminders of how my father had scheduled and laid out my entire life for me.
What I wouldn’t give to just…almost be like these guys for even one week, one day.
“Fine,” I said. “But I’m doing it myself.”
Bold. Risky. Probably stupid.
“OK—wait, what?”
But I’m not changing my mind.
“You say Brock is the best of you?” I said. “You say he’s the one that’ll make sure you guys stay in line? If he’s as good as you say he is, I will do what I can to scare his wits into him. I will knock some common sense into him. I don’t trust you to be there and not mouth off to the sheriff.”
I saw Steele’s eyes fill with… suspicion, almost. Anger, for sure. Jealousy, absolutely.
But he didn’t have a choice.
“I’m tired of helping you, Steele,” I said. “We broke up for a reason. If you didn’t grow up because I dumped you, maybe you’ll grow up because I convinced one of your friends to get his shit together.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Steele said. “He’s at the county jail on the east side of Santa Maria. Hope you can defend yourself.”
Empty threats. Swears. Dismissive actions.
You haven’t grown up a damn bit, Steele.
Steele slammed the door shut behind him. Despite Steele’s stupid bullshit, I still wanted to see Brock.Perhaps because of it.
For all that Brock had done to help me while Steele and I were the epitome of fighting couple, the least I could do was take what might as well have been a penny of my father’s money and get him out of the corrupt local jail.
Yes, this was playing with fire. On appearances alone, it would be a bit of a tough look when I was bailing out my ex’s best friend.
But for someone who had been in a controlled environment her entire life, I wanted to feel a bit of a burn. I wanted to feel a bit of that youthful fire that happened when you escaped a confined, perfectly balanced setup.
I wanted to see what happened if I got the chance to indulge how I felt about Brock after all these years.
Brock
“You gave me the good cell today.”
