My head tilted and he withdrew his hand from my hair. “One bad road trip doesn’t mean I throw away our friendship.”
He shot me a dry look. “You learn a lot about your friends on a road trip.”
Those words immediately brought to mind one of the last times Rafferty and I had been in a car together.
I nodded. “You could say that.”
He leaned back a little. “Seems to me, some road trips change us more than others.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Are you trying to say something about my trip to Georgia?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m saying after the last road trip you and I went on, you became someone else afterward.”
My chuckle mingled with a scoff. “That was back in high school, and Dad grounded me for weeks. Between skipping school, and talking Simone into taking us - at just sixteen - to Bike Week, it’s hard to say what infuriated Dad most.”
He nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. That was a long time ago. Let’s get you home.”
The steady thrum of the truck speeding over the Buckman Bridge woke me up. I couldn’t believe I’d fallen asleep, because I never slept in moving vehicles. I wiped my hand down my face. The way the sun reflected off the small swells in the river, I guessed it was a little after one in the afternoon. Glancing at the clock on the center console, I was close: one-twenty-five.
“Sorry you woke up,” Rafferty murmured.
I yawned. “That’s all right. Listen, I know you’re following orders, but—”
“No ‘buts,’ Lex. Hell, we’re fifteen minutes from your parents’ house.”
I glanced his way. “I was going to ask you to do me a favor. Assuming it doesn’t interfere with club business.”
His lips pressed together. “What’s the favor? Aunt Mallory already picked up your meds according to the text I got a few minutes ago.”
I nodded. “Great, and thank you for handling that. It’s just that I really need to get back to Gainesville - tomorrow if possible. Finals are this coming week, and I can’t afford to botch anything at this point in dental school. I don’t have my car here, and it seems silly to send someone to go get it and come back when you or somebody could just take me tomorrow morning.”
Even in profile, I saw that shrewd, calculating expression steal across his face. “Sure. I can do that for you.”
I put a hand on his forearm. “You aren’t going to hunt down Porter.”
He almost smirked as he shook his head once. “Nope. Not gonna hunt down Porter.”
“Or Brantley,” I muttered.
“Can’t promise you that. He forced you to be in the backseat because he’s a jackassandhe was in on Porter’s bullshit stunt. Nah. He needs a wake-up call.”
“Rafferty.”
He stopped for a red light and turned his face to me. “Give me this, or I give your shit to Blood.”
My face froze. To most people, they’d wonder why he wouldn’t tell my dad, but most people hadn’t met Blood. He was vindictive, ruthless, and lived to stir shit up. Onlyafterhe’d stirred the pot would he let Dad know what was going on.
“You suck,” I muttered.
“You have no idea, Lex.”
That sent a curl of lust through my torso straight to points south. But that would never happen.
Not with us.
Chapter four
Free as a Bird
