“Are you saying it isn’t? Do you know something about Lucas? Did Stick say something—”
“No. No. Nothing,” I said quickly, holding up my hand as if to stop Lily’s panicking thoughts. “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant at all. I didn’t mean to imply… That’s not where I was going.”
A look of relief came over her face, and I realized that no matter how much Lily trusted Lucas (and she did), and no matter how true it was that he was done with his past (and I believed it to be absolutely true), there would always be this tiny, minuscule part of her that knew it was there.
And it was so much larger with Stick, who was the freakin’ mastermind of his little car theft ring.
Yeah, the look he’d read on my face today, the look that said I knew he was bad news, the one that had royally pissed him off, was one that would never go away.
Lily had learned to deal with it, to push it way, way to the back of her psyche.
But I knew there was no way that I could.
Chapter14
“Want a mint?”Stick asked, holding a roll of peppermint Life Savers in front of me.
“Gimme a sec,” I said, needing my hands to steer and shift Yvette down as we took a hill.
He gave a tiny snort of laughter. “Some day you’ll be so good at this that you can hold a cigarette, a beer, unwrap a mint and downshift up a curvy hill, all at the same time.”
“Um…there’s so many things wrong with that sentence I don’t even know where to start.”
Out of the corner of my eye I caught his smile. He unwrapped the roll of mints, took one and held it in front of my mouth. I waited a second for him to make some crude comment about me opening up for him or something, but he just patiently waited. And when I did open my mouth and stick out my tongue, he just placed the mint on it, then took his hand back.
Not resting on my thigh as he had last time, but firmly back in his lap.
Not that Iwantedhis hand on my thigh. Just being in the small, cocoonlike cockpit with him was jarring enough after that angry kiss we’d left with on Tuesday.
But he hadn’t mentioned the kiss when I’d met him outside my dorm, nor on the walk to Lot H, not even when we’d gotten out of town and he’d pulled over and we’d switched positions and I’d started driving.
In fact, it was like I was totally some driving lesson student and he was acting the professional teacher.
It was good that he’d decided to go this route.
And it drove me mad.
The scent of him—once we’d gotten into Yvette and the seat warmers and heater had been going—wafting through the small car. It was a mixture of laundered cotton, oil and peppermint. And it drove me crazy.
Now, tasting the mint he’d so carefully placed on my tongue, I knew at least where that part of the Eau De Stick had originated.
And I was reminded of the taste of him. The mint brought it all back, and I ground the clutch a little bit. “Sorry, baby,” I whispered to Yvette, getting her back in gear.
Yeah,Ineeded to get back in gear.
I waited for Stick to make some smartass comment about the clutch, but he kept quiet. He did, however, place his hand on the dashboard, and I swear he petted her a little bit, as if to calm Yvette.
Damn, but I wanted him to pet me, too. Except that I didn’t. Because I knew it wouldn’t—couldn’t—go anywhere. And I could get plenty of casual sex with my Bribury boys—I didn’t need to seek out a townie for it.
Even though I figured Stick might know a thing or two more between the sheets than the rich boys on campus.
“Thanks for the mint,” I finally said, desperate for something to say so I wouldn’t blurt out something stupid like, “It tastes like you do.”
“No problem. Anytime. I always have them on me.”
“Oh?” I said, sounding like an idiot. Like I cared that he always had peppermint Life Savers on his person.
We were coming up on the town of Chesney, and I wondered if I should pull over and let Stick get us through the town and all its stoplights.
