“So yours lets you walk home in the freezing rain?”
I snorted. “Haven’t you heard? Daddy’s probably got his head on the bar at AA right now.” Altitude Adjustment, distastefully known as AA, was the dive bar on the outskirts of town Dad frequented to gamble and drink.
All the heat gone in my voice, I added, “I’ll be lucky if I don’t have to bail him out in the morning.” Any shame I should have felt at the admission wasn’t there. Maybe I was just too exhausted to feel it tonight.
He glanced at me, eyes disbelieving. “He makes you bail him out?”
I sniffed. “Gia won’t do it anymore. Says he’ll never change.”
There was a comfort in speaking it out loud, even to Sawyer. Dev and I danced around the subject of my dad. Gia refused to talk about him. And I tried to protect Mara from as much of it as I could. That meant it was always bottled up.
Now that it was justout there, it was a small relief.
That is, until he looked at me, disgusted. “Shit, Brie.”
I braced for the usual cutting remarks. Worse, probably, with the ammunition I just handed him.
Instead, almost as an afterthought, he put the truck into gear and started steering confidently through the torrents of rain. The storm didn’t seem to bother him, but with the looks he kept sliding my way, I knew I sure did.
Well, the feeling was mutual.
Tonight didn’t change anything: I hated Sawyer Strong.
I shivered. Straightening in my seat, I threaded my arms through the sleeves of his jacket.
“Five months,” I murmured.
“What’s that?” he asked.
Our eyes connected. His were guileless.
“Five months,” I said. “Then I can get the hell out of Blue Ridge for good.”
His jaw tightened. “Blue Ridge isn’t that bad.”
I couldn’t help the loud scoff. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s great for you, the Prince of Blue Ridge. But for me? It’s alittle different,” I said, voice dripping in sarcasm. “Besides, the town’ll be glad to be rid oftrashlike me.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw as I used the word he’d used about me so many times.
Why was this getting to him?
As we approached the east side of town he said, “Where do I turn?”
I gulped. “Just drop me off at the next intersection.”
Everyone knew I lived in Edgewood, but the Casey residence in particular was in bad disrepair, especially since I started working at the diner a few years ago and had less time to maintain it.
I couldn’t imagine seeing it through Sawyer’s eyes. Peeling paint, shutters half-rotted and barely hanging on, roof sagging in places. At least it was dark out.
Sawyer made a harsh sound in the back of his throat. “Yeah, right. I’m not leaving you on the side of the road around here.”
I winced at the way he saidhere. He might as well have called my neighborhood Gomorrah.
“Where’s your house?” It was an order.
I eyed the door handle. Could I pull off a tuck-and-roll?
Reading my mind, he locked the doors and sped up. “I’ll just keep driving until you tell me. I’ll go all night.”
