“Two Calloways,” she mouths silently, holding up two fingers and waggling them. She fans herself dramatically with her hand, then points at me, mouthing “You” before making an obscene gesture that involves both hands.
“Please say at the same time,” she squeaks out.
“Do you even hear yourself?” I snort, shooting her a side-eye as we roll through the first empty intersection. Our headlights carve out a tunnel of blue-black and nothing.
She throws her head back, laughter bubbling up and spilling out, bright and unhinged. The sound is so pure it makes something inside me want to fracture open and spill, too. I let myself laugh along, the tension in my shoulders loosening just enough that my hands don't strangle the wheel.
Lola leans across the center console, her voice dropping to a theatrical whisper. “Girl, I mean this with all the love in my heart.” She waits until I meet her eyes. “Hell yeah!” Her palm hovers in the air between us, fingers splayed for a high five.
“God, you're a menace.” I bat her hand away, heat crawling up my neck. “It's not what you think.”
“Oh?” Her eyebrows arch. “So you're not fucking around with not one, buttwoCalloway brothers? Because that kiss situation suggests otherwise.”
Heat crawls up my neck, but I grip the wheel tighter, eyes fixed on the yellow line cutting through the darkness. “Definefucking around.”
“Oh. My. God.” Lola's words punctuate the air between us on a wheeze. Her shoulders shake as she doubles over, one hand slapping against her thigh. “I can’t wait to see the look on Bishop’s face when he realizes he losttwoof his brothers to your magical vagina.“ She holds up peace fingers, twisting them in the air.
I press my lips together, but a snort escapes anyway, betraying me. “Jesus, Lola.” My fingers flex on the steering wheel. “This is not some kind of revenge plot.”
She rolls her head along the headrest, her smile fading into something sharper as she studies my profile. One eyebrow arches.
“Isn't it though?” Her voice drops to a knowing whisper that slices right through my defenses.
47
BELLAMY
“God, I have to pee,”Lola groans.
I squint against the glare, scanning the asphalt ribbon that cuts through the desert. Nothing but heat waves and open road in both directions. We’ve been parked on the shoulder for nearly twenty minutes.
“I told you not to get the forty-ounce.” We stopped at about the halfway mark to hit the bathroom and caffeinate.
“Yeah, well. I did.”
I glance at my watch. “You better hop out and do your business now. Any minute now, we’re gonna hear from Cruz and Beck. And then we’re not stopping for hours.”
“Fine, but just for the record, this is not my preferred place to pee.”
I huff a laugh. “Yeah, okay. Better than peeing your pants, though.”
“True. We’d be testing the limits of a bleach bomb. Good for science and all that,” she says, pushing open her door.
“Just hurry up.”
She flips me off over the top of the door, then slams it shut. The sun hangs like a white-hot coin in a cloudless sky, alreadybaking the cracked earth. Heat ripples distort the horizon, making the distant mountains waver like a mirage. My shirt sticks to my back, and I change the angle of the vent again.
I twist the earpiece, listening for updates.
Beck’s voice comes through. “The eagle has landed.”
“Three, one, two: you’re up,” Cruz says.
My heart kicks inside against my ribs just as Lola slides back into the passenger seat.
“Ready, sis?” Lola flashes me a grin as she sprays hand sanitizer on her hands.
I nod, even though she’s already looking out the window, watching for movement. “It’s almost time.”
