My caution lasts until we hit the open road, then I’m forced to increase my speed and leave my nerves on the street behind me.
Clare fiddles with everything within reach. “Does the top come off?”
“I bloody hope not because it’s not a convertible.” I make use of the overtaking lane, zipping past two cars and a long truck, getting a tug of the horn from the latter as I slip in front.
The longer I drive, the more I love it. The responsiveness is out of this world. On the highway, I’m happy increasing to the speed limit, enjoying the smooth way it eats up the road.
Then I exit to cruise along the coastal roads instead, following the curves of the shoreline, enjoying the way the vehicle corners. The low centre of gravity is different to anything I’ve driven before. Slap on a bit of safety gear and I could happily transition to a Formula One track.
When I have to slow down at the next town, I spy a café in the main centre that appears welcoming and pull into a parking space.
Long after the engine stops, I remain seated, enjoying the soft, plump hand-feel of the steering wheel, giving a sigh as I finally release it to unbuckle my seat belt.
“You want a coffee?” I offer. “My treat.” Clare doesn’t immediately respond, and I turn to find her frowning at me. “What?”
“I thought Zane ghosted you after the party, but you’re the one who pushed him away, aren’t you?”
My heart skips a beat, then thumps twice as hard on the next. “It wasn’t like that,” I hedge, then decide it doesn’t matter. “But yes. We’ve worked things out.”
“Right.” She bursts into gales of laughter. “It was most definitelylike that.He’s been eye-fucking you in class and now he bought you aMaserati. It is so hard core to have a royal chasing after you.” Her hands clasp together as she beseeches me, “Tell me your secrets.”
“The car was sitting in his garage,” I correct. “He didn’tbuyit for me.”
“Oh, sorry,” she says, shaking her head as she smiles. “I’ll update the news feed at once.”
“Besides, you’ve got your own royal. You’re the one who could give lessons.”
“Pfft.” Clare’s eyes turn far brighter than the wintry day warrants. “Someone might have Wilder but it’s certainly not me. Didn’t you see his little neck decoration this morning?”
I shift uncomfortably, then give a slow nod. “Yeah, I saw.”
She scrunches her face and gives a long sniff. “Guess I wasn’t the woman to tame his wild ways, after all.”
I lean across the seats, putting my hand around her neck in a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe him being a cheating arseholethis early is a lucky escape. Get out before you get your heart broken.”
“Too late for that,” she says sadly, then shakes herself. “Ah. Monday morning blues suck.”
“You want a table by the window?”
Clare frowns at me like I’m spouting gibberish. “Are you insane? I’m getting that shit to go so I can drink my coffee draped over the bonnet of your expensive loaner car.”
And on second thoughts, that sounds like a better plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
AVON
We arrive backat school towards the end of lunch break and it’s far more difficult to hand the keys back than it was to take them.
“It was fantastic,” I admit, wrapping my arms around Zane as he pockets them. “If you ever want a drive to the airport or a ride to your favourite restaurant, I’m game.”
“Sounds good but you’re off the hook,” he teases back. “Considering I can’t do either of those things for another eight months.”
“Eight months is nothing.” As though the three and a half weeks since the party hadn’t taken a lifetime to roll past.
It’s nice to sit on the bench next to him, my thigh warmed by his. One arm curls around my shoulder while he feeds me bites from what’s left of his lunch, a vegetarian lasagne that tastes a lot better than it looks.
Clare and Wilder sit opposite, tense with each other but both easy with me.
