I stare at her for a moment, slowly blinking.
“No, Carly. That’s not how that works.”
“My insurance covered a temporary car when my engine broke last year, though,” she counters.
I open my mouth to explain how many things are wrong with that statement, let alone the idea of trying to compare the situation of a personal vehicle to a private jet. Something in me just doesn’t have the capacity, though. So, instead I just shake my head and move forward.
“Think your parents will mind if we stay here for a few more days?”
She wrinkles her nose up like she hates the idea of it.
“I mean, I’m sure they’d be thrilled but is that what I want? No.”
I shrug at her as I rest my hands into my shorts pockets.
“We’re stuck in Seattle until further notice.”
“We could fly commercial,” she offers.
I just stare at her for several seconds, her own words sinking in before she laughs.
“Oh my god I can’t believe I just said that. We haven’t flown commercial in years,” she laughs like she just made the silliest joke.
It takes everything in me not to release the eyeroll that is queued up and ready.
“Talk to your parents, we can always get a hotel room if it inconveniences them.”
She waves me off. “They’ll be fine. Though, Dad will absolutely be forcing you out for a fishing trip. Good luck with that one.”
I nod and begin to walk away when she calls out to me.
“Wait, Nicholas. Don’t you want to come join me?” she practically purrs.
My eyes roam over her soapy body as she pushes the door openmore. Carly is beautiful, don’t get me wrong. A blind man would be insanely attracted to her. Right now, though, I’m just…
“Not in the mood,” I cut brusquely as I turn to head back into the bedroom.
She scoffs and I hear mutter, “Since when?”
I choose not to respond, gathering some fresh clothes for the day and heading for the guest bathroom to get cleaned up for the day.
Chapter Eight
Cassi
My arms are wrapped around Alec’s lean torso as he takes a sharp left turn. I lean with him as we speed down the road before we are upright once more. I haven’t been on the back of a motorcycle since…god, I guess since him. It was the only thing about Alec my parents didn’t love. They forbid me to ever ride with him, to which I promptly broke that rule every chance I got. Hey, I never claimed to be a good teenager. Who was?
Besides, they didn’t need to worry. Alec was an excellent driver then and he clearly still is now. He loves to ride but safety is important to him, so is keeping me safe. At least, that’s what he always said.
It’s funny how sometimes, certain parts of your life, someone can mean so much and then over time they just sort of…fade. Not that I ever forgot about Alec. To this day I thought of him often, I just assumed he didn’t want me in his life anymore and I guess I got over it. Though, now that we are here and now, I can touch him, see him, smell him, it all makes me remember why I fell in love with him in the first place.
As if he can hear my thoughts, he turns over his shoulder to look at me as we pull up to a red light. I can’t see through him helmet but for some reason I just know he is grinning. I can’t help but smile in response as I shake my head before the light turns green and we take off again.
I didn’t make it ten feet out of the restaurant before I got my first text from Alec.
Unknown: Where do you think you’re going with my heart like that?
I immediately couldn’t contain my smile when I read it. It goes back to an inside joke we had back in high school. He’d always tease that when I left it felt like his heart was leaving too. Kinda intense now that I think about it, at least for a high school relationship. That’s just how we were, though.
