“Don’t you think I’ve tried?” he says.
I give him a sad smile.
He doesn’t smile back. “I won’t go. Even if I get in, I won’t go.”
I don’t want to hope for this. Ishouldn’thope for this. “Can I still get a ride home?”
Finally, a smile warps his toughened expression. “You think I would leave a girl stranded on a dark street?” As we start back toward the car, he shoves his hands in his pockets. “You’re really something else.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Something else?”
“Different. Unpredictable. Spirited.”
I twist a lock of hair around my finger. “That’s a first. I usually getdazzlingly hotandinsanely talented.”
He snorts.
“Fine. I’ll admit that only Rae speaks of me that way.”
His eyes flash with amusement. “Spend some time in the boys’ locker room, and you’ll see it isn’t just Rae who thinks of you that way.”
My pulse turns jumpy, scattering heat through my veins. “Liar.”
We’re back at the car, and he’s drawing my door open. “I might withhold information when need be, but Ineverlie.”
Heart still pumping wildly, I climb into the car, and he shuts the door before striding to the driver’s side and getting in.
As he pulls out of the lot, he says, “Where’s your bike?”
“At home. Can’t bike in a mini.” I point to my lap, but then regret bringing attention to my legs considering how much skin is on display. I tug on the skirt’s frayed hem, but my efforts are wasted. “Besides, Mom doesn’t like me to bike at night. Unless my destination’s in the neighborhood.”
“Your mother’s a wise woman.”
“Yeah. She is.”
“You two are close, huh?”
“She’s everything to me.” I roll one of the threads on the hem of my skirt between my fingers.
“Did she ever remarry?”
“No. She’s never even had a serious relationship since Dad.”
“Really? Why?”
“It’s a long story.” And a personal one.
I’m nottherewith Ten yet… at that place I can spill my family’s deepest, darkest secrets. I haven’t even told Rae. Maybe I’ll forever be incapable of speaking about the father who wanted nothing to do with me and who wasn’t nice to Mom.
The thread rips.
“What about your dad? Did he ever remarry?”
“Almost. She was only interested in his money. Took him a while to figure it out, but at least he came to his senses before sliding a ring on her finger.” Ten eases to a stop at a traffic light.
The taillights of the car in front of us tinge the thread bloodred. I spin it between my fingers.
Ten drums his fingers against the steering wheel. “And before you assume anything, he’s never taken a dime from Mona.”
