“Thought you might’ve changed your mind.”
“You know me better than that.” I flash him a grin.
“Wishful thinking, I guess.” He shrugs, climbing into the car.
“Thank you for picking me up,” I add after sliding into the seat beside him.
“Yeah.” He nods. “Not really sure I should take you home, though. Part of me thinks a mental hospital is more fitting.”
“Ha.” I smile. “Just drop me off at my condo, Wes. There is nothing for you to worry about.”
“You’re like my brother, Ben. Of course, I’m worried.” But he starts the car regardless.
“Can I tell you something?” I ask, looking at him through the corner of my eye as he drives.
“You can tell me anything.”
“You know my Aunt Martha, right?” Her name feels like acid on my tongue.
“Yeah.”
“Well, I should’ve never let you spend the night when she was there. I was selfish. Using you as a shield to keep her from… hurting me.” I pause for a moment. “But I put you at risk by having you there and I’m sorry.”
“Hurting you?” He glances at me.
“You don’t want the details and I don’t want to give them.”
“Fair enough.”
“But regardless. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. There isn’t a lot I wouldn’t do for you.”
“I know.” I nod. “And I love you too or whatever.”
Wes laughs. “Just do me a favor.”
“What?”
“Make it count.”
“That’s the plan.”
I’m only half surprised to find my front door unlocked. I’m a little more surprised to find all the lights on and the place a wreck, though.
However, when I see one guy lounging on my couch and the other sitting at my kitchen table, I’m not surprised in the slightest.
“Rookie mistake, leaving the door unlocked and lights on,” I say dropping my backpack on the ground.
“Where is she?” Charles says, standing up from the kitchen table.
“Right now? Probably desperately trying to get a plane ticket at the San Francisco airport.”
“And you’re here, because?”
“She got a little too clingy for me.” I shrug.
“You got bored of her?” Charles laughs. “He got bored of her,” he says to his friend who laughs with him. The guy looks terrified to be here, but he is going along because that’s what youdo when your rich friend asks you to. Why Charles is doing his own dirty work is beyond me.
