“Trust me, Lilith,” I said, popping into gear and steering down the driveway. “I’ve never even gotten a ticket.”
She laughed ruefully. “That would reassure me, except I know what you really mean.”
I grinned. “That I’ve never gotten caught.”
“Exactly. And I don’t love you sounding smug about it.”
I followed Lilith’s directions, and we joked back and forth the way siblings do, teasing each other and complimenting each other in the same breath. I’d ran away from Washington with my best friend Daryl when I was twenty, which meant five years had passed before I returned on Lilith’s doorstep. Whatever anxiety I had that things would have changed, though, faded as soon as she had me in a headlock, forcing me to admit that I liked the Britney Spears song she had caught me nodding along to on the radio.
Older sisters. It was funny how something like that could make a guy feel so at home.
“How was bartending last night?” I asked. “I thought I was going to catch you, but you must have been out late.”
“It was slow, but yeah, the stragglers took forever to head home. How about the first day working with Franklin?”
“Easy on the eyes,” I purred.
Lilith laughed and directed me around a corner. “I haven’t met the guy. I just heard about the gig because he owns that comic book store by the bar. Let me guess. Silver daddy? Muscle daddy?”
I glanced at her, then arched my eyebrow. “Geek daddies. Two of them.”
“Oh god,” she laughed. “I’m going to hear a lot about this one, aren’t I?”
“Not that anything can happen,” I complained. “They’re so happily married, you’d think they were living in a sitcom.”
“A sitcom about a couple of married gay geeks?” She laughed softly to herself. “I’d watch it.”
“Me, too,” I groaned.
Lilith directed me the rest of the way, until we were out of the city and into some more open spaces. I steered down a side road, and after she directed me to stop, Lilith hopped out to open a fence. It led to one massive open lot, protected from sight by scattered trees in the distance. Unlike a lot of neglected parking lots, though, the pavement was smooth and even.
I parked the car, then leaned back. “You want a show?”
“I haven’t seen you drive in five years. You must have learned something new in that time.”
I let out a whistle. “A few very hard lessons.”
Lilith grinned. “Let me watch from the side for a bit. You can spin me around as your passenger before we go.”
I nodded, my senses already heightened as I fingered the gear. “Thank you, Lilith. This really does mean a lot to me.”
“You don’t have to tell me, Asher. I get that this is more than just driving to you. And I love that you’re ready to leave that part of your life behind, but you’ll be a lot more successful if you give yourself an outlet for your feelings, too.” She paused, and a memory seemed to flicker across her face. “Trust me.”
“An outlet,” I said. “Got it.”
Lilith squeezed my shoulder one more time, then jumped out of the car. I looked across the open lot. There were shrubs and small trees scattered along the side, and clouds were drifting across the September sun.
I tightened my hands on the wheel and centered myself in the adrenaline that was already pumping. It was like I became aware of everything around me. I was strong and powerful for the first time in weeks, all the shame and failure I felt on returning to Seattle burning away as I revved the engine.
And then—I fucking drove.
