Cash throws his head back and laughs as Wilder shakes his head, his burnt forearm flexing as he turns off the highway.
“We could never forget you, Blondie,” Wilder tries.
I cross my arms over my chest and huff. “You’d think my nickname being tattooed onyour arm would help you remember I exist. I guess it doesn’t.”
“I didn’t forget,” Wilder lies. “I was just—”
“Busy bonding with his bestie,” Cash interjects.
“Shut up,” I say to him, narrowing my eyes. “Or you can sit back here.”
I could tell him that Wilder once said I’m his real best friend. But I’m trying to be nice.
It’s torture.
“You can take the front seat next stretch,” Cash offers.
“I think I’d prefer to sit up front,” I say. “And you two can be in the back.”
Wilder chuckles, and I instantly groan.
I know exactly where his mind has gone.
“Come on,” Cash says, slugging him in the arm. “You’re gross.”
Wilder points to himself. “I didn’t say anything!”
“We both know what you were thinking,” I tell him.
“You set yourself up for that one,” Wilder says, lowering his sunglasses and peering at me in the rearview mirror.
His words from earlier this morning send a spear of heat up my spine.
You never said I couldn’t seduce you, Ingrid.
That’s fair.
But he’s started a war he won’t win. He might try seducing me, but I know Wilder. He has zero willpower. Not when it comes to that, anyway.
“We’re almost there,” Cash announces as he points to the white, striped tower in front of us.
My cell vibrates in my hand, but I ignore it. Mom’s been blowing up my phone, trying to convince me to come home. She’s even offered to pay for a plane ticket at the nearest airport.
Which begs the question: why are Jason and Jill afraid of their eldest daughter?
Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand. Isla has zero boundaries with my parents. She walks all over them. She’s entitled and demanding. She wants what she wants and she’ll step all over them to get it.
Distance has made that crystal-clear.
But Jason and Jill raised her. They should have some insights into how to deal with her.
Instead, they call me.
Or ask me to be a distract Isla while… well, fill in the blank.
The further we drive away from them, the more and more it feels less like a home and more like a… war zone.
I need out.
