A sick feeling spools in my stomach.
If AJ and I wanted the opportunity to speak to my father before Doug did, then that opportunity has passed us by.
Because, by the looks of it, Doug has beaten us to it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
AJ
The mayor’s place is just as I always expected it would be. Fancy gated white house with its own intercom and private driveway. Lit up from the outside at night. Prolly a double staircase and crystal chandelier on the inside.
No generator required. No sleeping naked because you’re so hot you might boil in your own skin. So fancy, even the roaches prolly know to stay away from a place like this.
I shouldn’t be surprised. Next to Electric Hills, Boulder Creek is the most high-class neighborhood in Canyon. Yet, looking up at this place, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I think of my mother, scraping by. People out here, they don’t know what privilege is.
I draw closer to the intercom on my motorcycle. Behind me, Hollie reaches out and presses the button. A moment later, the gates begin to open.
I ride in, then pull up in the driveway outside the house. Hollie dismounts before I kill the engine. We both remove our helmets. When I see her face, she looks terrified, because her stepbrother’s car is already parked up.
‘Hey,’ I say, fixing her gaze, which remains unfocused. ‘Everything is gonna be fine.’
Her chin bobs up and down as she nods her head, like she’s tryna convince herself I’m telling the truth.
‘Let’s just go inside and get this over with.’
I thought about dressing up some. But I’m proud of who I am. Of where I come from, even if I accept that Rapture cannot survive for much longer in its current state. So, I put on my ripped jeans that have seen better days, my scuffed biker boots, my pale gray cotton T-shirt that looks just about the same as every other tee in my closet, and my leather jacket with the skull embroidered on the back that I won fair and square in a game of eight-ball. Because they all represent who I am.
The things about me that have changed are all on the inside.
Couple months ago, being in a serious relationship was not on my bingo card. Never thought I’d fall hopelessly in love with a girl I’d do anything for. But mayor’s stepdaughter or no, Echo’s belief that our relationship is gonna start a civil war is pure, unfiltered bullshit. And I plan on proving that, right about now.
Hollie walks up a couple of steps and rings the doorbell. I linger behind her, still holding onto my helmet.
She glances back at me and gives a hopeful smile, so I reach out and give her fingers a squeeze.
The door opens.
Evelyn Wallace stands in the threshold. The mayor of Canyon looks down her nose and fixes Hollie with a steely gaze, before her eyes dart to mine. The look she gives me is stone cold.
I should have warned Echo I was coming here. He prolly would have tried to talk me out of it.
‘Hollie,’ she says dryly. ‘How timely. You’d both better come in.’
I follow Hollie inside.
Once the door closes behind us, I look up. Curved double-staircase, one chandelier. There’s even a glass vase full of pink and purple flowers in the center of a round table, which prolly cost more than my mom pays in rent for a month.
Hollie puts down her helmet beside the door.
A figure appears at the top of the stairs. The guy from last night, Hollie’s asshole of a stepbrother. He’s leaning on the railing and smirking down at us in the hallway.
The mayor looks between us. Still holding onto my helmet, I slide my free arm purposefully around Hollie’s waist as she places her hand over the fabric of my jacket.
‘This is my boyfriend, AJ Callahan,’ Hollie says, her voice laced with uncertainty. If that’s what being in her stepmother’s presence does to her, it makes me hate the mayor even more than I already do.
‘I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, AJ, but let’s not pretend that either of us find this encounter pleasurable. I know where you come from.’
