‘Did you do something to your hair? Looks nicer than normal. Like you attempted to style it.’ She looks to my hands, which are free of engine grease for a change. ‘My, my, somebody cleaned up some. Where’s your jacket?’
‘Can you go now, please?’ Reyes groans.
She tips the bottle neck to her lips. ‘Fine. I’ll leave you boys to your lonely existence. Bye, Balthazar.’
Reyes grunts in response. Chase passes her as she walks away and immediately checks out her sashaying ass. She flips him the bird.
‘Do you mind?’ Reyes snaps at him as he breaks.
Chase hands me and Reyes a beer. ‘What was the dumb reason you two decided to stop hooking up again? ’Cause that chick is tryna make you jealous, man.’
Reyes sniffs. I watch how his gaze always goes back to Nicole. ‘Says I ain’t never gonnacommit,’ he says, thinking we can’t hear. ‘Or some such shit. I ask her out, and every time she blows me off.’
I used to think Reyes was wasting his time with Nicole. Those two have been hooking up since high school. Now, I’m beginning to see things differently. It’s like he can’t let her go, even if he wanted to. Like he’s caught up in her web, and the more he struggles, the more he gets stuck.
The bar is filling up now.Paradise Cityplays out over the amps. It’s Echo’s favorite. The line for the bar is five deep, stretching all the way to the door. I see Nando dancing at the same time as mixing cocktails. I couldn’t do that job. College kids are everywhere, even using the pool table next to ours wearing their red-and-white dickwad varsity jackets, swilling beer and headbanging to Axl Rose like the loser fucking idiots they are. Girls come and watch us play, which Reyes seems happy enough about. A month ago, I might have considered taking one of ’em upstairs with me. Except now, for some reason, the sight of ’em leaves me cold.
‘You waitin’ on somebody? Or somethin’?’ Chase asks me after we’ve played pool for about an hour.
‘No,’ is my response.
‘Then why you keep staring at the door?’
I bend to take my shot. Take my aim and hit a high ball into the far pocket.
‘Waiting on your momma,’ I mutter under my breath.
‘I heard that.’
‘I’m not waiting on anybody, all right? I’m just here to shoot some pool. That’s what you wanted, right?’
‘See this is what I mean. You’re being weird again.’
I roll my eyes. I don’t even know why I’m here. I hate that Hollie Palmer has got me all tied up in fucking knots. That the only reason I’m here is in case she shows up tonight, and I can’t think about anything else. It’s not like anything happened between us back in New Mexico. She was just…
She was cute. Sweet-natured, and I kinda regret ever ignoring her in high school.
Watching her sleep… made me think about things a little different. What I want from my life, I guess.
I’m still thinking about ways to forget Hollie when Nicole pushes through the crowd and comes bounding over. She’s pulling somebody along behind her and, the moment I see who it is, every nerve ending in my body stands to attention. Without warning, I feel like I’ve been sucker punched.
‘Y’all, look who’s here!’ she squeals, still holding her by the hand yet thrusting her forward into the light so we can see. ‘It’s Jenny English!’
Chapter Fifteen
Hollie
On the road out to Rapture, I think to myself, yet again, that I don’t belong in this universe.
And not only that, but I’mscared.
What kind of a person is frightened of a night out?
Our Uber driver honks his horn. Up ahead, a car has broken down, causing all the traffic behind it to grind to a halt. Cars start driving round, creating chaos along the poorly maintained road.
Aubri is here from Sunset Pines. So is Nabila, and a second nurse, Carla, who I happen to know hates both her job and the elderly. We talked excitedly the entire journey until Rapture came into view. Now, everybody’s gone quiet.
Aubri lowers her window. She looks to the rest of us with a devilish grin. ‘Y’all hear that?’ she says.
