Believe in Spring (Jett #8)(11)

Within minutes, she’s asleep in the middle seat of my truck, her hair falling over my shoulder. She’s not stressed when she’s sleeping, so I stay quiet and let her rest for the remainder of the journey.

“Baby,” I whisper a few hours later. “We’re here.”

She sits up and blinks. “We’re here already?”

“You slept a while,” I say with a laugh.

She yawns. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, seeing her face as we pull up to the famous city she’s been wanting to visit. The barren Nevada landscape is a beautiful as it is different from Texas. We turn onto the Strip, which is really close to our hotel.

“Here we are,” I say, watching her while I drive.

She gazes around, but her expression doesn’t change. “Cool,” she says after a while. “The mountains are pretty.”

That’s not even close to the type of response I thought she’d give me. I wanted to see her face light up. I wanted her to smile so big it reaches her eyes. I wanted her to do that cute bounce up and down in the seat thing she does when she’s really excited. But even the allure of Vegas doesn’t help take away her pain.

I grit my teeth as I follow the GPS to our hotel. I wish I could personally curse out every asshole online who said those things to my girlfriend. I wish I could expose their secrets and embarrass them just as badly as they embarrassed her. I haven’t even checked Twitter lately. I know it’ll just piss me off more.

Still, I put on a smile and try to make Keanna’s day better any way I can. Once again, we check into a new hotel, and she’s happy when we’re up on the nineteenth floor and she can look out at the city below.

I set her flowers on her nightstand and walk up behind her while she’s gazing out the balcony window. I slide my hands around her and hold her tightly.

“I love you so much,” I whisper.

“I love you, too.”

I lean forward and kiss her cheek. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

She turns around to face me, and I keep my arms around her. Her hands wrap around my neck and she peers up at me with this sad smile.

“I’m okay. I’ll be okay. I’m actually more worried about you.”

I frown. “Why would you worry about me?”

She shrugs and looks away. “I don’t know.”

“Baby, I’m fine,” I say, squeezing her closer to me. “I’ll win this race. I’m not the least bit concerned.”

She nods. “That’s good.”

Damn. Something tells me she didn’t mean she was worried about my racing ability.

We settle into the hotel’s oddly comfortable couch and watch some TV. The Vegas arena doesn’t open up early and won’t let us in to scope out the track like the other two had done, so there’s nothing to do but hang with my girl. I’m totally fine with that, because she’s the only thing in my life I truly care about.

Clay texts me around dinner time, asking if we want to go out to eat with them.



Me: No thanks, man. I’m spending time with my girl.

Clay: She feeling better?

Me: Honestly, not really. I thought Vegas would be special but it didn’t help.

Clay: So make it special

Clay: Fuck the haters and make it special, dude.

I read his text and think it over in my mind.

Me: You’re right. Thanks.





Chapter 9


Keanna



Vegas is as beautiful as it looks in the movies. The only thing I didn’t expect is that it seems a little smaller when you’re walking down the infamous Vegas Strip. But the lights are shiny and colorful and fill you up with just enough whimsy to forget your problems. We’d tried visiting the cupcake place I want to try, but it was closed for a private party. I hope we’ll get to go back to it before the trip is over.

Last night, Jett and I had gone with the guys to get dinner at some restaurant that had acrobats performing all around us. After the last two miserable days I’ve had, I welcomed the distraction. I was able to put on a smile and actually mean half of it. It’s kind of like magic, how getting out and doing something exciting makes you slip into a world of happiness that exists separately from your bleak real life. But as soon as we got back to the hotel last night, it all came back to me. Tidal waves of sadness pouring over me in ways I couldn’t hold back. But I tried to. For Jett, I tried.

We’d stayed up late watching a movie in the hotel, cuddling in the bed surrounded by its many fluffy pillows. I loved the way his chest felt—strong and warm as I laid against him, but I still hurt.

He didn’t ask me if everything was okay, or if I was feeling fine, or anything, so I think I did a good job of hiding this feeling that’s grown so big inside of me that I fear it’ll explode any day now.

Today is Friday, and Jett’s Vegas race is tomorrow. We’re supposed to do some sight seeing and find all the fun things you can do here when you’re not old enough to drink, but we made a plan to sleep in late first. After all these days of waking up early to drive, it’s nice to lay in bed with no schedule looming over you.

Only, I can’t sleep in late.

I’m laying here in this comfortable hotel bed, next to Jett, who is perfect in every way, and yet I’m not sleeping. I’m staring at the ceiling and chewing on the inside of my lip. It’s been hours since I last checked the drama online. I could tell Jett was watching me all night last night, hoping I wouldn’t look at social media, so I didn’t. But I can’t hold back anymore. It’s too tempting. It’s so stupid, I know, but it is what it is.