Leaving Amarillo(69)
Dallas turns his attention to Gavin and I swallow the urge to smile. He’s always been the peacemaker, but he never takes sides. The look he’s pummeling my brother with says this time he has. And it’s mine.
“Easy,” Dallas warns, the tension in the confined cab of the van growing heavier among the three of us. But then my brother laughs. “Dude. I thought you got laid last night. No luck?”
Oh no. Every cell in my body goes on high alert. Dallas is grinning good-naturedly, but Gavin looks like he wants to jump out of the van and into oncoming traffic.
“None of your business, dude.”
“My bad.” My brother laughs as he weaves into the fast lane. “You said you were crashing with a friend, so I just assumed—”
“Lark, I’m dead serious. Shut it the f*ck down.”
I swallow hard, pulling my arms around my knees and trying to pretend they’re talking about something else. Someone else.
“All right, all right. Shutting.” My brother shakes his head. “Guess this one actually meant something for a change. I’ve never seen you so worked up over a one-nighter. Any chance I’ll get to meet her? Or you too afraid she might actually have taste and ditch you for me?”
Holy disgusting incest, Batman. Shut up.
Despite my urge to plug them, my ears perk, both anxious and dreading Gavin’s response.
Gavin ignores him. “I’m taking a nap. Wake me up if you want me to drive.”
I can see from the space between the seat and the window that he’s shoving his duffel against the glass and using it as a pillow. My voice leaps into my throat to tell him we can switch places and he can sleep on the bench seat, but he’s practically radiating anger and frustration and I’m still too wound up and raw to risk being snapped at by him.
It doesn’t take long before I’m dozing in that murky area between sleep and reality. I’m vaguely aware when the boys change places somewhere between Little Rock and Memphis. They hand me a bag of drive-through food that gets cold before I eat it.
Somewhere in strange daylight hours that feel oddly bright for almost dinnertime, we’re stopped when I’m roused from restless napping and I see Dallas practically hurdling Gavin to switch seats with him once again.
Sitting up, I blink myself awake just in time to see a uniformed police officer walking to where Dallas is now sitting. I sit upright and try to look like a willing participant in the van instead of a kidnapped hostage. Pretty sure my bedhead in the middle of the day isn’t helping. The officer leaves with Dallas’s license and proof of insurance.
I glance out the windshield but all I can see is the highway and trees. “Where are we?”
“’Bout ten minutes outside of Nashville.” Dallas gives Gavin a strange look and mumbles something under his breath that I can’t make out.
“No shit,” Gavin responds. My gaze travels over him. He’s shifting uncomfortably, drumming his thumbs on his right knee.
“Why the quick change? You got warrants out, Garrison?” I’m kidding, but when he glances over his shoulder at me his expression is wary.
“Something like that.”
I’m about to demand that they both tell me what the hell is going on when the cop returns.
Dallas gets a speeding ticket for going ten over the limit. Both the guys grumble about the guy being a dick as we pull back onto the highway.
“What do you mean, ‘something like that’?”
“Nothing,” Gavin says without looking at me.
“Nothing wouldn’t have sent the two of you sprawling across each other to switch seats.”
“Now’s not the time,” Dallas says, giving me a warning glance.
“I’m not moving from this van until one of you tells me what is going on.” This combined with Gavin’s weird-out when the officer stopped to check on us on our way to Potter County has me convinced that what happened while I was in Houston was much more significant an event than the two of them have made it out to be.
My body feels like it’s made of wet cement anyhow. But whatever they’re hiding is big if they’ve kept it from me. My time in Houston has become a window of time that they’ve both turned into a black hole I know very little about.
I watch from behind as the two of them exchange a look. Gavin’s shoulders go stiff for a second before he angles around to look at me.
“I got into a little trouble after you left for school last year. Started screwing around with stuff I should not have been screwing around with and some unpleasant shit went down. It’s over with and I’m handling it.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Which is it? Is it over with or are you handling it?”
“We’re here,” my brother announces loudly, cutting off my inquisition.
Great. My eyelids are swollen and heavy and my mouth tastes like the inside of a Dumpster. Minus the blinding neon lights lighting up the street, it’s growing dark already. A day in a van will seriously mess with a girl’s concept of time.
Dallas continues on, giving our marching orders as he parks the van. “We have less than an hour to get cleaned up and get to the venue where the showcase is being held. Mandy booked us a room here at her hotel.”
Knowing that tonight I’ll be sharing a room with Gavin and my brother has my head spinning as I crack my neck. I stretch my legs and groan a little at the ache unfurling inside them.