Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)(71)

“You wouldn’t understand.” I stalk off to the parking lot and toss my stuff into the Jeep.

Beth slams her passenger door shut and I answer her anger by slamming my own. “Tell me where I’m supposed to be taking you.”

“The strip mall a half mile before your pitching facility.”

My head jerks. That place is a step above ghetto. “I’m not leaving you there.”

“I didn’t ask for your approval. You made a deal with me. It’s your decision if you want to keep it.” Her frozen blue eyes pierce into me.

I yank hard on the bill of my hat and peel out onto the main road. She’s angry. I’m angry.

We stay silent as I drive the thirty minutes to the other side of town. There’s enough electricity in the air to propel the car without gas. One word from either of us could cause an explosion.

Beth obviously likes playing with fire. “Is your brother one of those guys that can be awesome to strangers, then turn into a complete dick in private? Did he piss in your Cheerios every morning before you went to school?”

“No,” I grit out. “He was a great brother.”

“Then what is wrong with you? He said you guys haven’t talked in three months and that he was here to see you. What’s so damned important that you couldn’t take three seconds out of your day to say hi?”

I turn on the radio. She turns it off. I pound my hand against the wheel. “I thought you were in a hurry for your one hour of freedom in Louisville.”

“Waiting fifteen minutes so you can talk to your brother isn’t going to ruin my one hour.

Let’s try this again. What’s going on?”

“He’s g*y.”

Beth blinks. “You already told me that.

Catch me up on the you being an ass**le part.”

I am not an ass**le. The whole reason for this day was for her to see that I’m not an ass**le. “He left, okay? He left and he’s made it clear he’s not coming back.”

She angles her body toward me. “Tell me that’s a self-imposed decision Mark made.”

Beth doesn’t tell me squat about her family, yet she expects perfection from mine. “My dad threw him out and Mark didn’t even try to see what would happen if he attempted to stay. Are you happy now?”

“No. So your dad’s a homophobic bastard.

What’s your excuse?”

The anger bursts out of me. “What did you expect me to do? Go against my dad? He told me and Mom that we weren’t allowed to talk to him anymore. He’s my dad, Beth. What would you have done?”

I don’t bother telling her that I tried reaching out to him or that Mark didn’t respond to me…until now. Now when it’s too late.

“Grown a pair of balls, that’s what I would have done. God, Ryan, you are an ass**le. Your brother is g*y and you toss him out of your life because you’re too much of a pansy to stand up to your father.”

I pull into the strip mall and park in the back of the lot. This place is a shithole. Down by the Laundromat, a guy in a wife-beater screams at a girl with bleached-blond hair holding a diaper-clad baby on her hip. Guys my age smoke cigarettes while purposely skateboarding into girls coming in and out of the stores. Someone needs to teach them respect.

Beth hops out of the Jeep. Her hair blows in the breeze behind her as she strides toward the shopping center. Why is this girl always walking away from me? I jump out after her, catch her hand, and turn her to face me. I thought I pissed Beth off by nominating her to homecoming court. The fire blazing out of her eyes tells me this anger is on a completely different level. She needs to hear me out and understand my dad—to understand my family.

“Mark abandoned us.”

“Bullshit. You abandoned him.” She rams a finger into my chest. “You and me. We’re a mistake. You’re a leaver. My father left me, Saint Scott left me, and I will never be left again.”

Yet Beth is the one who leaves. She retreats to the shopping plaza and disappears into the grocery store. She told me on the way into Louisville to drop her off and come back for her later. I never intended to let Beth walk away, but her words rock me. Is she right? Did I abandon Mark?

Beth

I CUT IN THE SUPERMARKET, duck back out, and beeline it for the Last Stop, avoiding the group of skateboarders. I’m careful, guarding Echo’s money that burns the back pocket of my jeans.

More pickpockets hang here than people with high school diplomas.

Denny slaps his hand on the counter when I step into the bar. “Get out, kid.”

Pool balls click against each other as a guy in jeans and a leather vest plays solo. Two older men in blue factory uniforms slouch over beers at the bar. My heart drains of any shred of hope I had gained in Groveton when I see the blond-haired mess at the table in the corner.

Holding myself proud, I glide to the bar.

“Whatever Isaiah is paying you, I’ll pay you double to keep your mouth shut.”

He chuckles darkly. “That’s the same offer he gave me concerning you. Go play with your boyfriend and stay out of my bar.”

“Isaiah isn’t my boyfriend.”

Wearing a smart-ass smile, Denny grabs a wet shot glass out of a tub and dries it with a towel. “Have you told him that?”

When I say nothing back, Denny gestures to Mom. “She’s been crying today. Trent was arrested by the cops last night for drunk driving and they impounded her car. Get her out and spend some time with her.”