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What did that mean? I had a feeling that Mack was into things way out of my comfort zone, and that getting mixed up with him was something I should avoid at all costs. Except all I could think about was how he told me I was different. How was I different to him? And why did the very idea of it make my heart speed up with giddiness? Something was seriously wrong with me.
Just as we pulled up to Blake and Tayia’s, Mack’s phone rang again. I placed my hand on the door handle of the truck as I waited to see what he would do. Of course, he answered it in his usual abrupt and slightly annoyed tone. I glanced in his direction, but he was staring straight ahead, so I pushed open the door handle and hopped down. When I turned Mack was looking at me, this time with the phone to his ear, but not speaking. It felt like he wanted to say something to me, but either couldn’t or wouldn’t. Or maybe it was me who wanted him to speak. He started talking into the phone, and it was clear that the moment passed. So I closed the door and started up the walk to the house, and I heard him drive away. He didn’t even wait until I’d safely made it inside. My heart sank as I listened to his engine fading in the distance.
I’d sent Tayia a text earlier letting her know that I was coming over, but she never responded. I hoped that she was awake to let me in; otherwise I had no idea what I would do. I couldn’t call my parents or my brothers. I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with them right now so I knocked on the door and waited.
Nothing.
I knocked a second time, a little louder, and waited.
Still nothing.
I rang the doorbell quickly as a last resort. Finally, I heard noises on the other side. Then the door swung open to reveal a shirtless Blake glaring down at me while Tayia peeked around him.
“Jonna?” Tayia called out. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” She stepped forward and nudged Blake to the side, however he looked like he didn’t really want to move or let me in. I’d always gotten along with Blake, which was why his actions surprised me.
Once inside, Tayia and I went up to her room and I filled her in on my night with Mack. I’d never been so unsure about anything in my life. The one thing I did know was that I’d connected with Mack in a way physically that I never had with anyone else. The rest of it was completely foreign. I had no idea what sort of things he was involved in, but I knew they weren’t good. Here I was, a girl who could throw attitude with the best of them and had no qualms about going after what I wanted, yet when it came to Mack King, I was at a loss. I’d never experienced anything like this before, and suddenly I felt nineteen. And Tayia, just like me, had no idea what to make of this situation either, so instead we watched a movie until we both fell asleep.
Chap
ter Seven
We’d managed to convince my dad to let us leave early. The restaurant was dead and there were just a few people sitting at the bar. Drew had the night off and was headed with Woody to a race. I think this was also the reason Harley chose tonight to go to Charleston to pick up her box. While I didn’t like sneaking around behind my brother’s back, I also wanted to be there for Harley. I envied everything about her. She was gorgeous in a natural way. She never bothered doing anything special to her chocolate brown hair, but it always seemed to fall perfectly into place. Her makeup was minimal and she couldn’t care less about clothes or if she wore the same outfit twice in a week. Harley just wasn’t bothered by that kind of stuff. However, my favorite thing about her was that she spoke her mind. No filter and no hesitation. It was the way I wanted to be.
Growing up as the baby of the family and the only daughter with two older brothers, an overbearing mother, and a father who spoiled me rotten, meant that I had to fight for independence. I learned early own that my attitude would rattle them enough to back off a little. I was constantly trying to prove that I could handle way more than they gave me credit for.
And sometimes I was even right.
“So, what about this ex-boyfriend? Is there going to be any drama?” My thoughts went back to Travis. I didn’t know if anything was worth getting from his house if it meant seeing him again.
“No, he’ll be cool. It wasn’t like we were in love or anything,” Harley replied and looked out of the window.
“How long were you with him?”
“Five years.”
“Five years?” I repeated. “That’s a long time to be with someone and not be in love.”
“I don’t know.” Harley shrugged. “I wouldn’t say it was love so much as being with someone for a long time and tolerating each other. I think I could have loved him if I’d let myself.” She added the last sentence almost as an afterthought, then let out a long breath. “He could be good when he wanted to, but he also knew how to screw up pretty badly. I’d just had enough of the highs and lows. Plus I never really saw much of a future with him, not the way I do with Drew.”
“It looks like you made the right decision then.” I smiled at her and turned my focus back to the darkened road illuminated by my headlights.
We arrived in Charleston just before midnight. Harley gave me directions until I was driving down a street lined with small houses on either side. It looked like a working middle-class neighborhood, not a bad area, but it wasn’t exactly great either. We stopped in front of a one-story brick house with an attached garage with two large industrial-looking black bay doors that was almost as big as the house.
We got out of the car and walked across a small patch of grass that was in serious need of a mow. All of the lights were off and there weren’t any cars in the driveway. I looked around and whispered, “Harley, I don’t think he’s home.” It was annoying that we drove all the way out here and the guy wasn’t even around. “Didn’t you tell him we were coming?”
“No,” Harley replied, and then walked past me. “He doesn’t need to be here.” She hurried to the side of the house and lifted the latch to the back gate.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked, but ran to keep up with her because there was no way I wanted to be caught snooping around by myself. When I found her she was jiggling a small window up until she was able to make enough room for her fingers to fit through.
“Help me,” she called out, and so I stepped up and worked with her to lift the window. It groaned on the rails as we worked it open. It was in obvious need of a little WD-40, but with enough muscle power and persistence we were able to make enough room for Harley to slip inside. Seconds later she appeared in front of the back sliding glass door. She unlatched it and let me in.
“You need to hurry,” I said to her as I followed her through the disaster of a house. Beer cans, empty pizza boxes, and ashtrays full of cigarette butts were all over the place. Gross. There were clothes all over the hallway. I followed her into a bedroom, which was surprisingly neater than the rest of the house, but not by much. All of the clothes were thrown into one pile on the floor in the corner, and one half-empty beer bottle was on the nightstand. You could, however, see the brown carpet much better in here.
Harley pulled open the doors to the closet and then stood on her tiptoes to grab a medium-sized box. She laid it on the floor and was about to close the closet back when we heard keys slide into the front door lock. Harley’s eyes went wide as she looked over at me.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered. I searched around the room but didn’t see anywhere to hide.
“Shit,” I repeated as my heart started to pound a hole in my chest. We stood there like statues as footsteps drew closer and walked right past us into the bathroom at the end of the hall.
