Page 76 of Road to Redemption

She took the hit like it was nothing, laughing from deep in her chest. “And you thought you were straight.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” I shoved her, but she just wrapped her arm around my waist and pulled me closer. “I was working through a lot! Besides, you’re gonna regret turning me gay now that you’re officially stuck with me.”

“I highly doubt that, Bunny.”

She pulled me in for another kiss, reminding me exactly how gay I was. But before I could get too swept up in the moment, an incoming text drew her attention to her phone. “It’s getting late. We should go get dressed.”

I let her take my hand and lead me up the stairs, dropping me off at my door before heading off to her own room to get dressed. Taking her cue on the casual outfit, I opted for loose, knee length black denim and a black crop top under a sleeveless flannel.

A bit utilitarian, perhaps, but I got the sense that whatever we were doing would require a certain range of motion. Still, that didn’t stop me from clipping on a long belt chain and my bike chain bracelet before pinning my wig into place.

I fucking hated this thing. I had daily fantasies about burning the damn thing. But the disguise was my ticket to freedom, as far as Dom was concerned. Besides, it would be nice if Caleb’s first impression of me wasn’t the face he’d seen plastered all over the news for the past couple of months.

“Ready, baby?” Spencer crooned from the doorway, a mischievous grin already tugging at her lips.

“Ready,” I smiled back, following her down to the foyer to meet Leo and, to my surprise, Dom. A part of me had assumed she’d be staying home — after all, she didn’t seem like the celebratory type.

I hadn’t voiced my confusion, but Spencer must have felt the question tighten my shoulders. Her eyes followed my gaze to Dom before smirking. “Who do you think is paying?”

Seeing Spencer and I descend the stairs, Leo did a quick double take. “God, you’re pretty. Are you allowed to be that pretty?”

But Dom, ever the ray of sunshine, just let out an impatient huff.

“We’re going to be late,” she pushed off the doorframe she’d been leaning against. “Let’s get going.”

“I’d be ready much faster if you weren’t making me wear this stupid wig,” I muttered, but she was already out of the door by the time the words escaped my lips.

I tried to swallow down my irritation.

Whatever. Don’t stoop to her level. The last thing we need is to fight in front of Spencer’s poor nephew.

And as Spencer looped her fingers with mine to lead me through the door, Dom’s barbed words felt like little more than a splinter.

Slipping onto the back of Spencer’s bike, I let her drive me out of the mansion’s iron gates and down the winding backroads of Valemont. It seemed like my lovers knew every patch of pavement in this little town — somehow, they were always managing to take me down some path I hadn’t seen before, some untouched stretch of Earth that belonged to them alone.

Probably not super safe to repeat routes. Especially given my high profile.

I leaned into Spencer’s back, trying to distract myself from my guilt at the risk I brought into their lives by peering out at the beautiful sunlit valley below us.

Soon enough, we’d arrived at our location: a strip mall at the end of the Earth. Most of its eateries and clothing shops were pretty worn down. It was hard to tell if the doors were shuttered for the night or forever. But apparently, the big, auxiliary building at the edge of the lot was what we’d really come here for: the LaserZone.

The technicolor neon sign over its door felt out of place against the drab aesthetics of the surrounding stores. But just like its neighbors, it seemed completely devoid of life except for a beat up old Lincoln parked out front.

As we drove closer to the building, the front doors of the sedan swung open to reveal a teen boy with shaggy brown hair and a younger girl with blunt brown bags and hair down to her waist.

Abi and Caleb. Duh.

The sight of them suddenly made my heart pound. Of course I’d been nervous to meet them, but it was hard to sit in that feeling in all the bustle of getting out the door. But now that they were standing in front of me, everything felt so much more real.

We’re really doing this. I’m really meeting them.

Pulling up beside the car, Leo was the first to kill her engine and pull off her helmet. “Sup, kiddos? How’s ol’ Lincoln treating you?”

“Good, good,” Caleb nodded before Abi piped up.

“It’s leaking black stuff.” She smirked as her brother hissed at her.

“You weren’t supposed to say anything.”