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The clicking sounds of our bikes echo through the trees.
“It’s your turn to tell a sappy story,” he says.
I laugh. “I don’t think so.”
“Come on, it’s only fair.”
How can I possibly say no when he’s feigning such innocence?
“Well, I never really knew my father. So that’s pretty sad, I guess.”
Damon waits for me to continue.
“He left when my younger brother and I were in third and first grade. Then Mom started dating like she was test driving cars, and I guess Henry checked all the boxes.”
“Your stepdad?”
I nod. “He’s never been particularly nice, but sometimes I feel guilty for not liking him. I mean, he took us in, paid for our schooling, and even bought me my first best friend.”
He hikes a brow, and I shake my head on a laugh.
“A horse named Tux.” I smile sadly, missing my old friend. “Anyway, Mom and Dylan adjusted to high-society quickly, but it was always harder on me.”
For the first time in a long time, my guard begins lowering dangerously.
“The reason I even ended up in Topica Bay to begin with was because I’ve never felt like I belonged.”
A partial truth, but a truth all the same.
“Were you and you brother not very close?” he asks as if we’ve started a game of twenty-one questions.
“We still care for each other. But Dylan’s tied up in being the perfect child, and as of late, I’ve become quite the opposite.”
A memory of the two of us makes me smile.
“When we were kids, he once dared me to eat an entire bag of donuts from the seedy gas station down the block from our old apartment. I shoved seven of those greasy donuts down my throat to prove I wasn’t a quitter and then promptly vomited all over the kitchen the floor.”
“Howdo you find that funny?” Damon asks, appalled.
“You’re such an only child.” I laugh once more.
We’re coasting through the last several feet of the trail when just in front of us, a bike bisects our path. Damon and I slam on our breaks, vaulting forward hard enough that the tires on our bikes screech.
“Oh my gosh!” The thin female in front of us clutches her chest as Vedant rounds the corner and slides to a stop.
“Whoa, are you guys okay?” he asks, glancing between the three of us.
After checking to make sure I’m alright, Damon greets his boss. “Hey, yeah. We’re good.”
The woman beside him clears her throat before flashing her teeth.
Vedant hooks an arm around her. “Kate, this is my girlfriend, Shaylea.”
Shaylea takes a moment to size me up as she gnaws on a piece of gum. The way her big eyes narrow makes the baby hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“Nice to meet you,” I say, reaching for her hand.
She glances at it without moving.
