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The next few days were spent trying to get back into my routine. I woke up early and took my mom’s car to the gym — thankfully, she didn’t mind me borrowing it while she and Dad were gone. I warmed up on the treadmill before I moved to weights, and by the time I was done, I was dripping sweat. The burn felt good. There was something about the pain that made me feel alive.
Unfortunately, while in the middle of my workout Sunday morning, a familiar face approached me in the middle of a set.
“Oh…hey, Alex.” I took my earbuds out as he stood beside me, regarding him cautiously. What the hell did he want? I hadn’t seen him at this gym before, but maybe he usually came at a different time. He had his shirt off, showing off muscles that were chiseled to perfection worthy of a Greek god.
But those muscles didn’t do shit for me when they were attached to his backstabbing face.
“We missed you at Billy’s the other night,” he said, almost too casually. “I wanted to check in. Make sure we’re good.”
“Good?” I stared at him in surprise, then lowered my voice as I said, “You broke into a private garage and fucking abandoned me. Why the hell would we begood, Alex?”
“Things got a little out of hand; I’ll admit. I thought you were gunning for those losers, Jess. The same guy who busted my head open…” The look he fixed me with left me no doubt this was a warning. “I’m just saying I’d hate to see you get mixed up with the wrong people.”
I smiled tightly. “Thanks for your concern. Now if you don’t mind…” I put my earbuds back in, dismissing him without a word. He gave me a forced smile before he walked away, and I felt his eyes on me until I finally walked out the door thirty minutes later.
I had no idea if my relationship with my old friends was repairable; frankly, I didn’t want it to be. Maybe it was better to be a loner.
My nerves were high as Tuesday rolled around, and I distractedly got through work, knowing Vincent would be showing up soon. I still had no idea what this ‘task’ was, but I’m sure Vince had something unexpected up his sleeve.
It was just after noon when his blue WRX pulled up in front of my house. I’d been pacing around, trying to convince myself I wasn’t nervous — why the hell would I be nervous? It was Vincent Volkov, the guy who’d always been a class clown, who used to get invited to the popular kids’ parties because they knew he’d have drugs to sell. He didn’t have the same dark, vicious aura that the others did, but there was something about him that severely disarmed me. His teasing nature meant people usually underestimated him, including me.
I had a better idea of what he was capable of now, but I still didn’t know what to expect. As I watched him step out of the car through the kitchen window, my heart sped up and I rubbed my sweating palms on my jeans.
God, he was hot. Way sexier than he had any damn right to be. He strode up to the front door with Ray-Bans on, his long hair loose and wavy around his face, wearing tight acid-wash jeansand an oversized tie-dye shirt with a flaming skull on it. The colors clashed, but it weirdly worked for him.
Anything weird worked with Vincent.
I was already on my way to the door before he rang the bell. When I answered it, he was lighting up a joint dangling from his lips.
Had he lost his mind? He was smoking here, in the middle of the day, inthisneighborhood?
“Are you really smoking weed on my front porch?” I said, completely incredulous.
He pulled the joint from his lips, blowing the smoke away over his shoulder. “Damn right, baby. Want a hit?”
I wasn’t going to think too deeply about the way him calling mebabymade me feel. I was going to ignore the fact that it brought my heart stuttering to a stop before it flew off again at a gallop.
I shook my head at his offer, and grabbed my bag from its hook, locking the door behind me as I stepped outside. “Nope, thanks, but I’m not trying to go through the rest of my day paranoid.”
“Paranoid?” He blew a loud raspberry, wrapping his arm around my waist after I’d locked the front door. “What do you have to be paranoid about? I’m with you. I’ll make sure you don’t go running off naked into the woods.” He lifted his eyebrows suggestively. “At least not without me.”
I laughed despite myself as we walked down the driveway. “I’m not afraid of a spiritual awakening, Vincent. More like paranoia about the fact that it’s illegal.”
He stopped on the opposite side of the WRX, staring at the joint clasped between his fingers. “Weird how a little rolled up herb can get you locked behind bars,” he said. “Legality is just a bunch of old dead folks telling you what to do.”
I shook my head at him as I slid into the car, huffing in surprise when I sank into the strangely deep passenger seat. The seatbeltwas weird too, a three-point harness that I had to slip my arms through and then clip into place between my legs.
“I’m surprised you don’t have cuffs in here,” I said, squirming around as I adjusted the harness.
“Right there.” He pointed, and I looked overhead, finding a cage of metal bars installed around the interior of the cab. It reminded me of the dune buggies I’d ridden in when I went out to Nevada for a bachelorette party. Sure enough, a pair of leather cuffs dangled from the bar above my head.
“Perfect for wrists or ankles,” he said, his grin widening. “But I think that harness will be enough to keep your ass in the seat for now. My rides can get a little rough.”
I had no doubt he was right, in more ways than one. The WRX shuddered as he started it; the rumble of its engine not as deep as Manson’s Mustang or the El Camino. It purred low and steady, and Vincent turned the music up loud as we pulled away from the curb. He sang along to the lyrics about choking and sodomy as we picked up speed, flying past my neighbors’ houses. He earned us more than a few odd looks from folks out watering their lawns and trimming their rose bushes.
“What are we listening to?” I shouted, praying all the while that no one was going to mention to my mother that they’d seen me drive away in a loud car with a long-haired stoner.
“You’ve never heard System of a Down?” He practically gaped at me. “Oh, we need to get you to expand your musical horizons, Jess. What do you usually listen to?”
