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The words spill comfort through my veins, and I relax a smidgeon by the time we reach Hunter’s car. He removes his arm from around my shoulders, opens the passenger door, and holds it open for me like a gentleman.
I smile at him then reach to flip the seat forward so I can climb in the back. However, Hunter captures me by the arm, stopping me.
“Sit in front with us,” he suggests when I glance at him. “There’s a seat belt in the middle seat.”
I eye the bench seat. It looks roomy enough, I guess. It does seem a bit weird, though, to be riding in the middle, crammed between them when there’s plenty of room in the back seat. Still, I climb in, and Jax slides in beside me, slipping an arm along the back of the seat right behind my head. He offers me a smile as he buckles the seat belt with his free hand. I do mine up, too, while Hunter climbs in and shuts the door. He fastens his seat belt then starts up the car, the engine roaring to life.
“I know I’ve said this before,” I say to Hunter as I get situated, “but your car is so pretty.”
With his hands resting on top of the steering wheel, he flicks a smile in my direction. “You’re so pretty.”
“And you’re so cheesy,” I quip.
“I’m going to second that,” Jax says, shaking his head.
“For sure,” Hunter agrees. “But my cheesiness makes you blush.” He quickly sweeps his fingers along my cheek before resting one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the shifter, which is right beside my leg. Then he shifts into reverse and backs down the driveway and onto the road.
Hardly anyone is out, yet it’s barely even eight o’clock. Then again, it’s a school night, which doesn’t matter to Jax or Hunter, apparently. And I guess Zay, too, since he’s not home either.
“I have to admit,” I find myself saying, “that I’ve never actually done anything like this before.”
Hunter tilts his head toward me as he flips on the brights. “Done anything like what?”
I lift a shoulder. “Going out and getting drunk on a school night. It’s not like I don’t because I hate being bad. I’ve just never had the opportunity.” I pick at my chipped nail polish, feeling kind of silly for saying that aloud, but also feeling like it needed to be said. “So, thanks for doing this is what I’m trying to say.”
The guys are quiet for a beat, and I worry I look like some sort of sappy dumbass. Then Jax brushes his fingers through my hair, drawing my attention to him.
“You don’t need to thank us, sweetheart,” he says. “We want to be here with you, okay?”
I press my lips together, my heart thundering in my chest. Whenever Hunter calls me baby, I give him shit for it. It kind of seems like our thing. He teases me with the word, and I throw it right back in his face. But when Jax calls me sweetheart, it doesn’t seem playful. No, it feels meaningful and makes my heart flutter inside my chest, like some stupid little dumbass. Perhaps it’s because he kissed me? I’ve never been kissed before that, so who the heck knows?
“Well, thanks for wanting me here.” I smile at him, and it feels real and weird, but nice.
He returns my smile then cracks the window, letting the cool night breeze gust in. And that’s how we spend most of the drive—cruising with the windows cracked, music playing from the stereo. Jax keeps his arm around me, while Hunter drives with one hand resting on the shifter. It might be the safest I’ve ever felt in my life. If only it could’ve lasted. Because as we reach Crossing, I grow uneasy.
The building that’s allegedly a rundown bar is literally in the middle of nowhere. Neon and fluorescent lights offer a bit of light, but not much. And since no lamppost are nearby, and fields and the railroad tracks surround the bar, the area is blanketed by darkness.
People are loitering outside, and a few trucks, cars, and motorcycles are parked in the gravel parking lot. Most of the people outside look rough. Then again, I know I look rough, too, so I try not to judge. Plus, my father always came off as rough around the edges. And he was—getting into an occasional bar fight. He even taught me how to fight, something I’m feeling good about at the moment.
“Do you see his truck anywhere?” Hunter asks Jax as he turns into the parking lot and parks a ways away from the entrance. The headlights light up the parking lot a bit, revealing that we’re being watched by a group of people outside, smoking.
I must tense because Jax leans over and whispers in my ear, “Relax. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”
While I appreciate his offer, I feel the need to stress, “I know, but I can also take care of myself. I know I messed up with the whole bridge thing, but only because I was caught off guard and outnumbered.”
“And that’s okay. I just want you to know that we have your back, okay?” His breath dusts across my ear as he speaks, and I involuntarily shiver, my shoulder lifting.
I cross my fingers that he didn’t notice, because holy hell, embarrassing.
Then he does something that completely distracts me.
He brushes his lips across my earlobe.
My eyes slightly widen, and my heart pounds in my chest, as I discreetly glance at him, seeing he has his gaze fixed on the bar. I peer out of the corner of my eye at Hunter to see if he saw what just happened. He’s staring at the bar, too.
“God, I forgot how sketchy this place can get,” he mumbles, drumming his fingers on top of the shifter. The glow of the neon lights in the grimy windows of the bar highlight the crease between his brow.
“It looks like this trashy bar my dad used to go to,” I note aloud. “I remember my mom having to load me up in the car a lot so we could go pick him up when he got too wasted.”
