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“The Peters own this place?” Jess said, taking a few tentative steps across the dirt to peer into the trees. It was a beautiful area, isolated and mountainous.
“Yeah, it’s their vacation house,” Manson said. “Or one of them, anyway. I lived with them for nearly three years and it still surprises me sometimes how much damn money they have.” He snickered suddenly. “The first time I came up here, it was just me and Daniel. We were still getting to know each other. I thought he would be a dick the whole weekend, but it turned out we got along.”
Daniel Peters was Kathy’s son, and one of the few popular kids at Wickeston High that hadn’t been a complete asshole. He worked for UNICEF now; we hadn’t seen him since Manson moved out of their house. But he was a good guy, kind-hearted.
“He convinced you to go boating and you nearly drowned,” Lucas said, jabbing his spatula in Manson’s direction with bitterness in his tone.
Considering I was a safe distance away from him, I said, “Sounds like Lucas still has nightmares about it.” He turned his narrow-eyed glare at me, brandishing the spatula in a far more threatening way than he had at Manson.
“You,” he hissed. “Better watch it.” I just gave him a wink and a grin that promised more trouble.
***
We ate our dinner onthe back deck, around a large table with a firepit in the middle. We’d brought enough food for the weekend to keep in the fridge, as well as liquor and beer. Vincent and Manson enjoyed the whiskey, while Lucas, Jess, and I drank the beer.
As the sun sunk toward the horizon, dusk set in quickly beneath the trees. The shadows lengthened, and several eager crickets chirped.
“Manson and I are waking up early tomorrow to take the Bronco on some trails,” Lucas said. With his meal finished, he’d slouched in his seat, his beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. “You should come with us, Jess.”
“Weinsistyou come with us,” Manson clarified. “Ever been off-roading before?”
Jess leaned forward on my lap so she could grab her drink from the table. The moment she’d finished eating, I’d snatched her up from her seat and moved her to mine instead. It was hard to keep my hands off her, especially when she kept idly trailing her sharp nails along my arm. The soft scratches were soothing, leaving my skin tingling.
“I’ve been a couple times,” she said. “I get to drive, right?”
Manson’s eyebrows shot up, disappearing under his loose hair. “You want to drive the Bronco? On the trails up here?”
“With us in the car?” Lucas added, as if that little detail made it even more unbelievable.
“I won’t crash,” Jess said, laughing at their surprise. “I’m a good driver; I’m just bad at maintenance.”
Considering that she’d neglected her BMW’s engine until it literally couldn’t function anymore, “bad at maintenance” was an understatement.
“Mm, a good driver, right,” Lucas said. “We’ll see about that.”
But Manson was smiling as he sipped his drink. “All right, Jess. Yeah, we’ll see what you can do.”
She pumped her fist excitedly. “Hell yes. Get ready for the ride of your life, boys.”
“Might be the final ride of my life,” Lucas muttered, and she waved her hand at him disapprovingly.
“I’m afraid we’ll be missing out,” Vincent said, propping his feet up on the table. “But waking up with the sun two days in a row is simply not on my itinerary.”
Jess made a face, pouting her lower lip. “Oh, fine. What about you?” She glanced back at me. “Are you staying in bed tomorrow morning or coming along?”
Waking up early had gotten easier since I’d started going to the gym with her. But I really wasn’t a morning person, and it must have shown on my face.
She kissed my cheek before I could give an answer. “That looks like anI’m-staying-in-bedface.”
“I don’t want my head to leave the pillow before noon,” I said, and she nodded in understanding, running her fingers through my hair. God, I loved when she did that. The way her nails scratched my scalp almost made me purr.
“Okay, okay, Iguessyou can sleep,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Sounds like you’re just scared of me behind the wheel.”
“Testy little thing, aren’t you?” I said. “You better be careful tomorrow; Vincent and I will have all morning to plot what we want to do to you once you get back home. For your sake, I would try to make sure we’re in a good mood.”
Our conversation made time slip away. Soon, the darkness around us was deep. The view of the night sky was phenomenal, twinkling stars and glowing planets creating a glittering kaleidoscope above our heads.
“I need a shower,” Manson said, rising from his seat with a groan. He gave Lucas’s shoulder a subtle tap as he headed inside, and Lucas immediately rose from his seat to join him.
