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He nodded and when he turned away, I whispered, “Sorry, Lawson” before bolting to my car.
“Piper!” I could hear his shout as I climbed into the back seat.
“What the hell took you so long?” Jack slurred.
A shot of something strange sliced through my belly as I looked over my shoulder at Lawson’s hunched figure in the distance. “Lawson was being weird,” I told him, shaking the feeling away and checking the clock on the dash. “Now hurry up before we miss curfew.”
I put my seat belt on. “Buckle up, you assholes.”
Hampton immediately obeyed, but Jack laughed and shook his head.
“Why? There aren’t any cops on these roads tonight.”
I reached over the seats, slapping his shoulder. “Just buckle up!”
Headlights illuminated behind me and I turned, squinting my eyes. “Is that Lawson behind us? Jeez, he’s like an old man.”
Hampton and Jack both turned and looked out the back window.
“Yep. That’s him all right. Following us to make sure we get home okay,” Jack drawled.
“Dude, who’s gonna take care of us when he moves to Vegas next month?” Hampton asked, his voice thick with sarcasm.
My ears perked up. “Lawson’s moving? To Vegas? What the hell is he going to do there?” I laughed, crinkling my nose when I imagined him sitting in the back row of a Vegas Showgirl performance with his nose stuck in a book.
Hampton shifted in his seat, resting his forearm on the back of my brother’s seat. His hand fell on Jack’s shoulder as he answered me. “He got a huge job offer out there. IT shit for the biggest security firm in the damn country. I guess they are opening a new office there or something. He’s fuckin stoked about it.” Hampton’s eyes drooped. “I hate to say it, but I think I’m gonna miss that cranky bastard.”
I’d long ago given up trying to figure out their relationship. It was as fluid as they were. Most days they acted like they couldn’t stand each other, although that was mostly Law being annoyed with his younger brother. But then, things would happen, and Lawson would be the one sticking up for Hampton when everyone else was giving him a hard time. Although, the bigger and older Hampton got, the less people messed with him.
Hampton cleared his throat. “Anyway, he’s going as soon as he graduates. Says he’s not even gonna let the ink dry on his diploma before he hops on a plane and heads to Sin City.”
Jack looked away from the road, catching Hampton’s attention. “Dude. Lawson won’t be out there forever. And besides, think about all the shit we are gonna get into without him here riding our asses.”
I laughed, imagining just that, but the sound died in my throat when a set of headlights once again illuminated the car. This time, though, the vehicle they belonged to wasn’t behind us, but instead, heading straight for us. And fast.
“Jack!” I screamed.
His attention snapped back to the road. “Fuck!” he shouted before wrenching the steering wheel to the left. The other car whizzed past us, narrowly missing our backend.
Jack tried to straighten the wheel, but overcorrected. I screamed again, but the sound was drowned out by the yells of Hampton and my twin brother as we nosedived into the ditch.
The world went silent as my head slammed into the window, the screams of both twisting metal and the guys instantly disappearing as though someone had simply flipped a switch.
Warm.
It was warm, and I snuggled down even more into my bed. Taking a deep inhale through my nose, the scent of cologne registered.
Lawson?
Why is Lawson in my bed?
I worked to force my eyelids open, but they refused to obey my command. I was still trying to wrap my mind around how Lawson had ended up at home with me after the party when it all came rushing back to me.
My lids sprang open and the sight before me stole my breath.
Flashing lights, red and blue, lit up the dark sky. Spotlights were aimed at a mangled mess I vaguely recognized as my car. It was resting on its roof, one of the tires still spinning and there were swarms of people rushing around.
“Jack!” His name escaped my lips frantically and I struggled to get out of the hold I was in.
