With my mind reeling, I closed the garage door and ran upstairs to my apartment. If I had any alcohol, I would have drunk it. All of it. Thank goodness, I hadn’t bought any. It was a shame a cold Coke didn’t take the edge off, though, and calm me down. The second best thing was to jump into my car and drive aimlessly, but it was already too late. Even though I didn’t have a curfew on weekends, I didn’t want to get into more trouble. Not unnecessarily.

Finally, I opted for the third best thing I could think of. A nice hot shower, then a bowl of ice cream while watching wrestling matches on TV.

My life was so great.

***

Jessica

I woke up with the banging noises coming from downstairs. I pulled my pillow over my head, willing my body to go back to sleep, but now the memories of the previous night snaked into my mind and I couldn’t shut them off.

After leaving Ryan’s garage, I drove back to the race, but nobody was there. I called Jason, and he told me Ethan was at our house, waiting for me. When I arrived, the guys grilled me about the talk with Ryan. I told them about Officer Mike showing up and ruining everything. Both of them cursed at that.

“Why is this officer following Ryan around?” I asked. Jason and Ethan exchanged a strained look. “Whatever. Don’t answer. I’ll find out myself.” I returned the car keys to Ethan and rushed inside the house.

I went directly to my bedroom, but sleep didn’t come easily.

The ruckus continued downstairs.

Groaning, I got up. After a quick shower, I got dressed in jeans and a tank top, and dragged my bare feet to the kitchen.

“Can’t you let a girl sleep?”

Aunt Cadence, who was mixing ingredients in a bowl like a tornado, jerked her chin to the clock on the wall. “It’s past ten in the morning. Time to get up, don’t you think?”

“But it’s a Saturday,” I complained.

Beside Aunt Cadence, Mama finished a pie and put it in the oven. “Good morning, honey. Lindsey is at the table on the porch with breakfast.”

At that, my stomach growled.

I dragged my feet outside. Lindsey smiled when she saw me.

“Someone had quite a night.”

I snorted. “I wish.” I sat beside her and reached for a slice of sweet bread. “I just didn’t sleep well.”

“Hmm.” She served me tea. “I heard you were at the race last night.”

“Yup.”

She pouted. “Luke never lets me go.”

That wasn’t fair. She was seventeen. I started going to these races when I was fifteen.

“I’ll take you to the next one.”

She brightened. “Really? You’re the best.” She gave me a quick hug, and I chuckled. “I heard Luke and Ethan won last night. Jason didn’t though.”

“I only watched Luke’s race,” I said.

She squinted at me. “Why is that?”

I bit my lower lip. Damn, I didn’t want to think about it right now. I wanted to enjoy a quiet breakfast and then a nice family lunch, without thoughts that would make me irritated or concerned.

A nice family lunch.

But it wouldn’t be the entire family, would it?

I reached for my phone inside my jeans pocket, and then remembered I didn’t have Luke’s number.

“Tell me Luke’s phone number?” I asked. With a wary gaze, Lindsey rattled off his number and I dialed. He answered on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Did I wake you up?”

He didn’t answer right away. “Jess?”

“Yes. Did I wake you?”

“No. I have been up for an hour now.”

“So …” I little embarrassment knotted my stomach, but I pushed through it. “I hope you don’t have plans for lunch, because I was thinking you should come.”

“A-are you sure?”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see it. “Yes.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“Okay.” I turned off the call and reached for my tea. Lindsey was gawking at me. “What?”

She shrugged, dropping it. “Nothing.”

I smiled and she smiled back.

Chapter Fourteen

Jessica

Lunch wasn’t as odd as it could have been. Luke and I didn’t exchange many words, but at least he was here. I could see in Mama’s and Aunt Cadence’s eyes how relieved they were. Well, I was too. One less thing to heal from.

After lunch, Lindsey told me about a concert in Columbia she wanted to go to that night, but Luke didn’t want to take her. I knew that too well. When I was young, Jason never wanted to take me anywhere. And if I was at the same party he was, he acted like he didn’t know me, or if there were guys hitting on me, he became the overprotective big brother. So annoying.

“I’ll take you,” I told her. Rachel had a family dinner, and Sophie had a business event with her father, so until now I was on my own on a Saturday night.

When I went to pick up Lindsey at her house, I realized she had ambushed me. Brianna, Ryan’s sister, was standing beside her and I didn’t remember her telling me about a friend coming along. Especially not this friend.

She slid inside the truck with a big, fake smile. “Sorry,” she whispered.

Brianna slid in next. “Hi, Jess.”

“Hey, Brianna.” I fixed my gaze on her. “Your parents know where you’re going, right?”

She didn’t even blink. “Of course.”

“And your brother?”

“I think so. Mom and Dad said I could go, so Ryan doesn’t matter.”

I hoped not. Not that I thought he was going to be at the concert. During lunch, Jason and Luke mentioned going to The Pub to drink and play some pool, so if I had to bet, I would say Ryan was with them. Still, if he heard I took his sister to a concert without their parents’ consent, he would flip and we were already too deep in a mess. I didn’t need more problems to deal with.

“All right.” I put the truck in drive and stepped on the accelerator.

The drive to Columbia took twenty minutes, and the girls told me about school—the guys, the bitches, the gossips. Who kissed whom, who cheated on whom, who dumped whom, who was away for the summer, and who wasn’t.

It was less interesting now that I wasn’t their age, but it was nice to be included. And it was a way of bonding with Lindsey.

I parked the truck in the parking garage across the street from the place. When Lindsey told me about the concert, I thought it would be at a big venue, or at least, somewhere more organized, but it was actually in a big club downtown. I wasn’t too happy about it, but I was determined to enjoy this night. The line at the door was huge, and it took us a half hour to get in the place. After Kristin bothered me for more than two years, I finally got a fake ID last spring break. Lindsey and Brianna, however, didn’t have one and got stamps on their hands, to let bartenders know they were underage. As if that had ever stopped anyone from drinking.

Once past the bouncer, we descended the stairs and passed under a big archway. It opened to a large room with a dance floor in the center, and tables and high chairs flanking it. To the side, stairs led to the balcony wrapping around the walls. There were two bars, one on the left and one on the right, and a medium-sized stage in the back. Bright, colorful lights blinked from the ceiling and a loud rock ballad blasted through hidden speakers.

We made our way to the right of the dance floor, and Lindsey spotted some friends from school at a table. I was introduced to Anne Leigh, Phoebe, and her boyfriend, Drew. They pulled two chairs from other tables and all of us were able to sit around the table.

The group launched into more gossip about their friends and enemies. I excused myself and went to the bar to buy a drink.

I leaned on the bar counter and the bartender asked what I wanted. “A bud light, please,” I said, showing him my fake ID.

“Hello there.”

I snapped my head to the new voice and saw Noah, the Habitat for Humanity supervisor. “Oh, hi,” I said, returning my attention to the bartender.