window is wet and my hair keeps sticking to the glass. “But by the

serious looks on your guys’ faces I’m guessing I was wrong.”

Seth squirms his shoulders forward and squeezes out from

between Kayden and Luke. He reaches in front of Luke, sticks the

end of his cigarette out the window, and ashes it into the snow.

“Why would we ever joke about going to the beach?” He turns

around and leans against the dash, angles his head back, and

stares up at the cloudy sky. “Does it constantly snow here? I swear

I haven’t seen it stop since I’ve gotten here.”

“From December to April,” I clarify as Kayden’s fingers sneaks

up to my face and he smooths his hand over my head. I can’t stop

my eyes from closing and an almost noiseless but embarrassing

sigh slips out. My cheeks start to heat, so I keep talking to distract everyone. “So are we going to do it?”

“Go to the beach? To San Diego?” Kayden asks with doubt in

his voice. I nod my head and soak up the comfortable feeling of

his hand on my cheek. “I’m not sure I can.”

My eyes open and he’s watching me. “Why not?”

He shakes his hand. “There’s just stuff… things I need to deal

with.”

“Can’t you deal with them at the beach?” Seth sits forward in

the seat and lowers his feet back onto the floor, and then he nods

his head at me. “With this beautiful girl over here?”

Kayden looks torn as he glances from me to Seth and then

out the front window and into the night. “I have something on

Monday that I have to be here for.”

“We can be back on Monday,” Luke chimes in, rotating the

defroster up as the windows fog. “That’ll give us four days of

freedom and that’s four days we don’t have to spend here.”

I stare into Kayden’s eyes and see something I don’t

like—overpowering fear. “We don’t have to go,” I say to him

because he’s the only one who matters at the moment and I can

tell something’s wrong.

He rubs the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip, flipping

it down a little. “Do you want to go?”

“Only if you want to go,” I reply, and to add emphasis, I lean

in and whisper, “And you can go.”

He stares at me with the strangest expression, like I’m this

amazing, unique creature that no one knows about, and then his

mouth tilts up into a small but breathtaking smile. “I can go until

Monday.”

Seth squeals, claps his hands, and kicks his feet against the

floor as he screams, “Road trip, here we come!”

“Thank fucking God.” Luke sighs with relief. He cranks the

heat up and then flips the lever next to the steering wheel, turning

the wipers on. They move back and forth and back and forth,

wiping away the snow from the glass and making it dewy. “Now

we just have to go get everyone’s shit.”

“I’m good,” Kayden says as I sit up and put my feet on the

floor. He combs his fingers through my hair, gazing out the

window with his eyebrows knit. “I’ll just get some clothes and stuff

when we get there.”

None of us press him because it’s obvious he doesn’t want

to go home. “What about your bike?” Luke turns around and puts

his arm on the back of the seat, looking in the bed of the truck at

Kayden’s motorcycle obscured by a sheet of fluffy snowflakes. “You

want to take it?”

Kayden shrugs. “All I want is to not have to go home yet.” His

fingers fall from my hair and settle on my hip where he delves into

my skin just beneath the hem of my shirt. “So we can take it or

ditch it somewhere.”

Luke rotates back around in the seat and shoves the shifter

forward, the gears grinding a little before slipping in. “We’ll just

take it.” He presses on the gas, inching the truck forward. “What

about you?” He looks at me and then at Seth. “Do you guys need

to go get your stuff?”

I start to open my mouth to say no, but Seth interrupts. “I

don’t go anywhere without my kit.”

Luke doesn’t even bother asking. He just rolls his eyes and

aims the truck in the direction of my house. I watch the homes zip

by as I sit on Kayden’s lap, hoping I’m not doing anything wrong,

hoping I’m not doing more damage than good. Really, I don’t

know what I’m doing and all I can hope for is the best. It’s the

worst feeling in the world because hope has never been that kind

to me.

* * *

I rapidly get thrown into a state of anxiety when Seth and I

climb out of the car. There are four figures that I can see through

the kitchen window of my house and I recognize that the

dark-haired fourth member isn’t part of my family. My mom, my

dad, Jackson, and Caleb are sitting at the kitchen table as I walk up the driveway to the garage and Kayden is in the truck with Luke at

the end of the driveway.

I smell a storm coming in, like the aroma of rain that laces

the air before a thunderstorm. But the scent I smell is foul, like

dirty water that stains the grass after the rainstorm.

“What are you looking at?” Seth says, tracking my gaze to

the window of the kitchen. The lights are on and the inside can be

seen clearly. My mother is serving everyone, my dad is talking

heatedly, and Caleb and Jackson are laughing at him.

I shake my head, wrap my hand around his upper arm, and

haul him up the driveway. Seth is looking at me like I’ve lost my

mind, but I keep walking, step by step until we’re inside the room

above the garage. I flip on the light and shut the door, panting as I lean against it.

“This is so bad,” I whisper and then hurry for my bag. “We

have to get out of here now.”

Seth follows me at a slow pace and veers to the side for his

kit that’s in the bathroom. “What’s wrong with you, baby girl?”

There’s clanking as he gathers his cologne and razor from near the

sink. “You’re acting like a weirdo.”

I toss my shirts and a few pairs of jeans into my bag and then

zip it up. “There’s… there’s…” I can’t get it out and he steps out of the doorway zipping up the mini bag he carries his toiletries in.

“Callie, whatever it is, just tell me.” He drops the smaller bag

into the larger one on the bed. “It’s okay.”

“There’s someone in the house,” I sputter, dragging my bag

to the door.

“Obviously.” He raises his eyebrows at me and then

scrutinizes my bag. “Did you put any shorts or sandals in there? It’s going to be a hell of a lot warmer there then it is here. Plus, you

don’t want to walk around in the sand wearing sneakers.”

“I don’t own anything else,” I say and then swiftly shake my

head as I jerk open the door. “Seth, we have to go. Now.”