what happens is up to you. No party. No leaving. No Dixon boys,” he repeated slowly.
“I know.” It was a whispered acceptance, but it was enough for them.
With another nod from my dad, they reversed out of the driveway, and I made my way back into the house and up to Madison’s room.
In the time I’d been gone, she’d already cleaned it up and was fixing her hair at her vanity.
She gave me a wide-eyed look. “Do they need me to come out there too?”
“No, they left.”
Her eyes darted over my face, studying me. “I’m sorry, friend.”
I shrugged and headed for my bag. “I wonder if they’ll ever realize that if they weren’t like this, I wouldn’t sneak out or go behind their backs.”
At that, Madi snorted. “Um . . . you do realize that I do all this sneaking out and sneaking people in with you?”
I paused from pulling out my clothes, my lips stretching into a grin. “Valid point.”
“What do you think?” she asked, gesturing to the skimpy little outfit she’d laid out on the bed.
“Super cute and super sexy.” I turned to face her, my voice dropping to a whisper. “But how long are you actually going to be wearing it?”
Her cheeks reddened, but she just shrugged. “It deserves to be worn, even if only for a few minutes. And don’t think I didn’t notice which way you decided to go tonight.”
My grin turned mischievous as I finished pulling one of Beau’s older football jerseys over my head.
“His favorite,” Madison said bluntly.
“His favorite,” I agreed as I stepped into my little dance shorts. Once I was dressed, I pulled my hair out of the bun and searched for my brush. “When are we gonna call them?”
“Already did as soon as you left,” she said, looking all kinds of excited. “Hunter said they’d be here in a bit.”
I sucked in a deep breath when hummingbirds took flight in my stomach. “Can’t wait.”
I needed this. Beau and I hadn’t had any alone time since the beginning of summer. With our junior year starting next week, and everything that came along with it, alone time was going to be even harder to find.
Once we were both ready, and Madison had a robe covering her surprise outfit, I sank to her bed, my stomach clenching in a terrible way as my thoughts spun. “Madi . . . what would you do to be with Hunter?” At her impish look, I tossed a pillow at her, a huff dancing across my lips. “I mean be with him. Like, in a relationship. Always.”
“Anything,” she said immediately, not even taking time to breathe or blink. “I’m marrying him someday.”
“I know.” The corners of my mouth lifted, but the action took effort. “You’ve been telling me that since the week we met.”
“Pretty sure I’ve been telling Hunter since the day we met,” she added, trying to sound amused but coming up short. “Why do you look so . . . not Savannah?”
“I have this feeling,”—I gestured to my stomach—“and I know it sounds super ridiculous and typical teenage drama, whatever. But I mean, I have a really strong feeling my parents will try to stop me from being with Beau. More than they already have.”
Madi worried her bottom lip as she studied me, looking all kinds of concerned and apologetic. “I might just think you’re crazy if I didn’t know your parents. But . . .”
“Yeah. But,” I said with a pathetic laugh. “After last summer and then how quickly they set all those rules tonight. And when they showed up here, I asked them if they would be doing all this if it was Philip Rowe I was dating instead of Beau. My dad said, ‘Do everyone a favor and find out.’”
Madison’s eyes went wide. “He didn’t.”
I just lifted my brows in response.
“What did you—but you aren’t going to, right?”
“What? No. Of course not,” I said quickly, shocked that she would even ask. “But then he said if not, what happens is up to me. And I had this feeling when he said it that he was threatening me. Not with more restrictions than they’re already trying to put on us, but—”
“With sending you away again,” Madison finished for me.
“Right.”
She looked to the side, her fingers twisting together in worry. After a while, she asked, “What are you gonna do?”
I don’t know, I don’t know.
“I—” A shocked breath ripped from me when knocking sounded on the window behind me, my heart taking off in