unlock. “Pack your shit. You’re going back to Ohio while I sort this shit out. Both of you.”
“I’m not going back there,” Josiah says.
“You don’t have a choice, son.”
Josiah bristles, but before he can say anything, Wayne sends a leer my way. “Better hurry, else you won’t have enough time to fuck each other.”
And that’s when my jaw decides to unlock. That’s when I can finally get words past my rusted-shut throat.
“We haven’t done that,” I say.
As if I give a shit about what Wayne Bale thinks of my morality, my soul. As if I can’t bear the thought of him judging me.
Wayne stares at me in the rear-view mirror. “Maybe not yet, baby girl.” His eyes move to Josiah. “But I’m sure it won’t be long now.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Josiah
I’m not sure if the churning in my stomach is shame or disgust. Fuck, it’s probably a mash-up of the two. I’m standing beside Candy, the both of us watching as my father pulls off down the road.
Pack your shit.
Fuck each other.
I’ve never seen Dad like this. I mean, fuck, I’ve never even heard him swear. But it’s not the hypocrisy that’s sticking with me, it’s the look in his eyes.
I recognize it, because I’ve seen it in the mirror.
“He’s lying,” Candy says. A second later, she slips her hand into mine and squeezes. “He’s lying about everything.”
She’s right.
And I knew it all along.
I guess I was just trying to protect myself.
Protect him.
A strange calm consumes me. I can’t explain it any more than I can keep it back. In a way, I don’t want to. I love not being in control anymore. Knowing that, no matter what the fuck I do, shit’s gonna keep happening.
“Let’s go inside,” I say.
Candy hesitates, and then nods. “We have to call the police.”
I walk up beside her and slip my hand over hers. She laces her fingers through mine and squeezes, and then moves closer and leans her head against my arm as we head for the door.
No. No police. They’d just complicate things.
This is something we need to sort out alone. Just us. As a family. I’m not sure where Dad went, but he’ll be back soon to take us to Happy Mountain.
I’m not fucking going back there. But that’s not something he has to know right now. Let him think we’re complying. He can even think we’re fucking each other right now, if that’s what gets him hard.
But it isn’t, is it? Young chicks, that’s what—
I know Candy won’t like what I’m about to do, but she’ll understand in the end.
This is all for her.
For us.
I realized something back there in the car, when my father was being so crude and disgusting. He doesn’t understand what love is. He doesn’t understand how it transcends everything.
Candy and I met for a reason. We fell in love for a reason. We’re destined to be together.
I just have to take care of something first.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Candy
There’s something so right about Josiah’s hand in mine. Maybe it’s the strength seeping into me from his strong fingers, or the warmth he radiates when our palms brush. I peek up at him as he unlocks the front door. As if he feels my eyes on him, he glances down and smiles.
I know it’s weird to be happy in a moment like this.
No, not weird. It’s downright fucked up.
After everything Wayne just said, the things he accused of us…
But none of that seems to matter now. For some reason, that’s what happens when I’m around Josiah. Things that should be wrecking my mind are just…things.
He closes the door behind us, and for a moment he just stands there, not moving.
My smile slips.
Doubt creeps in.
Was I imagining things?
Then he turns on his heel, an odd smile playing on his mouth.
“What…what is it?” I ask.
“You know, if he gets his way…” Josiah’s eyes sparkle like he’s got a secret he wants to tell me, and can’t wait to see my reaction.
My stomach warms, and my heart starts to pick up pace. “Who?”
“Wayne.”
My heart stutters. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard him call his father by his first name. “Wh-what about him?”
Josiah tilts his head. “He can send us back, you know. Technically, he’s got the authority.”
“Back where?” My mind’s playing tricks on me. I can’t focus on what Josiah’s saying, it keeps going back to the way he said his father’s name. So emotionless, like he was just another person and not his—
Father.
“To that shit hole. Back to Happy Mountain.”
He’s so much