blazing in the starlight, I feel a pitter-patter in my chest that makes me gasp.
“In a phenomenal way,” he assures me, looking over his shoulder before he pulls out of the garage drive. Aaron flicks the brights on as we head down the dark street in the direction of the drive-in, the one on the Prescott side of the tracks that serves the best food. It’s called Wesley’s, after the owner’s son. Rumor has it that the kid was killed on the Prescott High campus during his senior year. Of course, this was over twenty years ago, but I know how grief works. Time does not ‘heal all wounds’. That’s a load of shit. The only thing time does is extend the length of time between breakdowns.
I still can’t look at a frozen waffle without thinking about Penelope. Legit, the last time I saw someone eating one on a commercial, I broke down into violent sobs. That is how grief works. So even if ‘Wesley’ has been dead for decades, I bet his parents still have moments where they can’t breathe, where they wonder if it’s worth it to keep going or if it’s better to give up.
I look over at Aaron, studying his classically good looks. He’s timeless, Aaron is. He would be attractive in any decade. My mouth twitches slightly, and I look down at my lap.
It’s just me and him in here, with “Flowers on the Grave” by the Maine playing softly in the background. It’s kind of a sad song, about saying goodbye to the child you used to be.
After about a minute and a half of listening to it, I feel like it’s wormed its way into my soul and my eyes prick with tears. I very quickly reach up and skip to another track.
“Are you okay?” Aaron asks, glancing over at me for a minute. It seems odd, that it’s just me and him right now. Just thinking about spending some time alone together makes my pulse race. Victor … just gave us the go-ahead today. It seems impossible, knowing what I know about him, but then, I knew he could do it. I knew he would do it.
He can’t deny any of us the right to get to know each other.
How did Oscar phrase it?
“Bernadette is a member of Havoc; Hael is a member of Havoc. These things are signed and sealed in blood; they cannot be undone.”
That applies to any member of this group—even Victor. He created Havoc; he told us the one currency you can carry is truth. So I am a Havoc Girl, and he must share. My body breaks out in goose bumps, and I cross my arms over my chest as my eyes squeeze shut.
“I’m okay,” I tell Aaron, before he starts to think I’m having a breakdown. “And don’t worry: I’m not upset by the drive-by. Well, not anymore upset than a person with a soul should be after shooting someone.”
Regardless of how I feel, we had to make a stand; the Charter Crew can either submit and fall in line or … Well, look at Danny Ensbrook.
“What is it then?” Aaron asks, pulling into the drive-in burger place and surprising me by ordering us two chocolate shakes and some burgers. He smiles at me when I give him a look. “What? Even gangbangers need to eat,” he says as he puts the Bronco in park. Looks like it might be a while. I vaguely recognize some of the other cars parked in the rows alongside us, vintage beauties that I can almost guarantee belong to Prescott High kids. I have plenty of time to study them, since this is a proper drive-in. On Friday and Saturday nights, the employees even wear roller-skates to bring out the food.
“This is just … it feels like a date,” I say, even though Aaron and I have been on plenty before. Still, it’s as if the clock on our relationship has reset; everything feels new and different.
He rolls down all the windows and shuts off the engine, cranking the music just a bit higher before he nods at the dash in front of me.
“There are some joints in there,” Aaron says, and I open it to find several of them in a plastic baggy. “That’s our own strain, Havoc at Prescott High.” He flashes me a self-assured smirk as I open the bag and breathe in the scent. Swear to god, it smells like the hallways of that school on