Devil Incarnate (Boys of Preston Prep #4) - Angel Lawson Page 0,123

going on, we can work through it.” I splay my hands on his flat stomach, feeling the taut muscles underneath the cotton. “If you’re frustrated, you should take out on me. Not Micha or whoever else crosses your path.”

I lift up on my toes and kiss his chin. He turns away slightly—not a full rejection, more of a warning—but he doesn’t respond. I look up at him and see his jaw tight, eyes pinched at the edges. His hands come down on my wrists and he pushes me away. “Sex is what you use to feel better, Little Red. What I need help with requires pants.”

I tilt my head, regarding him. Any other time, the words might have stung a bit. Right now, I take them as the sulky request they’re meant to be. “Tell me.”

He looks away, the tendon in his neck jumping out with a swallow. “My dad had my Escalade repo’ed.”

“Wait. This whole conniption of yours is because of a car?” I blink. “Jesus, you really are a Wilcox, aren’t you?”

His blue eyes whirl to me, flashing in scorn. “Don’t you fucking compare me with Sebastian,” he snaps. “His cars are toys. Stupid childhood fantasies he plays with because he’s bored. Mine was…is…” His jaw ticks around an aborted response, hand coming up to irritably rake his glitter-dusted hair back. “I need it. Without a car, I can’t get to my appointments. I can’t get to work. I can’t do anything.”

In an effort to be understanding, I ask, “Did you call your dad?”

“Of course I called my dad.” He huffs, some of the tension falling from his shoulders. “When he does accept my calls, he just hangs up on me.”

Ouch. I’m aware things have been tense with the Wilcox family, but I know from little bits Heston has revealed that his dad went out of his way to get him probation, so I figured the cold shoulder was just a temporary thing.

Pushing my hair behind my ear, I start. “Okay,” and stiffen my spine into something that’s far more assured than I feel. “Okay, problem solving. We can handle this. What can I do? How can I help?”

He snorts, head shaking. “What, like you’re going to give me money?” It’s said dryly, but the second it comes out of his mouth, he looks at me, considering. “Your parents are loaded.”

I raise an eyebrow. “To pay for your Escalade? I don’t think so. They keep an eye on my expenses. I don’t think a charge covering the car of my arch nemesis is going to pass muster.”

He rolls his eyes. “Fair enough.”

I lean against the closed door, thinking. “You don’t have any money? Doesn’t Underworld get a lot of business? Can’t you just pull some out of that?”

“No.” Annoyance flickers across his features. “Everything with the business is tied up.”

“Oh.” I deflate, feeling a bit lost. Heston is right. My family really is loaded. I don’t think about it much—it’s all I’ve ever known, after all—but I’m not totally ignorant. I know I live comfortably, far better than most.

Sighing, he flutters his fingers through his hair, sending glitter scattering. “Just…can I at least borrow your car or something?”

“What for?”

“I need to go down to the dealership so I can resolve this. There’s got to be some kind of arrangement I can make.” Smiling bitterly, he adds, “Apparently I’m good at collecting those.”

I don’t say the first thing that pops in my head, which is that there’s no way I’m letting him just take my car. “I’ll take you down there. You can meet me outside the gate, two blocks down.” I toss him a Preston Swim baseball cap hanging behind the door. “Wear that. I can’t be seen driving you around, any more than you could be seen driving me around.”

Thirty minutes later we’re at the Select Motorcars of Northridge dealership. It’s pretty off the beaten path from Preston students and faculty, so I bite the bullet and go in with him.

The manager, Jerry, smiles when he sees us, although his eyes skim critically over my uniform and Heston’s faded sweats. Once he establishes we’re not here to buy a car, but for other business, he offers us a seat in his office and a drink before asking, “What can I do for you, today?”

Heston reaches into a basket on the desk filled with granola bars and rips off the packaging. “My father and I are having some…disagreements. He repossessed my car today, and the paperwork said it