you can't be president now? What a shame.” I make a moue of disappointment before rolling my eyes. “Also, if forty-five could grab women by the pussy and still be president, I'm sure you'll be just fine. I'll even vote for you, how does that sound?”
Calix says nothing, but what he has done is rile up some of my long-buried fury toward him. It's mixing with a new and righteous anger as I realize that I have no clue what this man's true motivations are, what's actually real and what's bullshit.
“If you really think I'd upload that, after everything, then you're an idiot, by the way.” His mouth tightens, and his fingers curl even more tightly around the steering wheel as we slow even further, entering the historic downtown area of Eureka Springs. Nobody will know us here, so Calix and I can eat together without him freaking the fuck out about his reputation.
“If you didn't upload it, then why weren't you surprised? I thought you'd burst an artery.”
“Well, maybe you don't know me too well then.” I cross my arms over my breasts in challenge, turning another glare his way. He shouldn't be so pretty, sitting there with wet panties on his tousled hair, his eye makeup dried in black lines down his face. But he is. It's effortless for him, to look like he owns the world. “I don't regret what we did that night, and neither should you. There are worse things in the world than some stupid video of us having consensual sex. Pearl is dead. She killed herself.”
The car suddenly lurches forward as Calix whips the wheel to the side, taking us over the curb and throwing the Aston Martin into a parking space ahead of a car that had been waiting patiently for the previous occupant to pull out. They lay on the horn, but Calix pays them no mind, turning the engine off and then taking the panties off his head. He looks right at me as he sticks them in the pocket of the white velvet doublet he's wearing, unbuttoned and showing off his smooth chest and abs.
“Did the Knight Crew have anything to do with her death?” I ask, trying to keep my voice soft. The way Calix scowls at me, I know I've pressed some serious buttons.
“Stop calling my friends the Knight Crew. It's fucking stupid. They aren't my crew; we just like to hang out together.” He opens the door, and I search around for my shoes, realizing that I wasn't wearing any when I climbed in with him. Crap.
I watch out the window as Calix takes off around the corner, to where the entrance to the café lies. As I sit there trying to figure out what to do—there's no way the café is letting me in without shoes—Calix comes back and yanks my door open. He thrusts a pair of flip-flops in at me, and then leans down, his forearm resting on the roof of the car.
“Only in shitty teen novels does any group of friends have a name. You don't want to know some of the names Raz has for you and your shitty friends.” He steps back as I pull the plastic tag off the shoes, and slip them on my feet. Oddly enough, they fit. They're only half a size too big.
I stand up, but Calix doesn't move back like I thought he would. Instead, we end up pressed fairly close together, with him staring down at me, crow-black eyes unreadable.
“Hey asshole!” a male voice shouts, and I jump, terrified that one of the Knight Crew has found us, that our moment together is over before it even begins. Adrenaline floods me, and I decide that I might just kick the shit out of whoever it is. Why not? Today is the start of my new forever.
Instead, we both glance over and find the couple that was in the car Calix just screwed out of a space.
“You nearly crashed into us,” a woman adds as the pair of tourists storm up to us. It's a little late in the season, but we're never entirely without over here. How do I know they're tourists? Because they're wearing matching olive green tees with the shape of Arizona on them. Arizona Homegrown the words underneath the design read. “That was our space.”
“I'm calling you into the police station,” the man snarls, his nostrils flared, face red with frustration. Rightfully so. Calix barreled right over the curb and