he scowled. “It’s not your pain I’m interested in. I want to pull the pink satin ribbon off your eyes so you can see what the world is really like. If you keep wandering around like a little lost lamb, you’re going to get eaten alive by the big bad wolves out there.”
“Why do you care?” I snarled. “You’ve done nothing but try to make me miserable since I got here.”
“Have I?” he asked softly, his eyes dark with an unspoken challenge.
The small seed of doubt that was planted in my mind earlier started to grow a little. I huffed in frustration when a car came up behind us, and I had to put all of my attention on moving forward so I wouldn’t draw attention to myself.
We inched forward at a slow twenty miles per hour, and Kingston groaned. “Did you forget the part about 190 miles per hour?”
“Nope,” I said through a clenched jaw. “I’m just really focused on trying not to murder your brother right now.”
“Turn right up here,” Maverik ordered. “It’s a shortcut to the stadium parking lot. You’ll have more room to practice there.”
“Really?” Kingston complained. “I’m going to have to revoke your cool sister card if you don’t make this joyride a little more exciting.”
I just grinned and kept my eyes on the road. Maverik both annoyed and confused me when he patiently instructed me on how to drive. I was surprised to find that it was a lot easier when I relaxed and let his smooth voice guide me. I focused on driving, determined to learn enough to get me where I would need to go.
“You’re a lot nicer to her than you were to me,” Kingston complained to Maverik before he turned to me. “I think he broke the record for the most swear words in an hour.”
“Katya didn’t constantly slam her foot down on the gas without worrying about being able to stop before she hit something,” Maverik pointed out with a grin.
Kingston grinned right back at him. “Hey, the only times I hit anything was when you were making me try to park between trash cans and shit.”
I laughed, picturing the scene in my head. I could see Kingston being reckless enough to step into a car and gleefully see how fast he could go, only to get frustrated when Maverik made him practice parking instead of racing.
“Hit the highway, sis,” Kingston said excitedly. “If you can handle it.”
I gulped. “Maybe if there weren’t any other cars. And I didn’t have to go that fast. And if I wasn’t driving a car worth as much as a house.”
Kingston laughed. “That’s a no. Get out, and I’ll take over.”
“Not a chance, King,” Maverik laughed. “But I’ll let you drive home later.”
Kingston pouted. “Dad probably has a fucking GPS tracker that will ping him as soon as we get close to the airport. We’ll be lucky if we even make it on the plane.”
“Um, I never said you were right about New York, or that I was going to the airport,” I pointed out. “You just assumed.”
“You didn’t need to admit it,” Maverik chuckled. “It was obvious. If I look in your backpack, what am I going to find?” He raised an eyebrow at me and waited expectantly.
“Uh, we can just go home,” I suggested resentfully.
“Nah,” Kingston said as he tapped on the back of my seat. “You got me all excited about stealing a car and escaping on a plane. You don’t know what I’m like when my wild urges get curbed.”
Maverik groaned. “I don’t want to hear anything about your urges.”
“Let’s get to the fun part of the day,” Kingston suggested. “Head to the airport.”
“No,” Maverik argued. “This has gone far enough.”
“Awww, Mav,” Kingston complained. “You’re ruining our bonding experience with our new sister.”
Maverik rolled his eyes. “She’s not our sister.”
“Agreed,” I said snarkily. It looked like the nice Maverik had disappeared again, and his evil alter ego was back.
The smile faded from Kingston’s face. “She could get hurt if we don’t go with her.”
I huffed irritably. “I’ll be fine.”
Maverik shot me a doubting look that set my blood on fire.
“I’m not helpless,” I snapped at him.
Maverik held my eyes. “I wouldn’t let King go alone either.”
Maverik and I didn’t break our stare-down. I gave him my best fuck-off glare, but as I stared into his grey eyes, the heat of my anger started to fade. Maverik could be a complete asshole, but there were also moments when I didn’t