cat, Gizmo. And, weirdly, the FBI going after his Dad. Eli loves solving puzzles, and I think he figured if he couldn’t figure out why you left him he could at least save his Dad’s ass—”
An engine roars, drowning out the rest of Noah’s words. A moment later, a Porsche rolls up in a cloud of dust. I cough, waving my hands to try and save my cake. The dust and sand settle, revealing the edges of the vehicle and driver at the wheel. Eli peers over the top of his glasses.
“Need a lift?” He cocks an eyebrow at me.
Dealing with Eli’s intensity usually puts me off my lunch, but right now his car is a fucking chariot from heaven. I stand on shaky legs. Noah reaches out, his warm hand steadying me, and together we limp toward the Porsche.
“Careful.” Eli’s smirk crumples when he sees Noah holding me. In a flash, he vaults from the car and is on the other side of me, piling me into the passenger seat.
Noah climbs in back, sprawling out across the narrow seat, dangling his sand-coated boots over the side. “Possibly you should’ve put the top up before you went cruising in the desert.”
“Shut up. Mac, are you okay?” Eli leans over the seat, his ocean eyes stormy, wide with concern.
I stare out at the gas station and the hostile landscape beyond. Now that I’m inside the car, everything that happened, that nearly happened, rushes at me in an avalanche of fear. A tremble starts in my feet and ripples through my whole body. I grip the edge of the seat and clench my teeth as I ride through the terror.
The reaction reminds me of the darkest night of my life, of getting into Antony’s car after he dug me out of the dirt, of trembling on the seat while he told me what happened to my parents.
“Shit, she’s not okay.” Eli glares at Noah. “What the fuck did you do to her out there?”
“Nothing,” Noah snaps back. “I put a stop to it. Get us out of here. She’s having a trauma reaction. She’ll feel better once we’re back in the city.”
Eli’s face tightens. He reaches over me and pulls my belt across my lap. His fingers graze my skin, and I murmur something that might’ve been a protest, might’ve been a desire for more. “Mackenzie, do you want us to take you home? There’s something at Gabe’s you should really see.”
I don’t answer. The truth is, after what Alec did to Queen Boudica, home doesn’t feel safe to me right now. But I don’t have anywhere else to go. I don’t have the words I need to ask.
“Let’s take her to Gabe’s,” says Noah. He picks up Eli’s phone from between the seats and chooses a new song. Pounding blastbeats and black metal assault my ears as Eli jerks the car away and speeds back down the highway. I lose myself in the bleakness of the music, imagining myself in a Norwegian forest, cold and surrounded by wolves and as far from the fucking desert as it’s possible to get.
As we hit the outer suburbs of Emerald Beach, Eli switches the playlist to 90s grunge and indie music, and the boys sing along. I glance down at the phone and notice the playlist is called, simply, Mackenzie.
The playlist Noah mentioned – the one I gave Eli before I disappeared.
I watch Eli as he drives, one hand on the wheel, the other draped casually over the door. He nods his head to the music, and the breeze ripples through his blond hair, whipping loose strands around his face. He’s wearing a grey t-shirt that hugs his muscles, and he looks every inch the fresh-faced, pretty-mouthed boy that every girl wants for a boyfriend.
He still has my playlist.
We merge onto the highway that hugs the beach, turning off to pass bars and shops and co-working spaces until we pull up at Gabriel’s condo.
Gabriel opens the door wearing nothing but a pair of black jeans. My throat dries at the sight of his naked chest and those beautiful tattoos. All that skin begging to be touched. It’s enough to make a girl forget she’s just been assaulted.
I’m crazy. I’m totally screwed up.
“Hey, Mac. You look like shite. Gimmie a sec.” Gabriel leaves the door open and pads up to his mezzanine bedroom. While Noah settles me on the couch and points out the faint outline of the giant dick still visible on Gabriel’s windows,