only thing I could think of, throwing the car into drive and slamming my foot down on the gas.
Chase started yelling instructions as the car shot off down the street, grabbing the wheel when I forgot about it and looked over my shoulder to see Mr Harper charging after us, screaming out for someone to call the cops.
Between the two of us, we somehow managed to drive the thing all the way out to Gallows Bridge where we crashed it into the trees at the side of the road and fell about laughing as smoke curled out from beneath the hood where it was smashed against a fallen trunk.
"You're a bad influence on me, little one," Chase laughed, as we clambered out of the wreck before wrapping his arms around me and squeezing tight.
"No way. You're the one who said you wanted to get back at him for failing you on that pop quiz," I protested, grinning up at him as his dark curls fell into his eyes.
"I didn't think you were gonna Google how to hotwire a car," he protested, but the smile on his face was worth a thousand crazy risks. Especially as I glanced at the black eye he was still sporting after his dad had gotten a call from Mr Harper the super dick about that dumb quiz.
"I'd Google how to dispose of a body for you if it'd make you smile like that, Ace," I promised and he gave me a grin so big it lit me up from the inside out. "Now let's get out of here before the cops show up."
He shoved me to get me moving and we both laughed as we started running down the road in the vague direction of the beach. The others would freak when they found out what we'd done. Fox would tell us off, Rick would curse us for leaving him out and JJ would come up with a bunch of targets for us to hit next. And if stealing more cars would make Chase smile like that then I'd happily steal a hundred of them and maybe he'd be able to forget about his asshole dad altogether. At least for a little while.
I got the truck started, blinking off the memories and reminding myself that even though all I'd ever wanted was to see Chase smile, he didn't even feel bad about casting me out of this town and ruining my life. So there was no point reminiscing about old crap like that about him. My love for him had been all consuming, his for me had been optional, disposable, forgettable.
I hopped up into the seat and took off out of the parking lot, keeping an eye on my rear view mirror and smirking to myself when no one appeared from the bar to notice my theft. By the time anyone did, I should be done with this vehicle anyway. I just hoped they weren't too pissed about the condition they'd be getting it back in. But fuck it, I wasn't gonna be hanging around here long anyway so they wouldn't be able to come after me even if they did figure out who took it.
I sped down the road towards Rosewood Manor, snapping my seatbelt into place as I spotted my target and drove on past it for several hundred yards before slamming on the brakes.
I took a deep breath, put the truck in reverse and swivelled in my chair to look out the back window. I lined up the wooden pole holding the electrical power cables which ran into the manor with the rear of the truck before slamming my foot down on the gas.
The truck accelerated fast and I screamed as it slammed into the pole, the impact throwing me into my seatbelt and deploying the airbag in my face.
I coughed as I inhaled the white powder from the airbag and scrambled to get my belt off and get out of the truck, quickly rubbing down anything I'd touched with the hem of my shirt, just in case the cops took enough interest in this to investigate it.
I looked up at the buckled pole and broken power cables with a grin before turning and sprinting towards Rosewood Manor through the trees on the far side of the road.
I skirted the fence as I ran through the undergrowth all the way around the back of the property until I was certain I had to be close to the graveyard.
I kept going until I