word that makes me a little dizzy. I’m not sure if it’s because he managed to look vexingly comely or the fact getting on the highway makes my body tense in a bundle of nerves. You practically have to take every highway in the universe before you get on the back road that takes you up to the cabin. It’s almost as if he’s calling me out on the fact my car isn’t unreliable, that it’s simply one of many fronts I’ve developed to keep those around me in the dark about the fact I’m terrified I’ll come to a crashing end if I ever dare drive on a hellish speedway.
Rex takes off, and I watch as he grows smaller, as the crowd of girls following him out the exit grows larger and blonder, and all I can think about is how Sabrina will think she’s finally gotten to me with all of that I’m-dating-Duncan bullcrap.
“Wait!” I wail, giving my friends a quick wave as I head for the exit. I step out into the balmy night air, only to find Rex Toberman already barreling down the street in his brand new white souped-up truck, and I do the only think I can think of.
I jump in front of it.
Rex
“Crap!” I slam on my brakes so hard the smoke from my tires clouds up the road.
Is that Scarlett? I may not be a fan, but I don’t want to kill her—at least not yet. And for sure not this weekend when I’m due for another round of her father attempting to fill my own father’s shoes for the hundredth time. The guy’s been dating my mother for under a year, and he’s already tried to have one too many serious father-son discussions. I’m not interested—not in him, and for sure not in his psychotic, jumping-in-street-traffic daughter.
The passenger’s door swings open and in flies Scarlett like a wild, redheaded flame.
“You’re a freaking nutcase, you know that?” My heart gives a few hard wallops, and for a second, I’m unsure if it’s her sheer stupidity or the fact she’s kicked up my hormones once again. Scarlett has been known to get my adrenaline going. She’s hot and happens to have a smoking body, but then, my adrenaline seems to kick up to just about any girl who meets that criteria.
She laughs while making an attempt to buckle herself. “You keep up with the sweet talk, and I’ll think you’re trying to hit on me.”
Now it’s me barking out a laugh. I head toward the main road, and she dives over the steering wheel, landing me in the far right lane instead.
“Geez, you could have killed us. You’re lucky there was no one in that lane. Remind me to never get into a car that you’re actually in control of.”
“There wasn’t anyone there. I checked.” Her lips purse into a severe pout. “I don’t have an overnight bag. I need to run up to my dorm and throw a few things together. It’ll only take a minute, unless, of course, you think you can get us back to Hollow Brook before midnight.” Her large green eyes round out with hope. The first thing I noticed about Scarlett last summer were her oversized lawn-green eyes. I’ve never seen anything quite like them.
“Is that why Colin Bale was invited to the cabin? As your midnight express back to Whitney Briggs?” Not a bad idea now that I think about it.
“That among other things.” She wraps her arms around her tiny waist and hugs herself while perfecting that pout in her reflection. Scarlett is a damn gorgeous girl. If my mother weren’t so insistent in pinning down her father, the sexual sickle might have swung in the opposite direction for the two of us. But, then, if her constant disdain and overall lack of enthusiasm when I’m around is any indication, perhaps not. “Hey! I’ve got a great idea.” She spins toward me in her seat, her entire person lights up at whatever it is she’s about to propose.
“No,” I flatline as I pull into the parking lot just below Cutler Tower.
“What do you mean no? You don’t even know what I was about to say!” Her voice rises a notch, incensed by the idea, and something about her rife indignation makes my boxers twitch with approval.
“I mean no. I’m pretty sure whatever you’re about to say is a lousy idea. You’re full of them tonight, starting with that skater boy you almost dragged up to