Page 63 of The Fast Lane
You are in the danger zone, Ramos. Abort. Abort.
I scrambled to get off him but instead of helping me, Theo’s hands tightened on my waist. My hand rested on his chest, and I could feel his heartbeat, strong and fast.
“I should get up,” I whispered.
“Yes.” One of his hands traveled up to gently tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. “You probably should.”
“Absolutely.” But instead of doing that like a sane person, I found myself moving closer. Theo’s fingers slid into my hair and encouraged me and then there we were, our mouths a whisper apart. All one of us had to do was shift and our lips would touch and then…
“You two lovebirds need a little alone time?” Mack scooped up Karen and smirked at us.
“Oh, my gosh.” I scrambled off Theo and the bed. My cheeks flamed hot as I grabbed my backpack from the floor and tugged it on, carefully avoiding Theo. Or Mack. And definitely that damn dog.
“I’m…just going to go…” I could barely hear my thoughts over the pounding of my heart. I froze mid-step. Crap. Where was I going? “Food. I’m going to go get breakfast.”
“Good idea,” Mack called to my back. “You’re gonna miss out on the good oatmeal flavors.”
“Right. Don’t want to do that,” I yelled back. But it wasn’t the oatmeal I cared about missing; it was that kiss.
TWENTY-SIX
Note to self:
You can never have too many brothers.
The ride to Denver went much too quickly, each spin of the wheels ratcheting up my anxiety. Between Mack’s excitement, Karen’s growls, and my nerves, a strange tension filled the car. Even thoughts of Theo Goodnight, Romance Author, were pushed out of my brain. I couldn’t stop conjuring up every bad outcome possible. What if Abe slammed the door in my face? My stomach roiled at the thought.
“About time this got taken care of,” Mack said from the backseat. “That boy has always had a good heart. It’s a shame he’s been gone so long. Been over a year since I’ve seen him.”
“Wait. You saw him?” I twisted in my seat to look back at Mack. Karen turned up her nose like she’d smelled something rotten. Then she hopped off Mack’s lap and disappeared under the seat as though my very image was offensive.
“Sure, when Gracie passed, he came after everyone left. Didn’t want to run into your parents.”
“I…Wow.” Why hadn’t he told me?
This whole road trip was a series of revelations I didn’t know what to do with. I pressed my forehead to the window, letting the coolness soothe me on the outside. The inside was an entirely different story, spliced wires wiggling around in chaos.
Theo glanced over at me from the driver’s side. “Doing okay?”
“Yeah,” I whispered, then cleared my throat. “Yeah.”
Forty-five minutes later, we pulled up to a row of generic houses on a regular street in a suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of Denver. The lawns were carefully mowed. The trees and bushes were trimmed. Flowerbeds burst with zinnias and marigolds and asters. One yard had a kid’s bike propped against a tree. Another had a small pool set up, waiting for the chill of the morning to burn off.
It looked so… normal.
“Not what I was expecting,” I said.
“What were you expecting?” Theo asked.
“Not the suburbs.”
Abe had always been the rebel. I expected a sweet apartment downtown, maybe over a bar or something. Not a cookie-cutter with an attached garage. But I’m not sure how well I knew Abe anymore. Even with our phone calls, it appeared there were a lot of things he hadn’t told me.
A middle-aged woman in hot-pink leggings speedwalking her way down the sidewalk smiled as she passed us.
“Ready, kiddo?” Mack asked, slinging an arm around my shoulders.
I nodded, my tongue glued to the top of my mouth. I needed water. And a chocolate croissant. And about seventeen more months before I did this.