Page 8 of Naughty & Nice
3
HENDRIX
Ifinish filling up the car and wander over to an empty picnic bench on a little patch of grass to the side of the store.
It’s dark and cold, but I’m not ready to be enclosed in the car again quite yet.
I love driving, always have, and I was excited to embark on this road trip with Noelle. Hell, I am excited to be on this trip with her. But it’s not exactly what we had planned.
I love my brother. I do. But… as much as we might look the same, we’re very, very different people.
He’s… a player in every sense of the word. He’s always been the joker, the one who’s up for a laugh, who’s willing to do something wild just for kicks. He’s the one who’s always getting into trouble.
He used to skip class to hang out with his friends or hook up with girls, and I was in class soaking up everything I could.
He spends his weekends partying as hard as possible, and I’m at home studying.
We’re like chalk and cheese. And as much as I love him, I find his constant need to be busy exhausting.
I’m pretty sure if we went to a decent school, he’d have been diagnosed with ADHD a long time ago. But seeing as we wentto arguably one of the shittest schools in the entire country, no one gave a crap. He was labelled as badly behaved, and because he was good at football, everyone gave him a free pass for everything else.
Thankfully, he’s also clever, so when it came to exams, despite not doing any work for them—unlike me, who worked my ass off—he passed with flying colors.
It really is a good job I love him.
I sit in the dark, lost in my thoughts and watching cars pass on the road before me as I wait for Wilder and Noelle to emerge from the store.
I’m hardly surprised he’s taking forever. He went for more food. I’ve more than enough experience to know how long that takes. And not just because he can’t decide what he wants, but because of the sheer amount of food he consumes. Sure, he’s a hell of a lot more active than me, but where the hell he puts it, I don’t know. But Noelle was only going to the bathroom; she should have emerged by now.
Wilder has probably collared her to help carry his goodies to the checkout.
Irritation rolls through me. It shouldn’t and I feel guilty as hell for it.
Yes, there is a part of me that’s thrilled about spending the holiday with family. When Lori first announced that she and Kian were going away this year, I was pretty disappointed. Lori has always been the best thing about Christmas. She’s the one who’s made it special for the two of us. Sure, we had a few years with Dad that were half decent, but no one ever cared like she did. It’s going to be weird celebrating without her this year.
That’s why Noelle and I decided to also take a trip. She didn’t want to go home, and I certainly have no desire to see if our mom is still alive or not. If I never return to our hometown ever again, it’ll be too soon.
I’m done with that place. I just wish the memories would disappear with it.
I’m considering going in search of them when finally, voices hit my ears and two dark figures move toward my car.
“Where the hell have you two been?”
They both pause halfway across the gas station and spin around.
“One of us got locked in the bathroom. Had to be rescued. Don’t worry, though, her knight in shining armor was there to save her,” Wilder states proudly.
“Of course you were,” I mutter, making a beeline for the driver’s door.
Noelle took the last leg as planned, so I’m up again for the final part of our road trip.
She pulls open the passenger door and drops in, and just before I get there, Wilder dives in front of me, shouting, “Shotgun,” and drops into the driver’s seat.
“That’s not how shotgun works,” I complain.
“Don’t care,” he says with a shrug before starting the engine and pulling his seatbelt on.
“You’re an asshole.”