10. Kali
10
KALI
I was starting to daydream about how to murder my friends.
Just kidding.
Thirty-six hours in the car, and that wasn’t counting the hotel stay.
So… maybe I wasn’t totally kidding.
No, really. I was kidding.
Or— ugh .
Besides the fact that we’d all picked up a certain smell around hour twenty-eight—one that refused to budge, no matter how much we showered and could only be described as “travel smell”—we were peachy, and fully hyped up on caffeine and sugar. Harper was the sugar, Aly and me the caffeine.
We were having a discussion over who was the best mean girl from Glee, and Aly got so upset, she lit up a cigarette.
I didn’t even know she smoked.
She started to light a second one, but Harper started coughing, pounding his chest. “I’m allergic to smoke. No more smoking. Please, Ally McBeal.”
That got her laughing. The dancing naked baby always got her in a good mood—or a better mood. At least she set the cigarettes aside. Based on the strain lines stretched tight around her mouth, she hadn’t enjoyed the fact that Harper didn’t want to talk about Justin today, so he’d gone right back to Aly’s love life. I was pretty sure he was on a mission to end her fantasy of finding a millionaire farmer.
Indiana had lots of farmers, but not too many millionaires in our county, and I knew Aly. She stayed in Friendly to take care of her grandmother. She wasn’t moving, even to a different county. But geez , Harper. Why take away her dream?
Some of us might wish we still had a dream.
I kept that to myself. Otherwise Harper would jump on it the next time he wanted to avoid talking about Justin.
Thinking about Justin, I pulled him up on Insta and sent him a message.
Kali: Harper told us why you two broke up. Anything you want me to share with him when we finally get him to open up and talk about it?
I felt like Harper was scared of marriage because of, well, fear. He was just scared.
I needed to get both of them to talk.
My phone beeped.
JustinBanana: Hi. Nothing. He knows. Good luck. If you crack him, send him my way. I’ll love him back together.
Oh, man.
I hadn’t let myself form a firm opinion about Justin, mostly because I didn’t know what happened and because I was loyal to Harper. Now that I knew, and based on this response, I kinda wished Justin wasn’t gay. The guy was hot. And loving. And kind. And intelligent. And patient. And wise. And Harper needed to get his head out of his own ass. That’s just how it was.
I was going to share that with him too.
Except, maybe not until they’d nailed me down and tortured my own shit out of me.
After that , I’d say something. All bets were off.
I gave Harper a look. His eyes seemed a little glazed. Too much sugar. He felt me looking, gave me a silly grin, and popped in another Mike & Ike.
I sighed internally because I knew I wasn’t about to bring anything up with him, because he’d turn the tables on me. Me. Foley. Why I’d stayed—it all haunted me.
“Why’d you stay?”
“You love that hard? Accept that shit from him? Or what? Don’t know your worth—”
What a dick.
Well.
Maybe not.
That kiss, though.
I was sighing all over again.
“Holy shit!” Aly shrieked.
She was at the wheel, and we’d been driving down back roads. Or trying to. The last few roads had been a bit desolate, so I’d tuned out.
Harper blinked a few times, looking around as if returning to reality.
We were back on the highway now, and I saw nothing unusual. Well, maybe a tumbleweed, which was kinda cool because I’d never seen a tumbleweed before.
Then I saw what she meant.
Aly was right. It was a holy shit moment.
I saw the Harley first, parked on the shoulder. There were two others.
No, there were three.
One of the guys punched another guy, and he went back down. He’d already been on the ground. The last guy wasn’t doing anything. He just stood there, almost like a guard.
The holy shit part wasn’t seeing bikers punching each other. We could see that at my mom’s bar. The holy shit part was that all three were wearing Red Demon cuts, and my extra holy shit moment was when the guy who’d delivered that last punch stopped and looked up.
In an instant I could feel his touch again, the way he’d held the back of my head, how his lips at first had just grazed over mine.
They’d been a tease. A caress.
I’d wanted more instantly, and I’d reached for him, not thinking, just needing. I’d surged up on my toes, fusing our mouths, and then he’d taken over.
I was breathless again, remembering it all because that biker stared right at us, as if he could see into the backseat and right through me. Shane King. AKA Ghost. AKA the guy I did not want to see during this trip.
The guy now struggling back to his feet was the opposite. He was the reason we were on this journey in the first place.
“Whoa. Tell me you know them, Kali.” Harper fanned himself with his Mike & Ike bag. “The blond is hot. Holy shit indeed. You said it, Aly.”
“Do you?” Aly sounded breathless too.
They hadn’t recognized Shane.
I couldn’t blame them, but I didn’t answer—not right away.
We kept driving.
The bikers watched us as we passed.
It wasn’t until we saw the sign telling us we were entering Frisco, population 372, that I spoke.
“That was Shane.”
As we drove through Frisco, it felt like something out of a movie—where outsiders rolled into a town of serial killers. Except our windows were up, because it was hot. We had the air conditioner on, so no wind made our hair move through air in slow motion. And no one stepped out of their homes or buildings because they sensed the new prey. Though I did see two prospects outside the biker bar, eyeing us as we went past.
A shiver moved down my back, and I tried to ignore a tickling at the back of my throat. It didn’t matter what I was feeling. Claudia was here, and I’d told Ruby I’d bring her back.
I needed to try, or move to California.
“There’s nowhere I feel safe stopping,” Aly commented.
No one argued.
I wasn’t just willing to bet money that my sister was at the biker bar. She was there. That tickling feeling turned into dread. That’s how sure I was, but Aly kept driving. And I didn’t stop her.
There was a diner when I looked up again. I’d missed the other buildings, but it seemed you just blinked, and you were through Frisco.
Aly kept driving.
“Oh, look at that. They have their own nursing home.” Harper sounded like he was cooing at a puppy.
“Pull up the map,” Aly said. “There’s no place to stay, and I’m not asking the nursing home if they have an extra room for us. We need to set up somewhere and have a meeting before going back.”
“Right.” Harper pulled out his phone, sounding businesslike now, but he twisted back to me first. “You think there’s any gay members in there? Did Shane say anything about that when you saw him?”
“I have no idea, but no matter his orientation, he’s a Red Demon. Are you insane?”
Harper frowned at my tone. “What?” He shrugged. “It’s not like I’m going to shack up with the guy and be his cute butt.”
Aly snorted and started giggling.
She’d been driving for the last five hours. We’d made one gas-and-pee stop, but I was pretty sure she was delirious. Maybe not, but she’d definitely been through the emotional wringer. Harper had laid into her about fucking her fireman again. He wanted all the details.
“It’s sweet butt, and don’t say that again because you don’t know what that term means.”
He shot me a grin. “I can google it.”
Aly started giggling even louder. “Let’s learn all the biker language.”
“I’m on it!”
I needed to pick my battles with these guys. I noted a sign that said Fallen Crest was thirty-two miles away. “Harper, look up Fallen Crest. See if that town has a hotel or motel.”
Turns out, it did.
Turns out, Fallen Crest was the complete opposite of Frisco.
I hit call on my phone.
“Kalista Calliope Michaels. I did not receive a call last night.”
I groaned. “I know. I’m sorry, Dad.”
I told him about the rest of the trip. I didn’t leave any of it out.
“That’s not right, Kali. You shouldn’t have messaged JustinBanana behind Harper’s back.”
My mouth dropped. “Dad! He wants to marry him.”
“That don’t matter. Your mother wanted to marry me, and see how that turned out. And don’t start because we would’ve had you no matter if we were married or not. You were destined to be in our lives and we’re all the more blessed because of it. Still do not think it was cool you messaged JustinBanana behind Harper’s back.”
“His name is Justin, not JustinBanana.”
“You told me it was JustinBanana. Why would you tell me it was JustinBanana if his name is not JustinBanana? A man has a name for a reason. I’m of a mind to refer to him as the name he was given.”
“His last name is not Banana.”
“Then why would you say his name was JustinBanana if Banana is not a last name? Some folk have unique last names. It’s not my place to judge. I still get a kick of everyone who’s got a last name of Johnson. That shit is funny. Johnson because it makes me think of a johnson. Can you imagine the name of Dick Johnson? Wait. Do we know any?”
“Tell me about your new dance routine, Dad.”
“Oh. The Old Gents broke up.”
“What?”
“Yeah. That’s what happens when you don’t call your old man for a whole day. The world can turn upside down.”