Chapter 48
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
I slam the car door. Axel is insufferable. Quite possibly the worst person to ever exist. He’s been harassing me all day long, eventually prompting me to practically beg Gage to go to the bank with me.
When he agrees, I fly to the car, and once Gage gets in on the other side, I start driving before he’s fully shut the door. I need to get this money and go. Just get the damn money and get out of here.
Gage is quiet for some time, not even commenting when I blow a stop sign. I know he sees it because he still has the glasses.
Then, his voice breaks through my steaming thoughts. “We fought a lot as kids.”
We’re at a red light, and I glance briefly over at him, but Gage doesn’t look at me.
“You and Axel?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, so he’s always been this unbearable.” I can barely keep the tremble out of my voice.
Gage huffs. “Oh yeah.”
When the light turns green, we go, and I turn right. I enjoy the feeling of not having uneven acrylics. It feels like I shed an old skin.
“We could stop by your place if you want. Get anything you need.” Gage’s voice is quiet.
Get anything I need. Almost like I’m moving in with him.
Because I kind of did.
My chest tightens. Little does Gage know that I already have everything I need. All packed up and ready to go. The more I move, the less I have.
We drive in silence for a little bit longer before Gage says, “You know, if you really want to get under his skin, call him Garret.”
“What?” I glance over at Gage again. His big hand rests on his thigh, and his long fingers look graceful and powerful. I have to rip my gaze back to the road.
“Garret. It’s his real name.”
“It’s not Axel?”
“That’s his middle name. Mom named us both G names, you know, the whole twin thing. Axel hated it, so he goes by his middle name.”
I glance over at Gage again, but he’s still watching the road. His hand gives a tiny squeeze on his thigh.
Garret, huh?
“Thanks,” I say hesitantly.
Gage shrugs. “We’re a team. Anti-Axel team.”
A team? For a second, I feel relief. Then, distrust washes over me. A team with Gage? There are so many things that could go wrong. Like the biggest thing: What if he’s playing me?
But Gage just leans back, finger-tapping slightly now. “He puked all over our table at the cafeteria once. Someone wiped a booger on him.” Then, Gage chuckles. He actually laughs. “He begged me to say I was the one who puked. Said he had to keep up his image.”
Gage is laughing. I snap my gaze over to him. He has smile lines around his eyes and in the corners of his cheeks, almost like dimples. His laugh is deep and unhurried and wraps around me like a hug. It feels like…comfort.
I swallow. “Did you?”
Gage’s face drops, the humor fading from it. The car goes silent again, and it feels like I asked the wrong thing, although I’m not sure why or how.
“Sure did,” Gage says, although his voice is quiet now.
I have this odd urge to make it better. To tell Gage about how I also go by my middle name.
To tell him how Mom was a hippie before Dad met her, and that’s how I ended up with a name like Celeste.
About how I loved the name until a kid made fun of it every time he saw me at a camp, and I’ve wanted to change it ever since.
About how I secretly liked switching to Raven after I had to run from Max.
But I don’t say any of that. It feels locked up inside of me, and we just sit in silence until we get to the bank.
On the drive back, all I can think about is how I was almost friendly with Gage. But it’s good I wasn’t. The less I tell him, the better. The less Gage knows, the less he can use against me.
Although Gage doesn’t seem like he wants to use anything against me, which is a dangerous concept because I thought the same about Max.