Chapter Thirty-six
R iver follows me back to my place after we spent the day at Sadie’s. I spoke with Calvin for the majority of the time, talking about my grandmother and listening to the stories he could give me of her. River never asked questions though I saw from his face that he was curious.
“I’ll see you later?” I ask, closing the gap between us after I climb out the car.
“We have a race,” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, “I expect my good luck charm in the front seat.”
I can’t help it, my face breaks out into a wide smile, “I’ll try get to you around eight?” I pose it as a question.
“Sure, princess,” He answers, leaning in to kiss me, making it quick and chaste since we aren’t hidden here.
His hand holds me until I step from his grip and climb back into my car, watching him in my rear-view mirror until he’s just a spot in the reflection and I have to turn the corner, leaving him behind. It gets harder and harder when we part, especially since it feels as if the next time it happens, it’ll be the last time. I’m just not ready to let him go.
The gates open as I pull my car up to them and then I drive through, spotting both my brother’s car and my parents parked out front. It almost makes me hesitate, there’s still supposed to be a day before they get back.
Bringing my car to a stop beside theirs, I turn off the engine and climb out, grabbing my purse and holding it close to me as I walk into the house.
It no longer feels like home, just a place I stay, and the feeling weighs me down.
“Hello?” I call.
“Please come here, Marly,” My father’s stern tone draws me toward the main living room where I find them seated on the large black leather sectional sofas, my brother, father and mother all seated on separate couches.
“Your brother tells me you threw a tantrum at dinner last night,” My father starts with. No hello, how are you, straight to the point with a stern face and a cup of coffee in his hand.
“It’s wrong,” I reply, deciding to give them the same treatment, the courage to do so building from an unknown source deep inside of me. I am done. I’m done being a doormat, done being their little wild card and the good girl they expect me to be. I am a human, with a conscience and morals. I cannot get behind what they want to do even if River believes it’ll all blow over. I will not sit willfully at the sidelines as these people, my family , keep shitting on people.
“Do not think yourself educated enough to have an opinion, Marly,” My mother snaps.
“And whose fault is that?” I bite back. “I may not have the college degree, but I understand right from wrong and running those people out of their homes is an injustice your soul will never recover from.”
“We are not religious.” Liam scoffs.
“I never brought up god,” I tell him, “But let me know in fifty years’ time if you’re happy with what you did to living, breathing, human beings.”
“This is for the good of our town,” My father stands.
“It’s for the good of your bank account,” I retort.
“What has gotten into you?” My father asks, offended, “We trained you better than this, Marly.”
I grit my teeth to stifle my remark back. These aren’t people you can reason with; they don’t see any other view other than their own. I’m saved by the personal chef now back since my parents are, calling that dinner is now served in the dining room. They all leave, glaring at me where I stand at the door. I am expected to join them, and I go, knowing once it’s over they’ll leave me alone.
I’ll retire to my bedroom to shower and read before I sleep, and they never bother me once I go. I can do what River does and escape through my window and down the trellis even if it does sink dread into my stomach.
Dinner is served but I can’t focus on the food, not when my bag and the folder contained within is just outside the door. I am desperate to get to it, just so I can hide it until I get a minute to look at what’s inside. I have a feeling my grandmother is harboring a lot of secrets that I never even entertained before, especially since my father is her son.
I remain quiet, like they expect me to be, although I know my fight is far from over and when I claim exhaustion, I am dismissed to my bedroom like I’m ten years old and not twenty-one. There’s not a single complaint on my tongue.
I rush to the bathroom to grab a shower and stash the folder at the back of my closet to look at later. There’s time to analyze it, to read every word my grandmother wrote for me.
The humidity is killer this time of year and it doesn’t change at night, so I pick out a light blue summer dress and then move to the window. River makes it seem so easy, coming and going by way of the trellis but as I stare down at it, I wonder if he has some superhuman ability.
It seems so high, the distance between my bedroom and the ground making my stomach churn. This is the only way out, now that my parents are back there will be staff constantly present and if there is anything I have learned about my parent’s employees, it’s that they are paid well and will definitely tell them if they are to see anything suspicious.
I push the window open as far as it can go and throw my leg over the ledge, ignoring the shake in my limbs as I commit my body to the natural structure attached to the house. Slowly I move down the building, careful where I put my hands and feet as I make my way down and once I’m on solid ground, I dial River.
“Princess?” He answers on the first ring.
“Meet me at the end of the block,” I whisper into the phone, “I can’t get my car.”
“I’ll be there,” River vows before the line goes cold.
I keep to the edge of the yard as I make my way across, toward an unused gate not many know about, I’m pretty certain even my parents have forgotten it exists. It’s out of view but the garden is consistently tended to, so I know it hasn’t been overridden by plants. The hinge creaks loudly and my heart leaps into my throat as I whip my head around, waiting to see if anyone comes to investigate the noise. When I see and hear no one, I slip through and lock it shut behind me, breaking out into a jog to get away from the house as quickly as I can.
My lungs are burning by the time I reach the end of the block, looking left and right to see if I can spot River, though I know he won’t be here yet. I step back from the road, tucking myself against a fence to try and hide from view as I wait for him.
It’s another five minutes before I hear the sound of his engine, and the bright green Plymouth turns onto the street. I don’t wait for him to get out to open my door, though I can see him moving to do so and just open the passenger side, getting into the car quickly.
“Go,” I hiss to him.
He hesitates, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I lie, “I’m fine.”
His dark eyes narrow and while I can see he doesn’t believe me; he doesn’t push further as he presses on the gas and drives us away from this damn place. The further we get, the easier it becomes to breathe, like the weight of it all is being left behind. I know it isn’t, I know it’ll be there, always, unless I do something to change it.
We drive in silence the entire way to the track and then he’s pulling in, gravel and dirt crunching under the tires as he comes to a stop in the row of cars set up to race tonight. It’s busier than usual and that’s saying something since it’s always packed. Several fires are going in barrels and music blares so loudly, I can hardly hear myself think.
“The fuck is this?” I hear River yell to Jake who is walking toward us. Zara isn’t with him tonight though I know she has a family dinner to attend.
“Ricky and Benji are here,” Jake cringes, “Brought a crowd.”
“They’re fucking banned,” River snaps, “Where are they?”
“Trust me man, I told them, said they wouldn’t leave until you got here.” Jake starts walking beside River as the three of us head into the busiest section of the track, “You should know,” Jake continues, glancing at me, “Rachel is with them, she’s the one who told them they could wait for you.”
“She doesn’t have that authority,” River grasps my hand as we walk, his thumb moving in circles across my knuckles.
“Nope,” Jake pops the P, “But she also knew you wouldn’t say no to a challenge.”
I hear River grumble under his breath before the crowd parts and he comes face to face with the three of them. I recognize both Ricky and Benji, and Rachel is right there between both of them.
She sneers at me like it’s me who threatened her and not River, but I don’t let it affect me.
“The fuck are you doing on my land?” River all but growls at them.
Ricky points the head of his half empty beer bottle at him, “You and I have a score to settle.”
“I believe it’s already settled,” River looks down his nose at them, his spine stiff with tension, “You both had your asses handed to you and everyone saw it, you back for it to happen again?”
Ricky suddenly throws his bottle of beer toward us but it’s a bad throw and barely gets halfway, smashing onto the floor and shattering, it’s so far away not even the beer still inside splashes our shoes.
River chuckles, “Is that your attempt at intimidation? I’m terrified.”
“You should have gone up in flames with your brother,” Ricky hisses, his tone edged in spite and venom, “Would have done us all a favor.”
I swear my heart stops beating and sinks into my stomach. I had guessed it correctly. River shakes beside me, his fingers curling so tightly around me, it hurts where he squeezes my knuckles together.
For a split second, I see Rachel widen her eyes, skin paling as Ricky’s words land, sizzling like acid on flames at River’s feet.
“Heard he screamed like a little bitch as those flames burned him to death, he probably pissed himself too. And poor little orphaned River Sinclair tried to be a hero and ended up with melted skin. How fucking tragic.”
River steps forward and the shock snaps away. I grab his arm, “Don’t. It’s what he wants.”
“I’m going to snap your fucking neck,” River hisses.
“How about this,” Ricky grins like he just won the lotto, “One on one, you and me on the track.”
“You honestly think you can beat him?” Jake scoffs, “He’s the champion for a reason, Ricky.”
Ricky dismisses him, “I win, you get on your knees and kiss my fucking feet, and I get a night with that pretty piece on your arm.”
I stumble as River shoves me behind him, sheltering me from the eyes that are hungrily devouring me.
“You’re not going anywhere fucking near her!” River’s voice has taken on this low, menacing tone, it vibrates through me, a warning and a promise.
Ricky smirks, “We’ll see. You win, you get my car.”
“I don’t want that piece of shit tin box,” River snaps.
Ricky curls his lip, “Take it or leave it, Sinclair.”
“I’m not betting on my fucking girl,” River doesn’t let me out from behind him and his whole body is tense with anger, I feel it rolling through him, his muscles shaking violently. Ricky will only keep coming, he won’t give this up. He wants to knock River to the dirt unless River puts him in his place.
I trust River.
“Do it,” I whisper, my hand squeezing his upper arm, “Race him.”
River subtly turns to me, searching my face, “I am not risking you.”
“Will you lose?” I raise my brows, a challenge. We both know, River never loses.
River scoffs, “What do you think?”
“Exactly,” I try to give him a smile but to be honest, this whole thing has me nervous. My palms are clammy because while I have the confidence in River, there is that small chance he will lose. But that’s going to have to be a bridge we can cross if we get to it. “Take the race, River.”
There’s a pregnant pause and I see the war on his face, the anxiety but then he dips his chin in a small nod.
“You’re on,” River accepts, “Just know the moment that pink slip is mine, I’ll be breaking it down and using it for parts. Ain’t worth shit, Ricky and quite frankly, neither are you.”
Ricky laughs, “We’ll see.”
“Let’s go, princess,” River starts to move us both back toward the Plymouth.
“Are you nice and tight, sugar?” Ricky calls after us, “Pussy must be lined with gold with the way River is feral over it. Can’t wait to get a taste.”
A muscle ticks in River’s jaw.
“Ignore him,” I cling to his arm, “But please don’t lose.”
His dark eyes flick to me, softening, “He won’t come anywhere near you, Marly,” He says gently.
He stops us just before the car and curls his finger beneath my chin, tilting up my face before he presses a light kiss to my lips. “You trust me?”
“Yes,” I answer without hesitation.
He grins, “Then let’s race, princess.”