Chapter Twenty
AJ
I close the door to the bathroom behind me on purpose. I remove the condom, tie it off and wrap it in some toilet paper, then toss it in the metal trash can. That kind of stuff I can handle her seeing.
What I can’t handle is Hollie Palmer seeing me grip the edge of the washbasin and bow my head, because I need a minute to contemplate what the fuck just took place.
Sex with Hollie wasn’t supposed to be that good. It was better than good, and light-years better than I imagined. Mind. Fucking. Blowing.
I thought she’d be shy. But she grew in confidence, and she gave herself to me. Watching her ride me naked is about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
I glance at the back of the door. Usually, I’d have vacated the premises by now, faster than you can say adios.
So, why is it this time I wanna stick around? Spend the whole night with Hollie Palmer in her apartment. Bury my face between her legs again and make her cry out my name when she comes.
Once I’ve composed myself, I open the door. She’s in bed, covered by the blankets. She’s looks lowkey nervous at the sight of me butt naked and I wonder if she’s put some clothes back on under there. I’m pleasantly surprised when I crawl under the covers to find that she’s as naked as I am.
I lie down and she rolls into my side. I cradle her with one arm as she lays her head against my chest.
‘What happened at your meeting?’ Hollie asks, and I’m relieved, as I don’t wanna get drawn into any emotional conversation that girls seem to dig.
I brush my fingertips up and down her back.
‘Same old. Echo unwilling to back down. Wants to carry on with the system of giving out wristbands… you know. Turning Rapture into a place where the college kids can let loose and pretend like they’re bein’ rebellious or something, then put it all out on social media.
Wants to increase the number of nights kids can come out to Rapture and live it up. ’
Hollie’s voice goes quiet. ‘That’s not going to go down well.’
‘It’s his way of sticking two fingers up at your stepmom and the county sheriff. He figures they can’t shut it down every time.’
‘She paid me a visit today. Evelyn. Told me I’m never to go to Rapture ever again.’
I shift my position, moving down the bed, so I can look Hollie in the face. ‘You’re kidding.’
‘I mean, I don’t plan on obeying her rules or anything. Even if…’
I know there’s something she’s ain’t telling me. ‘Even if what?’
It’s her turn to trace her fingertips down my arm. ‘Evelyn and my dad want me to move out of this apartment so they can rent it out. They want me to move back in with them for a while. My dad thinks I should go back to England. Get a real job.’
‘Is that what you want?’
She shakes her head. ‘No. I like it here.’
I shift my position. ‘Can we talk about the guy? The one in England who was sending you emails?’
She pulls back a fraction. ‘You want to talk about that now? When we just—’
I flash her a grin. ‘Sure. I gotta check out the competition. Does he still write you?’
‘He does.’
‘What does he write you about?’
She bites her lip again. ‘Well. He says he misses me. That he thinks that we could work things out if I just gave us a chance. He sends me romantic poems, trying to get me to change my mind about us.’
‘Poetry? That’s a definite red flag, right there.’
She lets out a giggle. The flames of jealousy ignite in my stomach, thinking about her with another guy.
‘What’s Poetry Boy’s name?’ I ask.
‘Owen,’ she says, still smiling.
‘And do you write Owen back?’
‘Not recently.’
‘Please don’t tell me you write poetry.’
Another giggle. I flip her onto her back and trail kisses down the nape of her neck, gently sucking at her soft skin. ‘How about you write him that you’re sorry,’ I whisper, ‘but you’re seeing somebody else now?’
I lower my head and kiss her, pulling her naked frame closer to mine as she hums in response.
Sorry, Jonny English, I think to myself, as Hollie’s body responds to my touch.
This girl is mine.
In the morning, I’m awake before Hollie. Light peeks through the edges of the window blinds and I do that thing again: I watch her sleep.
We had sex one more time before we crashed out.
It lasted even longer, and I swear she gained even more confidence.
It’s another thing I never did before: sleep with a girl more than once in the same night.
But when she kisses me back, I can’t seem to get enough.
She sets my body on fire, and I gotta have all of her.
Hollie’s different. She’s unlike any other girl I ever met. She’s kind. She cares about others. She doesn’t put herself first.
When my no-good, shit-for-brains dad walked out, me and Logan vowed that life was easier if you had nobody else to rely on.
Maybe that’s why Lo hit the road when he did, so he’d have nobody else to look out for, ’cept himself.
And maybe I should have done the same. Mom called it selfish, but I didn’t blame him for getting out.
I resisted getting close to anybody. Catching feelings only complicated things. But now, looking down at Hollie in the bed, she makes me feel grounded. And I have an urge to protect her from anything that might cause her any pain.
She stirs. I lean down and brush a kiss against her temple. She hums, then stretches out her limbs.
‘Good morning,’ I say.
Her eyelids flutter open and my gaze meets hers. ‘Hi,’ she squeaks up at me. ‘How long have you been awake?’
‘Not long,’ I reply.
‘Uh. Would you like breakfast?’
‘I’m good. I should prolly hit the road. Might take a shower first.’
‘Okay.’
I nod toward the bathroom. ‘You wanna come with?’
On the road out to Rapture, I think about nothing but Hollie.
Took me a long time to get out her door. To finally tear myself from her company, both in her bed, and out of it. I’m late for work but I don’t give a good goddamn.
On my motorcycle, underneath my helmet, I’m grinning like an insane person, because, man, I am so gone for her. I’m already counting down the hours ’til my workday is done, so I can get back there. She’s smart, sweet, funny and caring.
When I make it back to Scotch and park up, I’m surprised to see Echo and my mom both smoking rollups, sat side by side out on the porch.
‘Look who’s showed up,’ Echo says in his leather jacket and bandana, looking me up and down when I climb the steps, still holding onto my helmet. ‘Hell you been, boy?’
I look at Mom. She looks like she’s been crying. ‘Everythin’ all right?’ I ask.
‘Tyler Rosen got busted last night,’ she tells me. ‘Got caught tryna steal a convertible from Boulder Creek. Canyon P.D. cuffed him and took him downtown.’
I know that Tyler and Noah were friends. ‘Shelley Rosen’s kid?’
‘Uh-huh. Barely thirteen years old. Younger than Noah.’
‘They gonna charge him?’
Echo flicks ash across the porch. ‘Shelley’s downtown with him now. He’s been allocated an attorney.’
I feel a muscle flinch inside my jaw. On the porch, I shift my weight to my other leg. ‘Flood Brothers again?’
‘We don’t know that for sure,’ is Echo’s response.
I snort out a laugh, because Echo knows as well as I do that Tyler’s arrest has the Flood brothers’ greasy hallmarks all over it. ‘And you just gonna let that trash slide, huh, Echo?’ I ask.
‘We talked about this, AJ. I’m not in the business of making things worse out here for all of us.’
I level my eyes on his. ‘You could have fucking fooled me.’
I see anger flash in his eyes when he half gets out his chair to holler at me. ‘Just thank your lucky stars Noah got picked up by the mayor’s stepdaughter and you got him to safety. Tyler won’t have the same good fortune your brother had.’
I’m done listenin’ to this shit. I shake my head in disgust and march off the porch, my knuckles white where I’m gripping my helmet so hard. I head round the edge of the building to the staircase that leads up to the attic space.
‘Ajax, wait!’
I turn to see Mom racing after me, wearing the pretty red dress with buttons down the front that I know she’s had since I was a kid. My free hand grips the railing. She catches up. Up close, her eyes have dark circles around them. Looks like she’s been smoking way too many cigarettes.
‘I came by your room early this mornin’,’ she says. ‘You didn’t answer.’
‘I spent the night in Canyon.’
‘Oh?’
‘At a, uh… friend’s house.’
‘Right. Everything all right?’
‘Fine. Apart from the fuckin’ Flood brothers wrecking our kids’ lives. Not that Echo seems to give a shit.’
‘Echo’s got enough on his plate right now, honey.’
I sigh. ‘So everybody keeps sayin’.’
‘What I mean is, don’t do anything dumb. Echo saved you, a year ago. You wouldn’t have a room above this bar if it weren’t for him, and he can’t protect everybody. Don’t be going after any Floods and offering to give them a beat down.’
I can feel a muscle flexing in my jaw. ‘I won’t. However much I want to.’
‘Good. Now. I didn’t know that… about the mayor’s stepdaughter. Echo told me that she was the one who took Noah in?’
‘She came with me to Rita’s. Her name’s Hollie.’
She looks surprised. ‘Oh. And are you and Hollie… close?’
I look at the ground, concealing a smile. ‘We’ve been hangin’ out some.’
She grins a wild grin. ‘Is that who you were with last night?’
Goddamn it, I can feel my cheeks burnin’ up. I clear my throat. ‘Ma, I’m gonna be late for work.’
‘Sure, honey. You go. It’s good to see you.’
‘You talk to Noah?’
Her eyes glisten. ‘Armando bought me a burner phone. I talked to him two days ago. Rita says he’s doin’ real good. Stayin’ outta trouble.’
I put down my helmet, wrap my arms around her. She holds onto me tight. ‘I’ll stop by soon, okay?’
‘I’d like that.’
I say goodbye and head up to my room.
At a quarter after twelve, I take a break from the auto shop and head inside Scotch & Smoke. After a bite to eat, I’m shooting pool on my own when Chase saunters in.
‘S’up with you?’ he says, without so much as a hello.
I take a shot and miss. ‘Nothing,’ I say.
He reaches for a cue stick leaning up against the wall. ‘Need somebody to show you how it’s done?’
My next shot hits the target. I straighten. ‘I’m good.’
‘You hear about Tyler Rosen?’ he asks and racks up all the balls to start over. I got no interest in getting beat right now, but I’m too riled about other shit to complain.
‘I heard,’ I say.
‘Idiot got busted last night. Had to call his momma from his jail cell. Boo hoo, them Flood bros tried to get me to steal ’em a motherfucking Tesla.’
I shake my head. ‘Thirteen years old. What a waste.’
‘Probably shoulda tried slipping through their fingers, just like Noah did.’
He gives me a look. He’s still pissed at me for not telling him what happened to my sibling. ‘Noah skipped town. Prolly went to find Logan. Figure he’ll tell me one day.’
Chase leans over the table and breaks. He pockets two solids in the process.
‘Jesus Christ,’ I say as my shoulders drop.
‘Ain’t never been beat, man,’ Chase crows, looking pleased with himself, then leans over and pockets another solid. I shoulda gone back to work when I had the chance.
Chase takes his aim. ‘So, what do you say? Wanna go fuck up some trash Floods, or what?’
I glance over at the bar, in case Echo’s anywhere close by. ‘You mean… head on over to Temptation Heights?’
‘Sure, why not? The east side is our fucking territory. Those jokers need a gentle reminder that things need to stay that way. That they should stop using Rapture kids to do their dirty work for ’em.’
‘Maybe a smarter idea would be to give all the Rapture kids a lesson in saying get the fuck away from me.’
Chase screws up his face. ‘I’d rather go after the Floods. Give ’em a beat down they won’t forget in a hurry. Jeez. When did you get all… sensible?’
I think about Hollie. A while back, I hadn’t given much thought to the future. I was getting by. Living day to day. She’s made me think about what I want, and chasing down criminal Flood brothers ain’t it.
I lean on my stick, give a shrug. ‘Echo thinks we should steer clear is all.’
Chase snorts, pockets yet another solid. ‘Since when did we give a fuck what Echo Salinger thinks?’
I look him up and down. He’s practically won the game before I’ve even got started.
‘I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, man,’ Chase says with a sigh. ‘It’s like ever since Mo passed, you’re a different person.’
‘Maybe I don’t wanna spend the rest of my life being a dick. Or behind bars. If we go after the Flood brothers, that’s precisely where we’re gonna end up.’
I yawn. Chase frowns at me. ‘Not get your beauty sleep? Where were you last night, anyways?’
‘Nowhere. Hit the sack early.’
His gaze lingers, like he doesn’t trust what I’m saying. An image flashes through my mind, of Hollie and I in the shower this morning and I can’t help but smile. I’m excited to see her again.
Chase pockets the 8-ball. I roll my eyes because he’s won, and I didn’t even take a single shot.