Rivers though, he would have just gone with the flow as long as someone else was organizing it.
I make my way out to the car and find Noah has stuffed not only my blanket, but my pillow as well into the front seat. He wasn’t kidding that he’ll let me sleep in the car, but I’m not risking it. No way in hell.
But that’s not all I find in the car. Tully and Rivers are not just sitting in the backseat, they’re each facing a window, pointedly looking anywhere but at the other.
“Take your time,” Tully murmurs to herself as I get in the car, pulling out my phone to drop it into the center console to find there’s already a coffee here waiting for me. My heart swirls, knowing it was Noah who would have thought of it.
“I wouldn’t have had to take my time if someone thought of giving me a little heads up,” I grumble right back at her as another yawn rips through me.
She kicks the back of the seat. “I did give you a heads up. It’s not my fault you’re a heavy as fuck sleeper.”
I roll my eyes then sit up a little straighter as a light switches on inside Rocko’s house next door. I spin around to face Tully. “No, no way. You didn’t invite Rocko, did you?”
Rivers’ head whips around to Tully before shooting straight back out the window, searching out Rocko’s place. “Fuck off. You better not have,” he growls. “If that fucker is coming, then Alyssa is coming.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Tully seethes at him. “I didn’t invite him, and for the record, if that slut is coming, then I’m out.”
“Yeah,” Rivers scoffs. “Because she’s the slut here.”
Tully’s hand whips across the backseat until it’s smacking Rivers in the chest. “Excuse me?” she demands. “What did you just call me?”
“You heard me.”
Fuck me. This is going to be a really long day. I better grab some painkillers before we go because by the end of this road trip, I’m going to need them.
“Will you two knock it off?” Noah snaps, dropping down into the driver’s seat and starting the engine.
“Dude, this isn’t a fucking good idea,” Rivers says, sounding as though this isn’t the first time he’s said it this morning.
“Why?” Noah snaps back at him with a raised brow. “Because you have a fucking hard time keeping your hands off my sister?”
Tully’s mouth drops open as Rivers’ eyes practically bulge out of their sockets. “Nah, man,” he rushes out. “No fucking problem there.”
“Good,” Noah grunts as Tully scowls across at Rivers. “We’ve got a long fucking trip and I’m not listening to you two fuckheads arguing the whole way. And for the record, none of your loser add ons are welcome. So, shut the fuck up and pretend like you give a shit.”
Their eyes sail back out their windows as the argument promptly dies.
Well, that shut ‘em up.
I beam at Noah. “And that’s why I keep you around.”
A cheesy grin cuts across his face as he reaches over and takes my hand, placing it on the gear stick with his sitting firmly on top, more than ready to get this trip over and done with.
“Fuck, can we stop?” Tully whines from the backseat five hours later. “I need to pee.”
“Seriously?” Rivers groans. “We’ve already stopped for your weak ass bladder three times. You couldn’t possibly need to pee again.”
“Well, if dickhead in the front didn’t wake me up so early, I wouldn’t have just finished my third coffee. Besides,” she adds with a scoff. “Don’t act as though you haven’t peed off the side of the road every time we stopped.”
“Shit,” Noah groans cutting off whatever Rivers was bound to snap back at her with as he looks up in the rearview mirror, probably to scold her. “Have you seriously drunk three coffees? I only bought extra large ones.”
“Tell me about it,” she says with a desperate little groan. “And my bladder is only big enough to hold one of them. So, hurry up and find another gas station.”
Rivers chuckles. “Have you been paying attention at all?” he grins, loving a chance to shut her down. “There’s no more gas stations for miles. If you gotta pee, it’s gotta be on the side of the road.”
“Fuck, no,” she screeches, searching out Noah’s eyes in the mirror. “Is he fucking with me?”
“Nope, sorry, Tullz,” Noah responds. “You have three options. You can either squat out by some prickly ass weeds, try to shoot it into a cup, or hold it. What’s it going to be?”
“You’re a fucking jerk,” she snaps as I press my hand over my mouth, desperately trying to hold in a laugh as to not anger the beast behind me. A resigned sigh comes sailing out of her. “Pull over,” she instructions Noah as Rivers howls with laughter.
Noah’s Camaro comes to a stop and Tully practically dives out of the car. She quickly looks around and it doesn’t take long to realize that there are no trees to hide behind, no divots in the land, no bushes, literally nowhere for her to hide. “Shit,” she groans. “You big bastards better turn the fuck around. If I catch either of you looking, I’m going to make the next twenty four hours a living hell for you.”
And this time, they know she means every single word of it.
They instantly turn around and I dive back into the car. “Wait,” I call out before grabbing a handful of tissues. “You don’t want to leave without these.”
Tully rolls her eyes but grabs them before taking off. Shrugging my shoulders, I grab a few more and take off with her. You know, I don’t want to waste an opportunity.
Tully goes off to the left and I head right.
I find a nice little patch of grass and try to work out how to do this. Do I just pull my pants down or take them off completely? I don’t want to risk peeing all over them. I guess that answers my question. I whip my pants and undies right off, not really giving a shit if the boys turn around. I mean, that’s their loss, not mine.
I squat down in the grass and try to convince myself to let it go, but the awkwardness of it all makes it a little hard, especially when I look up and find Noah’s eyes on me with one hell of a massive smirk on his face. “Do you need me to sing a song or something?” he calls.
I give him a thumbs up. “All good,” I yell back, grinning to myself when I look further to notice Rivers standing across the other side of the road with his back to us, so very clearly peeing once again.
Geez, the joys of road trips.
I get myself sorted out, pleased as hell I thought of the tissues. I pull my clothes back on and start heading back to the Camaro, feeling as though I’ve just accomplished something. I mean, not many girls could proudly say they squatted on the side of the road, right? Me, though. I’m a fucking champion. Taking a shit like Rivers had to do after being locked up…now, that might be taking it a little too far.
We get back in the car and once everyone is happy, Noah takes off, and hopefully, our next stop will be the final one.
Ten minutes later, we drive past a gas station while Noah and Rivers howl like fucking hyenas.
Chapter 15
Noah slams on the brakes, jolting us all forward in our seats. I throw my hands up, bracing myself against the dashboard while feeling Tully slam into the back of my chair with a loud ‘Oomph.’
“What the fuck, man?” Rivers grunts, grabbing onto Tully, trying to pull her back, and only just having enough time to throw his other hand up to save himself from smashing into the back of Noah’s seat.
“Hold on,” Noah calls, pulling to the side of the road before glancing in his mirrors and performing a massive turn across the deserted highway until we’re heading back the other way. “I think I saw something.”
“Like what?” I grumble.
“Shut up, I’m looking,” Noah says as he leans forward in his seat and squints at everything before him as if that could somehow make him see better. I mean, why do people do this? Squinting is probably making it worse. It’s the same as when people turn down the music to help them see street signs or the numbers on ma
ilboxes better. Freaking ridiculous.
“Looking for what?” Tully groans, rubbing the side of her face and unintentionally prompting Rivers to reach out and gently run his fingers over the red mark that’s appearing there. She flinches back from his touch and not a second later, hurt flashes in both their eyes.
“You’ll see,” Noah promises before a huge, face splitting grin takes over his face. “I fucking knew it,” he cheers, pointing out the windshield. “Look at that.”
Noah brings his Camaro to a stop in the middle of the highway, forcing me to whip my head around and double check that there are no cars sitting on our six. Satisfied that the highway is completely deserted, I give in and play along with whatever Noah has deemed to be the most exciting part of our trip so far.
Noah’s eyes settle on me as I look out the windshield and try to work out what’s caught his attention. It doesn’t take long for a smile to spread wide across my face as I take in the old street sign that’s well on its way to falling down, pointing towards an overgrown, forgotten, dirt road. “It’s Henley Road,” I beam. “It’s my road.”
“Sure fucking is, Spitfire,” Noah murmurs, proud as fuck of himself.
I can practically hear Rivers rolling his eyes in the backseat. Rivers and cheesy are two things that do not mix. “Fucking pussy whipped, cock sucking, pansy ass bitch,” he mutters to himself, forcing Noah to spin around and nail him with everything he’s got, giving Rivers a dead leg.
Tully leans forward over my chair, looping her arms around the headrest while ignoring the boys’ scuffle beside her. “Get out. I’ll take a photo of you with your sign.”
Well, I’m not going to say no to that.
I push my way out of Noah’s Camaro and suck in the fresh air, after being trapped in that car for hours on end with the boys competing in their morning farting ritual. Though, if I have to weigh in on the topic, I’d say it’s too hard to pick a winner. Noah’s got the whole loud but proud thing going on while Rivers takes on the silent but deadly. I guess the only losers here are me and Tully, especially after Noah hit the lock on the windows and made us suffer while they giggled like little school girls.
I make my way over to stand beneath the falling sign with an excitement pulsing through me. This is so freaking cool. I’ve never found a street sign with my name on it before.
Tully pulls out her phone as I hear the sound of Noah and Rivers’ car doors opening, and to be honest, I’m freaking surprised that they didn’t break a window or somehow destroy the car with their bullshit.
Rivers scoffs as the boys walk over. “If you really want to be her hero, then cut the fucking sign down and give it to her.”
Noah looks across at Rivers before looking back at the sign with a sparkle in his eye. “Yeah?” he questions as a mischievous grin takes over.
“Yeah,” Rivers replies.
“What? No,” I shout out. “That’s ridiculous and I’m pretty sure it’s a felony. Besides, I’m not bailing your asses out of jail again.”
“Again?” Tully grunts, straightening up and looking at me in confusion. “What the fuck do you mean ‘again’?” Tully turns on Noah. “What the fuck is she talking about, Noah? You better not have been thrown in jail and not told me about it.” she turns to Rivers. “Does that include you?”
“Fuck,” I cringe, having completely forgotten that was supposed to be a secret. I look to the boys to see them scowling back at me. I give an innocent smile followed by a cringe. “My bad.”
Rivers shakes his head as if to say ‘don’t worry about it’ while Noah lets out a guilty sigh. “Yeah,” he tells Tully. “Complete misunderstanding.”
“Why do I feel like that’s a lie?” she questions, studying her brother with a practiced ease to be able to see right through him.
A sheepish look crosses his face. “Because it is.”
“Just tell me it wasn’t drugs.”
“It wasn’t drugs.”
She looks to Rivers for confirmation and he gives her the slightest nod and it’s almost as though, despite their current situation, she trusts his word even more so than her brother’s, but I guess that’s what happens when you love someone.
“So,” Rivers says, moving the topic right along as he looks over at Noah. “You getting this sign or are you going to bitch out?”
Noah looks up and down the road, double checking that it’s still deserted before shrugging a shoulder. “Yeah, alright. I’m in,” he says, playing it cool. Though had I butted in and said that I desperately wanted it, Noah would have dove head first, straight into the challenge, not giving a shit if there was someone sharing the road with us or not.
He walks back to his car and rifles through the back, having to shuffle everyone’s bags around first before pulling out a few tools. “You just keep that shit in the back of your car?”
He shrugs his shoulders as he strides back towards the street sigh. “Never know when you might need them,” he tells me before he looks up and down the pole. “You just want the sign, right? Not the whole pole.”
I look it over with a cringe, realizing I’m being difficult. “Well…the pole would be cool,” I tell him. “I mean, it’s not just going to magically float in the corner of my room, it needs a stand. Oh, maybe you could build little legs for it when we get home so it doesn’t lean against the wall.”
“Shit,” he sighs as Rivers strides over to join him. The two of them fall into a murmured conversation. “How the fuck am I supposed to get the pole out? It’s not like I have a fucking saw hidden in the back of my car, and now she wants fucking legs for it.”
They put together a game plan as Tully rolls her eyes. “Are you dickheads forgetting that there’s literally nowhere to put that thing in the car? What are you going to do? Strap it to the fucking roof?”
“Hey,” Noah demands, turning back to Tully, pointing a finger at her. “Quit being such a downer or I’ll leave you on the side of the fucking road. What my girl wants, my girl gets, and if she wants a fucking big ass pole with her name on it, then that’s what’s going to happen.”
Rivers grins. “If the girl really wants a big ass pole, I’ve got one she could use.”
Noah turns on Rivers with a lethal glare. “Fucking watch it, bro.”
Twenty minutes later, the street sign balances on the center of the dashboard and goes right through to the back of the car, acting as some sort of line that separates Tully and Rivers, keeping them from clawing each other’s eyes out.
The boys were lucky. The pole is that old that they were able to wiggle it around for a while and loosen the dirt around the base, after that, it just popped straight out as I watched on with a massive, cheesy grin. No one’s ever broken a law for me before. It was kind of nice. Now I just got to make sure I don’t get caught with it. No matter what though, this sign will always serve as a reminder of what an awesome time I’ve been having today, despite the rude wake up call.
Noah drives for another forty minutes before he turns down an old dirt road. “Is this it?” I ask, looking out the window but not able to see much as we’re surrounded by bush.
“Think so,” he says. “I haven’t been here before, but from what I was told, we follow this road for about ten minutes and then turn down a little track and that should lead us into some kind of clearing. No one will bother us out here.”
“It’s kind of creepy,” Tully murmurs, looking out the window just like the rest of us.
I don’t look, but I can hear the smile in Rivers’ tone. “You scared?”
“In your fucking dreams,” she tells him with an irritated snap.
“It’s ok, baby,” he teases. “I’ll keep you safe all night long.”
“If you even look my way tonight, I’ll castrate you. Got it?”
“Challenge accepted.”
“Bullshit,” she grumbles. “You’re with Alyssa now and besides, you’re too fucking pussy to come anywhere near me.”
“And he better keep it that way,” Noah ru
mbles from the front seat as I try to put myself in Rivers’ position. One minute, Tully is telling him to keep away and the next, it’s as if she’s setting him a challenge to actually come after her. I guess it’s a little hard for her to figure out what she actually wants from him right now.
I tune out their endless taunts and jabs and focus on the area around me. It’s nothing short of beautiful. The trees are solid wood, not the shitty little, twig looking trees, but beautiful big ones that stand tall and proud. There are bushes, big and small, little creeks that flow through the land, a million different shades of rock, and I’m pretty sure I even see a walking trail.
Nothing is overgrown and it looks as though someone must spend a bit of time out here keeping the area clean, either that or there’s some kind of killer hiding in the woods, spending his days pulling out weeds just waiting for idiots like us to show up. It’s not like anyone would hear us scream out here. It would be the perfect area for mass murder. I hope Noah told someone where we were going. Is there phone signal out here? Maybe I should double check that.
Shit, that’s probably not what I should be thinking about right before spending the night here in some flimsy tent. Though, I’m sure the boys would be more than willing to take down any threat that comes our way. Hell, if someone out here meant us harm, I’d even throw myself in, headfirst, ready to do some damage. There’s nothing better than pummeling your fist into someone who deserves it. I haven’t had a chance to do it in a while and my body is starting to crave it.
Hmmm. Maybe Noah would take one for the team. Nah, he’s too pretty and I’d chicken out. I couldn’t hurt him. Rivers though, he’d take it like a man and probably beg for more.
We pull up at the camping site and just as Noah had said, there’s a big, open clearing, perfect for camping. There are trees all around to keep us hidden in case someone does come by, which is very unlikely. There’s an area that’s clearly been used for campfires, and tree stumps which have been placed around it, probably used as seating, though hopefully, Noah thought to bring some chairs as those stumps look fucking uncomfortable.
Untameable: Haven Falls (Book 3) Page 14
