The Road to Finding Us: A Standalone Second Chance Romance (Aftershock Series Book 2)

by Kat Singleton

  It stays silent between us. She stays on the ground, sitting and leaning toward the pool. I stay a few feet away from her, carefully watching her movements.

  “Did you just decide to come over here to ruin my life instead of having an actual conversation with me?” Lily pulls her feet out of the pool, splashing the tops of my shoes in the process. She promptly stands up and walks over, stopping directly in front of me, a defiant look on her face. She crosses her arms, clearly waiting for my response.

  The string patio lights cast a glow on her face. I can see the reflection of them in her dark blue eyes. My mind races with an answer to her question. I don’t know why I decided to ditch the two girls that were all over me on the other side of the party. I hadn’t really thought it through. One moment I was kissing one of their necks, the next I noticed the way Lily was looking at Blaine.

  It didn’t sit well with me. I don’t think Maverick would have approved of it. So, I did what any good best friend would do. I shoved the girl off my lap and came to face Lily and Blaine. But now that I’m here, I’m unsure how to proceed.

  “Are you broken? Answer me,” she prods, giving my arm a soft shove.

  “I, uh…”

  The silent pause must be enough of an answer for her, because she stares at me for a long moment as if she’s seeing right through me. But just when I start to feel uneasy under her gaze, she rolls her eyes and begins to retreat toward the patio door.

  Her hand finds the door at the same time mine wraps gently around her bicep. She tries to wiggle out of my grasp, but I don’t let go. I stare at the spot where my skin touches hers.

  “Let go, Aspen. I’m trying to go inside to the party,” she says, giving another tug.

  I smile, my fingers letting go of her arm one by one. “Funny,” I snap. “You didn’t care about the party two minutes ago when you were going to let him stick his tongue down your throat.” Unintentionally, my face nears hers with every word. I can see the storm brewing in those cloudy-day eyes.

  “You need to take a chill pill and butt out of my life,” she orders, stepping even closer to me. It’s evident she’s pissed and not backing down. She stares right at me, her lids narrowing before I speak.

  “No can do, Lily Bear. I can’t have you and Blaine together.” The words come out cool—calculated—even though my heart is racing underneath my calm demeanor.

  “Why does it even matter? You barely spare me a second glance these days. And I like Blaine.” Her hands wave animatedly in the air as she talks. “The guy might actually like me. He might not. Hell if I actually know. Either way, let it be, Aspen. We used to be somewhat civil. You remember that, right? I’ve never once cockblocked you with your constant string of girls. Not once!”

  She points her index finger in my face. Once it gets too close, I swat it away, grabbing her wrist in the process. I don’t hold onto it long, just enough to get the message across that she needs to get her finger the fuck out of my face.

  Her shoulders rise and fall quickly, making it pretty damn clear she’s livid with me. But fuck if I care. I just don’t want to watch her give Blaine bedroom eyes again. Even if it means pissing her off in the process.

  “You’re best fucking friends with my twin. You should give a shit about me! Or maybe you shouldn’t. I shouldn’t actually care. Either way, butt the hell out of my life!” She laughs, and it’s almost manic, full of frustration. Her agitated behavior mimics my own, because right now I want to put my fist through a wall.

  Every time I’m in her presence, even if it’s briefly, half the time I end up feeling volatile.

  She steps even closer to me and I feel the tickle of her long hair against my bare chest. It sends a tingle right down my spine. Lily looks me dead in the eye when she speaks next, venom laced in every word when she says, “You just need to let me live my damn life. You had the chance of pretending like you gave a fuck about me. You never did. I’m just Maverick’s sister to you. It’s fine—I get it. But you decided last year that you didn’t want to be an important person in my life. Not in any meaningful way at least. Live with your fucking choices, Aspen.”

  She steps away and all I can do is watch her retreating figure. I’m locked in place, the blood in my veins pulsing angrily through my body.

  Just as she reaches the door, I say, “Lily, wait.”

  Lily

  Present

  I’m one hour into the car ride with Aspen.

  It’s already going horribly wrong.

  For starters, the asshole didn’t tell me his truck didn’t have a working audio jack.

  When we made the deal last night to carpool, he made no mention that I wouldn’t be able to play my playlist through the car speakers.

  And if sitting in silence with my own worst enemy isn’t enough, we’re stuck in the morning commute traffic. Aspen’s brakes make a screeching sound as we inch our way down the highway.

  “If we would’ve left five minutes earlier,” I mumble, picking at the thread of my shorts, “we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

  Aspen abruptly stops tapping on his steering wheel. He’s hidden his eyes behind a pair of Ray Bans so I’m unable to see the look in them, but by the strain of the muscles in his forearm, I can tell he heard my commentary. “Maybe if I didn’t have to spend those five precious minutes shoving your suitcase in the back, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

  “Maybe if you told me your car doesn’t have the ability to play music we wouldn’t be in this scenario,” I fire back, wiggling my butt in the seat in an attempt to get comfortable.

  “That makes absolutely no sense,” Aspen responds, leaning forward to look in the mirror on the side of his car.

  I think my words through, scrunching my nose in the process. He’s probably right, the lack of music playing through the speakers isn’t the whole reason we’re driving ten miles per hour. But damn it, I’m annoyed I can’t play the rad playlist I slaved over.

  “That makes absolutely no sense,” I mock, trying my best to match Aspen’s tone.

  The car shifts all the way into the left lane before he glances over at me. “Did you just copy me?” A smile tugs at the corner of his lips.

  “No. I simply restated what you said.” I go back to picking at one of the loose threads on my denim shorts. When I look at the car next to us, I see an old man and woman both peacefully smiling, acting as if the traffic doesn’t faze them at all. I wish I could say the same for us.

  “AKA copying,” Aspen points out.

  “Pish posh,” I respond, turning my attention to him. I’m shocked to find a smile still on his face. It shows off one of his deep dimples. I want to stick my finger in it.

  “Is it in your nature to argue? Or do you ever just simply have a normal conversation without it escalating there?” There’s a small bit of humor in his voice.

  We’re happily met with the rumbling of Aspen’s death trap—I’m sorry, Gladys’s engine. We’ve officially broken free of the bumper to bumper traffic and are now picking up a steady pace.

  “You know, most of the time, I’m able to have a simple conversation. The problem is, when it comes to you, I can’t help but argue. You infuriate me that much,” I reply simply, before pulling my feet up onto the seat with me.

  He looks at me from the driver’s seat for a moment before turning his eyes back on the road. “Ever think about why you feel the need to argue with me?”

  “Probably because I hate you.” I aim a big smile his way, showing off all my teeth.

  “Tread carefully, Lily. There’s a fine line between love and hate.” His words take mine away instantly. With one simple sentence, he shuts me up.

  My teeth snap together quickly. I refuse to look at him after he’s put those words out into the universe. They catch me off guard because he’s right. I toed the line between loving and hating him for a long time. There was a brief stint where I jumped right over it, choosing to love him instead of hating him. The only difference here is that I’ve
promised myself to never do that again.

  No matter how thin that line is, I refuse to cross it.

  “Oh, so that’s the trick to shutting you up?” He lifts his hips, adjusting his position on the seat. “I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time.”

  I go to shoot him a glare, but I’m met with his huge grin. Instinctively, I reach across the center console and flick him right in one of the hollow dimples in his cheeks.

  “Ow!” he howls, rubbing the spot where I just flicked.

  “You deserved it,” I say with a huff. I let my head fall against the head rest, looking out over the dashboard to gauge the progress we’ve made.

  Unfortunately, the traffic really set us back and we haven’t traveled very far in the time we’ve been in the car.

  I want to ask Aspen when he thinks he might make a stop and where we’ll be sleeping tonight, but that would mean starting another conversation with him. Which right now, I’m not really feeling.

  My phone chimes from the cup holder between us. I pick it up, finding a missed text from Veronica.

  Veronica: Checking for life…

  Lily: It’s YOUR life you need to be worried about here.

  Lily: When I see you, it’s game on, bitch.

  Veronica: I’m terrified.

  I smile after reading her text. I can’t help but read it in her ever-present dry tone. The girl has mastered the uninterested sarcastic tone.

  Lily: You should be! We haven’t been in the car more than an hour and I already want to punch him.

  Veronica: Do it. Maybe it’ll help ease the sexual tension!

  A loud gasp escapes my throat.

  The sound causes Aspen to slam on the brakes. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

  “Oh, nothing,” I respond. “Just reacting to a text from V.” I look at him, giving him a shrug.

  “Are you kidding me? I thought I hit a squirrel or something. You can’t gasp that loud over a flipping text.”

  “You aren’t the boss of me,” I remind him, pointing to the road so he stops glaring at me before he really does hit a squirrel.

  “Whatever,” he grumbles, his eyes thankfully on the road.

  Lily: NEVER use the words sexual tension again when it comes to Aspen. OUR FRIENDSHIP DEPENDS ON IT!

  “What are the two of you talking about, anyway?” Aspen asks, leaning across the center console to try to peek at my phone.

  “Aspen, eyes on the road!” I shout.

  He shakes his head at me, and I’m pretty confident that his eyes roll behind the aviator sunglasses he’s wearing. “My eyes are on the road.”

  I can feel my phone vibrate in my lap, but I don’t look at it, afraid Aspen will put our lives in harm’s way by being nosy again. “Weird how you say your eyes were on the road when they were most definitely trying to look at my text messages.”

  His head is still facing the direction of the road, but he does take the time to take one of his hands off the wheel and flip me off.

  “Just admit you were being nosy, Aspen,” I say, turning my body so it faces away from him. The door digs into my back a little, but a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do to avoid prying eyes.

  Veronica: Sorry, I meant maybe instead of punching him, the two of you should bang to ease the sexual tension.

  Lily: I’m ignoring you. Bye.

  Veronica: You love me!

  I wish she was here right now so I could wipe the pretty smile I know she’s wearing off her face. I scroll through all my social media apps for an extended amount of time before I start to feel nauseous. With a long sigh, I shove my phone into the crevice between my thighs and look out the passenger window.

  Cars race by on either side of us on the highway. The sun has fully risen, its rays attempting to blind me from my position in the seat.

  When Aspen directs the car into the exit lane, I look out the window in confusion, my gaze snapping to his dashboard to see if we’re running out of gas. We aren’t—if the meter on his dash is correct. “Why are we exiting here? We need I-20.”

  “No, we don’t,” Aspen says, not bothering to explain.

  “Uh, yes we do.” I reach between my legs to find my phone, getting ready to prove to him that I-20 is how we’ll reach South Carolina the fastest.

  He reaches out and covers my phone with the palm of his hand. “We’re taking a small detour.”

  “A detour?” I ask hesitantly.

  “Yeah, kind of,” he says, so sure of himself. “Think of this trip as…the scenic route.” His lips pull up in a teasing smile as we cross from one highway to another.

  “I didn’t sign up for the scenic route! I signed up for two—maybe three—days of being stuck in the car with you. Nothing more than that.” I search the signs around us to try to determine what exactly he means by scenic route, but there aren’t any clues to be found.

  “We have a little over a week before the grand opening. Let’s have some fun,” he offers.

  “My definition of fun will never involve you,” I bite back, my fingers finding my temples as I try to think my way out of this. “You’re essentially kidnapping me,” I continue, rubbing the sides of my head lightly.

  Aspen lets out a big breath of air as a mocking laugh. “Kidnapping? A little dramatic, don’t you think?”

  I look at him from the corner of my eye, the hand rubbing my temple partially obstructing his smirking face. “I bet if we look up the definition of kidnapping it would literally say taking someone somewhere against their will.”

  “If you don’t want to participate, Gladys and I are happy to drop you off at the next bus station.” The words come out nonchalantly, then he looks over at me and lifts the sunglasses off his face. His straight eyebrows raise, as if he thinks that’s actually a good idea.

  “I’m not riding a bus,” I state. My hair falls in my face and—annoyed—I blow out a breath to try to move it.

  “Well then, it looks like you’re all out of options, Lily Bear. You need me—and my scenic route.” His green eyes hold nothing but mischief in them as he looks over at me briefly. After getting his point across, he pulls the sunglasses back over his eyes and focuses on the road.

  “Let’s get one thing very clear, Aspen. I don’t need you. So, what does this ‘scenic route’ entail?” I inquire, using air quotes.

  “You’ll see,” he replies, without explaining further.

  10

  Lily

  Past - Age Nineteen

  “Lily, wait,” Aspen says, with what might actually be a pleading tone.

  The tone alone stops me in my tracks. Aspen never pleads—he demands, but never pleads.

  I stand glued to my spot in front of the door. My brain’s telling him to fuck off, that it doesn’t matter whatever words leave his mouth next. But my stupid heart hopes that maybe we can return to the two people who’d managed to openly communicate on the phone over break. It craves it. So my head loses, and my heart wins.

  “What?” I ask dejectedly, turning my body to face him. I lean up against the sliding glass door, staring at Aspen and waiting for him to continue.

  I’m caught off guard with the look on his face; normally he has a cocky smirk permanently attached to it. The posture of his body, always straight and confident. Right now, he looks almost unsure. There’s an inward slope of his shoulders that isn’t usually there.

  He takes a long breath, looking me dead in the eye with a look I can’t decipher. “I just don’t want—”

  The glass door slides across my back, causing me to jump and look toward the door.

  “There you are!” Selma explains from behind me. I look over her shoulder to find Maverick standing right behind her. “We’ve been looking all over for you.” She gives me her normal sweet smile, and I try to return it but I’m still on edge from whatever Aspen was about to say.

  When I turn to face him, I see his uneasy expression has been completely wiped way. Instead, he has on his typical smirk. He takes the last few steps
to where I’m standing, blocking the entrance to the door. He puts his hand on my shoulder as he squeezes through.

  “Be careful, Lily,” he warns quietly, giving me a quick glance before pushing all the way through the door. “I’ll see you guys later.” Aspen stops for a moment, acknowledging my brother and Selma. Then, he looks at me one more time before disappearing inside.

  I wonder for a moment what he was about to say before Selma opened the door, but then I stop myself. At this point, it doesn’t even matter.

  “Going to tell me what that was about?” Selma asks. “You’ve been out here for thirty minutes. Were you talking to Aspen that whole time? I thought you guys hated each other?”

  I start walking inside and Selma is right on my heels, being awfully persistent with her questions. For someone who’s normally so quiet, she sure is asking a lot. The party is bustling around us. I’m in the middle of sidestepping a couple making out when Selma starts talking. Maverick was left behind, talking to one of his friends.

  “Lily?” she asks again, her small hand resting on my shoulder in comfort. Selma isn’t one to pry, and I know she won’t demand that I tell her anything, but I also don’t want her thinking I was sitting out there so long with Aspen—alone.

  “It wasn’t anything, Selm. I went out there to get a breath of fresh air. Blaine came over to talk to me, and he actually admitted that he’s had a thing for me. Did you know that?” I swipe my hands over my jeans, looking to her for an answer.

  She gives a short shake of her head.

  “Well, anyway,” I continue, “I think Blaine was about to kiss me when Aspen walked up. He got moody for some reason. We’ll never know why, because it’s Aspen. We argued, and then you opened the door. That’s it. Now I’m going to party because my head is freaking spinning.” I grab the nearest drink and then gulp it down fast.

  When I make eye contact with Selma again, her jaw is hanging right open as she silently watches me. I use the silence to continue to chug the beer. It tastes bitter on my lips, but I ignore the awful aftertaste. Right now I’m just trying to wipe Aspen’s unreadable look from my mind.