by Ellie Parker
“You like horses?”
“You’re not taking me horseback riding, are you?”
“What would you say if I did.”
I didn’t have to think. “I’d say absolutely, but I’d have to change my clothes first.”
“That’s my girl. Okay, so here we are,” he rested his back against my locker and crossed his hands over his chest while I filed through my backpack. Moving out of the way, he allowed me to slip a few books inside the locker and a few out. When I turned back around, Chase was holding my backpack out to me, gesturing for me to pile the books inside. Rather than returning my backpack once the books were inside, he flung it over his shoulder and marched in the direction of my class.
There were students crowded in the hallway. They separated, clearing the path for the Stark coming through. It was almost impressive to watch how they all scattered. And even though I’d lived through this very thing countless times, I don’t think I could ever get used to it.
Chase, pulled my backpack from his shoulders and handed it to me. “See you after.” It wasn’t a question, but a confirmation.
5
Jessa
I watched the hands drag themselves around the clock. I thought it was broken, or at the very least, an antique. No one had clocks like those anymore. Three o’clock came finally, and I flew to my locker and across the gym floor to meet Chase. He gave me a slow wink and a smile as I burst through the door.
“See? You can move pretty quick when you want to.”
“Don’t make fun of me. It wasn’t my fault this morning. My folks left before I realized how late I was and I missed the bus.”
“Uh-huh.”
I wanted to ask again where we were going, but I knew he wanted to surprise me. Him mentioning the horses, gave me the suspicion that he’d bought a farm. That’s where his heart belonged. Him taking me there was perhaps something like a test. To see just how well I fit into his perfect little world. Whether or not keeping me around was worth it, or whether it was better to leave all the attention giving to his brothers.
Sandborn was a fairly small town, but it lay on the coast of Lake Michigan, well off the expressway. We didn’t have strip malls or big box stores. In fact, it was pretty much the same stores that have always been there, or so my mom says. I guess people liked it that way.
One thing about a small town, everyone knew your business. Since my mom sold real estate and my dad worked at the bank, there wasn’t much about anyone in town that I didn’t already know. My dad called it a handshake deal community and I think I got what that meant.
Bennington’s was just at the edge of town. Everyone took their cars there to be fixed, and the younger generation of Bennington’s had opened a new car lot right next to the used cars and repair building. I was sort of surprised that this was where he was pulling into. Chase seemed attached to his old pickup. It was part of his personal brand, just another thing that separated him from his brothers. I didn’t say anything, though and waited to see what he’d do.
We walked past the new trucks, and Chase even opened a few and climbed inside. I’d hear him click his tongue and mumble something ungodly under his breath. According to him, trucks had been ruined forever.
“No one knows how to make them anymore.” He sounded like one of those old folk who just couldn’t get with the times. I could see in his eyes, however, that he wasn’t just spewing shit in order to seem cool. He knew his truck, like really knew his truck. Could spot a loose screw from a mile away.
“You’d think time would yield better mechanics.”
I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about, of course. What I did know, however, that it wasn’t impossible that his truck was very close to kicking the proverbial bucket.
“You know, eventually you’re going to have to buy a new one. I’m pretty sure yours is considered an antique by now.”
“Don’t care if it is.”
“So, what are we doing here? Do you need a repair or some parts or something?”
“Just stopping by to see what the new cars look like. What do you think of that little blue car, the one in the front row?”
I turned and almost laughed when I saw the car. Technically, there was nothing wrong with it. But the image of Chase in the driver’s seat wasn’t something I would ever get used to. Not without drowning myself in laughter first.
“It’s awesomely cute,” I said, “but I think you’d look a little silly driving it and if you want a true opinion -”
He rested a heavy hand on my shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. “Let’s take it for a test drive.”
Chase was clearly losing his mind. This time, I allowed myself to laugh. “You’re not serious? Are you really considering getting this?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
Chase went inside and summoned the salesman who was only too happy to come running out, keys in his hand. He was already talking the fast talk that Chase wasn’t answering.
“Get in,” Chase told me. I nodded and opened the passenger door, pushing the seat forward so I could crawl in the back. “No, I mean get in behind the wheel.”
“Well, now Chase, that’s just silly. If we’re going to buy the car, somebody needs to test drive it.”
“Maybe I just want to be the passenger.”
I rolled my eyes. Waiting for Chase to cut the crap.
“Get behind the wheel, Jessa.” He was standing at the passenger side now, holding the door open. The salesman was tucked in the back, waiting.
I didn’t have time for these games, well then again, the only other choice I had was homework, so I climbed in behind the wheel. The interior was white, and I noticed then that it was a convertible. The salesman handed me the key fob, and I plugged it in. You could smell the new, and sure enough, when the engine whispered to life, there were only fifteen miles on the odometer. I checked out the dashboard and looked over at Chase. “You sure you don’t want to drive it?”
He shook his head and nodded for me to go ahead. “Okay, you asked for it.” I looked at the salesman. “Which one of these buttons puts the top down?”
I saw the look of horror on his face. It probably was no more than forty degrees out. He pointed to a switch on the dash.
“I have to make sure it works, after all.”
The salesman nodded furiously. “Oh, it works, all right. Anyway, if there was anything wrong, just bring it in, and we’ll fix it priority.”
I pushed the switch, and a soft whirring noise alerted me that the top was lifting and then sliding back into a compartment behind the back seat. “Ahhh… it does work.” I pushed the button to move into drive and gave it gas. We shot out the exit at the opposite side of the lot, directly into traffic. I could hear gasps from the back seat, but Chase was laughing his head off. We coasted up and down the streets until Chase said, “Head out to 106th and let’s open it up and see what she’s got.”
I nodded with enthusiasm and drove to 106th, one of the best roads just out of town for drag racing. I don’t think the cops even patrolled there; their cars were too slow to catch anyone. I stopped in the right lane and put the car in park. “Chase, you drive it. I’m not good with speed and new cars.”
“You chicken?”
“She doesn’t have to,” came a thin voice from the back seat.
“Go on now, Jessa. See what she’ll do.”
With a shake of my head, I put it in drive and flattened the gas pedal. The tires squealed, and the back end broke loose, so I let up a little until it got traction. “There you go.” Chase egged me on. When the speedometer hit 130 mph, the salesman began shouting.
“I don’t think this is a good idea, folks. Why not take it down to the speed limit and we’ll head back to the lot. Not much gas in the tank.”
“And just why is that?” Chase asked him, a knife’s edge of danger in his voice.
“Ahh… not good for them to sit with old gas on the lot for long.”
“Really?” Chase patted
my arm. “Go ahead and take her down, honey. Let’s take the chicken in the backseat home to his mama.”
When we arrived at the lot, the salesman was already on his feet in the back. “Excuse me,” he spoke up, pushing the front seat a bit forward to indicate he needed to get out.
Chase laughed and opened the door, letting him go. “Don’t worry. The back of your pants is dark, and I can hardly even tell.”
The salesman was pissed, to say the least. Honestly, I kinda felt bad. But the adrenaline coursing through my veins was more powerful than my pity.
I shook my head and hit the button to raise the top. “Well, there you are. The Jessa test drive is over.”
About then, the building door opened, and another salesman was hurrying toward us with a look of frustrated anger on his face.
“So, what did you think?” Chase asked me.
“Honestly? I think it’s a beautiful car and you’ll look very silly driving it.”
“You’re probably right.”
The salesman stopped beside us, anger set deep in his jaw. “May I help you?” His voice was less than cheery. He was a small man, made even smaller by the fact that Chase towered over him.
“Yes,” Chase answered without a hitch. Had I been alone, I probably would have been shaking with intimidation. But that was the thing about having the Stark boys by your side. They could get away with absolutely everything, murder included. Being one of theirs, meant that I was protected. The tiny little petal that they would guard with their lives.
“Well?” The salesman cowered a little. The frown on his face didn’t dim just as much as his voice did, though.
Chase clucked his tongue. Once and then twice, before jerking his head at the car. “We’ll take it.”
“Oh! Oh… well, I thought… that is, Dave said… well, never mind that now. Let’s go inside and work out the financing.” The frown on his face looked like someone had cut it right off and flipped it around. It’d be a stretch to call it a smile, though the corners pointed in the right direction.
Chase slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He extracted his black card and handed it to the salesman who took it with the reverence of a donor heart and hurried inside. He was back five minutes later with a clipboard stacked with papers. Chase filled them out and handed them back. The salesman looked puzzled and gave Chase a quizzical look. Chase just nodded.
That was that. Not even a second later, Chase had the keys in his hands and the salesman was busy, taping a paper license plate in the back window of the vehicle.
Chase looked at me, an expression I couldn’t quite make out stuck on his face. “When did you say your birthday was?”
“Why?”
Chase held out the keys to me and pressed his lips together. “Happy birthday?”
I didn’t catch on. “It’s not today.”
“I know.”
He still had the keys held toward me. And idiot that I was, I didn’t catch on until they were pressed tightly against my palm.
“You’re fucking shitting me.”
Chase shook his head. His perfectly straight teeth peeked out from between his lips. “I certainly am not.”
“There’s no fucking way!”
“I’m not gonna fight you on this, Jessa.”
“Good, because you should know that I can’t accept a gift like this. My folks would kill me.”
“Hey, Jessa girl, you know my family. This is no big deal if it’s the money you’re worried about. But the bros and I were talking, and we think it’s safer for you to have your own car. We don’t like the idea that you have to depend on strangers for a lift. So, in short, we insist.”
By strangers, he was talking about the bus drivers. Outside of his brothers, I didn’t make a habit of taking rides from anyone.
I opened my mouth, and Chase put his hands on my cheeks and kissed me. It wasn’t hard and insisting, but solid and honest. I could feel his energy moving through my body.
I pulled back, feeling like he’d sucked half the air from my lungs. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, do you want your backpack on the front seat or in the back?”
“Chase!” I threw my arms around him and hugged him, hard. I was thanking him for something that could very clearly mean the end of my freedom. But when someone buys a goddamn car, it’s hard to run logic through your mind. And picturing just how many times my parents would kill me and bring me back to life just to kill me again, well…my brain wasn’t ready to travel down that road just yet.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s from all of us, but I beat them to getting it for you. I wanted to make sure you got something that was meant for you. If Stone had beat me, you’d probably be driving out of here with side pipes and fluorescent pink.”
I laughed and hugged him again.
“Okay, now get home and do your homework. Oh, and it’s insured in your name for a year, and you have a nice little gas credit at the Marathon. Tell Joe I said ‘Hey.’”
Before I could come up with an argument as to why, despite how excited I was, this was a terribly ridiculous idea, Chase got into his truck, waved and left. There was nothing for me to do but drive the car home. It was hardly a punishment.
6
Stone
The wetsuit wasn’t cutting it. The cold was seeping through and causing my joints to be less flexible. I was spilling like an amateur. Bad for my rep.
I packed things away in the car and headed over past Jessa’s house. Chase said he got the jump on us, so I decided to roll by and take a look. And holy shit, I couldn’t have been less impressed. A fucking girl car. What the hell was he thinking? And a goddamn convertible at that. No doubt Jessa would be cruising the beaches in that thing, wearing nothing more than a damn bikini. Might as well hang bait on her and troll her behind the boat to let some other son-of-a-bitch snatch her up. There was no way I was going to let that stand. It’s not that I was jealous. I just wasn’t a reeling idiot. I decided to go instead and see what I could do about talking her into trading it in for something better.
I rang the doorbell and waited a little over three seconds before pushing it again.
“Yes?” Her dad pulled the door open, looking a little annoyed, but by the time I smiled down at him, all the annoyance was erased.
“Mr. Renshaw? Stone,” I said, very aware of how hard it was for just about everyone to differentiate between me and my brothers.
“Yes, I know you. Are you looking for Jessa?”
I nodded. Renshaw was an okay guy. A banker – not the most trustworthy or men, but not the least trustworthy either. If there was anything he knew how to respect, it was a few dollar signs. So my guess was that the car managed to win him over.
“Why don’t you come into the living room and I’ll tell her you’re here?”
“If it’s all the same, could I wait here on the porch? Maybe in one of those wicker chairs?”
“Sure. I’ll let Jessa know.” He shut the door, and I heard his voice but couldn’t make out the words. I’d known the Renshaws for forever, but there was a level of comfort that never quite settled between their family and mine. I was raised with a stick up my ass and a silver spoon in my mouth. I’d pulled the stick out of my ass long ago, though the spoon still lingered somewhere on the tip of my tongue. None of that mattered. Young or old, the people who knew me tended to treat me like I was nothing more than my father’s son. One of the triplets who would rule this damn town one day. Mr. Renshaw wasn’t quite like that, but he wasn’t exactly comfortable in my presence either. My guess was that it had more to do with the fact that me and my brother wore his daughter like our second skin. There was a part of him, I’m sure, that didn’t like it. But the alternative? That wasn’t something he wanted either. If you can’t beat them, join them, right?
Not long after, the door opened, and Jessa peeked out. “Stone? I wasn’t sure Dad could tell you apart.”
I pointed over my shoulder. “He’s probably
does the same thing everyone else does. One look at the car and it’s easy to tell us a part.”
She nodded. “You’re probably right. What’s up?”
“Come for a ride with me?”
She looked over her shoulder in the direction of the living room, rubbing her arms in the cold. “I don’t know… I’m supposed to be doing homework and Sandy is going to call soon so we can talk about our group project.”
“Screw Sandy. You don’t owe her anything. Come on, I want to show you something.” A little bit dramatic, I know.
Jessa sucked in a deep breath and washed her hands over her face. “Last time you wanted to take me on a ride I was abandoned in a surf shop.”
“Yeah, I know, but this is different. I need you for something.”
“Why do you need me in particular?”
“I don’t know. Haven’t thought that far ahead. Just do. You’re like the only one who keeps us grounded, you know?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re giving me way too much credit.”
“Am I? You’re probably the only one who can tell us apart without a hitch.”
I wasn’t wrong. But that could have been attributed to the fact that there weren’t many people us Starks allowed to get close enough.
“I don’t know why people think you’re alike. Maybe you look similar, but you’re very different people. Especially your moods.”
I smiled and brushed a finger across her cheek. “Thank you for that. See what I mean? You’re the only one who gets it. Get a coat and come on.”
