“That…Tracy bought me. I’ve never worn it.”
“Why not?” Jackson exclaims. “It’s hot as hell. Here, put it on, so I can see.”
She laughs and snags it from him. “No, now put it back.”
“No, bring it, you”ll fit right in at the shifters club,” Jackson retorts, going back to her closet.
“Shifters club?”
“Yeah, it’s a club solely for our people. Everyone has to experience it once.”
Kayla holds up the halter dress. “Don’t you have to be twenty-one?”
“You have Damien. He’s a free pass to get you anywhere you want. They won’t let you drink. Alcohol doesn’t affect us anyway. We have our own versions. You can experience that later.”
“What makes the shifters club special?” Kayla asks, kneeling down to retrieve shoes from under her bed.
Jackson gives a hearty laugh. “Words cannot describe it. It’s something you just have to…experience. That dress will make you fit in a little bit better.”
“Have you been to one?”
Jackson exhales. “Yeah, one time with Damien. We snuck out there when we were fifteen to celebrate his graduation. I’ve never experienced anything like it before…or since.”
Looking up at him, Kayla says, “Was it fun?”
“It was…interesting. Trust me, you have to see it for yourself. I’m not saying we have to go, but I bet money Damien will suggest it. If you do go, I want to go with you.”
“Then it must be fun,” Kayla declares, picking up shoes.
“That’s not why I want to go. If you go, I want to be there.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me,” Jackson mumbles. “All right, that’s enough stuff. We aren’t spending weeks there.”
“I’ll just hang this stuff in the back of the car.” Kayla sighs. “Let’s go say good-bye to my parents,” she says, leading them out of her room.
“Are you ready for this?” Jackson asks a little while later as they pull onto the highway.
“You have no idea. We get to take my new car on a road trip!” Kayla squeals. “I am so excited! It’s going to be so much fun.”
“We have to get along for two solid days.” Jackson laughs. “I don’t know. We may end up hurting each other.”
She glances over at him. “Since someone stopped being a jerk, we haven’t butted heads as much. If anything, we get along too well.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Quickly looking away, Kayla murmurs, “Nothing.”
“No, what do you mean?”
“You and I connect really well…and really strongly,” Kayla states quietly. “We are super attracted to each other. It makes things complicated when you took an oath to not care about the other person.”
Jackson sighs. “I never said we couldn’t care about each other. I care about you, but we can’t romantically get involved. Anyway, none of that matters anymore, you have Damien now.”
“I guess you’re right,” Kayla exhales. “Well then, here’s to two days of having a blast and not mauling each other.”
“I didn’t say we couldn’t maul each other,” Jackson teases. “I’m all right with that.”
“Shut up, no you’re not,” Kayla snaps playfully. “Damien would beat you up.”
Jackson’s jaw drops. “You think Damien can take me? Have you looked at him and then looked at me? I outweigh him by forty pounds of muscle. He can’t do anything to me.”
Kayla giggles. “Except kick you in the face.”
“That’s because you distracted me. Normally, he can’t touch me.”
“Mmhmm,” Kayla hums. “I bet you tell all the girls that.”
He shakes his head. “Damien and I never competed for girls, so there wasn’t anything to talk about.”
Kayla didn’t want to inquire about whether or not that was still true, so she decided on a slight change of topic. “Is there really that big of a size difference between you two?”
“I’m 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, and Damien is roughly 5-foot-11, 180 pounds,” Jackson states. “That’s why it’s a good thing he punched Jude. I probably would have broken his face.”
“You’re sexy.” Kayla giggles. “You know you are, right?”
The corner of Jackson’s mouth twitches. “Sure, but I like it when you tell me.”
“Shut up! You aren’t supposed to say stuff like that.”
He puts his hands up. “Just telling the truth.”
“Mmm, we need some music.” She bends over and plugs in her iPod. “What do you want to listen to?”
“Something upbeat.”
“Dance music?” Kayla asks. “Or, like, eighties music?”
Jackson thinks about it for a minute. “Eighties music.”
“Awesome.” She presses play and music fills the car. She can’t help but sing to it.
He looks at her and inquires, “Are you going to sing the whole way?”
Kayla shuts up quickly. “Sorry.”
“No, no, no, I don’t mind. Go ahead. You have a pretty voice and watching you bop around is entertaining.”
“Okay.” She starts to sing again. For the next hour, she either sings or they talk about random things.
“You should eat some brownies,” Jackson says.
“Good idea,” Kayla chirps. She unfastens her seat belt and bends over the center console to the backseat.
“Dear Lord, Kayla, you’re going to make me crash,” Jackson sputters.
She sits up and looks at him over her shoulder. “Why? I’m not even touching you.”
Trying to suppress a smile, Jackson says, “Yeah, but your butt is in my face, and you have a skirt on.”
She leans back over the console and teases, “Don’t look then. You’re the one who put the cooler on the floor.”
“How am I not supposed to look?” Jackson exclaims. “I’m a guy. Of course I’m going to look!”
“Well, I have pretty underwear on, so it doesn’t matter.” Kayla sighs, opening the cooler.
Jackson snorts. “I see that.”
A huge grin passes over Kayla’s face. She bends even farther on purpose. “Gosh,” she sighs. “I just can’t seem to find what I’m looking for.”
“Kayla,” Jackson scolds. “Stop it! You’re going to make me wreck your brand-new car.”
“Keep your eyes on the road.” Kayla giggles.
“Sit back down and put your seat belt on.”
Kayla grabs brownies and two bottles of water. She plops back down on her seat. “There. Happy?”
“We’re not going to tell Damien about that.” Jackson laughs. “Dear Lord, the thoughts going through my head right now.”
“Oh really,” Kayla teases. “How bad are they?” She starts to pull her skirt up her leg very slowly.
Jackson reaches out and pulls it back down. “Stop it.”
She giggles hysterically. “For payback, I think you should drive the whole way with your shirt off.”
“When you drive, I’ll strip.”
“No, then I will definitely crash. Is my car as kick ass as it seems?”
He nods. “Definitely kick ass, especially for it being completely electric.” As soon as those words come out of his mouth, the color drains from his face. “Damn, we’re all idiots.”
“What? Why?”
“What did I just say?” Jackson asks, looking at her.
“That we’re a bunch of idiots.”
Moaning, he puts his forehead in his hand. “It’s an electric car. I thought about charging it along the way, but not how long it will take to fully charge it. It’s going to add four hours onto our trip. We can’t drive for sixteen hours, you won’t make it.”
“So we find a hotel room.”
“We’re minors, no one will give us a room,” Jackson groans.
“We’ll find someplace to camp then. Let’s stop at a store and get camping gear. It’ll be fun. We can shift and run around for a while. Get it out of my system.”
>
Jackson shakes his head. “Everyone is going to flip out.”
“What are we going to do? We’ve already come so far. Would we really turn around? Let’s keep going and pretend we only figured it out at the first charge.”
Jackson looks at her. “That’s lying to everyone. Would you really say that to Damien?”
“Sure, but you have to promise to not say anything! I want to camp under the stars. I’ve never been camping. It would be so much fun.”
“All right, all right,” Jackson says. “Let’s stop at the next store. We’ll need a tent, sleeping bags, and a lantern.”
She throws her hands up in the air. “Yes!” Kayla dances in her seat to the music for the next half hour. They finally make it to a store. It’s not very big or crowded, which is a good thing in case anything happens. Kayla leans in by Jackson. “I’m going to find a bathroom, lock the door, and shift.”
“All right, I’ll wait outside the bathroom door,” Jackson replies.
They make their way over to the restrooms. Kayla quickly darts into the ladies’ room, shuts the door, and locks it. Taking a deep breath, she shifts into a dog. Kayla sits in the stall for a few minutes until she feels all her energy drain. Then, she shifts back.
Kayla finds Jackson leaning against the wall next to the door. “Are you feeling better?”
“Much,” Kayla chirps. “All energy expelled.”
“Awesome, let’s get the stuff so we can get going.”
“Sounds good.” Kayla giggles, bumping into him with her hip.
He jumps at her, and she sprints down the aisle. She quickly makes her way around the store, trying to find the camping equipment. When Kayla finds the sleeping bags, she grabs two. She turns the corner to walk down the next aisle just in time to see Jackson grab a tent. “I don’t think we need to buy anything too elaborate.”
“I want to be able to see the stars,” Kayla says. “It would be a dream come true, sleeping like that. There won’t be much light so we’ll be able to see everything, even the Milky Way.”
“Okay,” Jackson replies, grabbing a different tent. “We’ll get this one. The only other thing we need is a lantern.”
“Get an electric one.”
Jackson shakes his head. “Of course.”
They grab a lantern and head toward the front of the store to check out. Kayla’s phone rings. “Hello?”
“Hey, dear,” Damien says. “Sorry I’m only calling now. Victoria hasn’t let me leave her room the entire morning. We’ve done nothing but play Yahtzee. I don’t think I want to see dice for a while.”
“That’s good. How is she feeling?”
“All right, she’s on pretty hard-core pain meds, so I have a very loopy sister. She’s excited about you coming, though. I told her you’d be here tomorrow.”
Kayla looks at Jackson. “We may have a problem there.”
“Why?” Damien asks slowly.
“Because we didn’t think about how long it would take to charge my car. It will add another four hours to our trip, so we’re going to camp tonight.”
“What? In the open with nothing to protect you?”
“We’ll be fine,” Kayla reassures him. “Jackson can shift into something scary if need be.”
She hears Damien groan. “This is making me nervous. I’ll do what I can to get you a hotel room.”
“No!” she says quickly. “Oh come on, I want to camp. My parents never took me camping. I never understood why until now, but if we stay where no one can see, it will be okay.”
In a completely unamused tone, Damien replies, “So you and Jackson are going to camp in the desert?”
“We’re going to go running.”
“So someone can shoot you?” Damien yells. “Kayla, you are under my protection!”
She stops dead in her tracks. “Damien, I understand that, but I’m practically an adult. I can make this decision, and it is really unattractive that you’re trying to be so controlling.”
“I’m not trying to be controlling. I want you safe. That’s all I want.”
“And Jackson will keep me safe,” Kayla reassures him. “All we’re going to do is sleep. Park, put up the tent, and go to sleep.”
“That’s what you think,” Jackson whispers.
Kayla punches him in the arm and mouths, “Shut up!” He snickers and walks to the car. Kayla glares at him and then says to Damien, “I promise to call you when we stop, when we put up the tent, right before we go to sleep, and again when I wake up in the morning.”
“Now that makes me sound controlling.” Damien laughs. “I just want you safe. Honestly, that is my only concern. Can I send a guard or two to provide extra surveillance?”
“Like, what, sit in the tent with us?”
With a snort, Damien says, “No, you wouldn’t even know they were there.”
“I’m not a fan of someone watching me from the shadows.”
“Then they can make their presence known, if that makes you feel better.”
“And have them listen in on us?” Kayla gasps.
A moment of silence fills the air between them before Damien asks, “Do you have something to hide that you don’t want them overhearing?”
“No, but I do have secrets.”
“Are you really a serial killer?” Damien asks. “Do I have to watch my back? Are you going to marry me for my money and then off my entire family?”
Kayla bursts out laughing. “I should be careful how I answer that. What if I do become your wife one day?”
“First, you have to be my girlfriend, so does this mean you’re giving in?”
“NO! No, I am not a serial killer. No, I am not interested in you for your money. And you need to stop teasing me with being your girlfriend,” Kayla snaps playfully.
“Mmmm, well, we’ll see. I honestly would feel more relieved if you were better protected.”
“You know very well that Jackson would jump in front of a bullet for me. He’s just that kind of guy. I’ll be protected just fine.”
“You promise to call me before you go to sleep and when you wake up?”
Kayla nods even though he can’t see her. “Yes, I promise.” She sees Jackson waving from the car. She rolls her eyes and walks over to him. He unlocks the doors and puts everything in back. Kayla climbs into the front seat. “What else is going on with your family?”
“My mother’s a basket case, but my father is staying strong. Courtney’s being a mother hen. We’re a very close family, so Victoria is being taken care of very well.”
“I can’t wait to meet them. I bet they are really nice,” Kayla says, buckling her seat belt.
“Not to boast, but they really are. So are you enjoying your road trip so far? Is the car working out well?”
Kayla nods. “Yeah, it’s great. I’ve been killing Jackson with my singing for hours.”
“The voice of an angel,” Jackson quips quietly from next to her.
Kayla playfully punches him again. “I may push Jackson out of the car when I’m driving, though.”
“Is he being a jerk?” Damien asks.
“Yes, but not in the way that you’re thinking. He won’t stop teasing me.”
Damien sighs. “Tell him I’m going to beat him up if he doesn’t knock it off.”
“He already told me you had nothing on him and that he outweighs you by forty pounds of muscle.” Kayla giggles, looking at Jackson. He shrugs as if he agrees with her.
Kayla hears incoherent grumbling from Damien before he says, “I’m so happy that he can point that out. It’s not always about strength, though. It’s also about skill level, and I best him there.”
“Seriously,” Kayla exhales. “You two are ridiculous.”
“What is he saying?” Jackson inquires.
Kayla answers, “That he has more skill than you.”
“Whatever,” Jackson retorts, raising his voice. “He just wants to protect his ego!”
“There’s no need to protect any ego
,” Damien states. “The truth is the truth.”
Slapping her forehead, Kayla groans. “Again, you two are ridiculous.”
“Awww, but that’s what attracts you to me. Anyway, yes he outweighs me, but it’s just our body frames. I may be shorter and leaner than him, but I am still extremely strong.”
“Yes, I know that.” Kayla laughs lightly. “You don’t need to be concerned. I am highly attracted to you and think you’re dead sexy.”
Smugly, Damien retorts, “Yes, see, you are a smart girl.”
“Oh please,” Kayla moans. “So what are your plans for today?”
“I’m making some homemade chicken soup for Victoria. It’s her favorite. She always wants it when she isn’t feeling well.”
“That’s really sweet of you.”
Damien sighs. “I have to take care of her. She’s my little sister, after all. Of course, I would never do it for Courtney.” Suddenly, he yells, “Ow! I was kidding, Courtney.”
“Did she just punch you?” Kayla giggles.
“No, pinch. Ow, that hurt!” Damien snaps. “My older sister has no quandaries about abusing me, and since she’s a girl, I can’t do anything back!”
Kayla laughs. “I think I’m going to like Courtney.”
“Hey! No siding with her!”
“I can side with whomever I want. Someone has to keep you on your toes.”
“Grrreeeaaat, awesome. I think my sister’s going to adore you too. Just remember you’re going to be here to see me.”
Kayla smiles. “But I’ve never had a sister. What if we get along so well I ditch you?”
“Hey,” Damien yells. “Not fair!”
Laughing, Kayla says, “I’m just kidding.”
“Mmhmm, well, I should get going. I’ll text you while I cook, but Victoria wants the soup made for dinner and it takes a while.”
“All right, tell her I hope she feels better,” Kayla says. “We have to stop in a while to charge the car, so we’re going to eat then.”
“Okay,” Damien replies. “I will talk to you soon, sweetheart.”
“Sounds good, stay out of trouble.”