“We’re here to have a good time, baby,” he answered, but Ezra didn’t look convinced.
Ezra found a spot near an alley whose grass reached the bumper of his car.
“If I die out here, Kai—” I let the threat hang in the air.
“Hmm,” Kai said thoughtfully, his hand on his chin. “You would be the one to go first, though, for sure.”
“Ugh! Why?” I asked, offended.
“First off, you’re a virgin,” he rightfully accused. I acted as if what he’d said was ridiculous, my mouth gaped in mock offense, but I was afraid I might have oversold it judging by the looks on Ezra’s and Kai’s faces. “If there are stairs, don’t go up them. If there’s a noise, don’t say ‘Let’s see what it is!’ and if you get lost, don’t ask for directions. You know, just to be safe.”
Ezra smiled as he exited the car. I gave Kai dagger eyes and his smile fell. “Strike two, Kai. Strike two.”
“What was strike one?”
“The Mata Hari joke.”
Kai started laughing, so I left him behind in the car. Ezra was waiting for me at the trunk. “If you aren’t comfortable here, I can take us back to the room.”
“Nah, it’s okay. You know, though, your cousin is a pain sometimes.”
Ezra smiled, offering his arm as we reached the bottom of the porch steps.
I reached out but hesitated. My breathing deepened as I met his eyes. They searched me for something but betrayed nothing themselves. He smiled. “Does this count as stairs?” he asked.
My face bloomed red hot. “Stop,” I begged.
“Come now, Jupiter,” he urged kindly.
My hand slipped under his arm. I felt my heart race with the intimacy of it, but I almost stopped when he reached his other hand across his chest to rest on the hand wrapped around his arm. It was there, then, his warm fingers over mine, that I felt slightly faint. Altogether too quickly, his hand left mine and I controlled a violent urge to grab his hand again.
A rough voice rang over a speaker inside, along with the clattering of beer bottles and the laughter of the pub’s patrons. Ezra opened the door for me, and I stepped inside. Everyone stopped what they were doing for a moment before continuing on. That brief moment they studied me, made me aware of myself, which made for an exceedingly uncomfortable Jupiter. I tugged at the hem of my skirt and smoothed my hair.
I felt Ezra bend closer to me. “There you go, fidgeting again.” He smiled. “You look beautiful, Jupiter,” he said quietly into my ear. My heart raced.
“Thank you,” I whispered back.
He led me over to a table in the back, nearest the bar, and studied our surroundings.
“We should leave,” he told me, his eyes resting on several inebriated-looking guys staggering near the bar who seemed to be focused on us the second we’d sat down together.
“Just ignore them,” I told him cheerfully, though I felt a little more than uneasy at the attention. “Look,” I said, pointing at the makeshift stage, “karaoke.”
He smiled at me. “The perfect place to showcase your singing abilities.”
“Is that a dig, Mr. Brandon?”
He fought a smile but didn’t win. He coughed it away. “What do you mean?”
“You imply, sir,” I teased, “that this establishment is appropriate for me to sing in. I didn’t miss the underlying meaning.”
He laughed. “You assume too much.”
“I do not! You mean to say that my voice fits well with this double-wide trailer. You mean to insult me.”
He leaned back, his arms tucked over his stomach. “You, Jupiter Corey, read too much into the things I say. I just thought it would be a good place to showcase yourself. Your superior ability should be much appreciated here.”
I laughed. “There you go again, you double entendre-er!”
He smiled sweetly. “As you well know,” he joked, “that is not a word, but let’s assume for a moment that it is, shall we? A double entendre certainly means a double meaning, but it usually also assumes the second, hidden meaning is vulgar in nature and therefore does not apply here.”
“Oh,” I said, blushing. The heat crept up my neck and into my ears and when it reached my cheeks, I couldn’t fight it anymore. My hands reached up to cover my face in mortification.
I felt Ezra’s warm fingers once more wrap around my skin but this time at my wrist. He softly tugged my hand away. “Don’t cover your face, Jupiter. It’s a pretty shade you’re wearing anyway.”
I let my hands fall to the tabletop, Ezra’s hand still wrapped around my wrist. Instead of pulling away, his grip shifted so that his thumb rested over my pulse point. He pressed there while watching my eyes.
“Your heart is racing.”
I swallowed nothing. “So it is,” I said, trying to pull my arm away, but his hold only tightened.
“You’re innocent,” he told me matter-of-factly.
My blush deepened and I tried to look away, but his other hand caught my chin, forcing me to look at him.
“Don’t be ashamed of that,” he told me, his eyes and mouth bled dry of any humor, and he surprised me with his tone. His expression sobered. “Don’t ever be ashamed of that, ever. Don’t let anyone belittle you for it either.”
Again, I gulped nothing, but managed to nod. His fingers dropped from my face and hand. As if a flip had been switched, I was privy to melancholy Ezra once again. We sat strangely in a pool of noise, but our table held none of it.
Finally, when enough time had passed, I decided to stand. I walked over to the karaoke girl and asked for a book of songs. She gave me the binder and a piece of paper with pencil and I returned to the table.
“Any requests?” I asked him.
“Whatever you choose I suspect will be sufficient,” he said, smiling.
I smiled back. “Sufficient for?”
“Take your pick. This establishment,” he teased, which I appropriately acted appalled at. “My amusement,” he continued.
I perused the list and chose a song, shielded my paper as I wrote down my choice, stood, and turned it in.
“What are you singing?” he asked.
“You’ll see,” I said as a waitress approached our table.
“What’ll it be, young’ins?”
“Water for me, please,” I told her.
“The same,” Ezra said.
“Big spenders,” she cheekily replied.
Ezra threw a look at the door. “Where in the world is Kai?” he asked.
I just noticed he hadn’t come in yet. What is wrong with me? “Crap! I don’t know.”
A look passed over Ezra’s face. “We’re so stupid.”
“Speak for yourself.”
“He probably only picked this place because of that chick he’s been talking to online.”
“What chick?”
“He has these girls he talks to online.” Ezra looked pensive for a moment. “I think he’s got one here in Nashville. I bet she convinced him to meet her here. I bet that’s what’s up.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “He is so sly.”
“No kidding.”
“Should we go out and get him? Leave?”
Ezra sat up in his chair. “Nah, let him do his thing. Let’s give him a little bit.”
“Fine with me,” I said, glad to have Ezra all to myself, but immediately there was an awkward pause and I rethought my earlier sentiment. I was frightened he’d find me boring, not worth talking to. “So—” I sang.
“Jupiter Corey!” we heard over the speaker.
“Oh, thank God!” I exclaimed. Something fell over Ezra’s face, something reminiscent of curiosity, like he wondered why I was so eager to leave him. I bit my lip. He looked as if I’d hurt his feelings.
“Excuse me,” I told him, standing, and meandering through the crowd to the karaoke stage.
I felt someone’s heat behind me, which made me slightly uneasy. I turned around only to find Ezra there.
“Wouldn’t w
ant to miss this,” he told me, smiling.
I smiled back but didn’t answer him and stepped on to the stage just as The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” intro began.
The crowd screamed and began to dance on the floor before me, making my blood race with adrenaline. Ezra stuck his hands in his front pockets and stood a few feet in front of me, wearing a smile he couldn’t hide. Good choice, he mouthed, to which I smiled then began the song which earned me another set of screams.
It started out great. I was having a blast, faking a British accent, and making Ezra laugh, but then something unexpected happened. Ezra’s face turned from carefree to something altogether confusing, a look I couldn’t decipher. Languidly his smile fell only to be replaced with a seriousness that made my skin crackle, my stomach plummet. I’d forgotten the poetry of the song’s lyrics as they rippled around the two of us, flirting with unspoken words, unclaimed feelings, unuttered thoughts. Suddenly it was only the two of us as I promised to run away, run away with him.
But just as quickly as the room had fallen away from us, it came crashing back in whoops and hollers and cackled laughing, and the tender moment dissolved.
“Some idiot’s doing donuts in the parking lot!” a guy yelled.
Both Ezra and I turned from him toward each other. “Kai,” we said in unison and made for the door, stopping short on the deck, to see that, indeed, Kai was doing fast donuts over and over and over, hanging out of the driver’s side window yelling, “I’ve been catfished! I’ve been catfished!”
A rotund woman hung out of the passenger window screaming, “Slow down, turbo!” But the “turbo” was drawn out in a thick, ridiculous accent. “Slow down, tuuuurboooow!”
“Kai! Stop!” I yelled as Ezra ran down the steps toward them, the tires squealing and the smell of burnt rubber hanging in the air.
“Ezra, no!” I shouted. “You’ll get hit!”
But Ezra didn’t listen. Instead, he went barreling into the ridiculous fray, a look of pure determination on his face.
When Kai saw Ezra approach, the color drained from his face as he tried to explain himself in sections as the loops of his donuts brought him closer to his cousin. “She’s…not…a…she… She’s…a…he!…I’ve…been…catfished!
“Slow down, turbo!”
“Oh for crying out loud, Kai. Stop the bleedin’ car!” Ezra ordered.
I ran down the stairs and stopped near Ezra. “Kai, stop!”
A blur of “turbo” and “catfish” filled the night air around us as we continually yelled for him to stop.
“Santa’s calling the cops!” someone yelled.
Adrenaline shot through my body. “Kai, gosh dang it! Stop! Right now!”
“That’s it,” Ezra said, running alongside the driver’s side. He reached out, yanked open the door, and leaned in as the car spun. I started to panic, worried that if he fell, he’d be dragged beneath.
The car continued in circles, though slower, as Kai and Ezra got into a fist fight, Ezra running alongside the car and Kai belted into it. The entire scene was utterly ridiculous.
My hands went to my face, trying to think. I looked around and noticed a water hose near the side of the trailer. I ran to it and put the water on full blast, turning it onto the three idiots screaming and fighting among the squealing of tires, soaking them through. The car came to a sudden halt. It worked.
I stomped toward the boys, pushed Ezra off a bloody-nosed Kai, leaned into the car, threw it into park, and removed the keys without saying a word. They watched as I walked around the front and opened the other door to a gape-mouthed, wide-eyed passenger.
“Excuse me,” I told Kai’s catfisher, “but you’re in my seat.”
Kai’s catfishing love interest stumbled out of the car. “You guys be crazy! Crazy!” And then ran off into the night.
I sat down in the soaked seat, one boot in the car, one resting on the lot itself. “Kai, please remove yourself from the driver’s seat and pile into the back.”
He had the decency to look embarrassed and obeyed without argument. Ezra sat down and closed his door. I silently handed him his keys and he started his engine.
Joyous claps came from the deck of Santa’s Pub. “I give you a ten, baby!” a drunk boy yelled.
I gasped, turned toward Ezra, and pointed toward the deck. “A double entendre!”
He closed his eyes, two fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.
Chapter Thirteen
Needless to say, the car ride back to the room was silent at first. We were all ready to burst, it seemed. Kai leaned his head on the back of the seat, his nose raised, his T-shirt pressed to his face to stop the bleeding. Ezra’s knuckles strained white against the steering wheel, his jaw clenched in obvious anger. He was seething. I had to admit, I was more than a little pissed myself. Kai had ruined my moment with Ezra. Ruined it!
I flipped around toward Kai. “Listen up, buttercup,” I told him. He snorted and shifted in his seat. “Obviously you’re a few fries short of a Happy Meal, so I’m only going to ask one question.”
“What?” he bit out.
“What is wrong with you?”
“Listen, I’d been talking online to this chick for six months—”
“Kai!” Ezra chimed in. “We don’t care who that was. I don’t care! Look at my car now! It’s soaked!”
Iehgliuhelelhghg! (That was my actual thought.) “Seriously? That’s what you focus on?” I asked Ezra.
“Look at this!” Ezra said, gesturing to the wet upholstery and leather.
“Listen, I did what I had to do!” I yelled.
“It was a little extreme,” he countered.
I scoffed. “A little extreme? A little extreme? Were you even there? You were running alongside a circling car, Ezra, battling your cousin, with a giant hanging out the passenger side screaming at Kai to ‘Slow down, turbo!’”
Kai started laughing.
“Shut up!” Ezra and I yelled at him.
Ezra turned back to me. “I had it under control, Jupiter!”
“You didn’t, Ezra!”
“I did too! He was starting to lag.”
“I was not,” Kai chimed in.
“Shut up!” Ezra and I both yelled again.
I took a deep breath. “Ezra, I was desperate. The cops were coming. I didn’t think it would be wise for us to be under police supervision. Who knows what Kai would admit to?”
“Hey!” Kai said, offended.
“No offense, Kai,” I said.
“Nah, you’re right,” he admitted.
“Ezra.” I sighed. “I’m sorry, but I was desperate.”
Ezra blew out a heavy breath, causing his hair to fly up briefly. He looked down at himself then over at Kai and me. “I’m sorry. I’m ju-just frustrated, I guess.”
I raised a brow at him. “Let’s just get back to the room. I just want this night to end.”
Ezra drove us back to the motel, and we all barreled into the room. He went straight toward the bathroom and grabbed all the towels he could find.
“Call down to room service for more,” he told us.
“Here, let me help,” I said, and reached out.
“Don’t worry about it. I saw a car wash with a wet-vac down the road. I’m going to vacuum all the water out. These are just for the leather.”
“Let me go with you then.”
“Whatever,” he said, walking toward the door. He opened it, but stopped short and turned back toward Kai. “Your phone?” he asked, laying out his hand.
“No way,” Kai said.
“Uh, yes way,” Ezra mocked. “I have to leave here and I don’t want you to have access to all your vices, you strange, strange weirdo.” Kai laughed and handed over his phone. “Try to stay out of trouble.”
“Same goes,” he said as Ezra glided through the open door.
I followed him but yelped when Kai popped me on the butt. “Have a good time,” he said with a wink.
I rubbed the welt. “Sto
p!” I whisper-yelled.
He started making kissing noises.
“Stop!” I yelled, glancing over my shoulder. “He’ll hear you.”
“Oh, Ezra,” he wailed. “I love you, Ezra.”
“Oh my God, I am going to kill you.”
He laughed and followed me toward the door. I shut it on him before he could potentially ruin all my chances with Ezra, but he grabbed the handle and tried to open the door. I gasped, holding it closed with a boot on the wall, making Kai laugh harder. We struggled like that for at least ten seconds before I heard, “You comin’ or not?”
I let go and Kai fell on his backside. It was my turn to laugh. “Sucker!” I threw over my shoulder before popping over the fence near the sidewalk outside our door, but I didn’t quite make it over and ended up tripping over the top rail, landing on my hands and skinning my knees.
I laid on the blacktop trying to decide whether I wanted to go ahead and die of embarrassment there or try to play off my clumsiness with a giggle or something equally feminine. You know, a distraction.
“Dude, are you all right?” Ezra asked, offering a hand. I took it and he lifted me.
I stood tall even though my skin was screaming at me to cry. Distract him with your feminine wiles! Instead of the cute, whimsical giggle I’d intended, a garbled, strangled noise came out in its place. Ezra looked at me like I was nuts.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, man, you know, I’m cool or whatever.”
“Okay,” he sang, obviously not believing me but choosing to give me whatever dignity I had left.
He released my arm and walked me to my side of the car, opening the door for me. I got in and sat down, buckling in. My boots squished in the water, mortifying me. When Ezra got in, water splashed everywhere, catapulting me down an embarrassment spiral.
“Oh my God,” I exclaimed. “You probably regret so hard letting me on this trip.” I fought the burning tears welling in my eyes.
Ezra started the car, putting it in reverse. He threw his arm over the back of my seat and turned to see if he was clear to back up. He stared at me, his eyes searching every inch of my face. It burned the skin there, heated it to the consistency of warm syrup, drugging me.