Page 44 of No Mistakes

Mandy snorts. “Big goals. I like it.”

“I’m serious though,” I say, my tone softer. “We’re going. I don’t know when, but we will. You’re going to get the full experience. The sticky fingers, the sugar crash, rigged games… Everything.”

“Will there be funnel cake?”

“The greatest kind.”

She hums, pleased with my replies. “Fine. But only if you win me one of those stupid oversized teddy bears.”

I smirk, “Deal. I’ll even threaten someone for it if I have to.”

Mandy throws her head back with a laugh, the sound bright enough to crack through the storm that’s been hanging over both of us lately. And for a second, just a second. It feels easy. Like maybe we haven’t completely lost ourselves in all this shit.

I look outside, and I see Axel through the window, leaning against the hood of his car, still watching me like I’m something he lost and refuses to stop searching for.

Mandy follows my line of sight, then hums under her breath. “You want me to distract him so you can breathe again?”

I swallow hard. “I don’t think breathing’s the problem.”

She grins, amusement filling her eyes. “You’re so screwed.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

We head towards the checkout, and I do my best to shake off the weight of Axel’s stare, but it clings to me. Just like the memory of his mouth brushing against my ear and the way my body betrayed me in that goddamn bathroom.

CHAPTER 20

ANT

I switch the engine off,the AC dying instantly as the heat bears down on the metal roof. We’ve been on the road since around 10 a.m., and now it’s nearly 5 p.m. We pulled over for snacks, mostly because Carter and Mandy wouldn’t stop whining about being hungry every twenty minutes. Carter knew Axel wouldn’t want to stop if he told him that he was hungry, so when he finally texted him, all it took was a single lie.

Eva’s hungry.

Axel didn’t even reply to the text, just flipped the signal on his car and turned off. Minutes later, we were pulling into a gas station somewhere between Pennsylvania and Cleveland.

Now, we sit parked outside some dusty gas station that looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 80’s. The neon sign above the shop flickers as if it’s unsure whether it wants to keep living.

I step out first, heat slamming into me like a wall. The sun’s dropping low, telling me we need to get a move on, and soon if we want to enter Chicago like ghosts.

Gunnar climbs out of the car in front of me, alongside Flynn, stretching like they just ran a marathon.

Flynn sniffs the air, “This place looksandsmells like it sells beef jerky as well as god knows what.”

Carter follows suit, climbing out of the passenger side of my car, already rambling before his feet even hit the gravel. “I swear, if they don’t have those Cheddar Combos, I’m gonna flip. I need road trip fuel. Like actual food. Protein, cheese and fake pretzels.

Gunnar rolls his eyes. “That’s not food, bro. That’s edible trash.”

Axel appears from the side of the building, walking towards us like nothing’s happened. But I clock the tension in his jaw, the faint red marks at the base of his neck. Whatever went down in that bathroom with Eva wasn’t just a casual talk.

Carter sees him and grins widely. “Took you long enough, lover boy. Everything go okay?”

Axel flips him off without a word, opening his car door to grab a bottle of water.

I pull out my phone, typing a message to show Carter,“I told you he would cave, you owe me 20 bucks.”

“Dude, you didn’t evensayit out loud, no fucking way that counts.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, admit you lost.”I type quickly.