Page 54 of Soul So Dark

“Jesse!”

He turns to acknowledge one of the boys yelling in his direction.

So, his name is Jesse.

A couple of them duck into the BMW while another one jogs past us toward the group. A guy with brown hair pulls on his helmet and mounts his white dirt bike, motioning for Jesse to follow.

“Want to come with me?” he asks, nodding to his orange dirt bike in the distance.

“Where?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “Just a ride. Then I can take you home.”

I glance back at my friends, chewing my lip while I debate. Do I want to go with Jesse and do something that would, no doubt, be exciting? Yes. Do I want to face my mother’s wrath if she catches sight of me climbing off some stranger’s bike after I promised not to leave Austin’s side? Definitely not. If I’m going to hide away at home, it’s going to be on my own terms and not because I’m grounded until I’m 18.

“I can’t,” I mutter with disappointment, “I’m kind of on probation.”

“Uh-oh, what’d you do?”

“Nothing, really, just…” I have no intention of divulging anything that’s been happening in my life. “A lot of family stuff. My parents are just paranoid right now.”

Jesse nods and glances back at his friend on the white dirt bike waiting for him patiently.

“In that case,” he reaches down and takes my hand, bringing it to his helmet and tapping my knuckles on the front where his mouth would be, “see you at the next show, pretty girl.” He winks and then lets my arm fall as he backs away.

Holding my eyes, he backtracks until finally turning around and swaggering back to his bike. A minute later, they roar out of the lot and vanish into the night. It’s another minute until I realize that I don’t have his number, and he doesn’t have mine. He just became a ghost, and my only chance to ever see him again is another Shapeshift show. Maybe.

I begin the lonely march back to the Range Rover. I should still be riding the high of standing less than 10 feet from my favorite band. I should be so pumped about it that I can barely form words. But for some reason, now it falls just short, like I need an even bigger distraction to blot out the shit show waiting for me at home.

And, now, I only have one thought.

Maybe I should’ve gotten on the bike with him.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Alex

“Jordyn has clarity issues,” Lori Harrington rasps in an exaggerated whisper before sucking down half a Camel Light in one breath. “I keep telling her she needs to start thinking about the future, and you know as well as I do that girl’s not built for college.”

“No?” I try to keep it short, as usual.

Get in, get the hell out. Where the fuck is Jordy, anyway?

“I tried for years, but she was never going to excel at anything intellectual.” Lori casts me a sideways glance around her cheap peroxide hair. “She’s lucky she was blessed with good genes.”

She must think I’m a goddamn idiot.

Yeah, Lori, your daughter’s fucking hot and she knows how to hold my attention for more than 30 seconds. Why do you think she stays in my bed four nights out of the week instead of in this shithole?

And Lori would be an attractive woman, too, if she didn’t look so…rough. Or act like a total trainwreck half the time. I should be used to the weird shit she says by now, but it seems she has a silent competition going to see how she can outdo herself each time I see her.

Lori reaches across the table and squeezes my hand, running her thumb back and forth over my knuckles. Her touch makes my skin crawl, and I have to refrain from pulling away. It’s like scum on a pond, a thin, sticky film oozing with ulterior motives.

“Family’s important, Alex. You should really think about how you’re going to guarantee your legacy, and who you’ll choose to carry that responsibility.”

What the hell is she on about now?

“I mean, since you’ll be running your family’s business with your brother.”