The Keys to Jericho (49 page)

“You.”

Dash rips the pink sucker from his mouth. “You’re supposed to be riding back to Annapolis with me, Jericho!”

I set my suitcase next to Rio’s and say to Dash, “No. The only place you’re driving me to is the brink of fucking insanity.”

As he glances down at his phone, Rio says, “It’s no problem. Kat’s riding with Lib.”

Having some kind of spasm or attack, Dash screeches, “What the hell? Why are three of us driving to Annapolis? Jericho and Kat can just ride with me!”

Rio raises an eyebrow and shrugs. “Lib wants Kat to ride with her.”

Dash poses to me, “Then why don’t you ride with them, at least?”

I roll my eyes. “It’s probably best that I don’t do that, either.”

Rio chuckles. “Agreed.”

Kat comes down the stairs with her suitcase, and when she nears the bottom, I walk over and take it from her. She gives me a brief smile and mumbles a thank you. I shrug as she brushes past me.

I wish we could go back to actually being friends, instead of this mediocre, cordial bullshit.

Liberty opens the door, smiling at Rio, and I have to move away from her so I’m not tempted to drag her to the ocean with Dash.

Calder whines, “So, I have to drive back alone?”

I offer, “I’ll drive your car back.”

His fake pout changes to a genuine frown. “Uh, no. You’ll burn out the clutch.”

I wickedly smirk at Dash, trying to remind Kat how teasing works. “Now, would I do that to
you
of all people?”

“Without a doubt.”

“I guess you
do
know me well, Calder.” Laughing, I glance at Kat, but she’s tapping at her phone with her thumb, while mindlessly biting her lip, and twirling her finger through her ponytail. Fuck, she’s so hot without even realizing it.

Damn it. No.
Get it together, Beckett
.

I glance at Liberty, which instantly shifts my gears.

Dash sighs, smacking Duquesne’s chest. “Isn’t Jericho outrageous, Rio? I mean, he’s truly, truly, truly outrageous.”

Liberty cackles, “Jem!” Throwing her arms around Dash’s neck from behind, she makes Kat laugh and to push on Dash’s arm, which makes me smile. Rio and I raise an eyebrow at each other, as they laugh over fucking nothing, before I roll my eyes and we go outside.

When the cars are loaded, I stop Kat on the way out the door. “We’ll drive tomorrow afternoon.”

Still not looking at me, she says, “My driving class will be in the evenings at 6:00, but they haven’t given me a start date yet. Hopefully this week.”

“Okay. Let me know.”

“My mom can take me.” She shrugs and goes to walk outside, but I grab her arm, turning her to face me. I glance to the cars to see who’s watching; however, I can’t tell from the sun’s reflection off the windows.

“Kat.
I
will.”

She frowns. “Not all the time. She said she’ll take me when you’re in Philadelphia.”

“That’s still a while away and you should be done before we both start work.”

“No, it’s not. You have three weeks until you can move.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have to stay up there. I have to get the key and move my shit into the place. I can stay in Annapolis until I have to go to work, so let me worry about it. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I almost bend to kiss her, but I successfully stop myself, crossing my arms and looking out to the cars. However, I still can’t tell if they’re watching. Dash and Liberty are probably texting each other with their commentary, no doubt. Nosey idiots.

“Okay. I guess I will see you then.”

I warn, “Don’t even think you won’t.” She half-heartedly smiles at me before walking over to the wench’s white Audi A4. Nice car. Too bad the owner downgraded its resale value straight to the shitter.

Knowing that skank probably will let Kat drive, I become suddenly anxious. “Kat.” She swiftly spins around, and I say, “Don’t be driving on the interstate without me.”

She doesn’t answer as she climbs into the passenger seat, but gives me a quick, rebellious look before they pull out of the driveway.

Fucking hell. I need a drink.

Several.

The ride home with Rio was quiet because I slept most of the way, and he didn’t feel compelled to yammer on about my behavior or want to talk about my fucking feelings. Maybe he should’ve become a shrink instead of a pussy whisperer.

When I wheel my suitcase into the front door, my dad looks up from his laptop. “Hey, bud. How was your trip?”

I mutter, “Fine.” Parking my suitcase at the bottom of the stairs, I go into the kitchen for something to drink and he expectedly follows me.

He enters the kitchen, but he doesn’t say anything, which is weird, so I glance over at him as I open the refrigerator door, and notice his perceptive grin.

I roll my eyes as I bend to peer into the fridge. I wish he’d get a new one. “What?”

“Did Kat have a nice time?”

Seeing his smug expression from over the top of the door, I say, “Ah. I see that you were in on the joke, too.”

Crossing his arms, he says, “Actually, no. Brenda told me Thursday morning about Kat going. I had no idea until then. She said it was a last-minute trip for Kat, but it was supposed to be a surprise for you.”

I look back to the contents of the fridge, irritated that there’s no more beer. “She wasn’t my surprise. She went because Rio invited her.”

“Were you glad to see her?”

Settling for a bottle of water, I shut the door and shrug. “I didn’t gush about it in an infomercial, but I was okay with it.”

He smiles. “So, you two got to spend some time together outside a car. How was that?”

I frown at his strange mirth. “Uh, it was fine, since we do that at the construction.”

I walk over to the bar to see if I got any of my forwarded mail, and he says, “No. You really don’t.”

Setting down my water bottle, I sort through my bills, trying to sound uncaring. “Why does it matter what we did at the beach?”

“I don’t know. I just thought you spending time with her would be nice.”

I toss my mail back down and suspiciously glare at him. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”

He fluffs his hair, and covers a slow yawn, which makes me suspect he’s stalling.

Picking up my water, I sigh. “Just say it, Dad.”

He crosses his arms again, and asks, “Are you dating Kat?”

I angle my head to look at the ceiling. “Jesus. I just walked in the door and you’re already asking me that?” Sighing, I pull on my hat and drone, “No. Not dating.” I then smile, making his disappear. “Actually, we’ve decided that doing the nasty will complicate our friendship and have decided against it, acting like mature, responsible adults. However, if that changes and we elect to get to know each other
without
our clothes on, I’ll make sure you get the first engraved announcement.”

He sighs with an eye roll. “Jared Adam.” Still aiming for that unobtainable triad.

Gulping my water until it’s gone, I slam the empty bottle onto the counter, noisily crushing the cheap plastic into a flat pile. I then look at him with a shrug. “What? You asked.”

“I didn’t ask for all of
that
.”

I haughtily frown. “Well, Dad, I’m surprised you’re endorsing your son to be so irresponsible.”

“I was not. I was only wondering if things changed between you two. Things still could.”

Truly surprised by his audacity, I shake my head. “Holy sh— No! You told me to stay away from her! What’s your problem?”

“It’s just that you finally look happy when you’re with her. I can’t help but notice that.” Holy fuck. He won’t leave this alone.

I scoff, “So? I’m also happy when I hit an interstate with no cars around me, or when I’m not being grilled about what makes my heart swell with disgusting joy. You read way too much into things.”

“I don’t think I am, Jared.”

“She’s not my type! Satisfied?” I grab my car keys and mumble, “I’ll be back.”

“Jared.”

I keep walking until I’m behind the wheel of my Charger, squealing tires out of the driveway.

I need to get drunk ASAP. It’s been entirely too long since I haven’t been able to remember my own trifecta.

“Morning, Jericho. You look a little rough.”

Ignoring him, I rub a hand over my face as I look at the clipboard containing Tony’s daily to-do list that he leaves in his van.

Dash adds, “I didn’t think you’d be here today.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“It might be awkward for you.”

Flipping through the pages, I shrug. “Nothing’s awkward, only annoying.” I pointedly peer up from the papers to Dash rolling his eyes.

“You did see Kat naked. Wait. Didn’t you, or was it more of a wham-bam kind of thing?”

Throwing the board onto the seat, I grab a hammer from Tony’s toolbox and thrust it into Dash’s face. “What was that you just fucking said? I warned you to watch your mouth!”

He hurriedly backs away from me. “Holy shit! Did you skip out on coffee or your chill pill this morning?”

“Dash, don’t start on me, or make fucking jokes about it! She’s off limits!”

“Okay! I’m sorry! Shit.”

Satisfied somewhat, I toss the hammer back into the box and spin my hat around, giving him another warning look.

He leans against the van and asks, “So, it wasn’t just about cheap thrills for you?”

I glare at him, but go with the truth as I check my phone messages. “No.”

“Then what was it about?”

I darkly laugh. “I’m not fucking talking to you about that.”

“Why can’t you? I’m serious. I’m sorry I said that. I just wanted to see if she mattered to you.”

Shoving my phone into my jeans, I snap, “Fuck you.”

“Jericho, I know you’re hurting. You can talk to me. I won’t tell Kat. I promise.”

I scowl at him before I check my watch. “I’m great. There’s nothing I want to talk about.”

“You broke up.”

Crossing my arms, I argue, “We weren’t even together to break up. We’re still friends, Dash, so drop it.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never seen
me
naked.”

“Wrong.” He squints his eyes, and I ask, “How can you forget? Gym classes? When we stayed at each other’s houses, you stripping your clothes when I was still in the room? Jesus Christ. You’re always taking your damn clothes off. What about when you stripped on the school’s track, senior year, because you lost a bet to Trey Dawson? I was there, Calder.”

He grins. “Oh, yeah. I totally forgot about doing that shit.”

“And Trey never said you had to strip totally naked.”

Dash shrugs. “I have nothing to hide.”

I frown. “Apparently, son of a stripper. I’m
still
scarred for life.”

“You could’ve looked away, Jericho.”

“You always did it so fast I didn’t have a chance! And for the track stripping, we were all shocked by what you did. I don’t think any of us had the ability to look away.”