Renegade Hearts (Rebels of Sandland 1)

“No.”

“Then don’t. Come out with me instead.”

I wanted to do a little happy dance at the thought of spending time with Ryan, but the polite part of me, the one my parents had instilled in me since I was born, felt a wave of guilt.

“I can’t just stand him up.”

“Why not? He’s stood loads of girls up. Might do him some good to have a taste of some humble pie. Let’s hope the fucker chokes on it.”

Ryan was right. My guilt was wasted on someone like Chase. He hadn’t responded to my calls. I could be lying at death’s door in a hospital somewhere for all he knew. And he certainly wasn’t thinking about my feelings when he came looking for me in the woods to get his dick wet all those weeks ago. The guy had brass balls, I’d give him that.

“He really came to the garage and bragged about it?”

“Yup.” Ryan shook his head, and I knew then that something had gone down.

“Did he cause a scene?”

Ryan shrugged nonchalantly.

“He threw his weight around a bit, made himself look like a prize dick. But Dad threw him out, and Brandon and me gave him a little send-off he wouldn’t forget.”

Great, his dad had heard it all too. I didn’t know Sean Hardy that well, but I didn’t like being the reason he had shit to deal with at work. I was mortified.

“Did you hit him?” I winced waiting for the verdict.

“With my fists? No. But with the jet washer, right where it hurts? Yeah, I did.” He laughed thinking about what he’d done. “Fucker can dance faster than Michael Flatley on speed when he needs to. So funny.” He shook his head chuckling at the memory.

I stifled a giggle. “Oh my God. He’s an idiot and an asshole. He’s been ignoring my calls all week. I’ve texted him so many times to cancel and he never reads them. He’s insane.”

“Clearly. Now, are we gonna stand here and wait for him to show up and join in the conversation or are we getting out of here?” Ryan held his hand out to me and quirked his eyebrow.

“I’m out of here.” I grinned back, then grabbed my bag and slammed the door behind me.

Chase Lockwood could go to hell.

Ryan held the driver’s door of his van open and I smiled, climbing over the central console into the passenger seat. I wanted to ask him why he’d never fixed the damn thing. The guy had built his own cars from scratch, surely he could mend a broken door, but I didn’t. In a way, I didn’t want to admit that I knew about that part of him. It was a secret I liked keeping to myself.

“So, where are we going?” I asked, feeling excited about being in his van and so close to him again. I couldn’t really give a damn if we went anywhere. I’d be happy to drive around or sit together in a car park and talk.

Ryan sighed. “Are you hungry?”

“Starving.”

“Is a drive-through burger okay?” He didn’t look convinced himself.

“Perfect.”

“I bet Lockwood has a table booked at one of those fancy restaurants. You know, the kind that has bigger price tags than portions. You sure you don’t want me to go back so you can sample his shitty food?”

I scoffed at his suggestion. He knew me better than that.

“Not in a million years. A burger is awesome. I’ll need fries and a milkshake too, though. Oh, and maybe an apple pie?”

“What’s the special occasion?”

He obviously hadn’t seen how much fast food me, Liv and Effy could pack away once we got started.

“Dodging the Chase bullet.”