“Drive,” I finally answered him. “My dad used to have this old stock car in the barn at our ski lodge in Vermont, and I would sit in it and shift the gears, pretending I was racing. I’d love to be able to drive.”
He was quiet for a moment, and then finally, he rose, and I could feel him right in front of me.
“Would you really?” he asked.
There was a sneaky smile in his voice that made my heart skip a beat.
“Let’s get out of here then.” And he grabbed my hand and pulled me along.
“Huh?” I stumbled, perplexed but letting him take me even though I had no idea what was going on. “And go where? I can’t leave!”
I remembered my mother upstairs and closed my mouth, shutting up immediately.
“I can take you if I want,” he said, pulling me into the foyer toward the front door. “Or you can scream now and the fun has to end.”
“Who says I’m having any fun?”
“You’re about to.” He stopped but kept hold of my fingers. “Or, if you want, I can put you to bed and go have fun with someone else.”
I rolled my eyes. Please. Like I’d be jealous or something?
“You’re the one I want to play with, though,” he whispered, leaning in.
Yeah, I’m sure. A psycho with a penchant for blind girls who can’t pick him out of a line-up. Was I out of my mind?
“People and music and fires and beer,” he taunted. “Let’s go, Winter. The world awaits.”
I shook my head at myself. I was out of my mind.
“You’ll bring me home?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“Alive and… untouched?”
And he laughed, and it was the first time I’d heard his voice. Deep and smooth and very much humored at my expense. “Tonight. Sure.”
My expression fell, and I hesitated only a moment before I pulled out of his grasp and inched my way over to the closet, feeling for one of my hoodies that was bound to be in there.
Finding one, I pulled it out and slipped it on, digging out a pair of sneakers, too. I wanted my phone. I should bring it.
I turned back toward the stairs, but then stopped, remembering the GPS on it my parents used to track me with an app.
If my mom woke up or my dad came home, would I want them to be able to find me with a boy whose name I didn’t even know, doing something I shouldn’t be doing, and use it as an excuse to send me away again?
But then again, if I needed them to find me, I was going to be damn glad I had the phone, wasn’t I?
Decisions, decisions.
Screw it.
I inhaled a breath, turned around, and reached for his hand.
He took it and opened the door.
“Why don’t you use a stick?” he asked, leading me down the driveway. “Or a guide dog or something?”
Believe me, I’d love to. It would allow me a little more freedom.