Long Way Down (Calloway Sisters 4)

Lily blows out a long breath. “I’m okay. I’m the best driver in this car.” She nods resolutely, like she believes it too.

“Second best,” Rose amends, repositioning the vents so air cools Lily.

“That’s not what Daisy said.” Lily begins to smile.

“Hmmm?” Daisy feigns confusion and then unbuckles herself.

“No!” Lily yells, eyeing her sister from the rearview. “No one unbuckles in my car. Driver rules. Click it or ticket!”

Daisy wags her brows. “Sounds exciting.” She ignores her sister and starts climbing over my lap, her hand sliding over my thighs and crotch before rolling down the window.

Her mischievous, green eyes flicker to me, practically saying how did that feel? and I didn’t do a thing, I swear. My blood heats as she stays on all fours, and I raise my brows at her, not taking her fucking bait. Not while we’re in a car full of her sisters.

I say lowly so only she hears. “You’re fucking trouble, Calloway.”

She smiles, her hair already blowing as the window rolls down. “Soon you won’t be able to call me Calloway, you know.”

“You’ll always be Calloway to me.” I pull her yellow shirt down that rises up her lower back, and the fabric conceals her skin again.

This one gesture causes her chest to rise in a deep breath. She sits on my lap, hands gripping the frame of the window, and she says under her breath, audible to only me. “You’re a good guy, you know that?” Her eyes flit all around my features.

I watch her watch me. “You look fucking happy, you know that?”

“I have a secret,” she whispers. Then she leans close, lips to my ear, she whispers, “I am really, really fucking happy.” And then the window rolls up. “Hey!” Daisy slides off me and repeatedly presses the button. It’s locked.

Lily shouts, “You’re not jumping out!”

“I just wanted some fresh air.” Dais flashes her sister doe-eyes and a fucking cute pout. I shove her onto the middle seat, and Daisy breaks into a grin. I try to push her face, but she bites my fucking hand.

“No backseat flirting,” Rose announces.

“We’re not flirting,” Daisy says while she stares straight at me.

I raise my brows again, wanting to throw her over my shoulder, but we’re stuck in a damn car.

Rose snorts, “And I’m not Rose Calloway Cobalt.”

Daisy mock gasps. “No way. Who are you?”

Rose isn’t amused. “I almost brought nail polish, but I thought ‘no, I don’t want the fumes to asphyxiate my sisters.’ Now I’m rethinking my loyalties.” She shoots Daisy a look like, I blame you for making me rethink my loyalties.

I’m fucking hot. “Turn on the air back here?” I fiddle with the vents in front of Daisy’s knees.

“Lil, another left again!” Daisy shouts. “Oh wait, you missed it…” She opens her phone.

“What?” Lily whines. “How?” her eyes flit to the rearview. “Are you two groping each other while I’m driving? New rule. No groping allowed.”

“For everyone,” Rose says, “in all cars.” She puts on dark red lipstick, using the visor mirror.

“Wait?” Lily’s eyes widen. “What? No…”

“You can’t be a hypocrite about it.” She smacks her lips.

“Okay.” Daisy has up Google maps. “Let’s just rewind. We’re honestly really close.” She coaches Lily through a U-turn, and less than five minutes later, we’ve arrived.

“Left turn and then park,” Daisy announces.

Lily slows the car on a gravel road, spruce trees blanketing either side. She drives up to an unmarked lookout point. A rusted sign says private property and residents only.

Her sisters and Willow exchange quizzical looks.

“Unmount!” Daisy exclaims with the clap of her hands.

I climb out first, my boots meeting gravel and then grass, heading towards the ridge. The east coast mountain range is full of lush green and yellow hues, spanning as far as the eye can see. No rooftops, houses, or high-rise buildings. Untouched, unobstructed nature.

In the fall, the colors will be richer and more vibrant. I inhale crisp air, this place fucking surreal—that something this beautiful can exist just a few hours from the city.

“I don’t understand,” Lily says as she locks the car. The SUV rolls up and parks behind the Escalade, but the bodyguards don’t exit.

“It’s not even paved,” Rose says. “Are you sure we should be here?”

Daisy stands on a boulder by the rusted sign, about to answer her sisters, but Lily points at private property.

“We’re trespassing!” Lily shuffles back in this awkward fucking way. It looks like she’s doing the moonwalk.

“Gather ‘round.” Daisy motions all of them forward.

Rose sprays bug spray around her area and then crosses her arms, her five-inch heels are firmly set on the gravel.

I hang back while her sisters and Willow approach the boulder. This display is all for them.

“I’ve had this grand idea for a long while,” Daisy begins, hands perched on her hips. The wind takes her brunette hair, and my love for this girl just fucking floods me. “It’s going to seem too big for me, but I promise I understand everything. Just hear me out first?”

They all listen.

Daisy extends her arms. “I bought this.”

Lily’s nose scrunches. “The trees?”

“The land,” Rose realizes. She suddenly becomes very still, and Daisy hones in on her the most.

“There are things in life,” Daisy tries to express, “that I’ve lost and experiences that I’ve never truly had, friends that I never could’ve made. Ryke once told me this story about a boy who spent every year counting down to summer. This boy had one lasting friendship and an experience for a lifetime. Can you imagine a place where friends come together and adventures are made?”

She’s describing Adam Sully and me. My summer camp friend.

“I may have never been to camp,” Daisy says, “but I’m more determined to build one. Where summer-long campers make new friends and live their wildest adventures.”

It’s the most Daisy Calloway thing in the entire fucking world. A place that brings happiness to kids through wilderness, friendship, and thrills like zip-lining and ropes courses.

Lily claps alongside Willow, and I smile as tears run down Lil’s cheeks. She knows that Daisy has been through a lot, including the betrayal of close friends, and now she plans to construct a place that values friendship.

She has a giant, forgiving heart, and no matter how many times people try to burn her, she’s found a way to rise above.

Daisy waves Willow and Lily to join her on the boulder, and they shuffle closer while Rose stiffly struts over to me, coldness and concern mashing together in her pointed gaze.

She stops by my side. “I need details.”

I need her to be happy for Daisy. She’s put a lot of her soul into this fucking project, and this is just the beginning of the camp. “She bought the land,” I say gruffly.

Dais tries to help Lily up, pulling her while Willow pushes on her butt so she’ll reach the top. Lily Hale has no upper-body strength.

“I heard that,” Rose says, worry wrinkling her forehead for point-two seconds. “How much did it cost?”

“She had the fucking money.” I’m trying not to be defensive. I know Rose’s questions come from a place of love, but she has to trust her little sister.

“I know she has the money,” Rose hisses, lowering her voice. “But how much of it is she using to build this?” She crosses her arms again.

All of it. “We’re well-off,” I tell Rose. “I save everything I make rock climbing—”

“It’s going to wipe her out, isn’t it?” Rose asks, her lips down-turning. “Everything she earned modeling?”

“Yeah.” She still has a trust fund and inheritance, but the former is like an allowance and the latter is imaginary unless her parents die. “If thi

s fails and makes nothing in the end, I’d still be able to support her without Greg’s help.”

But like the protective older sister that she is, Rose wants Daisy to be able to support herself. She’s silent, and I run a hand through my hair, catching a glimpse of Willow now struggling up the boulder. Both Lily and Daisy clutch each arm and hoist her to the top.

“It’s a summer camp?” she says quietly.

“Yeah. Horseback riding, a lake, cabins—all of that.” I watch Rose mull this over with overbearing sisterly concern that I really understand. If that was my brother, I think I’d ask these questions too. And I’d hope that someone would show me the real fucking details. “Look at her face, Rose. Then tell me she made a mistake.”

Rose doesn’t move, her stubborn yellow-green eyes on me. “Why didn’t she ask for my advice?”