Cruel Legacy (Cruel 3)

“Do you have any errands that would get us out of the house?” I begged.

She nodded. “Here.” She passed me a slip of paper. “Can you get the cake from the grocery store? We already have everything else for the party out back. Take as long as you need.”

“Thank you,” I said with a sigh. “Michael is so…”

“Isn’t he?” my mother said. “Blocked energy, that one. All muddied and black around the edges. He could use a chakra cleansing.”

I snorted. “Good luck telling him that.”

“I did try,” she said.

Penn grinned. “I’m sure that went over well.”

“Men are generally skeptics anyway,” she said, brushing it off. “He’s young. He has time. Now, go on. Get out of here. And take your father’s car.”

“Dad’s car?” I asked in surprise. “Does he know that you’re letting us drive the Chevelle?”

She winked. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“Come on, Penn. Let’s get out of here before my dad finds out.”

I snatched the keys hanging next to the door and pulled Penn out of the house. I veered him around back to my dad’s precious, restored 1960s Chevy Chevelle. It was the only thing that my straightlaced father had ever put time and energy into. And it made no sense since he was hardly the kind of man who would drive around a bright orange muscle car. But he did. One of the things I loved about him.

“What a car,” Penn said in awe. “Can I drive?”

I shot him an incredulous look. “Yeah, right, Kensington.” I popped the driver’s door. “We don’t trust city boys to handle stick shifts down here in the South.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Should I make a joke about you handling my stick shift?”

“Would I have even set you up if I didn’t expect you to spike the ball?” I said, dropping into the seat.

Penn sank into the passenger seat. “I liked the way you handled it last night.”

“I think you still handled me,” I said, warmth hitting my cheeks.

“I think you liked that even better.”

My eyes were shining with excitement. “Maybe.”

Then I peeled out of the driveway and hit the open road into town. We zipped through the city in my dad’s car that handled better than anything else I’d ever driven. I’d only been behind the driver’s seat a handful of times, and all had been with my dad’s supervision. He’d probably go through the roof if he knew that my mom had sent us out in it.

“You really love this,” Penn said thoughtfully.

“Who wouldn’t?”

“But it lights you up.”

“I guess it does. Maybe because he’s always had this car. Through move after move after move from the military, we kept the car. The only time we didn’t have it was when we were stationed in Germany. And he stressed the whole time about it not being driven enough or getting hurt by my uncle, my mom’s brother.”

“You’re more like him than you think.”

“I keep hearing that. My mom and Mel said the same thing when they convinced me to move to New York.”

“They convinced you?” he asked as I pulled into the parking lot for the grocery store. “I didn’t know that. I thought it was Lewis.”

“Well, Lewis and Jane planted the idea. But it was really my mom and Melanie who were the ones who thought it was the right choice.” I hopped out of the car and walked with him into our favorite grocery store. “They said that I was happiest when I could move around a lot. That Charleston wasn’t my home and I needed to go where my heart took me.”

“And that was New York.”

“It’s something in the water,” I joked.

“Do you feel like your writing is better for it? Are you freer?”

I nodded after a pause. “Yes, and no. I feel like New York is where I should be. My writing is so, so much better there. Like it just pours out of me from all the energy I’m absorbing from the city.” I glanced over at him with a laugh. “Don’t tell my mom I said that.”

“Noted.”

“But also…no, because I’m not really any freer. There are just new restrictions. And with Lewis stalking me and Katherine purposely trying to ruin my life, it’s more constricting than ever.”

He sighed. “Hopefully, we’ll hear about the restraining order on Monday, and you can stop stressing. As far as Katherine is concerned, I think she has her hands full with Percy. Let’s hope she stays out of it.”

I stopped then at the entrance to the grocery store. “Is that what you really think?”

“What do you mean?”

“That I should just hope Katherine leaves me alone? After what she’s done to me? She’s the queen of staying two steps ahead. I don’t think I want to hope that she’s too distracted to realize that I’m becoming an insider in her circle.”