“What do you want for dinner tonight?” Dad asks as I drop my hands and prop up on my elbows to look at him. His brown eyes are crinkled with kindness at the edges, and his smile is clear and genuine. “We could barbeque? Or just order in pizza or Chinese?”
“Simple, normal food, that’s my only request.” I grin as I sit the rest of the way up. “At Burberry Prep, the food’s good—amazing, actually—but sometimes I can’t even pronounce it.” Dad laughs and whips out his cell.
“Pizza it is then.” He moves into the living room to make the call, and I check my phone again.
I’ve got messages from Lizzie, Miranda, Zack … and Creed.
Miranda misses you so much, she won’t stop talking about you. It’s annoying as hell. I smile and try to figure out how I’m supposed to respond back. Part of me wants to ask about January, if he’s really going to go back to treating me like garbage. Same with Tristan and Zayd. They’ve been sort of … nice? And those kisses … I’d just assumed that for their portion of the agreement, they’d simply leave me alone. Not the case. If anything, I’ve been getting more attention from the three of them.
Tell her I’m having pizza with Dad and thinking about her, is my response.
An instant later, Are you thinking about me, too?
My heart hammers in my chest, but I’m not ready to respond to that message, so I turn my screen off again, change out of my uniform, and join Dad in the living room for pizza. He worked late the day before, and then basically left right after to come pick me up, so he’s asleep before our movie even ends. I cover him with a blanket, turn the volume on the TV to a whisper, and then grab a jacket.
Zack’s waiting outside when I step onto the porch.
He’s got on a black jacket, dark blue jeans, and a beanie. It’s surprisingly cold out here, even for December, and when we exhale, little clouds puff into the darkness.
There’s his orange McLaren sitting next to Dad’s truck, and worth as much as this entire trailer park. It’s a nicer car than I remember Zack’s family having before. He glances over his shoulder in the direction of my gaze and shrugs his shoulders.
“Grandpa unblocked both my and Dad’s trust funds,” he says, and then shrugs again. “I guess he wrote us back into the will, too, but there are all these stupid fucking stipulations. I’m trying to enjoy the money while I have it.”
“Your grandpa cut you guys off?” I ask. I hadn’t known that. Would probably explain why I hadn’t realized he was quite so wealthy before. I mean, he’s part of the Infinity Club, so he has to be a lot more loaded than I originally thought. All of a sudden, I feel tired.
“Yep.” Zack moves over to the driver’s side door and opens it. His dark eyes lift to mine. “Get in,” he says, and after a split-second’s hesitation, I do.We drive to some weird little twenty-four hour diner on the coast. It smells like seafood in there, and all the tables are covered in sticky plastic, but when our orders come out, I swear it’s the best thing I’ve eaten in years.
“This clam chowder is …” There aren’t even any words. Zack just stares at me with those dark, unreadable eyes of his, and I have to wonder how he even managed to stumble on a dive like this in the first place. Imagining any of the Idols sitting in here is damn near impossible. Even Miranda would be hesitant to walk in.
“My dad owns half the fishing vessels on this dock.” He points out the window behind me, and I turn. “He’d own them all if the town didn’t hate him so much.” Zack leans back in his seat and crosses his arms over his broad chest. He’s finished his fish and chips, and I’ve barely eaten half my bowl of chowder.
Even though Trini Bay is close to Cruz Bay, it’s always functioned on its own set of rules, more like a small town than the pseudo-suburb of a city. There are Buy Local signs all over the diner. That explains why they don’t want anything to do with the Brooks family.
“How’s life at Coventry Prep?” I ask, when I can’t decide how to respond to his statement. He shrugs, his arm muscles bunching with the movement. My eyes lock on and can’t seem to pull away. He was by no means skinny in eighth grade, but … he definitely went through a maturity boost over the summer.
“It’s fine.” Just that. His dark eyes bore into mine, and I feel my cheeks heating. Zack and I are a world apart, and we have so much history, but I like hanging out with him. “Once she finds out what you did, that girl you killed …” Tristan’s words ring in my head, but I push them away. I don’t know what he’s talking about, and I don’t care to. I’m sure whatever actually happened isn’t as grisly as he’s making it out to be. Clearly, Zack didn’t kill anyone or he’d be sitting in jail.
