Page 117 of Run
Her mask slips slightly before she softly answers, “Six.”
She walks away, and I swivel back around and grip the edge of the countertop, grind my teeth until I’m sure my molars are dust, and swear to God one day I will kill that son of a bitch.
CHAPTER 38
ARI
“What is he doing?” Ethan asks as I pull the Jeep into the driveway and park. I lean across to see Larry bent over a pile of rocks in the side yard, trying to heave one into a wheelbarrow. His face is red with one blue vein popping out by his temple, and he’s panting. He gives up and lets the rock roll back into its place in the pile, stepping back and wiping his brow as he curses and reassesses the situation.
“He looks like he’s having a heart attack,” I say.
“No kidding. I better give him a hand.”
“Sorry.” I cringe. “I didn’t mean for you to get roped into fall yard work.”
Ethan shakes his head. “I don’t mind. You do what you need to and come get me when you’re done.”
After taking the Jeep for a drive along the backroads, then on the parkway, I found out that driving is like riding a bike—you never un-learn it. On the way back, I asked to swing by the Millers’ so I could pick up some stuff.
Hearing the Jeep doors slam shut as we exit, Larry turns around and his face brightens. “Oh, thank God!” He strides over to us, clutching his chest as he gasps for air. “Ari, can I borrow the Hulk for a few minutes?” I giggle as Larry bends over and places his hands on his knees and catches his breath. “That OK?” He looks up at Ethan for approval.
“Yes, sir. Put me to work.”
My foster dad continues to wheeze as he leads Ethan over to the pile of rocks and explains how he’s trying to move them elsewhere, and Ethan shoots me a wink as I make my way inside.
I open the door to my apartment and almost jump when Sophie bounces off my bed and comes rushing over, barking out my name. “Ari!” She drags me over to the couch and we fall onto it. “It’s a disaster! Everything is a disaster!”
I shake my head. “Wh— What’s a disaster?”
Sophie scrapes her fingernails into her scalp—sending her glasses askew—and gives her roots a tug. “Gino! What do you think?!” She throws herself backward, into the cushion. “After we left the bar last night he drove me home and when we got here we made out in the car for a hot minute and then we went up to my apartment.”
“You went upstairs?”
“And then clothes were coming off and body parts were getting sweaty and then we realized neither of us had condoms because neither of us planned on having sex last night and then, get this”—Sophie shoots up and grabs my arm—“he got dressed, drove to the nearest gas station, and he came back!”
“He came back?” I yell, eyebrows shooting through the roof.
“Yes! And while he was gone I did the fastest shaving recon of my life and like two minutes later he came bursting through my front door again and we picked right back up where we left off and before I know it we’re having sex!”
“You had sex?!” I slap my hands on the sides of my face.
“Likefourtimes!”
“FOUR TIMES?”
A knock at the window causes me to turn and see Ethan standing, eyebrows pulled together as he shakes his head and mouths what’s happening?
Sophie hurls a decorative pillow at the window, and he shakes his head some more and walks away laughing.
“Anyway,” Sophie continues, “he stayed over, and I was totally preparing myself for him to skedaddle out of there in the morning. Like, faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. But nope. You know what he did?” I shake my head, eyes wide, speechless. “He sexed me again!”
“Noooo!” This timeIpullmyhair.
“Yep. Morning breath and all. Then he insisted we go to breakfast. When he took me to get my car, he kissed the life out of me before we said our goodbyes and he’s already texted me since we parted ways.” Sophie holds her phone in front of my face for emphasis.
I stare at her, mouth hanging open, eyes blinking. “Oh my God.”
“I know!” She throws her hands up in the air and falls back on the couch again. “Like I said, it’s a disaster.”
