Page 11 of Thorn Kiss
The corner of my mouth tugged. “Let me be a gentleman first.”
Madi smiled as she moved past me. I caught her black cherry scent and pulled my gaze away from her, focusing on a cactus in the dirt a few feet away as she got into the passenger seat.
God help me. I cleared my throat and closed the door gently.
My keys jangled in my hand, got in the driver’s side and turned on the truck. Madi’s gaze roamed around the cabin and I suddenly became self-conscious of all the random stuff I had in here, like the One Piece bobblehead on the dashboard that definitely looked like a little crazy guy if you didn’t know anime. Or the random packs of gum that had helped me quit my secret smoking habit a couple years ago. Or the scent of car grease from the tools that always lived on the floorboard in the back.
“An anime nerd,” she commented.
“Guilty,” I chuckled. “Glad you at least know.”
“Who doesn’t know One Piece?”
“In a town this small? Almost no one except me and Avery. And I guess Austin, although he always refused to watch anime with us. He’s our older brother. On the occasion that Avery and I had an alliance against him, we’d force him to watch with us. Or use our voting power to convince our parents to let us put it on so there was no escaping.”
“A democracy, I see.”
“Yep. A very liberal one too.”
Madi grinned as I pulled onto Main Street. “Uh-huh. So you’re not the gun-slinging type of Texan?”
“No,” I chuckled. “More like the book-slinging Texan. Does that surprise you?”
“You know, I think after seeing the One Piece bobblehead and hearing you talk, it doesn’t.” She leaned forward, her eyes on the little houses we passed by. “Are you close with your brother and sister?”
“I am,” I said. “We have our moments, but I love them. They’re my family.”
I caught Madi nodding out of the corner of my eye, although her expression had melted into something that was almost wistful.
“Do you have any?” I asked.
“Any what?”
“Siblings.”
“Oh.” Her expression told me it was a touchy subject, but she nodded reluctantly. “Two sisters. But they’re a lot younger than me. I feel like we live in two different worlds. My parents had me as the trial run, then the two of them nine years later.”
“So they got to fuck up with you first.”
“Yep. They did agreatjob.” Sarcasm dripped from her tone, but then she shook her head. “Sorry. It was a long drive. Tell me about Whynot. What do you do for fun here?”
“Tip longhorns.”
She gasped. “What? Is that even a thing?”
“No,” I laughed, enjoying her assumptions about Texas a little too much. “Not at all.”
Sunlight crested the tops of the buildings on Main Street as I parked in front of Whynot Stay. The blue two-story hotel was a beacon amongst the desert tones.
“We have festivals and stuff,” I said as I looked over at her. Her lashes looked like they’d been dipped in ink. I drank in every part of her face, trying to act like I didn’t want to know everything about her right here and now. “And there’s actually a lot of really cute shops. You can also go hiking, although I’d recommend taking someone with you or at least letting someone know if you’re going and when you expect to be home.”
“Oh jeez. I can tell you have a little sister.”
My smile softened. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”
Her laugh was harsh and thin. “I promise you, I absolutely do not. My life is falling apart, but I appreciate your confidence. This is the hotel, right?”
“Yeah. The only one in town.”
