“Let me drive,” Parrish murmurs, getting way too close to me. He’s so close that Tess actually gives him a warning look, like she thinks he’s quietly insulting me rather than … whatever it is that he’s doing. “We should talk.”
I swallow hard, but what can I say to that? We most definitely need to have a conversation.
The guide gives us a rundown on safety features, rules, and how to drive the ATVs before handing out helmets and letting us pick our own rides. I’ve never done anything like this, but it looks fun. Or, it would be if Parrish and I weren’t doing … something. Crushing on each other? Lusting after each other? I have no idea.
He grabs the rearmost ATV and takes the driver’s seat, leaving me to climb into the passenger side. Tess takes Kimber and Amelia in the frontmost ATV while Paul, Ben, and Henry grab the middle one.
Once the vehicles are started, and we’re slowly rolling forward, following one another and letting the instructor lead us across the road and onto the trail, it’s nearly impossible to hear anything at all—even Parrish. At the very least, this gives us the privacy we need.
“What are we doing?” I shout out, letting out a small sound of excitement as we hit a bump and catch some air. The ATV hits the ground hard, but the shocks are good, so it’s just fun rather than jarring. The wind is whipping my face and hands, but the sun is hot. The landscape is a fascinating mix of Douglas fir, western juniper, native lupine, and red-brown dirt. I’d appreciate it more if I weren’t wrapped up in a romantic rendezvous with my own stepbrother.
Ugh.
Yep, yep, I’ve done it. I’ve become a teen novel trope. There it is. It’s all over for me.
The thing is … sometimes tropes are there for a reason. Because they’re fun. Because I’m getting a stupid ugly thrill out of having a crush on Parrish Vanguard.
“You tell me,” he yells back, slowing the vehicle down at the next turn to give Paul a chance to speed up. Parrish glances over at me, but his face is impossible to read beneath the visor of the helmet. “Do you like me or not?”
I just stare back at him, that hot ember in my belly fanning into a flame. God, he’s annoying sometimes.
“Do I like you?” I query back as he hits the gas again, plastering me to my seat the way he does when he drives his zippy sportscar around. “Do you like me?”
There’s a long pause, long enough that I start to wonder if he even heard me. I figure probably not, since the wind is so loud, and the train of ATVs is raucous.
“Yes.”
Just that.
That one reply, it staggers me. It kills me. It rearranges every single thing I thought about Parrish in an instant. I mean, I still can’t stand the guy. He’s rude and dismissive, hot and cold, bitchy, moody, spoiled. So fucking spoiled.
And yet … he stands up for people he loves. He cares more about Tess than he does himself. He’s there whenever I need a shoulder to cry on, or a place to escape to.
“Yes.” This one’s from me. I don’t have to clarify which question of his I’m responding to. He knows. We both know. “So what do we do?”
Another long pause as we climb into the mountains.
We’re approaching a massive, fossilized lava flow on one side, coming up to the line of stopped ATVs before he finally answers.
“I don’t know, Gamer Girl.” He takes off his helmet and looks out to where Tess is, climbing out of the ATV so that our guide can show off the old rock formation. To be fair, it’s impressive as hell, covering the forest floor in a twisting, pock-marked surge of black rock. Tess waves for us to catch up and Parrish frowns. “I have no fucking idea.”
After checking out the lava flow, Parrish and I switch places and I get to drive the ATV up to the top of the butte. The 360-degree views of the Deschutes National Forest would be a real treat if my palms weren’t sweaty, and I wasn’t constantly replaying my conversation with Parrish.
I don’t know, Gamer Girl.
It’s quite clear at this point that he’s putting off his interest in me because of Tess. To protect Tess. She wants us to be siblings, but that’s just not something we’re ever going to be, unfortunately. The thing is, there are billions of fish in the sea, so why did I have to fall for Parrish? Other than Maxx Wright, he’s probably the most unattainable human being on the planet.
Why not someone like … Chasm McKenna?
I wet my lips, hands clenched around the steering as we head back toward the trailhead. As per our guide’s instructions, there’s a decent amount of space between us and Paul’s ATV. In fact, I don’t see him or anyone else as I follow the winding trail toward the road.
