Page 17 of Vile Bastards
I clutch my crotch with my hand and adjust myself, and Scarlett’s eyes catch and hold on the motion before she lifts her eyes to my face. I smile at her, and she shudders.
“You almost died, and all you have to say is how ready you are for me to fuck you?” I ask, and she laughs at me. It’s the most perfect sound in the world, as far as I’m concerned. Having almost lost her, my vigor and obsession are duly renewed.
“Did you see anything?” Widow asks, his voice strangely low and husky. “Your life flashing before your eyes? Your biggest regrets?”
“Your greatest love?” I ask, and Scarlett smiles, but shakes her head.
“None of those things,” she murmurs, and then her smile—sad as it is—fades away. “I saw Lemon.” A pause. “Oh, and Aspen.”
“Did you see the Kelly boy after you woke up?” I query politely, and Scarlett shakes her head. I’m not surprised that she saw Lemon and Aspen above everything else: ghosts have a way of possessing a person, don’t they?
“I haven’t heard from Ash. Someone sent flowers with no name on the card; I’m thinking they might be from him.” She glances back in the direction of her grandmother’s car, and I notice that the back is filled to the brim with flowers and balloons, likely from her crew of wild Prescott girls.
The sound of another car approaching puts me on edge.
After what happened to us on Friday, life is going to be substantially different.
This entire situation has been elevated, and I desperately need to make sure that Scarlett—as well as her stable of saddled dicks—understands that.
The car that approaches is a white Lotus Elan. Fantastic. The annoying best friends.
It’s a shame the girl I’m in love with isn’t a loner like Widow. That would’ve been nice, to be able to have her all to myself.
“Scar!” It’s that boy—Basti. He’s excruciatingly lucky that he’s gay. The way he runs up to her and throws his arms around her neck bothers me in a primal, male sort of way. Widow and I exchange a look, and he hitches a brow. I can see that he, too, is annoyed. “Girl, you scared the shit out of us.”
The other one—Nisha—meets my gaze as she makes her way across the grass. I’ve already had to deal with her giving me an earful, demanding information, blah, blah. As much as I dislike another male hugging my Scarlett, this is the best friend that makes me … nervous.
I have a disturbing feeling that if I demanded Scarlett choose between these friends and me, she’d choose them.
“Oh God, Queen.” Nisha steps up and joins the hug just as another car pulls up and Scarlett’s aunt and mother climb out.
“This is our cue,” I murmur to Widow, and we slide away together into the shadows.
On my way across the street, I glance back to see Scarlett watching us, wanting us.
It pleases me to see that she’d rather be with me than with her family.
I smile, wave, and wink before heading over to stand beside Widow, leaning my ass up against the side of his squeaky-clean purple Stingray. Got all the blood and guts off the bumper, hood, and roof. It was a chore.
“Your parole officer going to be pleased you skipped school today?” I ask, but Widow just scoffs at me.
“I had to ask Ash Kelly for money again.” He exhales and then reaches up to rub at his face with both hands. “My pride is completely and entirely rat-fucked.”
“Yes, well, so it should be. You allowed Scarlett to leave the track when I explicitly asked you to keep her safe. You failed me, Widow.”
He turns to look at me, and at least in his face, I can see that he agrees with me.
“We all fucked up on Friday. Why the hell didn’t you think to tell her your plans, huh? Real smart move on your part.” Widow snorts as I tilt my head at him, examining his neck and wondering how easy it would be to slash his carotid. He sees me looking and rolls his eyes before taking a step back. “I should’ve stopped her from leaving the track; you should’ve told her your plans. Ash and Alexei are both responsible for getting Scarlett involved in all of this shit in the first place. Really, we should probably kill them both and dump their bodies in a public place. It’d save us a lot of trouble in the long run.”
Mr. Lawless isn’t entirely wrong about that last bit.
Widow turns back to look at Scarlett, and I follow his gaze.
The family is ushering her inside, but at the last second, she pauses and turns around to look at us. She blows a kiss and then flips us off before finally retreating and closing the door behind her.
