“How far are you headed?”
“Far enough.” Her gaze stays glued to the window, watching the world blur by.
“Nice day, huh?” The words feel stupid as they tumble out, but I can’t help it. I need to fill the space with something other than tension.
“Sure.” She doesn’t look at me or bite on the small-talk bait.
The silence stretches between us. I focus on the road, the lines flashing by one after another, marking distance and time. Before long, I break the silence again. “Something on your mind?” I venture again, pushing.
“Nothing worth talking about.”
“Not even an apology for attacking me?”
Slowly, Missy turns her head to look at me. “You look fine.” She takes a deep breath. “And I wouldn’t have stabbed you.”
“Still hurts like a bitch.”
“Why’d you pick me up?”
“It’s not safe for a woman to be walking along the highway alone.”
Missy scowls at me. “So they didn’t send you?”
“Why would they send me?”
Missy’s silence gnaws at me, loud and sharp.
My ringtone slices through the cab. My heart jolts. The screen lights up—Highway. I snatch the phone from the cup holder.
“Talk to me,” I answer, my thumb pressed hard against the wheel.
“Lyric—” His voice is that low rumble I know too well, but before he can lay another word on me she interrupts.
“Are you serious?” Missy’s outburst shatters the quiet, her voice like shrapnel. “You and Highway? What does he even see in you?”
I blink, stunned, fumbling with the phone. It nearly slips from my grasp.
“Missy, what are you—”
“He’s been single for years, and suddenly you swoop in, and poof, you’re part of the family?” She spits the words, venom and envy tangling together. “How did you manage to get a club name before me? You don’t belong here, Lyric.”
“Hey!” I snap back, heat coursing through my veins, tension coiling tight in my chest. “That’s enough!”
My grip on the steering wheel is white-knuckled, my breaths coming fast. “Highway, I’ll call you back,” I say into the phone and end the call without waiting for an answer.
Missy’s chest heaves, her anger a live wire between us.
“Missy…” I start, voice steel-hard, “… we’re gonna settle this. But not on the road.”
My heart hammers in my chest, a drumbeat loud enough to drown out the engine’s roar. Missy’s fists are clenched like she’s ready for a fight.
“Tell me one thing, Lyric,” she says, voice low and dangerous. “Why do you and your sister get everything? What’s so special about you two?”
“Missy, I—” Again, she cuts me off.
“Shut it! You think you’re part of them now?” A bitter laugh escapes her. “You have no idea what goes on. No idea what I’ve done.”
The road before us gives way to the chaos of downtown Jacksonville. My fists are clenched tightly on the wheel, every muscle tensed, waiting for whatever comes next.
