“Don’t use him as a rebound,” she said, and I chuckled.
“First, I’d have to actually be rebounding, which you know I’m not, and second, it’s Dawson.”
“Exactly. The man you’ve had feelings for since you knew what crushes were,” she replied.
“He’s family,” I said, even though what I felt for him was in no way the same as what I felt for any of my other family members.
“He’s my brother-in-law,” Jersey said quietly. “But he isn’t really anything to you.”
I sat there stunned for a moment. “What are you saying?”
She took a deep breath and then rushed out. “I’m just saying, if you still have feelings for him, then you shouldn’t stop yourself just because he happens to be Truck’s brother.”
I sat down on the barstool because if I didn’t, my feet might have given out.
“All you’ve ever done was warn me off,” I said.
“Well, yeah. You were sixteen, and he was twenty-two. He was trying to figure out everything in his life, and you had goals. Now, he’s got his life sorted, you’re no longer a kid, and…well…love is a rare and beautiful thing that shouldn’t be ignored.”
“Who said anything about love?”
She snorted. “You’re the one who convinced me that love is the only real superpower, remember?” she said as if I was two and had to have it spelled out for me.
I thought of the kisses Dawson and I had shared. Incredible, world-altering kisses. Filled with more emotion than I’d ever had for anyone I’d ever slept with. Definitely more than I’d had for the guy I’d lost my virginity to at eighteen.
“Violet?”
“He’s got a lot going on in his world. A world that’s really, really different than mine, so I’m not sure it’s any more of a good idea now than it was when I was sixteen.”
“Are you coming back to Palo Alto eventually?”
“I’m not going back to school. That’s all I know at this point,” I told her.
She sighed.
“I’m sorry if that disappoints you,” I said, inhaling and holding my breath. Jersey had wanted me to change the world, had believed in me and my brain before I’d even realized I was different than other people.
“It only disappoints me if it disappoints you,” she replied. “I just want you to be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
My throat clogged with emotions. I suddenly missed her more than anything. I wanted to tell her everything. About the cash I’d found on the yacht and the worry that had coursed through me ever since Dawson told me he was undercover. About the evil I felt rolling off of Ken’Ichi like one of Jersey’s supervillains. But Dawson had asked me not to, and so I would respect this secret just like I’d respected the one he’d told after we’d crashed over the barrier and into the sea. That accident had been all on me, but he’d shouldered it for me, just like he was trying to shoulder the world right now. So, the least I could do was try to share a piece of it with him.
Dawson
IN THE BLOOD
“How much of my father am I destined to become?”
Performed by John Mayer
Written by John Mayer
We were thirty minutes from dockingat the pier in Tarifa, and according to the GPS trackers we’d installed on both yachts, Demario was at least an hour behind us. He’d had to stop midway because he’d cut himself on a glass bottle?dumbass?and then had to have Angelica stitch him up.
We were fifty-two hours in, mere minutes from beating the record by over six hours. We hadn’t just defeated it. We’d literally blown it out of the water. Dax and I were full of smiles but trying to keep calm so we didn’t get cocky and screw it up at the last minute.
The satellite phone rang, causing us both to jump.
“Langley,” I said, fully expecting it to be Demario whining about his loss.
