"No," I bristled. "I make it a habitnotto. That's the whole point."
"Fair enough." His voice grew deadly calm. "And tell me something else."
Judging from his tone, I wasn't so sure I wanted to. Still, I replied, "What?"
"The thing with twenty minutes – why'd you want to wait?"
"You mean to talk about it?" I cleared my throat. "I justdid, that's all."
"Oh, come on," he said with blatant sarcasm. "You can do better thanthat."
His tone grated, and I decided to let him have it. "Alright, fine. Let's say you're an axe-murder—"
"What?"
"I'm just saying, if youwere, it would be a lot harder for you to murder me in front of your grandpa's house than out here on the open road."
His fingers gave another flex. Even so, his voice was deadly calm as he said, "The road's notthatopen."
I didn't get it. "What?"
"Look." His gaze flicked over the surrounding traffic. "There's plenty of cars."
"Yeah, so?"
"So…" He gave me a questioning look. "You want me to roll down the window?"
I still didn't get it. "Why?"
His lips formed a humorless smile. "So you can holler for help."
I rolled my eyes. "Very funny."
"So, you think I'm joking."
It was a statement, not a question, and I grew rigid in my seat. "You'renot?"
He made a sound, halfway between a scoff and a laugh. "Don't worry," he said in a voice dripping with scorn. "I left the axe in my other tux."
Chapter 36
Gwen
Lexie and I were slumped side-by-side on our aunt's sofa when she said without much enthusiasm, "Hey, guess what."
I didn't feel like guessing. I didn't feel like talking either, which probably explained why the two of us had been sitting here in near silence for the past hour.
Praying she wouldn’t make meliterallyguess, I asked, "What?"
She gave a listless shrug. "I found my scarf."
At the mention of the scarf, I felt like crying. I knew which one she meant. It was, of course, the red one that Drake had worn because he thought it was mine.
I slumped deeper on the sofa.Drake.
Or Murphy.
Murph?
