“I told you I want a mini coupe.”
“Okay, bad example.”
“Stop while you’re ahead.” I licked my ice cream again. “And if I were you I’d help me finish this cone.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I’m still hyped up over that dive. I want to get out my energy.”
“Does getting out energy involve me?”
“I’d like for it too.”
“Then, give me that.” He grabbed my cone. “Let’s go find Brody and get out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Macon
Get here now. Carly needs you.
Maddy’s text nearly gave me a heart attack. I’d just gotten in my car to head home after work. Before starting the car I texted back. Where?
Colin’s.
I didn’t waste any more time asking questions. I pulled out of the lot and onto the road. I didn’t get far. The traffic was horrible. With only one major road, high traffic times were a problem at the beach. Waiting wasn’t going to work. If Carly needed me I was going to get there—fast. I was still close enough to work I could get my car back. I drove over the curb and parked my car on the sidewalk. It would be quicker to run at the rate I was going.
My mind ran a million miles a minute. What could be going on? If Carly needed me she normally would have texted me herself. Why did Maddy have to do it?
I was sweaty as all hell by the time Colin’s place finally came into sight. I ran up the driveway. There was an unfamiliar car parked out front. I ran right to the front door and didn’t even bother to knock.
“I don’t understand why you’re supporting your sister making such a stupid decision. You know as well as we do that running away is never the answer.”
I walked into the living room just in time to catch a middle aged man going off on Colin. The familiar resemblance left no question that it was his father.
Carly stood huddled in the corner of the room with her arms wrapped around her chest. She hadn’t noticed me enter.
“I support Carly. That’s more than what you can say.” Colin glared at his father.
I took in the room. The dad had his arm resting on the leg of a woman that I assumed was their mother.
“We support all of our children, but we can’t just gloss over what she did to Kim.”
“What I did to Kim?” Carly stood, her eyes blazing with anger. “I did nothing.”
“Are you really going to keep this up? Something happened with you and Jasper.”
“Yes. Something did. He came on to me, and I said no.” She clenched her teeth.
“Are you sure you made that clear?” her father asked.
I didn’t think. I just stormed into the room. “Are you really going to talk to your own daughter that way?”
“And who are you?” Her dad eyed me with disdain. I’m sure I looked like hell, but I didn’t care.
I walked across the room and put an arm around Carly. “I’m Carly’s boyfriend.”
She glanced up at me. A look of relief crossed her face.
“Boyfriend? Carly doesn’t have a boyfriend,” her mother said snidely.
“You’d know she did if you actually bothered to talk to her once in a while.” Colin glared.
“Is this why you asked to speak to us? You wanted us to see Carly was playing around with some guy at the beach?”
Playing around? I would have gone off on Carly’s dad if she hadn’t squeezed my hand. She wanted me to stay out of it.
“No. That’s not what I wanted to talk about, and I didn’t ask you to come here. I told you I’d come to you.”
“We decided to surprise you.” The mother turned back to Carly and me. “And what do you do? Are you also wasting your time?”
“I knocked up Maddy.” The entire room went quiet after the words left Colin’s mouth. Maddy looked pale as a ghost.
“Excuse me?” his mom asked.
“You heard me. Lay off Carly. Let’s talk about me.”
Maddy buried her face in her hands. I knew she was annoyed, but Colin had actually just jumped about a thousand respect points in my book. He threw me a look, and I knew what to do. I tugged on Carly’s hand and headed toward the door.
“Pregnant? Are you really that irresponsible?”
“They’re getting married. Congratulate them.” Carly spoke just loudly enough that her parents could hear.
Her mother nodded and a look passed over her, like she was actually seeing her daughter for the first time. She turned back to Colin. “We’ll have to move fast with the planning.”
Carly headed to the front door, and I followed. Her family situation was seriously messed up.
“Just get it over with,” She mumbled the words as she searched around in her purse.
“Get what over with?” I stood right beside her, trying to come up with the right words. That conversation with her parents made me mad. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling.
“Breaking up with me. I’m surprised you didn’t do it after Jasper, but this was even worse, huh?”
“What?” I turned her, putting my hands on either of her arms. “What are you talking about?”
“Now that you’ve seen how messed up my family is, don’t you want to run?”
“No. I want to wrap you up in my arms and keep everything else away.”
She gazed up with at me with tear rimmed eyes. “Do you really mean that?”
“Absolutely, can I have the keys?”
She pulled her clunky keychain out of her purse and handed it to me. I wordlessly opened her door.
I didn’t say anything until we were almost back to the condo. “When we get inside go pack enough stuff for a few days. I’ll call Max and my boss.”
“Wait, where are we going?”
“Do you trust me?”
She nodded. “One hundred percent.”
I pulled into her usual spot. “Then just pack. Nothing crazy, just the basics.”
“Okay…” She opened her door.
We walked upstairs quietly. I wanted to talk to her about everything, but not yet. I needed to keep us both focused so we could get out of town quickly.
I threw together a small duffel while I convinced Ralph to cover me at work and called Max.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Max. It’s Macon.”
“And to what do I owe the honor of this phone call?” He was definitely intrigued.
“Can you find someone to cover for Carly this weekend?”