Run Bad Boy Run

Chapter 35

Hayden Cross wasn't sure what it was that compelled him to ask Ember Chance to kiss him. He tried to think about it—tried to find that devious piece inside of him that loved to torture him and rip it out—but the longer he searched, the more his head began to hurt.

Maybe he'd finally lost his mind? Maybe those words his father used to tell him were finally coming true? He didn't want to think about it. Every time he did—which, as it turned out, tended to be far too often—he felt himself spiraling into chaos. He wasn't going to let himself spiral into any more chaos when what he was doing now was to undo all of his mistakes.

So he focused on Ember, instead. He wasn't some delinquent with a self-fulfilling prophecy. This was just the long car ride doing things to his head. And Ember. Ember tended to make him lose his mind. She was like—what? Speeding down I-71, he racked his mind for an idea.

A bee.

Sure, he thought to himself as he changed lanes. Yeah, that's right.

She was like a bee.

A blonde, elf-sized, seriously annoying bee.

This time, they drive along the highway in relative silence. He should have been relieved: that's all he wanted until now. But as much as Hayden tried to relax, he couldn't. His muscles were so stiff, they ached every time he shifted in his seat. And dammit. He really, really needed a cigarette. His fingers ached for the motions, but he kept his grip firm on the steering wheel. He wasn't going to smoke in his mother's car—no matter what. He already slipped up once. He needed to think of something—anything else—to take his mind off of his father or his mom working long hours to keep them afloat or Derek and his merry band of assholes.

"Do you think you could turn the air conditioning up a bit?" Ember asked, her tired voice snapping him out of his thoughts. When he looked at her through the rearview mirror, her wary expression grew grave. "Don't give me that look," she added, offended. "I'm just asking you to turn up the air conditioning."

So he did. But instead of falling back into silence, Ember decided the best way to relieve the tension in their car was to keep talking.

"So," she continued from the back. "Since we're going down this path of forgiveness, why not get to know each other better?"

Caught off guard, Hayden made a face. "I think we know too much of each other." He paused. "But if you're talking about getting to know each other that way—"

"I can't stand you!" Ember groaned. Hayden threw his head back and laughed. When he shifted to get a better look at her through the mirror, her sudden proximity made him tense. She sat just as before, her chin propped on the shoulder rest of his seat, and the little tension that left his body was back tenfold. "Well, I mean the civil, non-sexual way."

"This isn't going to be your Truth or Dare game is it?"

"No." And the next thing Hayden knew, Ember Chance was pulling herself into the front passenger seat again. "What?" she wondered when he gaped at her fluid descent into the seat next to his.

"Last time you tried that, it didn't really go well."

"Well, I have a plan of execution this time!" she told him. "I wasn't exactly planning on coming up front last time."

"Oh okay," Hayden nodded. There was a brief, awkward silence between them. Ember looked distant, staring out the window. And no matter how many times his brain screamed to look at the damn road, he couldn't stop glancing over at how the sunlight turned her hair every shade of light gold curling along her shoulders. And when she caught his glance, Hayden contemplated slowing down, throwing his car into park, and sprinting into the cornfields lining the sides of the road. Anything to get away from the embarrassment that flooded through him. Instead, he blurted, "What's your favorite color?"