Page 71 of Never Been Worse

“What are we doing here?” I ask five minutes later when we step foot into a familiar-looking parking garage.

“Number seven.” He turns to me, laughing at what must be a look of utter confusion on my face before he pulls out a piece of paper. The paper we worked on a few nights ago. “Fuck with his super precious car.” Suddenly, it clicks, and I look at him astonished. “This is just for fun. He’ll get his real payback soon enough, but I thought you should get the chance to check some things off,” he says, the words cryptic.

“What does that mean? And why are we at Jeremy’s office building?”

Wes smiles wider but continues to walk further into the garage before turning to me.

“Which one is his?” he asks.

“Which what?”

“Which car is his?” The words echo slightly in the cold cement building, and suddenly, a hint of panic runs through me at the realization that Wes is being serious.

“We shouldn’t be doing this. There are cameras in this parking garage,” I whisper as we continue to walk through the garage. I learned my lesson the last time I tried to prank Jeremy.

“It doesn’t matter. Which car is his, baby?” he says, hand squeezing mine.

“Wes, this isn’t?—”

He stops walking, putting his cool hands on my cheeks and forcing me to look at him. “Turns out, your ex makes enemies everywhere he goes. It didn’t take much at all to convince the person in charge of the security room to accidentally turn off the cameras from twelve to one.”

My mouth drops open, and his lips tip in a smile. “You’re kidding me.”

He shakes his head, his thumb brushing along my cheekbone reverently. “I wouldn’t do anything to get either of us in trouble outright, Harper,” he says, pulling me into his arms fully. “I just want you to get even. This guy is clearly an ass and, at the very least, deserves his life to get a little harder. I’ve got Leo working on countering the shit he was whispering behind closed doors, but in the meantime, which is his car?”

I stare for a long moment, knowing time is of the essence but wanting to soak in this moment, the moment where someone goes so far out of their way just because he thinks I deserve to enjoy this silly revenge. I smile finally, then point to Jeremy’s obnoxious and, in my opinion, ugly classic car that he constantly bragged to everyone about. We move in that direction until we’re next to the car, parked as far as possible without any other cars nearby in two spots, like the asshole he is.

Then Wes shifts the bag he brought with him and sets it down before removing a heavy-looking box. I stare at the industrial-sized roll of plastic wrap in his hands.

“What is that?”

“Plastic wrap,” he says simply.

“And…what are we going to do with it?”

He looks at me like I’m being silly before answering. “Wrap his car, obviously,” he says, but sets it aside before continuing to dig in the bag, pulling out a bag of candy. I watch as he meticulously opens the package and then unwraps one of the hard candies. He steps closer to me and holds it out.

“Lick this,” he says, and my eyes go wide, moving to his crotch without even meaning to.

“Excuse me?”

He grins. “The candy, Harper. Though, another time, another place…” I grab the candy from his hand, and he laughs as a blush burns over my cheeks. “Now stick it to the glass.”

“Wes, what the?—”

“When he tries to pull it off, it’ll shatter the glass.” My eyes go wide.

“Shatter it?”

“It’s cold as fuck in here. The glass is already brittle.” He pulls something out of his bag and moves to the gas cap, fiddling to open it and succeeding before he tips a bottle of liquid sugar into it.

“Oh my god, you’re insane,” I whisper. “I thought we said nothing permanent!”

“I may have lied, though this isn’tpermanent. It’s all fixable. It’ll just be incredibly inconvenient and cost a bit.”

My heart starts pounding at the mere thought. “Wes, this isn’t a good?—”

He steps closer to me, putting the empty bottle back into his bag and putting his hands to my cheeks, forcing me to look at him. “Would I put you in danger at all?”

---