Page 14 of Alive and Kicking
Stay out until the sun rises
Go on a date
Get drunk and sing karaoke
Have a slumber party with pillow fights, candy corn, and romcom movies.
First kiss
Go to Walmart
Learn how to cook
Lose virginity
I get so excited when I see that we’ve already got six things crossed out on my list and only three more to go. I’m so close to having done all of the stupid things I’ve always wanted to doduring college. There’s also a sad feeling that makes me realize I don’t really want to finish the list. If I finish it, then it’s all done. After college I’ll be the head of the family. I’ll never have the freedom to even go to the store without worrying about security risks. Then there’s my father’s decree that I have to get married once I graduate. I bite my lip and try to remind myself that I have three more years before that happens.
The list has become a symbol of my freedom. It almost being complete feels like everything I’ve gained is coming to an end. Like once I cross off the last thing on that list someone is going to come scoop me up and take me back home. My chest feels tight as these thoughts clash in my head.
Zane frowns at whatever face I must be making, but I wipe it away. I know I’m being silly and that finishing this list isn’t going to magically take away what freedom I’ve managed to snatch for myself. I can always make a new list if I want to. With that thought in mind my smile comes back and Zane relaxes, not asking what was going through my mind. Instead, he helps Nox and I bring in all the random unnecessary things I got while shopping for the three ingredients that Nox needed for dinner.
Sloane
We’re all crammed into Cain’s SUV. It’s the biggest car that any of us own so it just makes sense for us to take it to New York. Plus, that means that he’ll be the one that has to drive through the crowded streets of Manhattan. The rest of us don’t really have the patience for that kind of traffic. Nox and Cain are in the front, while Zane and I are on either side of Viv in the second row.
Cain just scratched the back of his neck as we stuffed everything into the car, muttering to himself about how he should have gone for a three row SUV. But I don’t mind having to sit so close to Viv. She’s snuggled between us with a fuzzy blanket thrown over her lap reading a book. Zane keeps supplying her with books to the point she had to order a bookcase to keep them all on. I finally convinced him to stop buying them until she at least finishes all the ones she currently has.
Looking out the window, I readjust in my seat trying to get comfortable. It’s a sixteen-hour drive and we’ve already been driving for ten. If nobody else cracks, I’m going to have to demand we get off at the next rest stop for a bathroom break again. We stopped a little less than four hours ago, but I let thevending machines tempt me into getting a soda. I regret that now.
Viv chuckles, and I glance over to find her watching me squirm in my seat. I huff, crossing my arms over my chest. There’s no way I’m going to break and be the one to ask again. She rolls her eyes and leans forward in her seat, her hand gently settling on Cain’s bicep. “Can we stop for the restroom soon?”
He glances at her quickly over his shoulder, giving her a little nod, and she looks over at me with a quirked brow. I know she’s taunting me but I’m just glad I didn’t have to be the one to ask again. The guys always give me shit because I’m always the one who has to go first.
Viv settles back into the seat, or she tries to. Zane’s arm ends up wrapped around her shoulders, forcing her to sit a bit sideways with her shoulder pressed against his chest as he leans his head against the top of hers. There’s no jealousy between either of us as the need to also be touching her pushes me to place my palm on her thigh, tucking my fingers under her leg. Before Viv, I never really considered giving dating a go, and I definitely never pictured myself wanting to share a girl with the three men that make up the family I built for myself. But I find myself here anyway, more content that I have ever been before.
Nox glances over his shoulder at us and a small smile spreads across his lips, but he doesn’t say anything to draw attention to our cozy position. Facing back to the front, he just tilts his head toward Cain. “Want me to drive for a bit when we stop?”
Cain sighs as he flicks on his turn signal to get off at the rest stop. “Yeah. That would be nice.”
Nox nods his head. Neither of them are snipping at each other, which just shows how anxious we all really are over this trip. We’re literally vigilante mercenaries and we’re about to spend a week with the Italian Mafia.
He puts the car into park, and I don’t even hesitate to rush off to the bathroom, hearing Zane and Viv chuckling at my expense as I dash through the doors.
When I get back to the car, I’m the first one there. So I take a few moments to stretch my legs, avoiding the temptation of the vending machines behind their wrought iron cages this time. I walk back and forth on the sidewalk in front of the car because I’m not in any rush to get back into the sardine can, and I almost want to pout when the others get back. Cain hands the keys off to Nox and we all pile back in.
Somehow, I manage to block out Viv and Zane’s whispered conversation about the best tools to use for dismemberment and slip off to sleep. When I wake up again it’s to Cain in the front seat as car horns honk all around us. The noise outside has increased tenfold, and I have no idea how I managed to sleep through it so long. Eventually, we turn down a street lined with huge houses and the streets around us quiet down. “Welcome to New Yorks Gilded Mansions,” Viv mutters next to me, looking distastefully at the mansions on either side of us.
We drive for a minute or two longer before Cain turns down a long driveway. There is a gate with an honest to God guard in a little shack. He pokes his head out and peers into the car. When his eyes land on Viv he smiles brightly. “Glad to see you home!” he says cheerfully.
Viv leans forward between the front seats to smile at him. He doesn’t look very memorable with his brown hair and eyes, nothing about this man stands out. But Viv seems to know him. “How’s Missy?” she asks him.
He nods his head with a small smile. “She’s doing well. Going into high school next year.”
Viv lets out a whistle. “She’s growing fast.”
The guard nods again, a bit more formally this time, dipping his head into a slight bow. “I’ll let you go now. Don’t want to keep the others waiting.”
Viv leans back in her seat as he ducks into the shack, and the gate rolls open before us. Cain slowly drives up to the mansion. It’s not the biggest house on the street but it’s nowhere near the smallest either. Cain stops at the top of the circular driveway, near the little patch of grass in the middle of it with a marble water fountain. “Remember the rules?” Viv asks us as Cain goes to open his door.
