Page 26 of Lavender Lake
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Ranch
“So, what did you do?” Bowman asked as we drove out of town toward my family’s ranch.
“Do?” I peered at him as I kept hold of the pastry boxes on my lap.
“Gracie, Lucy . . . they seemed to know you’re a hair trigger. Clearly, you’ve got a track record. Or a rap sheet.”
I glared at him.
“Come on, tell me a story,” he begged. “I’ll tell you one of mine if you tell me one of yours.”
He glanced at me but didn’t take his hands off the wheel.
For a moment, I was mesmerized by the size of them. They were huge, and I instantly remembered the way they had coasted over my skin and spread my thighs . . .
“Salem?”
“Yeah.” I dragged my eyes up to his.
He arched a brow. “I’ll trade you story for story.”
“You have youthful transgressions?” I asked.
“Several. Come on, tit for tat.”
“I’m not showing you my tat.”
“I’ve seen yourtat.” He grinned. “And I’ve seen your ink, too.”
“A youthful transgression.” I wanted to get far away from the conversation about my ink.
“Yep. You gotta go first, though.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“Humor me.”
“Fine.” I sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to let it go. “There was a really mean girl named Amber in high school who made Hadley cry. So, one day I put hair removal creamin her face cleanser bottle. After soccer practice while she was showering and washing her face, she got a nice little surprise—her eyebrows mysteriously fell out. Oh, and her hairline got pushed back about a half an inch since she got some up on her forehead.”
“Vicious. What did she say to Hadley that made her cry?”
“I don’t remember,” I lied.
He looked at me but said nothing.
“Now you. Tell me one of your youthful transgressions.”
“There was a stray cat in our neighborhood,” he began. “It only had three legs. But it was a scrappy little fucker. These two idiots—just big, dumb, mean motherfuckers—managed to trap it.”
Dread coiled through my stomach.
“You can tell when a kid is off, you know? They were fourteen. And they definitely knew better. Anyway, they trapped the cat and were tying firecrackers to its tail.”
