Chapter 12

NOVALEE

I understood why dogs hung their heads out the window. It was incredibly freeing to drive down the highway with the windows open so I could feel the wind in my hair. The only thing better was driving down the highway with the windows open while singing at the top of my lungs.

“Bye, bye, bye.”

Atlee did not share my enthusiasm.

“N’sync? Really?”

Yes N’sync, and after this there would be a little Backstreet Boys and Corey Hart, who liked to wear his sunglasses at night. All of whom had great beats to car dance too, which was the only good thing with long trips.

“Come on baby,” I sang while bobbing my shoulders at Atlee.

He shook his head and snickered, “you are the worst singer in the world.”

“But you kind of want to dance, don’t you?”

His eyes rolled, “I don’t dance to boy bands.”

“Everyone dances to boy bands.”

“Maybe if we were in the nineties.”

How great would that be? I go to a concert, scream like a lunatic, and throw my panties on stage. But sadly, those days were gone. All I had to work with now was my trusty cassette player and Atlee, who sure as hell was not getting my panties.

“How much coffee have you had?”

That was a trick question. “Do you mean before we left this morning, or when we stopped for breakfast?”

“I was wondering why you were so full of energy.”

Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have had that last cup. I was starting to feel a little jittery. In my defense I was nervous about seeing Kato, and Maw Maw hid her bourbon, so I was left with caffeine, which had absolutely no calming effects. But man was I awake.

“Can we at least change the music?” Atlee asked.

No we could not. All this energy had to go somewhere. “Driver picks the music and the passenger sucks it up.”

Did he see a fancy radio in here with Bluetooth and other crap? No. There was a tape deck. Our music choices were limited. I could always turn on the radio, but the only stations out here were religious, and the holy word of God might make Atlee explode. That was not a mess I wanted to clean up.

“We would’ve been more comfortable in my car.”

“No,” I said. “You would’ve been more comfortable.”

Not to mention, if I was going to operate a motor vehicle, then that vehicle better contribute to the pollution of this planet. Besides, who wanted to drive in a corvette anyway? Me that’s who, but Atlee wouldn’t let me.

“This thing is held together with duct tape.”

“Hey! Her name happens to be Gertrude, and I use glue too.” There were some small parts in this truck.

Atlee’s brow rose. “You named your truck Gertrude?”

“What else was I gonna call her? Princess?”

His eyes went from the cracked dashboard, to the tweed upholstered bench we were sitting on. “This shit is worse than wool. How do you fuck in here?”

“Um… I don’t.”

Not everyone used their vehicles as mobile hookup spots. Pretty sure if I shone a blacklight in the backseat of his car I’d go blind. God forbid anyone got killed back there. That would be a crime scene investigators nightmare.

“Gio hasn’t fucked you in here yet?”

What did he mean yet?

“Would you stop?” I pet the steering wheel. “Gertrude is a virgin.”

And she would stay that way.

Atlee shook his head. “No she’s not.”

“Just because you use your car as a cum dumpster, doesn’t mean I do.”

“You may not…” He tipped his head. “But who drove it before you?”

“My brother.”

Atlee shot me look as realization hit me. The various faces of Kato’s dates flew through my mind. Was I sitting in possible remnants of my brother’s spunk? Eww. Now I had to burn the seat.

“You don’t happen to have a flamethrower on you, do you?”

“Sorry. That’s in my other car.”

He said that so nonchalantly that I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

“I’m not talking to you anymore. You make me want to jump out of a moving vehicle.” I reached out and cranked up the volume.

He tried to say something, but I just held up my finger, sang, “bye, bye, bye,” and wagged my head in time with the beat.

After a few minutes, Atlee gave up and joined me in my car dance. Not only was the bastard good at it, but he danced circles around me. No one should be able to move their hips like that in a confined space.

Not wanting to see anymore, I turned the music off and curled my lip at him. “What the hell was that?”

He smiled back at me. “Are you jealous that I can dance better than you?”

“No. But I’m a little worried that you got me pregnant.”

“Don’t worry,” he shot me a wink. “I always wrap my shit.”

That was something I didn’t need a visual of.

Atlee sat back and watched me, which normally wouldn’t bother me. He checked me out at least ten times a day. But there was something different in his whiskey eyes. Something almost inquisitive. It made me very uncomfortable.

“Can I help you?”

If he was going to be a perv then be a perv. Don’t stare at me without sexual intent. That was just wrong.

“I was just wondering if Gio knows?”

“If he knows what?”

That his car dancing had the power of impregnation? Atlee was going to have to be more specific. There was a lot Gio didn’t know. Like the itching powder I sprinkled on the front seat of his Range Rover—he really should lock that thing—or the conversation I had with the FBI agent who conveniently bumped into me at the store yesterday.

Agent Jack Donovan said I needed to keep in contact. To be fair, I was busy with other things and kind of forgot he existed, which by the way was not a good excuse according to him. But if he wanted reliability then he wouldn’t have come to me.

“Does Gio know how smart you are?”

“The correct term is intelligent. Does Gio know how intelligent I am.” That’s right, I was going to be that person today. “And I don’t think Gio is interested in my intelligence.”

“He would if he knew that your IQ was 121.”

How the hell did he know that? “What did you do, look at my file?”

“Yeah.”

Well, okay then.

“I wouldn’t pay attention to that. The test was done in grade school. I’m sure I’ve killed a couple dozen points with alcohol by now.” And that was before counting the numerous times I’d hit my head. “Why were you looking at my file anyway?”

“I like to be informed about the people around me.”

“Does that include the train of girls you’ve slept with?” Because that was a lot of people to be informed about.

Atlee’s lip curled. “Why the hell would I give a shit about them?”

“Well, you did stick your dick in them.”

“I don’t have to know anything about them for that.”

I begged to differ. Information was important. “What if she’s as big a whore as you and banged three guys that morning?”

STD’s were a serious matter. Especially in Sister Mary Of The Hallway’s video.

“Then she’ll know how to ride my cock.”

Huh? It really was all about the pussy for him. “Are all men as disgusting as you?”

“Pretty much.” Atlee nodded.

“Lovely.” Wait a minute. “Does that mean I could control Gio through the pussy?”

“You?” he snorted out a chuckle, then firmly said, “no.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You ever seen those nature shows where the antelope walks closer to the lions stalking it?”

“Yeah?” Where was he going with this?

“The antelope has a better chance of not being eaten then you do.”

“Hey.” That was a tad insulting, and one hundred percent true. “I’ll have you know, I shot Gio the other day.”

Ha!

“The way I heard it was you shot the cupboard.”

I didn’t say my aim was good, and why the hell was Gio telling people about that?

“Do you really want to know how to throw Gio off his game?”

“Um… yeah.” Why was that even a question?

“Stop fighting him.”

Here I was waiting for some grand insight into Gio Mancini, and that was what he came up with? “Why on earth would I do that?”

“Because he won’t expect it.”

Alright, I could see the validity in that argument. Still… “I fail to see how that helps me.”

“If you submit to him, he’ll stop seeing you as something to conquer and start seeing you as something to take care of.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Or it’s genius.”

“No, it’s just stupid.”

“Okay,” I didn’t like the sparkle in his eye. “I’ll make you a bet. Submit to Gio and if he doesn’t do anything different, then I’ll stay celibate for a month.”

That made me laugh. “You expect me to believe that you won’t touch a single girl?”

Not to mention, Gio had one mode and that was angry.

“I won’t touch any guys either.”

What? Did he just say… No, I didn’t want to know. I was curious about this bet though. Atlee’s confidence wasn’t boding well with me. I needed better parameters.

“I’m not going to blindly do everything he says.”

“Pfft. Of course not. That would be boring as fuck. You just have to play the good girl role for twenty-four hours.”

“Twenty-four hours?”

“That’s right.”

That didn’t seem so bad. Gio kind of already took what he wanted in the sex department, and it would be amusing watching Atlee walk around with blue balls for a month. However, there was one very important piece missing for this bet.

“What happens if I lose?”

A smile spread across his face. “Then you have to call me Sir for a week.”

Oof, that was harsh. I wanted to throw up just thinking about it. I’d be washing my mouth out with soap all week, but if Atlee thought that would detour me, then he highly underestimated my competitiveness.

“Two months.” I countered.

“One.” He countered back.

Was it worth it? I did enjoy the suffering of others, and I tormented myself on a daily basis, but having to call him sir was over the top.

“Hey,” Atlee sat back and waved his hand. “If you’re afraid of losing…”

If he thought calling me chicken would work, then he was right.

“Fine. I’ll take your bet.”

If the smug look on Atlee’s face wasn’t enough to make me nervous, then the large stone building surrounded by fences that came into view, was.

Louisiana State Penitentiary was the largest maximum security prison in the country and aptly called the Alcatraz of the south. I hated coming here, not because it was a prison, but because it was too organized. Yet not at the same time.

Clean white buildings sat evenly spaced amid grass that was cut in some place, and wild in others. Everything else was straight and even, from the fences to the roofs, but not the landscaping. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t expect a prison to be pretty, but they could’ve kept it cohesive. Those long patches of grass were just confusing.

Atlee looked out the windshield at the guard booth. “Oh good, Mark’s on duty.”

Mark?

My eyes snapped over to Atlee. “When were you here?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“What do you mean don’t worry about it?”

“I mean don’t worry about it.”

Telling someone not to worry about something, was like telling a starving man not to eat the food in front of him. Now all I could wonder was why Atlee was on a first name basis with the guard? Had he been here before, and if so how many times. Also, why was it good that Mark was on duty? Not that he would answer any of those questions. I’d probably get another, don’t worry about it.

I shot Atlee a dirty look and drove up to the booth.

Normally I’d have to explain why I was here and show ID – which I had ready. But apparently I didn’t need it. Mark the guard looked in the truck, nodded at Atlee, and waved us through.

Suspicion narrowed my stare as Atlee gave me a smug grin. “I don’t like you very much.”

“That’s too bad,” he tsked. “It’s gonna make our fake relationship difficult to maintain.”

“Yeah, well consider us broken up.”

Atlee waved his hand dismissively. “You’ll come back to me.”

“I was never with you.”

“One of these days you’re going to have to accept our fake love. Everyone else at school has.”

I was going to take his fake love and shove it up his real ass. “If you’ve been spreading those rumors…”

“Oh Darlin,” he laughed. “You’re the one helping those rumors spread.”

“First off, don’t call me darlin,” I was getting sick of pet names. “And secondly, I don’t participate in idol gossip.” Especially if it was about me.

“You don’t need to participate in it to help it spread.”

I understood his logic – the high school rumor mill clearly had a mind of its own – but… “I did nothing to perpetuate their insane theories.”

“Uh huh? And who did you ask to take today?”

That didn’t prove anything.

I steered my truck through the parking lot and sighed. “Who was I supposed to ask? Gio?”

“Why not?” Atlee shrugged.

Was he serious? “Um… because he’s an asshole.”

“So am I.”

That was a fair point. “Yeah well, bringing him would defeat the purpose of my visit.”

It would be kind of hard to deny dating him, if Gio brought me.

“What is the purpose?” Atlee asked.

I spit his own words back at him. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Touché,” he nodded, then pointed out the windshield. “Park over there.”

That didn’t make sense. Why would we park over there and make ourselves walk further? I came here to talk to my brother, not get a workout by walking across a parking lot. Not to mention, we’d normally have to get here super early to get a spot this close to the door.

“The main entrance is right here.” I said while pulling into an empty stall. Come to think of it, there were a lot of empty stalls.

“We’re not going in the main entrance.”

“This is a prison. Everyone goes through the main entrance.”

They had to search for contraband and all that stuff.

Atlee tipped his head and smiled. “I’m not everyone.”

My face dropped. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. Cesare did.”

What! “You told Gio’s dad?”

“No.” Atlee snorted. “I told Gio.”

Son of a bitch.

There was about to be another Ford with a murder charge on their record.