Page 141 of Tell Me I'm Enough

I brush it off and change the subject. “Hey…you wanna…drive down to Naples with me for a day?”

“Like…overnight?” she asks, cautiously.

“Yeah…there’s plenty of rooms, though. I…I don’t really wanna go back there alone. And…you’d be the perfect company. You always are.”

She thinks about it for a moment.

“Yeah…sure. I’ll be your scapegoat,” she says, smiling.

I roll on top of her and give her a bear hug. “Ugh, you’re the best.”

“Mase!” she screams, laughing. “Get your big ass off of me!”

I take her face in both of my hands and kiss her head. “Come on. Take a little road trip to meet the devil who raised me.”

She looks up at me, a little worried, then lets her smile slip through. “Let’s go.”

* * *

The drive feels so easy with her…everything does, though.

When we pull up, I hear her gasp and almost swerve the truck.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking over at her, worried.

She giggles, looking at me. “Oh, don’t mind me. I was just temporarily going into cardiac arrest from how big your fucking house is, Mase.”

I let out an annoyed sigh. “Don’t do that. You scared me.”

She blows me an air kiss, and I shake my head.

She swings her door open, but before she can step out, I reach over and grab her arm that’s still on the doorknob, making her look over at me.

“Simone Edwards. Get your hand off that door, and get your ass back in that seat.”

She doesn’t say anything, just smiles and turns to face forward in her seat, slowly closing the door back.

I get out and walk around the truck to her side, opening the door and sticking my hand out for her to take.

She takes it without saying anything, but I can see the way she wants to laugh.

“Good girl.”

She stops mid-step down and glares at me. “Okay. Please don’teversay that again.”

I give her an innocent look. “What? Did it do something for you?”

She rolls her eyes. “Don’t test your luck of bringing me here with you. I can still make this little trip hell for you.”

I lean closer to her ear as she fully steps down from the truck. “That sounds like more fun to me than you think.”

When I bring our bags in, nobody but the housekeeper is here. My dad and stepmom are out, and my brothers are still in school for the day.

I toss our bags onto the hardwood floor just inside the bedroom door and roll my shoulders, trying to shake off the feeling I get being here. Simone steps in behind me and stops short.

The room is big, bigger than it needs to be—California King bed, balcony doors thrown open to let the ocean air drift in, white walls, neutral furniture that costs more than most people’s rent—that part disgusts me, always has.

She turns in a slow circle, hands on her hips. “Damn, Sinclair.”