Page 10 of Ignition

We hadn’t talked much since. I wasn’t evenhomewhen things blew up, and these conversations weren’t exactly the best over the phone.

I’d come back from school to her closet cleaned out and some shitty letter left on my bed that I shoved in a drawer without opening. She obviously didn’t give enough of a fuck to have a real conversation with me, and I didn’t see a point in humoring her when all she had to do was actuallytalkto me.

“What’s eating you?” Nick asked finally, cutting me a sideways glance. “Other than your dad hating me, of course.”

“For no good reason,” I muttered, unsure where to begin.

I wasn’t even sure I wanted to talk about it in the first place. Except… I must’ve. Because if I didn’t, I wouldn't have come to Nick. He was just about the only person I ever wanted to talk to—and maybe Ryker, when he remembered to stop being annoying—that hadn’t changed.

A part of me liked that realization.

The other part wanted to undo my seatbelt and jump out of the car while it was still moving.

“It’s just—” The warring thoughts and feelings made it hard to pick a starting point. I wanted to yell about my dad just about as much as I wanted to yell at Nick.

He should’ve known better than whatever the old man said didn’t make any difference to me, and that I didn’t hold Leo over him at all. But… time was funny when I spent so much of it away from Miami at school.

“Try again,” Nick prompted when I didn’t expand.

I sighed, trying to focus on one of the fifty thoughts that fought for my attention. “That beta my dad’s been letting stay in our house is bringing her daughter to live there too.”

“You mean the obvious rebound he’s toting around as a girlfriend?”

“Yes.” My blood boiled. My familyandbest friendshipwere torn apart by my mom’s selfish ass, and now I had to deal with this—this—woman.

Nick drummed his fingers on the wheel, ink shifting with the movement. “I guess he must be pretty into her…”

“Sure. I’d probably be into whatever hole threw herself at me first after a couple decades with the same woman, too. She just happened to be the lucky candidate.”

“Didn’t they meet at that work conference a few months ago? Like, before all this?”

“Yeah.” She actually lived further north and had traveled for it. It’s why he moved her out here. Some bullshit about being unable to stomach being away from her for even a day.

Seriously, who the fuck said things like that in real life?

Liars, I guessed. There was no way thatsugarbearwas really that good of company.

“I’d bet her daughter is hot though,” Nick said, like it would make any difference.

I fought a gag, recoiling into the door until the air whizzing by ruffled my hair. “I’m sure she’s a toad, like her mom.”

Nick laughed, and the sound made the corners of my mouth tilt up. “Whatever, man. Even I can admit she’s hot, gives that MILF energy.”

Something way too close to jealousy cracked through me like thunder, and I swallowed it like a dry pill. I couldn’t bejealous. I didn’t give a fuck about Nick’s taste in women, no matter how terrible it clearly was.

“Did he tell you her name?”

“What’s it matter to you?” I shot back, my eyes narrowing on his profile.

He shrugged, always too fucking casual about everything. “We could look her up and see.”

“I don’t want to look her up,” I snapped back, furious that he wasn’t taking my side. Obviously it didn’t matter what Ivylooked like; she wasn’t going to be around long enough for me to know more than her name. “I don’t even want to see her face. The bitch doesn’t exist to me.”

“Speaking of bitches,” he said, smirking my way. “You’re kinda acting like one.”

“Because I’m not interested in the girl living rent-free in my house?”

“You live rent-free in your house,” Nick pointed out unhelpfully.