Bad Intentions (Book One)

Chapter 10

The three of us sped down the street in the direction of the town where mom told us the store was. As I looked out the window, I couldn't believe how little was actually out there. House, tree, house more trees. That's all this town was. I wondered what people even did for fun around here. I didn't see any malls, or clubs, or anywhere to swim. God, I missed the smell of the ocean already.

I looked over to Billy who was paying attention to the road as he drummed along to the song that was on the radio. I looked back to see that Max seemed to be staring out the window just as I had.

"How much longer?" I asked Billy.

"Once we drive past the arcade, five minutes or so." He answered.

"Arcade! There's an arcade?" Max asked as she practically jumped into the front seat.

"Yeah, up here somewhere. Now sit back before you cause us to crash." Billy snapped at her.

"And buckle up." I told her just realizing she was not buckled in.

"Can we go to the arcade? Please." She asked.

"We really don't have time. We have to get back with the food before my dad." Billy answered her before I could.

I wouldn't mind stopping for a little while so she could play but I could tell Billy was worried about upsetting his dad. I felt bad that he had to live in constant fear of the one person who should protect him. I hated that there was nothing I could do to help.

"Let's just get home and maybe I can take you a different day." I told her.

"Come on please, you don't have to stay with me, you can just drop me off and pick me up on your way home." She begged me.

"I don't know." I answered her.

"You used to do it all the time back home." She responded.

"That was different Max, and you know it. We knew the area back then, and the people. I knew all your friends. We don't know anything about this place." I reminded her. "You would be there on your own. You don't know anyone."

"I say we let her go. How else is she going to make any friends?" Billy asked me.

"See he gets it." Max said as she smiled at Billy.

I knew that Billy only wanted to get rid of her so we could be alone, but I looked at Max's face and could not help but relax a little knowing that Max didn't hate him all of the time. I really wanted the two of them to get along. This could be a way to build a bridge between the two of them.

"I don't know Billy. Something could happen to her." I told him.

"Nothing is going to happen to her. She's old enough to play a few games on her own. Right Little Red, you'll be fine on your own for an hour?" He asked her.

"Yes I promise I will stay inside until you guys get back." She said her voice filled with excitement.

"Fine. Only if you stay inside until we get back." I told her.

"Promise." She answered as she sat back in her seat with a huge smile on her face.

I looked over to Billy who had a similar smile on his face.

"Do you have any money?" I asked her.

"I have five dollars." She answered.

I opened my purse and pulled out my wallet.

"Well, here's five more." I told her as I handed her the last five dollars, I had from my birthday money.

Billy looked over to my now empty wallet and let out and let out a soft grown. A few minutes later he pulled into the parking lot of the arcade. It was actually a decent size. Much larger than I thought anything would be in this town. The second we parked Max almost ran out of the car.

"Wait hold up Little Red." Billy called out causing her to stop in her tracks.

I watched her as she slowly turned around and looked at him suspiciously. He didn't say anything else to her; he just stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of crumpled up bills. He turned around and handed them to her.

Max held the money in her hands and stared at it for a second.

"You're giving me money?" She asked him in disbelief.

"Yeah, it should be about eight bucks, I was going to buy smokes for the week, but I guess you can buy yourself something to eat." He told her before looking back out the front windshield like he didn't just do something nice for Max for the first time.

"Thank you." Max said as she put the money with the rest and exited the car.

The two of us sat there in the car as we watched her walk inside. I stared at the door even after she was fully inside. I was worried about her. She didn't know anyone there. I didn't know anyone there. Something bad could happen to her and I wouldn't even know where to start looking. I was pulled out of my thoughts when Billy reached over and grabbed my hand.

I looked up and made eye contact with him as he smiled at me. It was such a soft smile I don't think I have ever seen it on his face before.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing." He answered.

"It's not nothing. Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him.

"Looking at you like what?" He asked as he lifted my hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on my knuckles.

I quickly pulled my hand away from him and looked around to make sure no one saw.

"Relax, no one knows us here." He said as he gripped his steering wheel tightly.

"We have to be careful. It's a small town, Billy. And people talk in small towns. It's not like back home where we had friends and people, we could trust who knew about us before our parents. Here we will just be the stepsiblings who like to fuck each other." I told him firmly.

"So, what does that mean I can't even hold your hand. You're my girlfriend, are you telling me I can't touch my girlfriend?" He yelled at me.

"Please Billy keep your voice down." I said as I noticed people were starting to look at us.

The two strangers sitting in a car yelling at each other. I watched him grip the steering wheel tighter as he grinded his teeth.

"I can't pretend like I don't feel anything for you. It's hard enough to pretend to hate you when you're home." He told me.

"Billy, you don't have to pretend to hate me." I responded.

"Yes, I do!" He yelled before taking a deep breath and calming down. "If I don't I can't control myself around you. Do you have any idea how hard it is to be around you all the fucking time? To be around you but not with you. Not the way I need." He asked me.

"Yes Billy. I fucking know how that feels. I know exactly how it feels!" I yelled back at him.

"Then let's just tell them." He said as he reached for my hand, but I moved so he couldn't reach me.

"We can't do that." I gave him the same answer I had the last time we had this conversation.

"Because you're scared of my dad. He's not going to hurt you." He told me.

"I'm not worried about him hurting me. I'm worried about him hurting you." I answered him.

He looked at me like he had something he wanted to say but he looked away and didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Let's just go to the fucking store." He said as he started his car.

"Billy..." I said softly trying to comfort him but not knowing what to say.

"I have nothing to say. Let's just go to the store so we can get home." He said in a sad voice then started driving again down the road towards the store.

I looked at Billy for a few seconds and I couldn't help but wonder how much longer the two of us would be able to keep this up. No matter how much the two of us wanted this, or how hard we tried to make it work, I could feel the two of us drifting apart. The more we pretended to hate each other the more I started to believe we did.