Give the Devil his Due

Chapter 7

My last class ended all too quickly which meant hell was just about to start.

Lucas was standing by his car when I reached the parking lot, just as he said he would, although Rico was standing there as well. It made sense considering Mr. Vasquez had only replaced my cousin's car, he figured this would be a good lesson to teach Rico to drive more careful. It seemed to slip everyone's mind that the accident was my fault entirely.

"We've been waiting forever." Lucas grumbled when I reached them. He looked so hot but had the personality of a troll. Oh how God could be so cruel.

Rico rolled his eyes and smiled at me, "We haven't been waiting that long. Hop on in, mamacita. We've got places to go."

"Oh really? Like where?" I wondered, speaking primarily to Rico because I knew he wouldn't reply back with a sarcastic or rude response.

Rico held open the door to the back seat, gesturing for me to enter, "You'll see."

I climbed into the car, sitting myself in the middle seat and buckling myself in tightly before either boy even had a chance to get in. Rico closed my door then sat down into the passenger seat while Lucas sat behind the wheel. It was kind of weird to be sitting in the car with these two, it almost felt like we were all...friends...

"So where are we going?" I questioned again once Lucas had started the car and was peeling out of the parking lot. I gripped the bottom of my seat tightly, once again reliving the crash from a few nights ago. Rico seemed at ease, though I couldn't fathom how.

"It's a surprise." Rico looked back at me and smiled, his boyish charms momentarily calming my racing heart. But when he saw how terrified I must have looked, he turned back to Lucas, "Reduce la velocidad, hombre . La estás asustando."

Lucas' gorgeous eyes flicked towards me in the rearview mirror, realizing for the first time the fear washed across my face. A moment later, the car slowed. Only slightly. But it was still comforting to know that Lucas cared enough to ease my fear.

Rico smiled again before turning around in his seat to face forward once more. We were all quiet for a while, the only sound being the muttering of the radio and the few words conversed between Rico and Lucas. They spoke in Spanish the entire time though, so I still had no idea what they were saying.

Mental note to self, take a Spanish class next semester.

My pocket buzzed, signaling that I had received a text. I checked my phone to see another text from Nash, Please be careful. Keep me posted throughout the afternoon.

I replied with an agreement before replacing my phone into my pocket. Nash definitely wasn't happy about these rules but he also knew there was nothing he could do. Lucas had an odd way of persuading people of just about anything and these rules were no different. I promised to text Nash hourly whenever I was with Lucas, if only to keep my cousin sane.

"These are the back roads, aren't they?" I eventually asked, bored from the silence and confused by the scenery. I didn't expect Lucas to answer but I knew Rico would.

"I keep forgetting that you're not from around here." Rico chuckled, scratching at the back of his head, "Yeah. The town of Division is surrounded by these back roads and open, grassy clearings. It's nice out here, isn't it?"

With a nod of my head, I leaned over and pressed my fingers to the glass, "It's so different from Chicago."

"What's Chicago like?"

"You've never been there?"

Rico shook his head, reclining his chair back all the way until he was basically laying flat. He braced his hands behind his head and smiled casually, "Lucas and I went once when we were kids, his dad had some business to take care of in the city so we tagged along. But I hardly remember it, I know there were a lot of buildings."