WAKE (Wattpad edition)

38. Questions and answers.

Soundtrack: 'Wash me clean' - Josh Garrels

{Cary}

Jon was quiet after the breakfast stop, his face shadowed in spite of the morning light. Cary rolled his window down and lit up a smoke, and Jon straightened, turning toward him with a hungry, desperate look on his face. Silently, Cary fished another smoke out of the pack and offered it with the lighter. The car filled with gusts of wind, which roughed up Jon's hair and tugged at his shirt while he nursed the cigarette to its filter. He cradled the half-empty bag of seeds and glumly munched on them when the cigarette was gone.

Cary kept glancing at the time, his thoughts returning to Kadee getting ready for school. The memory of her mouth curving in a smile, the sound of her laughing voice, was aching inside of him. He fought with himself: their goodbye had been so awkward and painful that the smart thing would be to give her some space. But his desire to hear her voice and feel the warm energy of her presence, even through the phone, won out. It wasn't too early—he thumbed his phone open with one hand and touched her number.

"Hey—it's you." Her voice was throaty like she'd just woken up.

Jon glanced at him, then looked away, propping his head against his arm on the window, watching the fields pass.

"Hey," Cary said. He got a little stuck—he didn't want to say anything that would give her a reason to hope and wait. How did people have conversations, anyways?

"Where are you this morning?"

He was grateful for a factual question he could actually answer. "Still on the road. Slept in the car."

"Cary," she began hesitantly. "Did Pete reach you?"

His stomach sank. "No."

"The Klassens are pressing charges."

He let his breath out slowly, his eyes on the horizon where the highway pinched into nothing. "Did you have to talk to the cops?" his voice was rough.

"Yes—they came to my house yesterday. No one's happy you left town. They wanted to know where you're going."

He was silent a moment. "I'm too close now to turn around."

The sound of Kadee's exhale was loud in Cary's ear. "Don't turn around. I told them I hit Todd first. I started it. You acted out of self-defence."

The car wobbled, but Cary righted it quickly.

"You shouldn't have—"

"It's what's true," she said firmly. "Maybe the fight wouldn't even have happened if I hadn't. I told them everything else, too—the gross things Todd's been saying. I think he posted that photo of me off his brother's phone."

"Then I'm glad I laid him out," Cary growled. He took a steadying breath. It might be enough to clear him. It might not. "If I have to, I'll come back and sort it out. When this is done."

"I miss you," she said softly.

"You too," he said, shooting a glance at Jon.

"I'm still going to the north doors at lunch, to eat in our spot."

His throat tightened. "Call me then." He hung up and tossed the phone on the dash, swearing.

"What's that about?" Jon asked quietly.

Cary gripped the steering wheel in his fists, then released. "Klassens are pressing charges."

Jon took a breath as if to speak, his freckles standing out on the pale skin of his cheeks, but then he covered his mouth with his hand and turned his face to the window. There was a tight silence, and Cary thumbed the phone open and passed it to Jon.