Page 79
“It was something you could control,” I murmur softly.
Callan nods. “Pretty much, yeah. People could kick me out of their homes and treat me like shit, but they couldn’t take that from me. I liked the permanence of tattoos because of that too. A tattoo isn’t something that can be snatched away on a whim. When I did my apprenticeship, I fell in love with it even more, and I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.”
It’s heartbreaking in a way, that he had to deal with that at such a young age. He must have felt so alone, so lonely, and it explains a lot about why he clings to Tate and Ares’ friendship so fiercely, and why he’s comfortable just observing and sitting with his sketchbook.
It hits me then that Tate and Ares have their own issues too. They’ve all felt lonely and broken before, and they’re all in a position to understand that I feel that way sometimes too.
Then I realize that it’s been a while since I’ve felt alone. With them, I haven’t felt lonely in a while. It’s scary to think about just how much less alone I’ve felt. But that’s not a line of thinking I want to go down right now. Not when we’re just a few hours out from Hope Falls and everything that represents.
Instead, I lean up and kiss Callan softly, smiling when I feel his lips moving with mine.
When I pull back, Ares stirs from the other side of me.
“What time is it?” he asks groggily.
Callan checks the clock on the bedside table. “Just after three,” he says.
Ares runs a hand down my side, and I lean into the touch. “Guess we should probably get going then.”
“What if we didn’t?” Tate mumbles from Ares’ other side. “What if we just decided to stay here for now?”
“In this motel?” Ares asks. “You couldn’t decide to stay somewhere nicer?”
“What do you have against the Comfort Lodge, you bougie bitch?”
“Everything. Get up.”
I laugh at their banter, and Ares leans over to kiss me, lingering a bit as he pulls back. Tate kisses me too, once Ares has rolled out of the bed, and I watch as the two of them start to get dressed.
Callan tosses me my clothes, and I take that as my sign to get up and get moving too.
“How much farther is it to Hope Falls?” Callan asks Ares.
Ares checks the GPS on his phone. “Five more hours.”
“Not bad,” Tate says. “We could get there tonight if we keep going.”
“May as well,” Ares says. He looks at me. “What do you think?”
“I think that my parents are already annoyed that it’s taken me this long to get there, so if I have to delay them for one more day, they’re going to be a nightmare to deal with when we do get there.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, same. My mom has given me the ‘if you’re not here by the time the festival starts’ threat more than once this week.”
“Tell me about it,” I groan. “It’s like they think I planned this little detour just to make things harder for them.”
“Your families really take this festival seriously, huh?” Tate asks, and Ares and I both groan in unison.
“It’s a whole thing,” Ares explains. “Our families have been in the town forever, so they both have prominent roles in the festival, especially the closing ceremony. It’s basically become a showcase for the two founding families.”
I roll my eyes. “And they always try to outdo each other because of the stupid rivalry thing. They’ve been keeping score of who ‘wins’ every year. I don’t know how you win at a festival, but here we are.”
“That’s intense,” Callan says. “And I guess you two are supposed to be a part of that?”
Ares nods. “Yeah, pretty much. We’ll be front and center for our respective sides. Which will be so lovely and relaxing after how long it’s taken to get there.”
I sigh because he’s right. It’s annoying to have to be a part of it, which is one of the reasons I haven’t gone back in such a long time. But with this being the 100th anniversary, it’s going to be even worse, I’m sure. It’s so absurd now, considering everything that’s happened between me and Ares to think that we’re going to have to go back to our hometown and stand on opposite sides of this rivalry all over again.
Judging from the look on Ares’ face, he feels the same way.
