52

Chiara had fooled me again. Also, how was I supposed to know I'd look ridiculous in those sunglasses when I should have been concerned with their color.

But that didn't matter either, because Josie's hearty laugh made everything else irrelevant. She shone brighter than the sun ever could and made me feel like I could leave the past behind.

I walked alongside her back to the trailer and didn't notice anything but her and her hair, which shimmered in the sun. "Let's go!" Chiara said jubilantly when we got in and I just gave her an annoyed roll of my eyes. She kept telling me how wonderful it would be to sit by the sea and listen to the waves, but I still couldn't believe her, after all it was just water.

I sat down at the table with Josie again and we all started eating together. We ate in silence, enjoying finally getting something to eat, except for Jayden. He gulped everything down as fast as he could and then climbed back into the driver's seat to be able to drive on quickly.

I knew he was doing it for Chiara. He wanted to get to the sea as soon as possible to see her shine across it, which even I thought was pretty cute. "I'm glad you're going with me," Chiara said to Josie when we'd all finished eating. "Me too," she smiled at the dark blonde, who then gave me a quick look and disappeared to the front.

"So what do we do now?" she turned to me, chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully, making me fidget nervously. "Can we keep playing?" "With the same rules?" "Yes."

She shuffled the cards with a smile and I was determined to win again because I wanted to know everything from her. where she came from what she had experienced. What her greatest hopes and worst nightmares were. Just everything and yet, it wasn't enough.

Unfortunately, she won the next round, staring at me with a grin. She thought long and hard about what she wanted to ask me and I wrestled with the fear that it would be something that would make me look bad because I had done a lot of bad things, but I would not lie to her.

"Are you still a virgin?" she then asked, giggling, and I was relieved that it was such a simple question. "No and you?" I replied and leaned forward with interest. I knew saying no would hurt me, but I also knew there were certainly men before me, but I wouldn't let there be one after me unless she really rejected me, which was probably my heart would break. "No," she answered with a grin and then turned back to the cards.

Lightning shot through my body and reluctantly I had to imagine another seducing her, which made me gasp deeply. "Are you all right?" she finally asked calmly and put one of her beautiful hands on mine and I immediately withdrew my hand to take a cigarette and stand opposite by the window.

I lit the cigarette and immediately Chiara's annoying voice rang out. "You know you're not supposed to smoke here!" She turned to me, but immediately understood from my look that she should leave me alone, which luckily she did.

"Will you let me go?" Jo stood in front of me and because I was a head taller than her, I could catch a glimpse of her cleavage, but I quickly turned my eyes back to her face to hand her the cigarette.

"Thank you," she murmured and tugged at it, and I marveled at how seductive smoking could look. She looked out the window, lost in thought, and took a few more drags before handing the cigarette back to me with a smile.

I flicked them out the window after one last drag and finally felt calmed down. The nasty thoughts disappeared and I sat down next to her to continue our game. "May I ask you something?"

She looked at me and shuffled the cards while I gave her an inviting nod. "Are you happy?"

He was thinking, looking out the window, before turning to smile at me and pointing to the front of the cab.

"To travel the world with these two people, feeling the sun on my skin, that means happiness for me." I looked him deep in the eyes and could see that he really meant it. The three of them liked to fight, but it was the kind of arguments you have with your family and there's always a spark of love involved.

"And for you?" he then asked me, eyeing me closely as if he didn't want to miss any of the words I was going to say. "Being free is true happiness," I replied without thinking twice.

As far as I could remember, I've never really been free, but who was?

From an early age you were forced to do what your parents asked you to do, even if it was normal things like going to school or enrolling in recreational activities, there was always a bitter taste of coercion behind it.

Unfortunately, when I was 16, I met the wrong boy at the wrong party. Of course, at first he seemed absolutely right for me. He was older, had a dangerous vibe that drew you in, and he drove a really freaky car. But the shine of his appearance crumbled more and more, the better I got to know him.

"Yes, you're right," Ethan pulled me out of my thoughts and looked at me so lovingly that I seemed to forget my bad past for a short time.

"So?" he then asked, whereupon I just gave him a confused look and he fixed his eyes on the cards in my hand. "Aren't you going to dish it out slowly?"

I looked at the cards in amazement, which I'd forgotten all about, and then gave him an embarrassed grin as I dealt them.

We certainly played for hours, there was nothing else we could do in this moving box. It wasn't until it was getting dark outside that Jayden stopped the RV and came to the back of us. "Chiara is already asleep," he whispered, looking at Ethan. "There's a motel here. I'll go and see if there are any rooms left."

He left the car as quietly as he could and all you could hear was his heavy footsteps, which were getting further and further away. "I'm going to stretch my legs," Ethan informed me, getting up to face me again in front of the door. "Are you coming with me?"

He was staring at me so intensely that it would have felt absolutely wrong to say no, so I nodded at him and immediately caught his wide grin, which actually had something mischievous about it. He was one of those men who looked tough, but deep down he was still a lot of a misunderstood little boy. I could tell by how annoyed he seemed with Chiara, but still he mostly treated her like a big brother and then there was this memory in my head of him being so close to Jayden like he needed that closeness.

I thoughtfully followed him outside and together we waited for Jayden to hopefully come back with good news. One more night no one should sleep on the floor because of me just because as a guest I blocked the only bed.

"Hey," Jayden jogged out of the darkness and it wasn't until I looked at him that I noticed this run-down motel. The green facade looked like it would collapse at any moment and the doors resembled those of a love motel, where prostitutes went in and out with their customers.

"Well, I have a room with a double bed and a large sofa that you can fold out," he said and looked at us as happily as if he had just won the lottery. "I sleep in the caravan," I said immediately and without hesitation. No ten horses would get me to this motel. "Me too," Ethan said and grinned cheekily at Jayden. "Then you can let Chiara fly."

Ethan laughed to himself while Jayden glared at him and I realized it had to be an insider. "I'll get Chiara until tomorrow morning." He ran past us and I watched after him until he ran past us again with the dark blonde in his arms and disappeared into one of the many doors.

"But I'm sleeping on the floor this time, after all it's your RV," I informed Ethan, who immediately shook his head. "You are our guest and only the best for guests." He grinned triumphantly at me, but his grin faded and absolute nervousness spread across his face when I said the following words out loud.

"Or we sleep on the floor together, that would be only fair."