Free Open Road by M.J. O'Shea Page A

meet Brenda there in the morning tomorrow.”
    Angus remembered Brenda. She and Reece had a minithing a few years back, nothing serious enough that ending it had made them unable to be friends. Then she’d moved to LA, and they had basically been social media buddies ever since. Angus had felt vaguely angered by her back in the day, but he’d barely remembered she existed until their conversation at the restaurant the night before. He had no idea why she was giving a near stranger and an old semifling what had to be highly coveted passes. But the thought of going to Coachella and getting lost in the crowd and the music actually appealed to Angus like nothing had in so long. He wasn’t about to question the gift.
    “You want me to go get us something for breakfast?” he asked. “I showered last night.” Reece gave him a long, measuring look, like he didn’t quite trust Angus off on his own. Angus didn’t exactly blame him after his performance in their last hotel room. “Or I could just wait here and delete angry e-mails from my ex-boss while you shower.”
    Reece dragged his long, muscled body out of bed and stretched. “Yeah. That’s probably a good idea. I don’t know what I want anyway.”
    Which was code for Angus was on recklessness watch. Fine. He’d earned it. He slumped back against the bed and flicked through e-mails from his boss, his landlord, his family. He just deleted them all. Felt a bit bad about the ones from Mom and Peyton, but he couldn’t deal with anything like that, people caring too much. So he hit delete over and over and over until it hurt a little less. Then he shoved all his clothes he’d gotten out back into the bag, unplugged his charger and did the same, then plunked down onto the bed to wait for Reece to be ready to leave.

Chapter Six
     
     
    Southern California
     
    THEY STARTED on their drive to Los Angeles after a quick diner breakfast. It would be another fairly short day, other than the high likelihood of insane LA traffic. They were quiet for the most part—traded an observation here and there but not much else. It was getting much warmer over the hours, from wet and barely out of winter to what would be considered the middle of summer back home.
    Reece had a hard time not staring at Angus, which he knew was useless. Watching him constantly wouldn’t make anything better. Angus seemed so much better than he had the past two days, but Reece wasn’t exactly buying it. He knew his best friend. There was something wrong still.
    Of course there is, you moron. People didn’t go from drunk and lying in their bed to quiet but perfectly normal in two days. Reece was smart enough to know that, even if he hoped it was true.
    Still. He felt bad.
    Somewhere outside of LA, hours after they’d left their charming little motel by the sea, he finally broke. Angus had been staring out of the window, watching the thickening Los Angeles traffic for nearly an hour. Reece couldn’t take the silence anymore.
    “Hey, are you, like, trying to be okay for me?” he asked. In retrospect, that probably wasn’t the best thing to say. Sue him. He wasn’t a counselor.
    “No. I mean… well. What do you mean?”
    “I guess….” Reece was already sorry he’d brought it up. Leaving well enough alone had never been one of his virtues. He had always liked things, and people, in their neat places. “I guess I mean a couple of days ago you were so angry and sad and drunk and now you’re almost you again. But you’re not. There’s something going on. I’m just trying to figure out if you’re putting on a show.”
    Angus sighed and closed his eyes. His head thumped onto the headrest of the car. “What answer do you want from me?”
    It was too late to go back and unask the question, so he plowed forward instead. “The truth, I guess. Not telling the truth about what was going on was what got us to this place, isn’t it?”
    The car was silent for a long time after that. Damn. He’d