Dreamer - Chapter 45

"Hey Rev." I turned to him.

"What's up?" He kept his focus ahead as he made his way out of the hospital parking lot.

"I'm sorry for telling Ace about the incident."

"You reacted." He informed me, "I would've done the exact same thing."

"You could've avoided it if you didn't look so damn guilty." I said back, "What the hell did you even tell him in the first place.. if it wasn't about that?"

"I just told him you had something you needed to say to him." He answered.

You've got to be kidding me.

"I just expected you to tell him how I managed to get his kid brother's best friend killed.. not- the other thing.. I figured that little secret would've died with us."

Oh. "I just assumed you'd have no problem telling Ace all about that," I said to him, "yourself."

He chuckled.

"He's going to find out anyway." I let out softly. Obviously, Liam was going to find out about Gilbert at some point. "Wouldn't you rather Ace find out what you did from you, rather from his kid brother?" I asked him.

The smile faded from his face, "I'm not afraid of his kid brother."

You are afraid of Ace. "So you wouldn't care if Ace just somehow found out what had happened to Gilbert through someone else?"

"Who cares?" The usual, angry tone he's had in the past has come back into his voice. It felt like ages since I've last heard that tone of voice he had. Almost forgot it existed for a short while. "Gilbert should have known what was coming to him." He added, "If it wasn't for Mace, I'm sure I'd have no issue putting a bullet into Jess' sk-"

"Don't you fucking dare."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't you dare lay a finger on Jess."

"You like Jess?"

Of course I do. What's not to like about her? She was the first actual decent human being I met since moving to this town. "Don't you even think about laying a finger on her."

"Alright." He held his hands up for a split second before placing them back on the wheel, "I wouldn't anyway. She belongs to Mace.. for some reason."

"How did that even happen by the way?" I found myself asking.

"Mace and Jess?" He asked, as if to sound a bit shocked as to hear that I was at least somewhat interested in someone who's apart of his circle.

"It's just... they seem like two completely different people and-"

"Kind of like how you and Ace came to be?" He interrupted me, "Or how the two of us-"

I found myself rolling my eyes in response to him, "We aren't anything. They're a whole item."

"Well, I won't even lie," Rev spoke out, "Mace usually just does whatever the fuck he wants to do. There are sides to him that even I don't know about; I'm sure that's how he and Jess came to be."

"How about you and Mars?" I found myself asking.

Without turning his eye off the road, he replied ever so calmly, "Excuse me?"

I'd probably regret not ending the conversation here, but I had already gotten in this deep. "You and Mars," I repeated myself, "how did you two come to be?"

"You already know about her."

"No." I told him, "I know about her originally being Aces' girl. I know about you stealing her away from him.. the way you try to do with-"

"I didn't fucking steal her!" He slammed his fists against the wheel, causing the truck to violently lunge towards the side before he got himself back onto the road once again.

"Rev."

"I never stole her away from Ace." He repeated mostly to himself than to me, before slowing the car towards the side and turning towards me, "Do I seem like the type of person who would want to take Ace's girl?"

"Please tell me you didn't just blank on what had just happened between-"

"Hey." He said to me, "You told him about that. I was so ready to keep that information to myself. Hell. I would've been so fucking happy to take that shit to the damn grave."

"I assume that was mostly because of what had happened in the past; between you and-"

"Weren't you in the room to watch me just get the shit kicked out of me back at that hospital?" He asked me, "What part of that showed that I would just want Ace to know that kind of information?"

"You could maybe just let him have the girls he wants." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." I leaned back into my seat, "Just take me back home."

"Oh." He brought the truck back onto the road, "You aren't going back home."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't act like you hate spending time with me." He smirked, "You would seriously rather waste away alone in that house of yours?"

"I would much rather not have to be alone in that house of mine because my father would be okay and sitting on the couch when I got home."

"Touché."

**

After driving around for what felt like hours, Rev finally pulled into the back of a vacant parking lot next to some other truck. Great. Another parking lot adventure with Rev, because that worked out so well the last time.

"At least pretend like you want to be here, Lex."

"I'd rather just be at home."

A hand tightly wrapped around my wrist as Rev leaned over to whisper in my ear, "Just stay here."

A tap on the window is what got him to let go of my wrist.

Rev opened up the door, "Hey Mace!"

Mace? My eyes jotted around hoping to see Jess somewhere around. The one thing about Jess dating someone else in this little squad is that I at least had another reason to see her.

"Jess is in the truck." Mace said to me before Rev stepped between the open doorway and myself.

"She's here?" I asked out loud.

"Go on ahead and say hi." Mace said.

"Mace." Rev said to him.

"Rev, c'mon." Mace told him, "She needs a friend right now."

"You were supposed to take her home." He told Mace.

"Her friend was just killed in front of her, dude!"

Without hearing another word, I got out and headed towards the other truck. Although a small part of me regretted believing Mace immediately, I opened the driver's side door to see Jess sitting with mascara running down her cheeks.

"Jess." A sudden feeling of relief rushed over me. I don't know why but Mace just seems like the type of person to pull some trick in order to get me alone in his truck.

"Lex?" She turned to me, "Oh my god, Lex! Get in. Get in. Mace doesn't mind."

Hopping in, I couldn't help but notice the trash Mace had seemed to collect throughout his truck.

"Yeah." Jess added, "Sorry about the mess. I keep trying to get him to clean up, but he just keeps adding to it."

"It's alright."

"Some days I wish Rev would rub off on him in that department." Jess let off a soft, light chuckle.

"What?"

"Having a clean truck?" Jess asked me, "Rev keeps his truck in such pristine condition. He won't even let another touch his gearshift."

"I haven't noticed it." My eyes glanced towards Rev and Mace, who were now standing closer now as if to keep us from being able to read their lips, before turning back towards Jess. "How are you?" I asked her.

"Better," She replied, "or as better as one can be considering."

"Sorry for that, by the way."

"Why?" She asked me, "You had tried all you could do. You even noticed what happened to him before any of us. You tried-" Her hand covered her mouth.

"You apologized for the truck," I told her, "but Gilbert's.. ya know.. was with me. I can't help but feel somewhat responsible for allowing him to be in harm's way."

"You didn't." Jess replied, "I invited him. I was the one who told him to come. This was on me, not you."

"But his killer-"

"-is one of them." Jess pointed towards Mace and Rev before looking back at me, "Lex. Trust me. Don't you ever let whatever they choose to do eat you alive. If I was to do that, I'll never be able to sleep at night. They will always do whatever they want to do, and we just have to sit back and just let them do what they have to do." She immediately shut her mouth and leaned forward a little to roll her window down a bit, "What's up?"

"How are you feeling, babe?" Mace asked her.

"Fine." She told him, "I'm still fine; the same as before."

"Listen," Mace leaned up against the window, "Rev wants me to go run an errand so he's going to take you back home."

"He's having you run an errand?" I scoffed.

"Hush." Jess said to me before turning back to him, "You'll be alright?"

Mace nodded, opening the door helping Jess out. Following her, I hopped out the other side and walked over towards Rev who had been standing over by his truck, as if he was waiting patiently for us to come on over.

"You gave Mace an errand?" I asked him.

No response.

"Is that why you came here?" I questioned, but he just looked towards Mace and Jess who were saying their goodbyes. They were actually pretty cute now that I think about it.

"Mace just needed to take care of something for me." Rev said to me as he opened the backseat door, "I offered to take Jess home. She's already seen a lot for a single day."

"I'd say." I mumbled under my breath.

After watching Mace drive off, Jess came on over to us with a small pep in her step. Almost as if she got a little bit more of energy back after what we all just witnessed just before.

Rev gestured towards the backseat, "Home, I presume?"

Jess nodded before hopping in as Rev closed the door behind her.

"Of course." I said to him, "You'll take her home, no questions asked."

"Maybe if her boyfriend was in the hospital, I'd take her around town as well."

"He's not my-"

"Just get in the damn truck, Lex."

"I was just-" Not even finishing that sentence, I hopped back in the truck and just leaned back as Rev readjusted himself in his seat. Jess had been sitting pretty nervously in the backseat, and I remembered what she had said earlier when the two men were discussing whatever it was they discussed.

Rev keeps his truck in such pristine condition. He won't even let another touch his gearshift.

I found my hand slowly reaching towards the gearshift, settling down onto it softly. I must have lost my damn mind trying to poke the bear like this, but if he was to react negatively, he certainly wouldn't do it with someone else in the truck. Right? My eyes slightly shifted towards Jess, who was just staring out the back window, back to my hand on the gearshift. Once Rev's eyes shifted down, the nerves began hitting me. Beads of sweats began to collect on my forehead. My stomach starting twisting into knots. Just as I was about to move my hand away, Rev placed his hand on top of mine; putting his eyes back on the road ahead of him.

He won't even let another touch his gearshift.

Awkwardly, I stared ahead at the road in front of us. A part of me wanted to move my hand away, but another part of me wanted to see what was going to happen next. Was he acting calm because Jess had been in the backseat? Was he actually comfortable with me touching his truck; did he actually like when I did this? I found my eyes watch as the trees fly by us as Rev sped down the road. Leaves of green blurred as we drove past, blending perfectly with the brown of each trunk ahead of it. The emptiness around us began to fill with houses and residents the further we drove. Was this seriously where Jess had lived? It looked so different compared to what I was so used to seeing. It looked so.. homely.. so neighborly. It looked similar to where I grew up. Where my mother would bake her pies or enjoy time with the neighbors. Where I first met Michael for the very first time. I couldn't help but bring a smile to my face as we drove through. God, I missed this neighborly kind of lifestyle.