Read Online Overdrive by Dawn Ius - Free Book Online

for his face and I’m almost pissed enough to say so.
    â€œLittle worked up over octopus, aren’t you?” He flashes a wolfish grin before his teeth disappear into another piece of the grayish rubber. I’m tongue-tied with disgust.
    â€œI don’t appreciate being bullied into trying something I know I won’t like,” I say, fending off a tidal wave of nausea. Damn, the stuff stinks.
    â€œSo you haven’t tried it?” Nick says. He tugs on his lip ring with his top teeth while I pretend the motion isn’t sexy as hell. It’s more than the piercing. There’s something about the way he challenges me that really revs my engine. Jesus. I probably need a full team of therapists to analyze that shit. “Seems to me you’re just passing random judgment.”
    Smoke billows from my ears like my brain’s spun a burn-out. He can’t be serious. “That’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black, don’t you think?”
    Nick smirks. “Don’t you mean white?’
    â€œUh, maybe we should change the subject,” Chelsea says.
    â€œPerfect,” I say, shoving away my plate of octopus. “Just. Perfect.”
    The serving staff files in loaded up with trays of food. I’m sure I’ll never get used to it, fancy dinners with real china and a personal waitstaff that tops up my water glass and passes the salt. But as one of them sets a plate of steaming roast beef in front of me, my veins fill with liquid relief. Fuck Nick and his pretention. I’m starving.
    Roger tucks a linen napkin into the front of his button-up and lifts his fork and knife. “Did you find some new clothes at the mall, Emma?”
    I freeze. The mall?
    My sister stabs into a mountain of mashed potatoes that erupt with butter and stuffs her face. “Sort of. Mr. Grasdal wasn’t much help.”
    Roger takes a sip of red wine. “We don’t talk with our mouths full at the table, young lady.”
    Dinner etiquette. This should be entertaining.
    Ems swallows.
    â€œYou took the butler to the mall?” Chelsea sounds incredulous. “Next time, I’ll go with you.”
    Emma brightens. “Can we still go in the limousine?”
    â€œI’d rather take that sweet Camaro in the driveway,” Mat says.
    Roger’s spine stiffens.
    â€œIt’s a Chevelle,” I say. “Nineteen-seventy.”
    â€œSeventy-one,” Nick counters.
    I turn my head to look at him. “Close enough. They’re basically identical.”
    â€œNot quite. The grille’s different on the seventy-one.”
    I roll my eyes. “Well, excuse me, Mr. Car Expert.”
    A smile plays on his lips. “Just think, I haven’t even gotten into the changes under the hood. The improved fuel consumption, faster speed—”
    â€œGo on. I’m mesmerized.”
    I’m mostly joking, but there is something hot about the way Nick knows cars. Not in a douchey way like Kevin. Scratch that, Kevin faked it. Nick may be a jerk, but he’s not trying to be someone he’s not. I can respect that.
    â€œAll right, cool it you two,” Chelsea says. “I don’t know what you’re both getting worked up over. It’s just a car.”
    â€œA sweet car,” Mat says under his breath. “How come it’s in the driveway and not at—”
    Roger cuts him off with a sharp look of warning. “It was my wife’s, a gift on our twentieth wedding anniversary.”
    I trace the gold rim of my fancy dinner plate. “A car like that should be in the garage, at least. Want me to park it for you?”
    Roger leans back in his chair. “The garage is off-limits.” He pins me with a look that says he knows what I’m thinking. Interesting. I’m always up for a challenge. “It’s my one rule. Break it, and there will be consequences.”
    Tough talk. Too bad I’m immune to Roger’s