For as long as Boyd can remember, he's been pushing pins into a map. Carson City, Las Vegas, Albuquerque -- all places he wants to see, for a dozen different reasons that wouldn't mean a thing to anyone else. When he finally gets a chance to purchase the '70 Plymouth Duster of his dreams, at a price that even he can manage, Boyd jumps at the opportunity.<br><br>Oliver seems like just another kid with a broken dream when their paths cross in Vegas. Against Boyd's better judgment, he offers to let Oliver hitch along for the ride when Oliver confides the need to get out and get gone.<br><br>But isn’t long before Boyd realizes Oliver's reasons for running are more complicated -- and more dangerous -- than Oliver let on. Boyd doesn't like people who play hardball, and he definitely doesn't like people messing with a man who's managed to light a fuse that Boyd forgot he had.

Road Trip

He reached in the bag and grabbed another handful of mix before walking over and dropping the bag in Oliver’s lap. Then he used Oliver’s shoulder to lower himself to the ground alongside


“So, tell me something,” Boyd said when the silence got too heavy for him. “What was a nice kid like you doing in a place like Vegas?”


“It seemed all right from the outside,” Boyd shrugged. “But I don’t like any place where boys have to hide from people that hurt them.”


Oliver snorted. “That’s everywhere, Boyd. You can be dab-smack in the middle of Perfect Town and run into some jerk that thinks he’s got the right to shove you around. Some of the nicest properties house the ugliest monsters.”


“That what had you running to Vegas in the first place?” He smiled at Oliver’s frown. “You got yourself a monster in your past?”


“Dodgy answer.” Boyd shifted and lowered himself to the ground so he could stretch out. “So, who was it? Your daddy?”


Chapter 17