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

“No. I’m serious. Even if you come back, even if you did it all over again, it will never be this. It will never be your very first time, with your brand-new car, in this goddamn spot. Enjoy it, for fuck’s sake. Live it. Don’t wait your whole damn life to do something, and then do it half-ass because something is stuck in your head about priorities or restrictions. If you want to go see where fucking Elvis used to wash his freaking face, on your first damn trip across this beautiful fucking country, in your beautiful fucking car—”


“That would be Memphis,” Boyd said, attempting to color the conversation into something lighter. “We passed that an hour ago.”


Oliver moved closer. “With your new friend, in what’s probably the best weather you’ve seen in months…“


Oliver’s eyes looked so bright, so real; so one-hundred percent full of emotion. And when, oh fucking God when, had Boyd lost that? That was his spark in Oliver’s eyes. That was hisexcitement Oliver was feeling.


Chapter 33