Page 121 of The Girl with No Name

My smile threatens to crack my face. I’ve never felt this happy, or this sure of what I want.

As I start down the stairs, guitar in hand, I hear Mason’s rapid footsteps rattling down the metal stairs after me.

“Dude, no. I’m telling you, she’s a fucking slut, dude. She’ll sleep with anyone.”

I get to the van, open the door, and throw my guitar inside along with a couple of other bags just as he gets to the bottom of the steps. “Nah, man. You’re projecting,” I tell him. “You’re talking about yourself. You’ll sleep with anyone.” I laugh, sticking my tongue out the side of my mouth. “That’s beta shit.”

“The fuck?—”

“You gotta get off those weird male influencer videos you watch, man, like I said. They’re poison.”

I wrap around the passenger’s side, get in the van, and close the door behind me.

“Hey,” I say, turning to Luna. I can’t even explain how happy I feel right now.

“How’d it go?” she asks, looking in the side mirror where Mason is still ranting.

“As well as I figured it would.”

I reach over to the driver’s seat, cradle the back of her head, and pull her in for a lingering kiss. It’s a kiss like nothing else I’ve felt in my life.

Then there’s a tap on her window.

“Roll it down a little,” I tell her.

Nervously, she does.

“I should fucking kill you,” Mason seethes. “You can’t do this. And I’m not a fucking beta male.”

I shake my head sadly. “Your head is so far up your ass you’ve become a trope of a man. You know what an alpha does? He looks out for others’ interests above his own. Like Charlie fucking Dunn, who loses sleep over the men he’s lost. Who looks out for his friends and takes care of his wife and kid. You want to be a fucking alpha male? Go join the military or something, man. And an alpha male sure as hell doesn’t talk about how alpha he is.”

“You don’t know what she’s like.” He looks at Luna now, his tone desperate. “You have no idea. She’d do anything for me.”

“Get a life, loser. You’re an alpha-male LARP. And that’s the worst fucking kind.”

Luna giggles.

“What the fuck is so funny?” he growls.

“Not that it matters—because his personality is why I fell in love with him—but his is…bigger than yours anyway,” she tells him. “Thought you’d want to know since you’re so obsessed with being alpha. And he doesn’t talk about it, which makes it even better.” She looks at me and smirks. “You’rewaybigger,” she repeats, confirming my theory about guys who can’t stop talking about their dicks.

Mason’s jaw is wide open. But for once, he doesn’t have any fancy comeback.

I guess it’s not up for debate.

“Anything else to add, Reed?” She asks me.

I shake my head. “I think it’s time for a new chapter.”

Luna puts her van in drive and pulls away. Mason shouts something in the distance.

And neither of us could care less.

EPILOGUE - REED

“OVER THE RAINBOW” – ISRAEL KAMAKAWIKO’OLE

Afew hours later, Luna comes out of the gas station in Terre Haute, Indiana with a batch of square donuts. I’m leaning against the van, gassing it up.