Page 19 of Death Warden
“Are you insane? It’s freezing. We should stay in the car with the heater on until someone finds us.”
“You’re scared there might be an axe murderer out there, aren’t you?”
“No.” I crossed my arms.
He chuckled. “You write about this shit all the time.”
“Doesn’t mean I want to live it.” I blew out a breath. “Ghosts I can handle. Just give me ghosts any day.” I tapped the fuel gauge. “Someone will find us.”
“And how long do you think that will be?” Fin retorted. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s late. Will the car battery last that long?”
He had a point.
“Dammit!”
“I say we get to the main road up ahead, then hitch a ride the rest of the way into town. Worst case there’ll be a petrol station or something.”
“Or we’ll be picked up by an axe murderer.”
Fin glared at me unblinkingly with his intense green eyes.
“Look, I’m all about taking risks. You know me. I’m all, grrr, argh, let’s do this shit. But hitchhiking isn’t safe.”
His eyes gleamed. “It is if you have me.”
One time a year ago, some guy had tried to mug me late at night on the way home from the takeaway place a block away and Finley had clawed off his face.
Ah, good times. “I hate when you’re right.”
I grabbed my jacket from the backseat, a regular no-frills, no warm-lining jacket made for spring weather, not for winter chill.
Damn Tobias.
My bags would have to stay locked in the car, but I grabbed my weapons holster and a torch. “Let’s go.”
It didn’t take long for the chill to seep into my bones. “Wouldn’t have hurt Tobias to tell me Frostgate was named for the damn temperature.”
Fin stalked up ahead, seemingly oblivious to the cold.
“Don’t tell me, you cat-sith have internal radiators.” I grit my teeth to stop them from chattering and picked up the pace. “I’m tempted to grab you and shove you down my top.”
“Please don’t.”
“Hey, isn’t it your job to keep me alive?”
“Not at the expense of my ability to breathe.”
“Hey, my tits are not that big.”
“I’d say that’s debatable, relative, and also a darn outright lie.”
Now I could fucking feel them jiggling as I walked. “I hate you.”
“I love you too.”
The forest seemed to close in around us, pressing against the road and making it narrower and narrower. How was this taking us to the main road? “Fin, I think we might be going in the wrong direction.”
The moon vanished behind a cloud.
