Page 37 of Too Cursed To Kiss
“Britannia is not an easy person to understand. We have a complicated family.”
“Tell me about it. That was part cliché, part question, in case you wondered.”
“There are lots of things I’d like to tell you, but my family is not my favorite subject,” he purred back, running a gloved hand up my thigh. The effect was the same as if he brushed between my legs. I leaned away.
“How about fishing? I saw the pole in your room.”
“Fish are delicious.” He laughed, lacing his fingers with mine and sending tingles up my arm. “No, really, I like being out in nature. It’s soothing, and the serenity appeals to me. I value standing still and taking in a moment.” His low gravelly tone wasn’t suggesting fish. “Time moves both quickly and slowly, so savoring experiences is something I take seriously.” He leaned over and brushed his lips over mine. The back door opened.
Wald pulled back, and I unhooked my fingers like we were teenagers getting caught by parents.
“Got you something,” Britannia said as she slammed the door closed. She tossed a brown bag over the seat, hitting me in the crotch like an anvil. I nearly threw it back at her, but I was hungry and curious.
Wald started the car.
“Damn it,” he said in unison with me. He was looking into the rearview mirror. I was looking at two packs of BBQ chips and a root beer. I hated BBQ nearly as much as root beer.
Behind us was another an electric car with a man and a woman in it. They were close enough that I could see the woman was eating chips out of the bag. They were salt and vinegar. I whipped the open bag of BBQ chips back at Britannia, who squealed and ducked, pawing chip pieces out of her hair.
The car swerved onto the ramp at breakneck speed. I pulled the glasses down and peered at the car again. I could see headlights. Man, these glasses were good.
“What’s up? That couple doesn’t look too menacing,” I said with a laugh.
“The car behind us isn’t our problem,” Wald said, passing the car in front and then speeding up. The electric car was way behind us but on our tail was a black SUV. At least two people were in it and both wearing sunglasses. My insides twisted.
The car swerved again, and icy root beer splashed out of the can and across the front of me. Fortunately, neither the satin nor the leather were absorbent. I brushed the spill off and choked down another swig. I would die hydrated, albeit sugar buzzed.
Wald smacked the wheel. “Damn it, the car must have atracer I missed. We’re going to have to switch cars. Britannia, how close to the next exit, and what’s there?”
She looked down at the map on her tablet.
“Tiny town. Not much. Some residential north of the highway. Lots of trees, of course. A gas station and fast food off the ramp to the south. If you take the road south for a bit, you hit the town, and then it starts to be more houses.”
“North it is,” he said, passing the exit, then while my stomach was in my mouth, making a sharp screeching turn on to the on-ramp, and tearing down it before taking a harrowing right under the overpass.
I gripped the dash for dear life, sure this was it. My final moment of life would be with fingers coated in BBQ spice and the linger of root beer on my tongue.
Wald turned off the headlights and tore up the road at full speed.
“Around the curve take a left and then take the next right,” Britannia barked.
I was gripping the center console with one hand, the armrest on the door with the other. The only thing holding me in the seat was the seatbelt. The car skidded sideways on the gravel road, and Wald somehow managed to get control. If I’d been driving, we would have landed in the ditch.
Gravel sprayed behind us. The houses were spread apart with forest in between them.
“There,” Britannia shouted, pointing to the house we’d just passed. Wald skidded to a stop, backed up, then crossed onto the other side of the road. He pulled into a driveway and then, at an angle, rammed the SUV into the trees beside it, and switched off the lights.
“You do the box,” he barked at Britannia as he disappeared at a speed I couldn’t track even with the glasses.
Britannia already had the back of the SUV open before I even got out of the car.
She had thrown the suitcases out and had the drill whirring. “Take the bags and haul butt,” she snapped at me.
I had no clue what kind of trouble we were really in. My heart was hammering, and my arms and legs weren’t coordinating, as if this were all a strange dream. I slung the duffels over my shoulder and then picked up the cooler. I’d have to wheel the suitcase.
“Where are we going—” The purr of a black muscle car pulling up, cut me off. Adrenaline surged through me as Wald fluidly parked the car across the road like it was a second skin. He popped the trunk popped open and leapt out. In a head-spinning blur of movement, Wald dropped the stainless-steel box into the trunk and unburdened me of the suitcases. I walked to the car in a daze.
“Get in,” he hissed.
