Page 49 of Take a Hike
“You didn’t mention I’m also great at evasion techniques.”
Cranking the wheel, he drove them right off the road.
Eleven
The truck bounced and lurched across invisible obstacles, and Charlie’s arms strained to hold her in place, even as her seat belt locked tightly across her chest. “I appreciate the heads-up about the need to hold on,” she said sincerely. “Apparently, it’s legandarm day today.”
His expression was hard to see, but he gave a chuckle that sounded a bit…well, diabolical. Contrarily, it made Charlie smile. Then another bounce of the truck almost made her bite her tongue off, so she set her teeth and braced for the next hit.
It came with a bump, plus a crunch and the twang of wires breaking.
“Did you just run over a piano?” she asked once the rear tires had settled back on the ground and she dared to relax her jaw to speak.
“Yes.” His tone was completely deadpan, and she loved it so much. “Next is the cello. We’re taking out the entire Simpson Symphony Orchestra.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but another lurch made her teeth clack together painfully. “Oof,” she said. “Freaking tuba.”
He laughed again, and she beamed at him, rough ride through the unyielding darkness forgotten for the moment. As someone who could appreciate a good adrenaline rush, she recognized a like mind. The man was becoming a little too perfect, and if he kept laughing, she was going to get an inferiority complex. The idea made her immediately snort with amusement, since her self-esteem was quite solid.
Her arms ached as they hit another bump that launched the truck into the air for a moment before the front wheels, then the back, landed with a bounce. They rolled through another natural speed bump, then another. The jouncing was beginning to make her head ache.
“Before my insides get churned into butter, what’s the ETA?” She tried to make her voice casual, but even she could hear the tension in her words.
“ETA to where?”
“Oh, just…” She paused as the truck launched off an especially large bump, automatically counting the seconds before the wheels touched ground again—well, it was more of a slam than a touch. She hurried to get the rest of her words out before the terrain jarred her any more than she already was. “Let’s start with any paved road.”
“Depends.”
Her teeth ground together for more reasons than one this time. “Depends on what?”
“How long they look for us.” Twisting the wheel, he pulled up next to an enormous boulder and stopped, turning off the truck and killing the dash lights.
It was suddenly very dark inside the cab. They both fell silent, and the only sound was the occasionaltickfrom the engine as it cooled. As her eyes adjusted, the sky outside the windshield lit up with billions of stars. Staring, Charlie felt both awed and slightly panicky. The universe felt a bittoobig at the moment, so she focused on Kieran. At the sight of his bulky, shadowed form, she immediately relaxed. For a grumpy bastard, he sure made her feel safe.
Safe, but also…not, she thought nonsensically as the hummingbirds in her stomach buzzed and swooped in a way that didn’t feel bad, just strange and novel. The awkwardness that kept her mouth shut was new too, and she didn’t think she liked caring what another person thought of her.
Scrambling to think of something—anything—to say to banish those weird emotions, she grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket. “Fifi! Needs to know! That we’re here!” Her voice sounded too loud and definitely too peppy in the enclosed space.
She could feel Kieran’s confused gaze on the side of her face as she focused on her phone screen, relieved to see she had cell service again—just a measly single bar but hopefully enough to text.
Hiding from our tail by a large boulder the size of a small boulder. Debrief without us, and we’ll see you in the morning.
Instantly, an ellipsis appeared, showing that Fifi was typing. Charlie kept her eyes locked on the screen, hanging on desperately to the normality of texting her sister so she didn’t have to deal with the man next to her or all the churning feelings he caused.
No debrief jokes? What kind of animal would you be?
Charlie winced. Kieran had really thrown her off her game if Fifi was using the emergencyis this really you or did someone kill you and steal your phonequestion.
Otter, she quickly answered, but then paused.Wait. Did I end up picking octopus?
Despite her answer—or maybe because of it—Fifi seemed reassured.Stay safe and text when you’re in your room—don’t care how late it is.
I’m always happy to wake you and B up.
Fifi shot back an eye-roll emoji.
With the conversation over, Charlie was back to her original situation—alone in a dark truck with a guy who seemed to be giving herfeelings, of all things. Letting out a sigh she carefully kept soundless—the only thing worse than having emotions, after all, was Kieran knowing about them—she decided to make some small talk. How hard could it be?
