It freaked me out so much, I immediately turned my head to stare out the window. No talking, no looking at him, and definitely no more confessions until my body got on board with the fact that Sebastian Laurent wasstill our biggest rival. Bits and pieces of bonding didn’t change that.
He didn’t speak again for a while, either, though that might’ve been because he was too focused on driving.
The weather had taken a drastic turn over the past few miles. Sunny skies gave way to angry thunderclouds, and traffic slowed to a crawl as the rainstorm destroyed our visibility.
Forty minutes later, we’d advanced maybe five feet.
“This is insane.” There was a rare note of frustration in Sebastian’s voice. “If we stay on the highway, we won’t make it to Vermont until midnight.”
“What else are we supposed to do?” I checked my phone like it would magically give me an answer. Service was spotty, and it took Google forever to load.
“We’re only an hour or so from the venue. We can take the local streets,” Sebastian said.
“I don’t know.” I glanced uneasily at the rain. The droplets were hitting our car so hard, they sounded like bullets. “This doesn’t seem like the ideal weather for taking backroads.”
“This car is sturdy. We’ll be fine. Would you rather deal with backroads orthis?” He gestured at the sea of red taillights before us. It was what I imagined the entrance to hell would look like.
Plus, I hadn’t eaten since lunch at Vivian’s house, and the first pangs of hunger were starting to claw at my stomach.
“Fine,” I said. “But I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Somehow, Sebastian managed to maneuver us across lanes and to the nearest exit ramp. Our GPS rerouted, and I breathed a sigh of relief once we’d escaped that hellish snarl of traffic. I hadn’t realized how claustrophobic it’d made me until I was out.
However, my relief was short-lived. We drove for half an hour before the first inklings of unease prickled along my spine.
“Is it just me, or did we pass by that same gas station ten minutes ago?” The rain had eased a little, and I saw the same blue Toyota parked in the exact same spot as earlier.
Sebastian frowned. “I’m following the GPS. It must be taking us in circles. That’s never happened before.”
He tried to reset it, but it didn’t work. We were still going in circles.
“Screw it. We don’t have time to play tech support,” I said. “I’ll navigate using Google Maps. It should be more updated.”
The app was slower than usual, but eventually, it brought us out of our loop and toward our destination.
This was why I hated road trips. There was too much potential for things to go wrong.
But we were almost there, and the prospect of a hot shower and room service was all that kept me going.
“Turn left,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Sebastian slowed the car and eyed the narrowdirt path leading into the woods. “That doesn’t look right.”
“That’s what the app says.” I refreshed it again just in case, but it gave me the same directions.
He still looked skeptical, but he didn’t argue any further.
We drove down the path. We’d turned off the music ages ago, and it was silent except for the rain and the hum of the car engine. The woods towered around us, the trees so tall and thick they nearly blotted out the night sky.
I was used to bright lights and noise, and the oppressive darkness sent goose bumps rippling across my skin.
“Try rerouting again. This can’t be it,” Sebastian said. “It’s taking us deeper into the woods, not to the main road.”
“I’m trying. There’s hardly any service out here.”
If it weren’t for the app’s offline mode, we’d be fucked.
“Putain.” Sebastian uttered another French curse that was unfit for print. “Forget it. I’m turning around. We’ll go back to that gas station and ask for directions if we have to.”
