All I hear is the sound of the rain and his breathing, all I smell is his cologne and that unmistakable rental car smell.
“Radio on or off?” I ask, my voice slightly raspy.
“Off,” he says. His shoulders are tense, his hands sliding over his thighs in a steady motion, his fingers flexing. Back and forth. Back and forth.
I reach out one hand gently and settle my palm on his chest and swiftly push.
“You’re good,” I tell him. “You can relax.”
He looks at me like he wants to argue, but he doesn’t say anything. He does lean back into his seat, and his shoulders loosen a fraction.
I turn the car on, and pull out onto the road, taking my time. The rain is still heavy, but I’ve definitely been in worse conditions.
“See, it’s letting up,” I say with a smirk. “All storms pass eventually.”
Hudson lets out a breath. “Thank you.”
I squeeze his shoulder.
“Don’t have to thank me. That’s what friends are for, right?”
My palm heats, or maybe it’s him that’s warm?
I pull my hand back and adjust the temperature so we don’t burn up.
I’m feeling strangely flush all of a sudden.
It seems the break in the storm was a false sense of security, because we barely get another half hour before the wind picks up and the rain gets worse.
“Shit,” I mutter, trying to stay calm because I don’t want to freak Hudson out.
Sure enough, our phones chime with emergency weather alerts and text notifications.
“Damnit,” Hudson hisses, his voice returning to that shaky, panicked tone.
“What? What does it say?”
“All flights are grounded and there’s a shelter in place.”
Fuck.
I let out a heavy sigh.
“Okay, so that just means we pull over at the first hotel we see.”
I feel his panic like it’s my own. And maybe it is.
This…
This is not how today was supposed to go…
“We’re in the middle of nowhere, Trey!” he snaps. “Where the hell are we going to—”
“It’s fine. Just Googlehotels near meor something.”
Hudson sighs in exasperation.
“Oh, wait—” I slow the car as I set my sight on the glowingvacancysign. I don’t think twice as I pull off the road, into the parking lot which is pretty full. I find one open parking spot and breathe a sigh of relief as I pull in.
