Chapter 12
Amara
––––––––
The entire car lurchesforward and back in several nauseatingly abrupt motions. “No, no, no.”
Pressing harder on the gas, my stomach plummets alongside every one of the gauges on my dashboard. Jerking the wheel, I manage to get it to the side of the road just as it comes to a grinding halt.
“Come on, baby, don’t quit on me now.”
Crossing my fingers and toes, I turn the key and back again to no avail. On the second attempt, I hold my breath as it turns over, only for a massive cloud of steam to bellow out of the hood.
“Son of a bitch!” Smacking the dashboard, I shove away from the steering wheel and muffle a scream as I bury my face in my hands. The radio flares to life for one hopeful second until the overhead light surges and shatters, everything falling silent.
I’m not going to cry. Crying solves nothing, and I don’t have time to waste on a pity party.Yet, no matter how many times I repeat the mantra, tears burn the back of my eyes.Not now. Not when he’s so close.
I shoot a glare at the steam rising out of my totally-fucked engine, climbing out of the car and anxiously checking behind me. A blessing and a curse, this entire stretch of road is empty. Not surprising for this late at night in the middle of nowhere, but the endless farmland on either side that’s barely started to sprout leaves me completely exposed from every angle.
“At least nobody’s going to pop out of the cornfield to murder me.”
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch,my inner cynic mumbles, and I give the fields another nervous once over.
“It’s over ten miles to the next town.”
Once the first frustrated tear slips past my defenses, they start falling in earnest. Back against the car, I slide down to sit on the pavement, thumping my head against the driver’s door. A few minutes; that’s all I can afford. Lamenting how unfair and exhausting life is may help relieve a little of the insurmountable stress, but it doesn’t solve a damn thing to sit around wallowing.
I’m down to three options. Push the car all the way to town, abandon it and walk, or call for help. If it wasn’t for the foreboding fact that I knew who was right on my tail, I’d choose the first without a second thought. If money wasn’t so tight, I could call a tow truck, but I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to coverthat,let alone the repair bill. If I wasn’t living out of it, I’d abandon this hunk of junk and catch the first bus I came across. Which leaves...
I don’t need them.
“And being raped or murdered by some random asshole that pulls over to ‘help’ when they see me stranded in the middle of fucking nowhere is a better choice?” I snap, angry at myself for letting them get in my head when I’ve gotten by all of these years on my own.
Yet the chilling thought of Malcolm finding me out here without a way to run him over is enough to have me picking the lesser evil, even if I hate myself for it. Sliding my phone out of my pocket, I stare at the single bar that’s flickering in and out. Doubts continue to creep in, leaving me frozen long enough that I lose my window of opportunity, the service dropping.
It’s not a choice I wanted to make, but having the option taken away has a tendril of fear slowly winding a noose around my neck.
When a signal temporarily flashes across my screen again, I hit the green button before I can talk myself out of it, grateful that I have a chance of the call going through at all.
“Amara?” Kodiak’s voice is gravelly with sleep, but he wakes up quickly. “What’s going on, are you okay?”
I thump my head against the door again. “No.” But the fact that he was sleeping instead of skulking in the shadows helps solidify my resolve. After a brief hesitation, I sigh, praying I’m not going to regret this, but desperate enough to risk it. “My car broke down somewhere past mile marker thirty-nine, about ten miles outside of Oakvale.”
“Do you want me to call a tow service, or come get you?” he asks easily, not giving any insight to which option he’s rooting for.
Throat bobbing as I swallow, thirsty as hell after my short crying jag, I croak, “Do you know anything about cars? Maybe it’s something simple like it just needs a gallon of coolant or a belt tightened, and you can talk me through what to check?”
