“Maybe she lied to you,” I whisper.
“My aunt wouldn’t lie to me. Keep your unsavory comments about people you don’t know to yourself.” She crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me.
That’s the fire. I need to be careful around her. She is the shield of the group and that’s something I’m very used to. She motions for me to follow her and she heads to the front of the van. I don’t like how she lashes out and how she is now treating me like she is above me, but some sick part of me finds itattractive. She opens the driver’s door and pops the hood open. She steps in front of me and a gust of wind carries her scent. For a few quick seconds, we were close enough that I could’ve pulled her to me and press her back to my front. I could have buried my nose in her neck and maybe peg her attitude a notch or two. I didn’t. I let the back of my brain seal in the scent of her and follow her to the front of the van.
“What happens when it stopped working?” I ask as she rolls her eyes and remind myself I’m only asking because I need to know. I can’t figure out how to help them if I don’t know how the van stops working. Maybe it really got overheated and they just need to chill for a while, or maybe is something else.
“We stop to stretch our legs and when I tried to turn it on again, it didn’t. Smoke came out of the front and we saw the sign for the next town, and we were on our way to get help when we heard you coming.”
I hum and look at what I have in front of me. The first thing I notice is the heavy corrosion on the battery connection. Clearly this is the reason the van didn’t turn on again after she turn it off. This is not something I can simply clean and if it smoked, then the battery is dead.
“Car keys.” I say, hand palm up extended in front of her.
She pulls the key out of her pocket and lays them on my hand. A surge of electricity passes through us when her finger touches my skin and I hear her gasp. I clear my throat and close my fingers around the keys.
I glance at her. She is hugging herself while looking at the engine of the car as if it will tell her what is wrong. Clearing such a big corrosion is something a shop like Leroy’s or mine can do. Maybe if I was driving my car, I could have helped immediately, but I have a feeling the battery is dead. I see the sign that saysone hundred and twenty miles to Saddleback Tennessee when I try to turn the van on and got nothing. I know I can call Leroy and he will take care of this. Now I need to convince Caleb of giving them a ride to Saddleback.
“See all of this gray-ish white substance stuck on the battery cables and connections?” Rosalie leans in. She is close enough I can smell her perfume and feel her arm gracing mine. She nods and looks at me.
“That killed your battery, and that’s why the van doesn’t start. My garage is too far from here, but I know an excellent mechanic in Saddleback that can help you. I hope is just the battery since nothing is turning on but it could be something more complicated. Let me call him and we can go from there.”
I can’t pin which emotion crosses Rosalie’s face, but I have a feeling that it’s between not being happy and being worried.
“Let me update my friends while you make your call. Thank you, Cooper.”
I nod and see her walk away from the van and call her friends. They stand in a circle and talk in hush voices. It feels like they have talked that quietly so often they have mastered it.
I make my way to my brothers and update them.
“Well, Saddleback is not a huge detour. We can drop them there. Leroy and the people in Saddleback can take care of them. They seem like they can figure things out from there,” Colin says.
I watch Caleb staring at them. He frowns and sighs. “We will give them a ride and I’ll make sure Leroy or one of his employee comes and picks the van. We all know Leroy can take his sweet time working on cars. Cooper, you stay back with them and make sure they secure a place to stay for the night and that they have some sort of plan. I don’t know why something tellsme we need to monitor them for a little longer. Colin and I need to get back to Cross Hollow and I need Curtis to go somewhere else. Can you do that?”
I close my eyes. I don’t regularly mind when Caleb asks me to watch someone, but why this time it feels like I’m gonna babysit four grown women? “I guess since I have my laptop with me, I can keep doing my work while I watch them.”
“Thank you.”
I pull my phone from my back pocket and call Leroy. He answers on the third ring.
“Cooper Callahan, to what I owe this honor?”
“Leroy. I hope you are doing well. Me and my brothers were on our way back to Cross Hollows when we stumble upon a group of ladies with a dead van. I don’t have my tools, so I can’t help them. There’s heavy corrosion on the connection of the battery. We are going to give them a ride to Saddleback. Could you then come and tow their van to your workshop?”
“Man, gotta love how you go straight into business. Yeah. Bring them here and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Thank you, Leroy.”
“There’s no need for that. I’m more than happy to help anyone in need. Seeya in a couple of hours.”
“Okay.”
After the call ends, I wave at Rosalie, and they all come.
“I talk to the mechanic I know in the next town, and he will help you. We think, for you guys’ safety, that we should give you a ride to Saddleback and have Leroy or one of his employee come and tow the van. The temperatures are going up and I’m gonna throw a wild guess that you guys don’t have enough waterto wait until the van gets towed. You can bring what you can hold on your back or with one hand. The rest will come with the van.”
Rosalie nods. “Since it is not nice to just jump on motorcycles without even exchanging names. Vivian, Margaret, Genevieve and well, I’m Rosalie.” She points from the blond young woman all the way to her.
“Fair. The short one is Colin. The one with the shit-eating grin is Curtis, my insufferable twin. The one at the back is Caleb and, well, I’m Cooper.” I imitated her with a little bit of flair.
