Page 4 of Road Trip With the Ghost Hunter
“Um, I don’t know you,” she whispered. It was the softest I had heard her voice, and the sound of it went right where I didn’t need it to go.
Any good thoughts or ideas I had completely left. The wrong head demanded that I not accept her refusal. He wouldn’t let her stay here, and he for sure wasn’t about to let her ride with anyone else.
“I have plenty of room and I’m on a tight schedule as well,” I informed her. “I can get you there.” In more ways than one, I thought.
”I can vouch for Lucas here.” Benny put his hand on my shoulder. He had to reach up some to do it, but he did it with a smile. “You won’t find a better guy, and he will make sure you get where you need to go safely. The guy drives like a grandma,” Benny joked.
”Screw you.” I almost used the f-word, but I didn’t know where Li stood with that, and I didn’t want to offend her.
”What about my car?” she asked. “I can’t just leave it here.”
”I could buy it off you,” Benny offered. “That way, you can have a fresh, clean start when you get to Colorado.”
”I can’t sell it.” She looked more stricken at the thought of selling the car than missing whatever she had waiting for her in Rustic Junction.
Whatever was going on, Benny seemed to understand. He went back to her and took her hands.
“What if I hold on to it until you can come back?” His smile was sad. “I promise to make sure it’s as good as new when you get here.”
”I can’t ask you to do that.”
”Just think about it as a belated thank you for all the antiques I know I never paid full price for.” He winked, and Li laughed.
”Are you sure?” She didn’t look convinced when her eyes came back to me.
”I’m sure,” Benny answered. I didn’t know if he was reassuring her about the car or me.
”Alright.” She pulled a deep breath. “Let’s go.” Once more, her smile didn’t seem right, but I took it for what it was. The best she could do.
CHAPTER THREE
Li
Twenty minutes later, my car was half unpacked to fill up the little space left in Lucas’s dark gray SUV. We worked silently, hopped in, waved goodbye to Benny, the other half of my stuff, and drove off toward the highway. Soft alternative rock played on his radio. Buckled in, I raised my right knee and rested it against the door. Gripping it with my hands, the intrusive thoughts began spiraling. Hard.
I’m in a car with a complete stranger.
Who freaking does that? I mean, yes, people have done that. And guess where they are? Murdered and tossed into some woods, either to never be found again or for their bones to be dug up by some animals years later.
Sure, he’s hot, but so was Ted Bundy, apparently. That didn’t bode well for the women, now did it? Okay, Benny was a witness that I left with him, and he knew Lucas’s name. If he murdered me, he’d totally be a suspect, right?
My eyes shifted quickly to the Viking god next to me, who made the interior of this car feel tiny. I’m homeless. I have a job waiting for me in some small town, in a state I’ve never been to. Why don’t I have girlfriends I could call right now and send my location to so they’d track me?
Lao lao was always on me about not going out more when she got sick. It’s not like I didn’t have friends. Okay, they were acquaintances from work. And yeah, I never tended to stay longer than a year at any job. But, come on. AdministrativeAssistant in one company got boring real quick. I knew myself well enough to know that if I stayed, I’d get lazier and half-ass most of my work. I’d check out. So, I kept things interesting by changing locations, company types, and new co-workers, which meant the friends I was making at the previous location fizzled out fast.
Now, I was paying the price because my insane ass agreed to get in this nice SUV with cozy seats–were they heated too?–with a total, complete stranger. Road trips are sacred journeys you take with someone you know and care about. Road trips are intimate. You’re in close proximity with someone, trusting that they are safe drivers and good companions who’ll look out for you if you’re the one driving. Who you road trip with is serious business.
Oh my God, what did I do?
“Who knows you’re on this road trip?” I killed the silence.
Lucas’s head snapped my way, completely taken aback by my sudden outburst after forty minutes of dead silence from both of us.
“I’m sorry. I mean, is there someone perhaps whom I can communicate with to let them know, you know, that I’m on this trip with you?” I asked, though, now that I thought about it, his person could be in on his murder business. They could team up and cover for each other when one goes off to find their next victim.
Focused on the road again, he answered, “My cousin and business partner know.”
“Bjorn?” I guessed from the phone call earlier.
