Apparently, he was some sort of fighter, or prankster, or both. Scrolling through the promo images, I saw blood and plenty of it.
I gave a shudder. I hated the sight of blood. And I wasn't a fan of fighting at all.
Bracing myself, I clicked on a random video. After five minutes, I hit the stop button and turned to look out my back window.
Outside, the view was amazing. The sun hovered just above the horizon, casting a shimmering glow over the endless water. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to appreciate it. Not now.
I'd made a huge mistake.
Joel's brother was nothing like what I'd assumed. He wasn't some poor slob, stranded on the roadside. He was rich and famous – and a total jerk.
The way it looked, he made his money by pushing people's buttons and beating them senseless when they finally took a swing at him. Oh sure, the guys he encountered were rich and famous in their own right – sports stars mostly. But the whole thing was crude and ugly, even if the guy himself wasn't.
He was, to put it mildly, quite attractive, with features that were strikingly similar to Joel's.
I sighed. Yup, he was Joel's brother, alright.
With growing regret, I considered Joel's claim, that he'd taken the Camaro as some sort of payback. I bit my lip. Probably, his brother had it coming.
And what had I done? I'd gotten on my high horse and acted like Joel was the bad guy in all this. As my thoughts churned, I stared out over the horizon. Soon, it would be dark. I had no car. And yet, Ihadto see him.
Before I knew it, I was outside, pulling out my bike. With growing resolve, I began peddling toward the campground. If I was lucky, I'd reach it before darkness fell.
Or not.
By the time I peddled breathlessly up to his site, it was officially dark and worse, I saw no sign of Joel's car.
I stopped and straddled my bike while I gazed out over his campsite. It didn't look nearly as barren as last time. The tent was still there, but now, I saw two lawn chairs facing the darkened fire-pit, along with a loose pile of logs and kindling a few feet away.
Unable to resist, I got off my bike and leaned it against a tree. And then, I walked forward to check out the fire-pit. Among the ashes, I saw a few scattered remnants of that torn check. Against all logic, I felt a wistful smile tug at my lips.
That whole scene had been utterly awful, and yet, it had led to an amazing night.
It would make for a great story someday. But how would the story end? My smile faded. For all I knew, the story was already over.
Behind me, a male voice – Joel's voice – cut through the darkness. "What are you doing?"
I whirled around and saw him standing within arm's reach. "How'd you do that?" I asked.
"Do what?"
"Sneak up on me like that."
"I wasn't sneaking. It's my campsite. Remember?"
I glanced around. "Where's your car?"
"Across the street."
"You mean at the storage place?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I'm just wondering, why would you parkthere?"
He shrugged. "Why not?"
"Well, I’m just saying, most people park right there at their campsites."
