“Do y’all hear that?” Axel stopped and cocked his head to the side. “Someone’s coming.”
“A truck, by the sound of it.” Micah squinted into the rain. “Hope they aren’t trying to get down this road. They’re gonna have a nasty surprise when they get to the spot where we wiped out.”
“They might be able to give us a ride.” I pointed down the road in front of us. “There’s an intersection up ahead. If we can catch them, we can warn them about the road and ask if they can take us into town.”
“Yeah,” Axel nodded. “No harm in asking. We might be able to get to the intersection in time if we hurry.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I took off running as fast as possible, with Micah and Axel following right along with me.
I didn’t like the idea of hitching a ride with a stranger—especially out in the middle of the woods—but almost anything was better than the prospect of walking for another half-hour in the rain.
Even if it hadn’t been raining, that was still too long to spend with these two guys after everything. I was sincerely doing my best to be understanding, forgiving, and kind... but I had my limits.
And I might have already passed them.
We made it to the intersection just as the truck approached, thank God. I was out of breath and probably looked like an extra from one of those zombie apocalypse shows with no makeup on and my rain-soaked, windswept hair clinging to my face, but I didn’t care.
Our savior arrived in a beat-up old pickup truck, and I was more than ready to turn on the charm to get a ride back to civilization.
It wasn’t until the truck stopped in front of us and the driver leaned over to the passenger seat to roll down the window that I realized who it was.
“Jasmine?” Uncle Jeff peered at me through the rain as if he saw a ghost. “What the hell are you doing out here, girl? Get in this truck right now. Your mama is gonna kick your ass when she finds out you were out here in this storm trying to hitch a ride.”
I blinked and suddenly felt like a little girl who had been caught misbehaving again—the same way I always did when my uncle yelled at me.
Which was basically every time he opened his mouth while I was around.
Of all the people who could have stopped, Jeff was the absolute last one I wanted to see. A whole lifetime of bad memories—feeling inadequate and stupid, being called every name in the book for even dreaming of getting away from this place someday—came flooding back in those first few agonizingly long seconds.
I took a step back, mostly out of reflex, and bumped right up against Axel. His strong arms wrapped around me in an instant, keeping me from tripping over his feet and my own in my clumsy, flustered attempt to get away from my uncle.
“You’re okay,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”
Micah turned to me, his brows knitted together. “You don’t have to go with him, Jasmine. I know you’re not very happy with me—with us—right now, but... you don’t have to go with him.”
He was right on both counts.
To say that I was unhappy with Micah and Axel was definitely an understatement. A big one. But, the choice was between dealing with them for another half-hour or being trapped in the cab of my uncle’s truck where I wouldn’t have any choice but to endure his mean, belittling comments for the ride back to my mom’s house, and then no doubt have to endure her endless questions and comments about why I hadn’t been back to visit and how I must think I’m too good for everyone back home now I live in L.A....
Ugh.
Just... no.
I couldn’t do it, not after everything else I’d had to deal with over the past twelve hours.
“Are you just gonna stand there gawking at me like a dead fish?” Uncle Jeff snorted and shook his head. “Get your ass in here, girl. Don’t make me tell you again.”
“No,” I said, my voice cracking a little. “No,” I repeated, more firmly the second time. “I’m going to go with these guys. We’re heading back to town.”
“What? Don’t be stupid. If I have to get out of this truck and—”
“No, sir.” Micah cut him off and took a step forward until he was shoulder to shoulder with me. Axel did the same on my other side. “Thanks for stopping, but you’d best be on your way now.”
“The fuck do you think you’re gonna do, boy?” Jeff sneered, but I could tell by the way his eyes flicked from Micah’s face to Axel’s that he was assessing his odds—and that he didn’t like what he saw. “You don’t want me to get out of this truck. The three of you will be sorry if I do.”