Wrong Turn: Road Tripping Series

by Samantha Chase

  Wrong Turn

  Road Tripping Series

  Samantha Chase

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Want a sneak peek at what’s coming next in the RoadTripping series??

  TEST DRIVE

  Also by Samantha Chase

  Copyright 2020 Samantha Chase

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  All Rights Reserved.

  * * *

  No part of this book, with the exception of brief quotations for book reviews or critical articles, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  * * *

  Editor: Jillian Rivera

  Cover Design: Uplifting Designs/Alyssa Garcia

  Praise for Samantha Chase

  “If you can’t get enough of stories that get inside your heart and soul and stay there long after you’ve read the last page, then Samantha Chase is for you!”

  -NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Melanie Shawn

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  “A fun, flirty, sweet romance filled with romance and character growth and a perfect happily ever after.”

  -NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips

  * * *

  “Samantha Chase writes my kind of happily ever after!”

  -NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Erin Nicholas

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  “The openness between the lovers is refreshing, and their interactions are a balanced blend of sweet and spice. The planets may not have aligned, but the elements of this winning romance are definitely in sync.”

  - Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

  * * *

  “A true romantic delight, A Sky Full of Stars is one of the top gems of romance this year.”

  - Night Owl Reviews, TOP PICK

  * * *

  “Great writing, a winsome ensemble, and the perfect blend of heart and sass.”

  - Publishers Weekly

  * * *

  “Recommend Chase to fans of Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Well-written and uniquely appealing.”

  - Booklist

  1

  “So…what’s new in the history world?”

  Chelsea Cooper fought the urge to roll her eyes.

  Hard.

  Taking a sip of her wine, she glanced over at the person responsible for quite possibly the dumbest question ever.

  Drew Russo.

  Sadly, his best friend and her best friend were dating. This meant that Chelsea and Drew were forced to hang out together–a lot.

  As in…far more frequently than Chelsea would like.

  She had meant to turn to the right after she got her wine and head toward the dartboards, but instead, she’d gone the wrong way and ended up here.

  With Drew.

  He gave her an easy smile before taking a sip of his beer.

  “There’s nothing new in history,” she replied primly. “History is history. As in it’s in the past.”

  Nodding, Drew moved in closer. “Depends on how you look at it, doesn’t it?”

  Is he insane or just plain clueless?

  “Actually, no. That’s not the case at all. History is the study of past events, Drew. And last I checked, there haven’t been any new findings in…the history world.”

  Now she fought the urge to shudder.

  Leaning even closer–like seriously infringing on her personal space–he said, “Well, the past could be anything that happened before right this minute. Me walking over and asking you that question is technically in the past, right?”

  For a moment, all Chelsea could do was sputter and try to come up with a witty comeback.

  Or at least an intelligent one.

  Instead, all she could say was, “Why are you like this?”

  “Like what?” His grin never faltered.

  Glancing around, she prayed someone would catch her eye and come save her from another pointless conversation. They ended up in this position most weekends. It was almost as if Drew sought her out with the sole purpose of aggravating her.

  And every weekend, he succeeded.

  “Isn’t there someone else you’d rather talk to? One of the guys, maybe?”

  Bumping her shoulder gently, he replied, “I can talk to them anytime. But you? You and I only get to catch up on Fridays. Besides, I was just curious about what you do. You’re always talking about these books you narrate, so I just thought I’d ask. Excuse me for trying to be sociable.”

  “No one said you weren’t sociable…”

  “Except you.”

  The groan was out before she could stop it. “I never said that.”

  “But you implied it.”

  This conversation was going nowhere.

  Fast.

  “Okay, let’s start over, okay?”

  He nodded.

  “I just got a call to narrate a book on the Civil War and…”

  “Didn’t you narrate that one already?”

  “There’s more than one book on the Civil War.”

  Shrugging, he said, “Go on.”

  “Anyway, the original narrator came down with the flu and they’re on a tight schedule, so they asked me to come in and do it. So I’ll go into the studio on Monday and I only have three days to get it done. That’s with all the edits and everything.”

  “You do the editing too? Wow!”

  “No,” she said patiently. “I don’t do the edits. There’s a very talented group of people who handle that. I’m simply the one reading the book.”

  “And it takes three days? Seriously? Are you only reading like an hour a day or something?”

  As much as she wanted to be annoyed with him, she couldn’t. Most people had no idea what went into audiobook narration.

  She wasn’t irritated by the questions about her job–just by Drew.

  Forcing a smile, Chelsea explained the process to him just like she’d explained to dozens of people over the years. “Basically, on average, it is a 2:1 ratio. So if it’s a ten-hour book, it takes around twenty hours to narrate it. Remember, that includes errors, swallows, background sounds, stopping, starting, etc., so it is for sure a marathon to perform.”

  Thankfully, he didn’t interrupt and seemed to be genuinely interested in what she was saying. Once she was done, she figured he’d move on and talk to someone else.

  But he didn’t.

  “You must really enjoy history then.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it seems like that’s all you narrate,” he replied. “I’ll admit, I enjoyed studying history in school. I always aced those classes because it fascinated me to learn about how far we’ve come and yet how much we’re still the same as some of our ancestors.” He took another pull of his beer. “You ever narrate anything on the Egyptians and the pyramids?”

  She had to think about that for
a minute. “You know, I don’t think…”

  “Do you think they really built the pyramids themselves or that aliens did it?”

  “What?”

  “Think about it–how could they move those massive blocks without modern tools? Or toolbelts?” He shook his head. “To do all that work in a loincloth? No thank you.”

  “I don’t think…”

  “You’d look really good in the dresses the women wore back then–togas, right?”

  Yeah, he’s clueless.

  A snarky response was on the tip of her tongue when someone came up beside her.

  “There you are!” Her best friend Bianca wrapped one arm around her and hugged Chelsea tight before smiling at Drew. “Don’t you two look cozy over here! What are we talking about?”

  “How I would look good in the togas the Egyptians wore,” Chelsea said, praying Bianca would get how that was a completely ridiculous statement.

  Bianca studied her. “Hmm…you probably would. They’re very forgiving and would hide your hips.”

  “Wait…what?!” Chelsea cried.

  “Yeah, a toga would totally be your friend. I like to think I’d be like royalty and have a designer toga that would be more of a mermaid fit,” Bianca went on. “Then I’d accessorize with a lot of jewels.” She took a sip of her wine before adding, “I’d be totally hot as an Egyptian.”

  “I’d probably be one of those gladiators,” Drew chimed in, smug smile and everything.

  “Those were Roman soldiers,” Chelsea murmured.

  “You ever narrate a book about gladiators?” he asked.

  With no other choice, she did the only thing she could.

  Chugged the remainder of her wine before announcing she saw someone she absolutely needed to talk to before quickly making her escape.

  Drew watched Chelsea walk away and felt mildly relieved.

  He was running out of things to talk about.

  Although, he would have loved to hear her theory on the whole Egyptians and alien thing.

  “You’re good,” Bianca said with a less than sincere smile.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Jimmy said you were the go-to guy to keep Chelsea distracted and I didn’t really give it much thought. But for the last several weeks, I always see the two of you together so…bravo.” She mock-clapped and Drew had to force himself to smile.

  “I thought she was your best friend.”

  “Oh, she is!” she gushed. “But…she really has no idea how to just relax and…you know…not bore everyone to tears with her work stories. Ugh…if I wanted to talk about history, I would…” She paused. “What am I saying? Why would I want to talk about history? It’s over, right?”

  He was about to bring up his theory about how history could be from just minutes ago but immediately decided against it.

  That would mean talking to Bianca more than he wanted to.

  She was nice enough, but…not much going on upstairs. How Jimmy could be so head over heels in love with this woman, he had no idea. All he did know was it was time to move on and find someone else to talk to.

  So he pulled a Chelsea…yeah, he knew her signature move to get rid of him…and chugged the rest of his beer and excused himself.

  Clearly Bianca didn’t get the similarities because she just smiled and walked away.

  Thank God.

  Slowly, Drew made his way over to the bar and ordered another beer–in no rush to turn and join the group of friends he was here with or to find anyone new to talk with.

  Elbows on the bar, he hung his head and let out a long breath. He was in a serious rut. It was like being stuck in the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray–doing the same thing every day and every weekend and it was getting beyond monotonous. They went to the same places, drank the same drinks, had the same conversations, and went home.

  Only to repeat it all again.

  His beer appeared in front of him and Drew thanked the bartender. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out some cash and threw it on the bar before turning around. So many familiar faces and he didn’t have the least bit of interest in what any of them had to say.

  Liar.

  Yeah, okay, Chelsea was definitely interesting to talk to.

  Mainly because she argued everything with him.

  Every. Single. Thing.

  If he said black, she said white. If he said he enjoyed something, she pointed out why it was pointless. Most of the time it was thoroughly entertaining, but tonight he could tell she was just irritated with him. Most weekends he could have dragged out that kind of conversation for at least an hour. Maybe she was as bored as he was with these gatherings and felt like he did about their little social group.

  How ironic would that be? The two people with the least in common, feeling the same way?

  With a mirthless laugh, Drew lifted his beer to his lips and took a long pull of it.

  “There’s the man!” His best friend Jimmy walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. “You must be losing your touch. You and Chelsea barely lasted fifteen minutes tonight.” Then he laughed. “Are you quick in the sack too?” More laughter and another back clap.

  “Conversation and sex aren’t the same, dumbass.”

  “That’s exactly what a guy who’s a little too quick in bed would say.”

  Ugh…someday he’ll grow up, right?

  “Anyway,” Drew said, his teeth practically grinding. “Any chance of us doing something remotely fun tonight?”

  “What’s the matter, quickdraw? Not enjoying yourself?”

  Drew mentally counted to ten while he took another drink. Lowering the bottle, he glared at Jimmy. “Seriously, this bar is just…we’re always here! Why can’t we find someplace else to go? We used to do some fun shit before you started dating Bianca.”

  “Hey!” Jimmy snapped. “You got a problem with my girl?”

  “Did I say I did?” he replied wearily. “I’m just saying there are other places to go on a Friday night besides here. Remember when we used to go to the batting range? Indoor skydiving? To concerts? Any of this ringing any bells?”

  Beside him, Jimmy leaned against the bar. “Yeah, yeah, yeah…we did all that and it was great. Now we’re doing something new.”

  “New? Dude, we’ve been doing this for months now. Months! That’s hardly new.”

  “Oh, so you got any better ideas?”

  “Yeah, dozens of them!”

  Jimmy huffed but didn’t comment.

  “There are other bars, and we could do one of those crawls where we hit a bunch of them downtown, or maybe try the new cigar bar that opened up last month.”

  “Bianca’s not going to smoke cigars.”

  “Maybe for one Friday night you don’t go out with her.”

  “I knew you had a problem with her!”

  Groaning, Drew twisted and placed his beer on the bar before facing his friend. “Look, I get you’re all in love and all that crap, but you’re not joined at the hip. Once in a while, it’s okay to go out without each other.” He paused. “For all you know, she might enjoy a girls’ night out!”

  “She does!” Jimmy argued. “Once a month the girls go out–just them.”

  “Seriously? Then why aren’t we going out–just the guys?”

  Shrugging, Jimmy looked away.

  It didn’t take a genius to know what that meant.

  Bianca didn’t want him going out with the guys.

  Snorting with disgust, he muttered, “You are pathetic and completely whipped.”

  “Jealous?”

  If he had been drinking, he would have choked on it. “Jealous? Of what? Letting some woman lead me around by the balls and tell me when I can and can’t go out? Um…no. Trust me.” Placing a hand over his crotch, he grinned. “These are all mine and I go where I want.”

  “Do you? Because I know where you are almost all the damn time, buddy. And it’s pretty much wherever I am.” Then he laughed. “Looks like I’m the one leading you around by the bal
ls.”

  Drew snorted again. “Dude, that doesn’t make either of us look or sound good.” When he went to reach for his beer, he reconsidered and pushed away from the bar. “I’m outta here.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m just not feeling it tonight. If I’m going to be this bored, I’d rather be in my own damn house.”

  “Drew, come on. We’re just joking around!”

  But he wasn’t listening. “I’ll talk to you later.” And with a short wave, he turned and made his way to the door and out onto the sidewalk.

  Knowing damn well he’d be back here again next week.

  2

  “I’m getting married!”

  “What?!” Chelsea knew the instant the exclamation was out of her mouth that it was the wrong response. It was more accusatory than celebratory.

  And her facial reaction was probably even worse.

  Doing her best to smile, she looked at her best friend before launching into a very girly squeal. “I mean, oh my God! That’s fantastic!” After an overly-enthusiastic hug, she sat back down and studied Bianca. “So when’s the big day?”

  Flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder, Bianca smiled serenely. “We haven’t set the date, but I’m thinking I don’t want a whole big circus of a wedding. I’d love to elope. Someplace special and romantic and with real meaning, you know?”

  In Bianca’s world, that could be anything from the Eiffel Tower to the concession stand at Jones Beach where she and Jimmy met.

  Jimmy…ugh…

  Chelsea did her best not to make a face–or gag–at the mere thought of that guy. For the life of her, she had no idea what Bianca saw in him. He was loud, obnoxious, and almost cartoonish–like one of those guys you’d see on a reality show based out of Jersey.