He peered anxiously over my shoulder to Ashley. I knew her well enough to know that she was nodding in agreement.
He nodded in submission, signaled to the others, and led us quickly from the room.
“What’s happening?” I heard Toby still asking behind us, but no one replied.
Chapter Fourteen
Ashley and I were following the guys, headed past the school and in the direction of the Drake House. We rounded the corner of Second Street, Josh’s green Camaro barely in sight. Dang! Why did my Civic have to be so slow?
“Charity! There is Levi right there!” Ashley called in surprise.
“What?” I turned in time to see Levi sitting on a bench in front of the Music Box talking to a pretty girl. I slammed on brakes, causing an almost pile-up, and flew into the closest parking spot I could find. I jumped out and ran, my mind in full-attack mode.
I stopped in front of him, taking a minute to register just what I was seeing. Levi wasn’t sick at all. In fact he looked amazing in his dark jeans, blue Polo shirt, and sunglasses. He was laughing at the girl’s squeaky giggle. When he glanced up and saw me, he pulled his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose and stared at me.
“Hey, Bell. You’re looking good today.”
“Don’t you Bell me, you creep! Here I was all worried about you—thinking you were dying, rushing off to the Drake House to heal you, and you’re here flirting with this bimbo!”
“Hey!” the girl said, standing.
I turned to her. “You really don’t want to do that. As a matter of fact, I think you want to be leaving!” I pointed down the street.
She looked me over for a second and then must’ve decided I was right, and stomped off in the direction of my pointing finger.
He looked alarmed as he stood, taking his glasses off and glaring down at me. “What do you mean you thought I was dying?”
I help up my hand, exposing my darkening symbol to him.
He grabbed my hand and stared at it in alarm. “I never meant for this to happen, Bell! You have to believe me!”
“I’m never believing you again! And I never want to see you again!” I cried.
“You don’t mean that! Charity! Say you didn’t mean that! Charity!” He called after me as I ran away, Ashley, who I hadn’t even realized was there, followed closely behind.
We got in the car and I jerked the car into reverse, peeling out of my parking spot. Levi was there, trying to open my door. I quickly locked it, put it in gear, and sped away, leaving him standing there in total shock.
I angry-cried all the way home, banging my fist a few times on the steering wheel. I didn’t even bother to drop Ashley off, and she didn’t try to encourage me. I guess she knew the situation was as bad as I did. Instead she called Josh so he’d know what happened to us.
“Hey, Josh…..Yeah sorry about that, but we spotted Levi on Second Street talking to a girl. We pulled over and confronted him…….What? Of course I’m sure it was Levi. I was there. Charity told him off and said she never wanted to see him again, and then he tried to stop us……No, we’re not coming there. Why would we?......What? That’s not possible—we just left him……I’m telling you the truth, Josh……Fine, don’t believe me!” She snapped her phone closed.
“What on earth was that about?” I asked, curiosity eating me alive.
“Josh said Levi was at the Drake House, still locked in his bedroom.”
“What? Why would he say that?”
“I don’t know. And to tell you the truth this whole thing is driving me crazy. I’m guessing Levi snuck out of his room, making the others think he’s still in there, but why?”
“I’m not sure what game he’s playing, or what’s wrong with him, but I’ve just got to find out.” I thought for a minute. Irena’s message flashed before my mind, and I was suddenly really glad it was Friday.
I turned to her, my expression lightening. “Ashley, feel like a road trip?”
“Okay, now that we’re packed and on the road, are you finally gonna tell me where we’re headed?”
I handed her my phone. “Listen to this message.”
She put the phone to her ear and listened. “So we’re headed to Frazier, to this Rack’s and Pack’s bookstore place?”
I laughed. “Yep, we’re going to Pack’s And More Bookstore.”
“And just what are we looking for exactly?”
“I have no idea, but I’ve got to do something. I think Levi is in serious trouble. Something’s really wrong with him. What if he’s sick? Someone’s got to know something. Irena wants us to go there, so that’s what we’re gonna do.”
“Well, it’s not like there’s much we can do at home, so we might as well.”
“Thanks, Ash.”
“You know you should probably call Hector and let him know where we’re going so he won’t worry.”
“I’ll call him when we get there, otherwise he might try and stop us. I’m appointing you to be my go-to-map girl. It’s in the console. Get it, would ya?”
She pulled it out and studied it for a few minutes. “Okay, it looks like we’ll stay on 40 until we come to 93. It should take us right into Frazier.”
“I’ve never heard of 93.”
“Well, we’ve never been to Frazier before, now have we?”
“Fine, but you just keep your eyes on the signs.”
“I can do that,” she said, turning on the radio. She flipped through the channels until she found a song she liked and then started singing, very poorly mind you.
I moaned. “If I was a werewolf I’d be howling right now. Do you have to sing, or whatever it is you’re doing?”
She smiled and continued to bellow noises from her lips like a wounded animal needing to be put down.
I opened my glove box and retrieved a pair of earplugs I keep handy for such times as these. Stuffing them in, I smiled, as the painful sounds became a distant hum.
We passed the time by playing stupid road games. “Hey,” Ashley said, “look there.” She was pointing to a mountainside where someone was growing a Christmas tree farm. “Look at those beautiful red trees. How do you think they make them red like that?”
I peered at her, her face glowing with wonderment. “Those are dead,” I said flatly.
She gasped, looking at me in surprise. Then we both burst into laughter.
“Ash, we’ve been traveling for two hours, shouldn’t we be seeing signs by now?”
She was talking, but I couldn’t hear her.
“Oh, sorry, I forgot I put my earplugs in again.” I gently pulled them out. “Say again.”
“I said we should be seeing them any time now.”
Another hour passed and still no signs. Ash was busy making the hand signals, trying to get the Mack trucks to honk. “You know, I think they’re ignoring me on purpose,” she said, sticking her arm out the window and pumping it up and down.
“Hey! Don’t make me regret taking off window lock.”
She pumped her arm faster, a last ditched effort to get a honk, and it paid off. “Oooo!!” she squealed and then burst into a fit of giggles.
I rolled my eyes…….hard. “Can you check the map again? I think we’re lost.”
She pulled her arm in and fumbled with the map. “Don’t be silly. We’re not lost. I know how to read a—oops.”
I jerked my head to glare at her. “Oops? Don’t say oops! What have you done?!”
“Uh, well 93 upside down is 36. We were supposed to take 36.”
“36?! Highway 36 was two hours back!!”
“Hey, you were the one that insisted I be the go-to-map girl, remember?”
“You have got to be kidding me!! And 93 isn’t 36 upside down.”
“Oh yeah?” She turned the map upside down. “Hmm, whatayaknow. So I’m dyslexic, shoot me.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Look at the bright side, now we get to stop for some chow. I’m starving.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please, God
, take me out of my misery before I do it myself.”
She laughed and popped her gum loudly.
I huffed and shoved my earplugs back in.
Chapter Fifteen
“You know for someone who said they were starving, you sure didn’t eat much.”
“Yeah well, I guess I wasn’t as hungry as I thought and besides the food didn’t look all that appetizing.”
“I thought it was delicious,” I said.
“That’s because you don’t have a good sense about these things.”
“Oh please. I do so.”
“Look! There’s the first sign. Highway 36 is just 10 miles away.”
“Thank goodness. I was beginning to think we were lost again.”
We made it, turning left onto Highway 36. Not too many miles later we realized there wasn’t much to look at. We passed a town but then nothing.
We drove for 30 more minutes when I noticed my gas light was on. Another small problem with my little red Civic, it doesn’t let you know you’re low on gas until you don’t have any.
“Ash, we’d better come up on a gas station soon. We’re almost running on fumes.”
No sooner had I said that than we spotted a rundown gas station up on the left. The sign was big and red, but rusty and dusty. I pulled alongside the decrepit old pump and cringed. “Ash, I don’t think they take debit cards here. How much cash do you have?”
Her eyes grew wide. “I don’t have any cash.”
“What do you mean you don’t have any cash? Why not?”
“That’s what I have my debit card for.”
I couldn’t argue with her about that one. I didn’t have any cash for that same purpose. “Well, what are we gonna do?”
She shrugged.
Some help she is. I took the cap off my lip-gloss and saturated my lips while thinking. “Got it!”
In the next minutes we were strutting through the doors, headed straight for the unsuspecting cashier. “Charity, are you sure about this? Flirting with this poor kid seems unfair.”
“Do you want to spend the weekend here then?”
She thought for a moment and then shook her head.
“Okay, then stop complaining and start shakin’ your butt.”
She did as I said and did it quite well, better than me even. I have to admit, for a moment I was proud.
The young guy watched from behind the counter as Ash and I strutted our way around the aisle and toward him. It was working. He was drooling like a Saint Bernard.
“C-can I do anything for you ladies?” the young man shyly asked.
“Yes, as a matter of fact I hope you can. You see we’re out of gas, and it seems you don’t take debit cards here so we’re in a tight fix.” I put my elbows on the counter and leaned toward him. “If only we had some way to get gas so we could get to Frazier. We have very important business in Frazier.”
“Life and death business,” Ashley added.
“Well,” he began, “we’re only taking cash and checks right now. It seems our little debit machine here is broken.” He pointed to a tiny machine beside the register that looked outdated beyond reason. “They’re sending someone out here to fix it sometime next week. I have an old truck out back. You’re welcome to use it to get some cash. There’s a bank in the town you passed, about 30 minutes from here. But of course one of you will have to stay here as collateral, you know, just in case. Not that I think you’d try to trick me, or nothin’. Just being smart.”
Okay, so smart wasn’t quite the word that came to mind.
I peered over at Ash. “You stay here. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“What! Why do I have to be the one to stay? Why can’t you stay?”
“Do you have your Driver’s License with you then?”
She froze, her mind taking inventory of the contents of her purse. “Dang it! Sometimes I hate that you know me so well.”
I smirked. “I’ll see you in an hour.” The guy behind the register identified himself as Sam and handed me his keys. I thanked him and headed for the door. When I turned back to look at them, Ashley’s face was contorted into a grimace. “You two behave while I’m gone.” I couldn’t resist.
In reality I couldn’t believe the guy Sam handed over his truck so easily, but when I got to the bank there were others that were being friendly as well. One even let me go in front of him at the debit machine. I wish people were this friendly on the eastside, back in Windrake Mountain. Stupid rivalry.
As I stood there, waiting my turn, my thoughts went to Levi. Part of me was still mad at him for flirting with that girl in town, but another part, a stronger part, was worried about him. My Levi would never do something like that, not in his right mind. I had to find out what was wrong with him. It was solely up to me now, and I couldn’t let him down—I wouldn’t.
Chapter Sixteen
“You owe me big time for that,” Ash complained as she piled back into the car. “All that Sam guy talked about was Marvel comic book characters. He’s obsessed. I tried to keep up, but lost track somewhere around Wolverine, or was it Captain America. The guy needs a serious life.”
I laughed. “It sounds interesting. Sorry I missed it.”
“Sure you are.”
Once we were back on the road it didn’t take long before we spotted the sign pointing us toward Frazier.
When we finally made it into town, it was already late, but we rushed to the bookstore only to find it closed. “Dang it!! They’re closed!!” I barked. “We’ll have to go on to the hotel and come back first thing in the morning.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m ready to relax. All this traveling is exhausting.”
“I totally agree, at least with you.”
We ordered room service and ate slowly. After every morsel was eaten, mostly by me, I went in to take a hot shower. When I stepped back into the room, Ashley was sound asleep, curled up in a ball with her favorite fuzzy, pink pillow pulled tightly against her chest and her thumb in her mouth. If I had any sense I’d take a picture for payback later, but I decided against it. I smiled and pulled the cover up over her, turned out the light, and crawled in beside her, tugging my Snoopy blanket close. After a few seconds I jumped up and grabbed my cell phone, snapping off a picture and crawling back into bed—smiling.
I tossed and turned, trying to sleep, but antsy for morning to arrive. When it finally did, I dressed quickly, urging Ashley to do the same.
“Hurry, Ash!” I called to her as we sprinted down the sidewalk toward the bookstore. We had to park down the street to get a spot. One of the neighboring stores was having a huge sale.
“I’m coming. These shoes are hard to run in.”
Ashley and her dang shoes. “Then take them off!”
She did and soon caught up to me.
She followed me into the store and up to the counter where two cute guys with long shaggy hair, looking to be in their late teens, were talking. “Excuse me, but we need to see your archives. I think they’re on your lower level,” I blurted out.
They both eyeballed me suspiciously. “I’m afraid we don’t have a lower level,” the tallest one said, getting a good look at me.
“Um, I beg to differ. Yes you do, and I’d like you to take me there right now, please.” I ain’t got time to fool around with these turkeys!
“I don’t know where you got your inform—”
“I got it from Irena Drake. She said you knew her. Was she wrong?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
His eyes grew wide. “Irena! Well, why didn’t you say so? Follow me.”
That’s more like it.
We followed closely as the tall one led us through the store. It was quaint with an old-fashioned feel, almost like a bookstore you would’ve found back in the 50’s with old rock-n-roll memorabilia on the walls.
Ashley punched me. “Look!”
“Oww,” I said, looking in the direction of her pointing finger. There, in the far left corner of the store was a little coffee shop. It
almost looked out of place in the old looking store. I smiled at her. “We’ll have to visit there in a minute.”
She smiled, nodding in agreement.
“So, how do you guys know Irena?” the tall one asked.
“She’s my mother-in-law,” I answered matter-of-factly.
He stopped abruptly. I plowed into his back and Ashley plowed into mine.
“Hey! Do you mind?!” I snapped.
He turned and stared down at me, his expression elated. “Are you saying you’re the new alpha female? Are you the Charity we’ve been hearing about?”
“That’s me. And this is my best friend Ashley.”
He ignored Ashley and continued to stare at me, his eyes more penetrating in their inspection of me. “You are truly as beautiful as the rumors say you are. We’re honored to have you here, milady.”
“Okay, stop that. I’m not your alpha female, so relax pal.”
“Yes ma’am. What shall I call you?”
“Um, if you call me ma’am again you’re gonna get hurt. Charity will be just fine. Now can we see those archives? We’re kind of in a hurry.”
“Razz, come here! This is Charity Drake!”
The shorter one, though not by much, was by his side in a flash, studying me. “No way, Bro!”
“Dude, this is totally her! Irena sent her to us!”
“Milady, I’m Razz, and this here dork is my brother, Chase.”
“If he’s your brother then shouldn’t you show him more respect?” Ashley commented.
He looked down at her then. “He’s my younger brother.”
“Ohhh,” she responded in understanding.
“It’s very nice to meet the two of you, and now can we see those archives?”
“So, I hear this Levi, your alpha, is almost 7 feet tall and the most handsome and honorable of all alphas. Is that true?”
I was beginning to lose my patience, and hearing Levi’s name sent a pain through me that reminded me of the urgency of our quest. “He’s all those things and more, minus about six inches in height. Now can we see those archives?”
“I told you he wasn’t 7 feet tall,” Chase said to Razz.
“Dude, I told you that!”
Charity Rising (Charity Series Book 2) Page 9