Along for the Ride

by Mimi Grace

  Jason probably said something reasonable that she’d ultimately agree with, but his voice faded into the background, melding in with the noise from the street. Something in the back of an SUV parked four doors down from their room caught Jolene’s eye.

  “Jolene?” Jason followed her line of sight. “What are you looking at?”

  “I think I see my sister’s bike helmet,” she said in a hushed tone. She made a detour toward the vehicle. Her gaze trained on a silver helmet pressed up against the right back door window.

  “Jolene, wait.”

  She didn’t listen, and by the time she’d arrived at the car, she’d convinced herself that her sister’s helmet sat inside. “This is hers.” She punctuated her statement with pokes toward the helmet.

  Jason looked between her and the helmet. “Are you sure?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  His eyebrows shot up.

  “Okay, maybe seventy-five percent.”

  Jason let out a long breath.

  “It’s in the car; they’re obviously trying to hide it.” She pointed toward two bicycles chained to the posts in front of a motel door. “They have their bicycles out but kept the helmets in.”

  “You know that’s weak logic.”

  “They probably have more of our stuff in here,” Jolene mumbled. She circled the car, leaning close and peering through the tinted windows.

  Jason’s hands settled on her shoulders, not moving her but simply suggesting she back away a bit.

  “Jolene, let’s just think about this for a second. We can call the constable we spoke with, and she can come and do her job.”

  Still absorbed with her bootleg Nancy Drew investigation, Jolene ignored him. They shouldn’t have left the van unattended all night. If the authorities couldn’t find Nicole and Ty’s things, it would be another headache the couple had to contend with. Jolene wanted to test the doors on the driver’s side of the car. Where this boldness came from, she would have to dissect later.

  Jason groaned. And perhaps sensing her irrationality, he finally grabbed her waist and tugged her away from the car. “Jolene.”

  “Don’t use that tone with me. This is our fault. We need to fix it.”

  “We literally just got back from—”

  “Can we help you?” a voice behind them asked.

  Jolene and Jason both whirled around. A slim, very tall man and a similarly slim and equally as tall woman stood before them. Everything about them looked sharp. They had angular features, the woman’s hair fell in blunt sheets against her shoulders, and they both wore all black athletic wear. Jolene decided that they looked like really attractive James Bond villains.

  “We are so sorry—”

  “It’s not what it looks like—” Jason and Jolene said simultaneously.

  The pair’s brows furrowed as they studied Jolene and Jason. The woman looked as if she was a second away from calling the police on them. Jolene forced herself to run through a Rolodex of plausible excuses because the truth didn’t seem like an adequate reason to creep around a car like she’d been doing.

  “We’re staying right over there”—Jolene gestured in the general direction of their room—“and we’re in the market for a new vehicle and your car caught our eye. It’s embarrassing how carried away I get—like I’m at a car dealership or tradeshow,” Jolene said with all the sweetness and ditziness she could imbue in her voice.

  The suspicion and uncertainty remained stark in the tall couple’s eyes.

  “Yes. She forgets it’s not normal to prowl around strangers’ cars,” Jason said.

  Jolene’s smile faltered a fraction but sheer grit and literal fear that they would get in actual trouble kept it plastered in place.

  One moment the strangers’ faces projected apprehension, and the next moment the man’s face split with a smile. “She’s the same way when we go to open houses. Touching counters, cabinets, floors.”

  The men laughed like they’d just both highlighted something quite novel about women. To Jason’s credit, his laugh sounded a little off, nowhere near natural. The tall woman playfully pinched the man, cutting his laugh short. He gave her a quick peck on her cheek and rubbed the area she had pinched.

  “They make fun of us, but they don’t realize it’s our attention to detail that prevents them from making bad spending decisions,” the woman said.

  Jolene nodded, and it dawned on her that she and Jason had somehow stumbled their way out of their current predicament, but in the process, the couple in front of them had concluded that they, too, were a couple.

  “I’m Megan. And this is my husband, Cliff.”

  “Jolene and Jason,” Jason said.

  Megan and Cliff eyed them curiously, and Jolene blamed the decidedly not-so-very-couple distance between her and Jason. She shifted her body till her side touched Jason’s, and Jason in turn awkwardly slung his arm over her shoulder, obviously picking up on the role they had unceremoniously been cast in. They might as well have ended their pose with a ta-da just to emphasize the strangeness of the situation. But whatever the real couple saw, melted the last worry lines that marked their perfect faces.

  “It’s nice to meet both of you,” Megan said.

  “Likewise,” Jolene said.

  “You should join us. We’re going to the diner for a late lunch. We can tell you all about the car,” Megan suggested.

  “We’ve already eaten,” Jason said, conveniently holding up the Styrofoam containers that held their cinnamon buns.

  They hadn’t actually eaten a proper meal yet.

  “And we have somewhere to be in thirty minutes,” Jolene quickly added to further secure their escape.

  “That’s unfortunate, maybe we can grab coffee or breakfast another time, then?” Cliff asked.

  “That sounds lovely,” Jolene said but made no effort to pinpoint exactly when this coffee grabbing or breakfast thing would happen.

  Jason quickly extracted them from Megan and Cliff’s presence, and they left with strained smiles in place.

  In the privacy of their motel room, Jason turned to Jolene and was prepared to scold her for her carelessness, but Jolene burst into a fit of giggles. Her face lit up, and she threw her head back, causing her curls to move about. The sight caught Jason off guard. Had he ever seen her this…elated? It stopped any harsh remarks he had for her. Jolene’s laughter died when she noticed he wasn’t similarly amused.

  “Don’t tell me you’re actually mad,” she said.

  It would be nice if he had an emotion like anger to cling onto because his growing awareness of her troubled and complicated things. This trip should have been drawing to a close with nothing changed between them. But now Jason noticed how the place she’d hit her head this morning looked a bit bruised, and he wanted to run his lips lightly over it. And speaking of lips, Jolene’s pouty lips had a slight sheen from the tinted lip balm she reapplied periodically. Those lips hailed to him now, and before he could think of the dozen reasons it would be a bad idea, he kissed her.

  One moment Jolene mentally prepared for Jason’s reprimand, and in the next Jason’s lips pressed against hers. She immediately melted against him like she’d been hoping, waiting for this. His firm body enveloped her, and she’d never felt so dainty. Every point of her body that made contact with his buzzed, and her body woke up from a slumber it hadn’t been aware it took. She had enough experience that a mere kiss shouldn’t have shaken her, but nevertheless, if his hands hadn’t bracketed her waist, Jolene might’ve floated away into sheer bliss.

  His lips caressed hers, and their lips parted. Warmth emanated from him, and he tasted faintly like lemon. His tongue traced the shape of her lips before searching, exploring further. She let her tongue roam, and the heat that rushed through her when their tongues met had her gripping his biceps. They each took and gave. And when Jolene gently caught his bottom lip between her teeth and worried it for a moment, the groan that escaped from him became her own. The sound travelled throug
h her and began a steady ache in her lower abdomen. She pressed her body closer to his, feeling her nipples harden. She lost herself in the sensation. But as abruptly as the kiss had started, similarly it ended. Jason ripped himself away from her, and Jolene practically whimpered at the loss of contact.

  Through their labored breathing, Jason stared at her, and the desire she saw in his eyes tempted her to drop her panties and beg. But that would be worse than her decision to respond to his kiss. But they couldn’t just stay there staring at each other and breathing as if they were trying to fog up a mirror.

  In an attempt to reset and possibly slow down her heart rate, Jolene shrugged. “That was okay.”

  Jason gave her still-hard nipples a look, and it seemed like he might go in for another kiss just to underscore her lie. But his jaw tightened and without touching her or saying anything else, he left the motel room.

  Chapter 7

  The pub was loud and hectic, but it served Jolene well because her stomach rumbled. She’d eaten her cinnamon bun then had taken a nap. Blessedly, she hadn’t dreamed about Jason. She might’ve tossed and turned for a while, but the important thing was she eventually slept. He’d returned to their room an hour later, and he’d acted like nothing had happened so she did the same.

  However, the sparks that had jumped between them when they’d kissed still lingered. They moved in their small quarters in polite silence. One watched television while the other read some uninteresting thing. When Jolene had broken their silence to suggest they go to the gift shop before it closed, he’d replied as if he was giving a stranger directions. The bland and stilted atmosphere between them had Jolene believing her reaction to Jason had been a fluke, simply a side effect of going so long without a pleasant kissing experience. But then she and Jason reached for the same knickknack in the gift shop, a grizzly bear on its hind legs holding a plaque with the town’s name on it. Their hands connected, and Jolene had felt as if she’d put her finger into an electrical socket.

  Now, she and Jason navigated the high tables and stools in the pub. The cramped space forced them to make occasional contact, and it jarred her equilibrium every time. They found a spot at the back, near an already packed patio and close to a stage of some kind.

  They didn’t speak. It didn’t bother her at all. Not one bit. Small talk was overrated anyway. But she couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the familiar dynamic. She’d slowly begun to believe they’d moved past their tense interactions.

  “It’s a cool place,” Jolene finally said.

  He simply nodded, looking around. Their waiter appeared then, a beacon of human interaction that Jolene appreciated. Once the waiter left with their orders, the pub’s noise filled the silence between them.

  “I called Nicky,” Jolene said.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t tell her about the theft, but I told her we’re still having car problems.”

  “All right.”

  She wanted to scream. Did he not get that, if left to her own thoughts, she would concoct all sorts of scenarios in her mind that would make sleeping in the same bed tonight absolute torture? But the silence dragged on until the waiter returned with their drinks.

  “Whew,” Jolene said, screwing her face up at the strong rum that hit her. “The bartender has a generous hand.”

  “Careful, now.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  Condescending asshole.

  But it was the first thing he’d said post-kiss that sounded like his usual self and that made her relax a fraction.

  This wasn’t him. In the last twenty-four hours Jason felt like he waded through sand. He thrived when in control of his life, situations, and emotions. And till this point, he had a firm grip on them all. The chaotic trip, this woman, and the nagging feeling he had in his chest were disastrous developments. He tried to erect the boundaries that had somehow been compromised in the last day. Could it be just yesterday that he’d dreaded this trip because he thought Jolene would annoy him? He wished she annoyed him. And he wished he hadn’t responded to her touch earlier and she hadn’t fit so perfectly against him.

  She acted as if nothing had happened and so did he, but it irked him that the kiss hadn’t affected her as it had him. She just chatted and tried to draw conversation from him as if he didn’t currently fight the image of her bent over the very bar stool she sat on, begging him to take her. He’d literally fled their motel room, and now he dreaded the eventual moment they’d be confined to their room once again.

  “I’m just going to quickly wash my hands,” she said as she hopped off the stool and disappeared into the ever-growing busyness of the pub.

  For the first time since arriving, the tension in his shoulders relented. But it was short-lived because someone dragged their hand across his back as they moved to face him. A woman, with clear intentions, leaned toward him and almost dipped her long hair into his drink.

  She practically purred. “Hey, there.”

  After Jolene washed her hands and confirmed a pimple hadn’t managed to sprout from nowhere, she squeezed her way past the bar’s patrons back to her table. Before she arrived, she zeroed in on the woman who was chatting up Jason. The tinge of jealousy that sprung up couldn’t be reasoned with. But with effort, she placed a blank expression on her face and drew closer to the table.

  The woman looked appropriately dressed and dolled up for a night out. And Jolene in that moment regretted not packing anything more than an eyebrow pencil and lip balm. At the time it seemed sensible. Her ego wouldn’t have allowed her to wear overly tight jeans and bring her entire makeup kit under the pretense it wasn’t for Jason.

  The woman then placed a hand on Jason’s forearm, and Jolene felt the world tilt for a second. Jolene’s visceral reaction to the scene playing out in front of her disturbed her, and she fortified her resolve to remain expressionless. She hoisted herself up onto her stool and willed herself to sip her drink and not stare. Jolene, however, didn’t expect the woman to turn toward her, horrified.

  “Is this your girlfriend?” the woman asked, taking a healthy step away from Jason.

  “Oh, no, no!” Jolene said. “He’s single.”

  The woman looked to Jason for confirmation, but his gaze remained fixed on Jolene.

  “In that case—” The woman leaned in closely and whispered something in Jason’s ear, and left their table shortly after.

  Jolene had unintentionally drained more than half her drink while watching the interaction, and its effects made her woozy. She clasped her hands around her glass, encouraging herself not to say anything. That lasted for fifteen seconds.

  “So, did she give you her number or her address?”

  Jason who’d been people watching and nursing his own drink turned his brown topaz eyes to her. “Neither. She just said she’d be right back and to wait for her.”

  Jolene battled weird emotions that she didn’t care to parse out, so she gave him a saucy wag of her eyebrows to play off any turbulent feelings that might unintentionally be visible. Mercifully, she spotted their waiter with their meals, and she straightened her back and smiled as he approached.

  “Here is your taco salad. And here is your chicken fettuccine,” the waiter said, sliding their dishes into place in front of them. “Enjoy your meal.”

  And she did. They didn’t exchange words, and all went well until in her periphery Jolene saw Cliff and Megan walking through the doors of the pub. Their tall frames poked through the mass of people who surrounded the bar. Jolene almost slammed her face into her taco salad trying to duck out of view of the couple.

  Jason’s lips turned slightly downward and his eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

  “Don’t look now, but that Cliff and Megan couple just walked in.”

  “Shit,” Jason said as he also ducked his head.

  “The pub is big enough. They probably won’t even see us.”

  But then Jolene made eye contact with Cliff. She averted her gaze as
if she hadn’t recognized him and held her breath.

  “Crap. They’re walking this way.”

  “Jolene, Jason!” Megan said coming right up to their table with Cliff by her side.

  The horror happened in slow motion for Jason. Megan and Cliff arrived at their table, and the couple invited themselves to sit and order drinks. Jolene had to move closer to him so the stools Cliff and Megan brought with them could fit.

  “We ate a late lunch,” Megan explained. “We’re just here for drinks and some light appetizers.”

  Megan and Cliff also wanted to talk. Jason and Jolene couldn’t evade questions like they had before, and Jason resisted the temptation to just tell the couple the truth and finish his meal in peace. He didn’t feel like concocting stories for the benefit of people he’d never see again.

  But Jolene was already smiling and chatting with the couple, her hand waving in full effect. Jason suspected that she still tried to determine whether or not Megan and Cliff had stolen their things. He listened while Jolene fabricated a somewhat believable love story, and he found that the details that were actually true made him smile. For instance, she talked about the time they’d walked arm in arm as maid of honor and best man to their places at the front of the church. He’d tripped on the edge of the aisle runner, and Jolene had played the slightly embarrassing moment off by patting his back and winking at him.

  “So, he’s your brother-in-law’s best friend, and you met during the wedding-planning process?” Megan asked.

  “Pretty much,” Jolene said.

  “Cliff, isn’t that’s so cute?” Megan squealed, clapping her hands and looking between Jolene and him.

  “So, you two are into biking, huh?” Jolene asked.

  Jason inwardly groaned at Jolene’s less-than-subtle transition.

  “I saw your bikes chained up next to your door,” she quickly added.

  Jason wasn’t entirely convinced that the couple were their thieves. And at this point, he believed with all the rapport Jolene had built with the couple, Cliff and Megan would understand if they told them the truth. But for some reason, Jason allowed the ruse to go on.