When I’d gone far enough to reconsider all of my life choices, it occurred to me that my best option might be to find a way to get to my mom’s place and hopefully ride out the rest of my time there. I’d even call my uncle to collect me if I could find a phone that worked.
Chapter Six
Jasmine Bailey
The sound of a horn honking behind me nearly made me jump out of my skin, and I raised my hand to flip off the driver before remembering we don’t do that around there.
Too much L.A. traffic has you traumatized, Jas.
All I saw were headlights when I turned back to look, so I stopped walking and moved to the side of the road while they pulled up even with me.
“Jasmine, get in!” I barely made out his face through the pouring rain, but there was no mistaking Micah’s voice as he lowered the passenger window. “Come on; it isn’t safe out there right now.”
Damn.
I groaned and gritted my teeth in frustration. He was probably right, but that wasn’t much consolation at that moment. Getting inside Axel’s truck and going for a ride was the last thing I wanted to do, no matter how warm and dry it might’ve been inside there.
And safe.
“Fine.” I stomped through a puddle and seriously debated on climbing into the bed of the truck to spite them. But I didn’t; complete irrationality hadn’t taken over my behavior.
Micah opened the door and hopped out, offering me his hand as I climbed up into the cab of the truck. “You can ride upfront with us if you—oh. Or in the back. That’s cool, too.”
I’d ignored his hand and his offer to sit in the front seat. “I appreciate the ride,” I said grudgingly. “I’m just fine back here. What are y’all even doing back here? Are you staying at the resort this weekend?”
As far as I knew, they both still lived in the area. But then again, perhaps they didn’t? I expected my hometown to stay the same after I moved away, but that didn’t mean the local population was required to indulge me.
“Nah,” Micah answered. “I’m staying with Axel for a while at his apartment in town. Helping him with a movie project.”
I bit back my natural curiosity and used all of my self-control to keep from telling them that costumes and movie sets made up the total of my happy place. Instead, I schooled my features into what I hoped passed for a neutral expression and nodded.
“Where are you heading?” Axel asked, briefly making eye contact with me through the rearview mirror. “It’s kinda time to eat if you want to go back to the diner.”
As much as I tried not to, I couldn’t help but laugh. “I just need a ride to... somewhere with a roof. I’m going to call my uncle to come to pick me up.”
“Going out to your mom’s place?” Micah asked.
“Yeah, I need to see them while I’m in town and, well—now seems like a good time.”
“You don’t have to call your uncle,” Axel said, keeping his eyes on the road. “We can take you out there if you want.”
Tempting, but I couldn’t. First, it wasn’t exactly a short drive out to my mom’s house. Second, it was literally in the middle of nowhere. Like, seriously out in the woods.
And third, hadn’t I made up my mind only a few hours ago that I wasn’t going to talk to these guys again until I had a firm, sensible plan in place?
Which, for the record, had not happened.
No planning whatsoever.
“That would be too much trouble,” I said, finally. “I’m sure you remember that my family lives out in the sticks.”
They should have remembered since that had been one of the many things they’d made fun of me for over the years.
But I needed to let go of those memories. They did seem to be different now. Besides, they’d come out of their way to pick me up in the rain. That had to count for some good karma in their favor.
“What were y’all even doing out here, anyway?” I asked. “Not to change the subject, but this resort isn’t exactly close to any apartments in town that I know of.”
I’d been so grateful for the ride earlier that I hadn’t thought to ask straightaway, but it was kind of weird that they’d been driving around the resort ogling the path of destruction. Normal people didn’t do that to pass the time. Not even in Covington.
“We got a message from Vic about trouble around town and here at the resort. Storm damage. Some people need to evacuate. That sort of thing,” Axel answered. “He wanted to make sure we weren’t still here.”
Why would they be at the resort? It sounded like some implication that they might have been in my bungalow, but I must have read between the lines and inserted that comment into the margins, because it made no sense. I let it slide because I didn’t want to sound paranoid. Or full of myself.