Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Cora
Cora didn’t say a word for the first hour of their drive through Northern California.
Thankfully, Saiden took his cue from her and remained quiet as well, though she could practically feel him itching to say something from the driver’s seat.
The silence was awkward, a heavy palpable feeling in the air, yet neither of them broke.
For as quiet as it was inside the car, her mind was the complete opposite. It felt like she was standing in the eye of a storm that threatened to smash her to bits with one wrong move. Or one wrong word.
She just couldn’t stop thinking about that damn kiss. About how her body had melted into him without a thought or hesitation, as if she knew on some deep biological level that they were meant to be together.
When they kissed everything just felt…right. Like finally finding a place to call home after a lifetime of searching. The moment his lips touched hers, she forgot about everything and everyone. There was only him and her and the spark between them.
Which was complete insanity for so many reasons that she could probably write a self-help novel about it.
‘101 Poor Decisions - Vampire Edition.’
The very fact that he was a vampire would comprise half the damn book.
Sure, he seemed decent with his ‘you’ll be safe with me’ lines, but that was the opening scene to like half of the horror movies she’d watched.
When someone says you will be safe with them, you will undoubtedly NOT be safe with them.
Jinx loved to remind her that movies were not real life, but Cora was always quick to disagree.
Movies taught you so many valuable lessons if you just knew which ones to watch.
The romance crap where things end happily ever after?
A steaming pile of bullshit with a side of lies.
Films like Cabin in the Woods where everyone dies in the end because they made poor life choices? Now that’s more like it.
And the reality was that even if he wasn’t a vampire, and even if he didn’t want to wipe her brain to eliminate her pi?ce de résistance movie script, getting involved with him was still a bad idea. He was going to live for hundreds of years, and she was… not, to say the very least.
If that single kiss was any indication, she had to stop things from progressing any farther.
There was no rehab for the drug that was Saiden, and one more taste might lead to a lethal addiction.
If her muscles hadn’t seized up when they did, she would have been lost to him like the damsel who went to investigate a strange noise and was never heard from again.
Except she wasn’t a damsel. She was a director. Which meant she was in charge of how things were going to play out, and there was no sex scene in her movie.
In her film, the vampire was the villain. He preyed on the young ingénue and killed her in the end because that’s what happens when you think the snake is just cute and misunderstood. You get bit.
There was no way in hell he was getting his fangs in her. Literally or metaphorically.
Now if she could just convince her brain to stop playing their kiss on fucking repeat, it would be a lot easier to move on to the next scene.
Minutes later she got her wish, just not in any way she would have chosen.
There was a loud thunk that shook Cora in her seat, and suddenly the McLaren was limping along the freeway.
“Fuck,” Saiden grumbled, the first word to penetrate their silence. He carefully guided the vehicle onto the shoulder and killed the engine.
“Please tell me you didn’t just pop a tire.”
The vein bulging in Saiden’s forehead as he gripped the steering wheel hard enough to break it was answer enough.
“Okay, this is fine,” she said. “I mean, you have a spare right?” Saiden’s eyes slid over to her, and Cora felt her stomach bottom out. “Please tell me you’re not the only person in the world who doesn’t have a spare.”
“This is a McLaren, Cora. It’s designed for speed which means it doesn’t carry anything that might weigh it down.”
“What kind of tiny dick energy is needed to drive without a spare tire just so you can go an extra two miles per hour?” Cora squawked, scrubbing her hands over her face. “And why didn’t you see this coming? I thought the whole purpose of your ‘not-spidey sense’ was to avoid situations like these?”
“First off,” Saiden gritted out. “We both know my dick is anything but tiny.”
Don’t blush. Don’t blush. Don’t blush.
It was inevitable, though, and she blushed like a schoolgirl as the image of his bulging boxer briefs flashed in her brain like a neon sign.
“And secondly,” Saiden continued, either not noticing or politely ignoring her bright, tomato-red face, “my ability only triggers for dangerous situations. Not minor inconveniences.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call this minor,” Cora argued.
“When compared to what it’s normally used for, I would say this is most definitely minor.”
She hated that he had a point, but what was the purpose of having cool vampire powers if you still had to change a tire like any old mortal?
“So, what now? We have to wait for a tow truck to take us to a shop to get it fixed? That’s going to take hours!
” Cora banged her head against the seatback.
She’d wanted to get this trip over with quickly before their kiss at the hotel.
Now she needed to get it over with. Her ability to make smart decisions could only withstand so much when she was near Saiden and his damn animal magnetism.
It was like feminism never existed when he was around.
“Relax, we’re not going to wait for a tow truck.”
Cora’s tension did ease a little at the lack of concern in Saiden’s words. He sounded so sure of himself that he probably had some vamp way to fix things.
“It would be pointless to call one anyway. No shop around here would even carry the right tires for a car like this.”
And Cora’s shoulders promptly ratcheted back up. “What do we do, then?”
“I think there’s a patch kit in the trunk. I just need an air pump and that should tide us over until we get home.” Saiden pulled out his phone, and a second later he held it up triumphantly. “There’s an auto shop only twenty miles away.”
“Are you serious? That’ll take forever to get there and back on foot.”
Saiden just raised one eyebrow.
“Right, vampire. You can run there in what? Two minutes?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not that fast, Cora. I can probably make it in five to ten, though. The question is whether I can trust you not to run off while I’m gone.”
She flung her hands out, indicating the wide stretch of empty land on either side of the freeway. “Where am I going to go? The last town is miles behind us.”
Of course the McLaren chose a barren stretch of I-5 to break down on. Couldn’t have been helpful and waited til Stockton to crap out. Her best option for escape would be hitchhiking, but she was under no misconception that he wouldn’t be able to immediately find her again.
Something sparked low in her abdomen at the thought of him hunting her down, but she promptly dismissed it. Now was not the time to unlock any new kinks that she absolutely should not be exploring.
Saiden’s eyes flicked back and forth between hers, evaluating, then he sighed and said, “Fine. But lock the doors and stay inside. I’ll be right back.”
With that last ominous warning, he hopped out of the car and took off down the side of the freeway in a blur.
It took less than six seconds before she completely lost sight of him.
Pulling out her phone, she checked her e-mail to see if she had any new demo reels to watch, but the well of desperate Hollywood actors seemed to have already dried up.
She started to send a check-in text to Jinx but decided against it.
That would only lead to her friend asking questions, and Cora didn’t want to lie to Jinx any more than she already had.
Tossing the phone back in her bag, she leaned down to start massaging the muscles of her legs.
The little episode that morning was having lingering effects, and she really needed to do her usual morning yoga stretches.
Asking Saiden for time to do that before they left would have required talking, and if they hadn’t popped a tire, she would still be giving him the silent treatment.
Cora peered out the window and noted there was plenty of space between the McLaren and the fenced off field containing a herd of rather vocal cows.
She could at least get a few good stretches in before Saiden returned if she was able to concentrate long enough to block out the mooing and the thrumming traffic whipping down the highway.
Stepping from the car, she wiggled her legs a little then eased forward into a front bend. She could barely reach the tops of her shoes lately, and today was no exception.
Fifteen minutes later, she was halfway through her series of sun salute poses, when the rattle of an engine in desperate need of repair broke through her carefully curated serenity.
“Need some help, miss?” a voice called out over the din of high-speed traffic.
She returned to standing and glanced over her shoulder at the guy making his way toward her from a beater truck that was likely older than her father.
The owner of the junk heap clearly cared as little about his physical appearance as he did his truck’s based on the hairy gut hanging over his oil-stained jeans.
The prominent beer belly was only partially covered by a gray t-shirt that had probably been white when he bought it.
“One hell of a nice car ya got here,” Beer Belly commented, running his dirty hands along the exterior.
“Can you not touch that? The owner would freak out if he saw.” Flashes of Saiden picking the man up and flinging him into the field traipsed through her brain.
Beer Belly paused his exploration over the hood, ran one hand through his greasy brown hair, and flashed her a grin. “The owner, huh? That not you?”
“No. It belongs to a friend.” Beer Belly’s grin was starting to unnerve her so she added, “My boyfriend, actually. He’s an MMA fighter. Super violent. Probably a good idea to keep your hands off. He’ll be back any second too, so I don’t need any help. Thank you, though.”
To Cora’s pleasant surprise, Beer Belly’s smile dropped away, and he took a step back from the car. She always thought she was an awful liar, but maybe spending time around her cast was paying off if he believed her story.
Any delight she felt faded when Beer Belly didn’t retreat to his junker, and the emotion promptly morphed into fear when he sauntered around the front of the car toward her side.
“Ya know,” Beer Belly mused, his eyes crawling up and down her body in a way that felt much more lascivious then when Saiden did it. “A girl as pretty as you shouldn’t be out here all alone. How’s about I keep you company until this boyfriend gets back?”
Cora edged away, trying and failing to keep the unease off her face. “That’s not a good idea. He can be really crazy sometimes. You should really leave now for your own safety.”
Beer Belly matched her retreat with his own leisurely steps forward.
“Ya know, I don’t think you got a boyfriend.
I think you’re waiting for a tow truck all by your lonesome.
So how’s about I make you a deal? You give me the keys without a fuss, and I’ll leave you be.
If you decide you want to fight me… Let’s just say I got a knife in my truck that can be very convincing. ”
Cora glanced around frantically, briefly calculating the odds of someone seeing her and stopping to help. The cars all raced by so fast that she doubted anyone who even noticed what was happening could slow in time to pull over.
“There aren’t any keys,” she replied, hoping she could stall long enough for Saiden to get back. She despised the damsel in distress mentality, but taking up kickboxing had never been in the cards for her. She made a mental note to keep a knife on her from now on if she survived.
Beer Belly cocked his head. “No keys? All cars got keys, darlin’.”
“Not this one,” she protested. “There’s only a fob and a button in the center console. Take a look for yourself.”
She honestly didn’t think her obvious ploy would work, but she wasted no time bolting off into the field the second Beer Belly turned to look inside the window.
Pumping her legs as fast as possible, she raced toward the half fence just off the side of the road.
Likely designed for keeping the cattle in, it appeared low enough she could vault right over it and continue toward the tree line where she might be able to hide.
She was seconds from slamming her hands down on the wooden railing to propel her jump when a blood-curdling scream filled the air.
Her steps faltered at the unholy sound, and she plowed straight into the fence, only to bounce off and land flat on her back.
A position that gave her the perfect view as Beer Belly went flying through the sky and crashed to a heap ten yards into the field, the sickening crunch of bones breaking audible even over the traffic.
Cora scrambled to her knees and whipped her head around.
Saiden was back.