Authors: Noelle Adams
Road Tripping
Road Tripping
Noelle Adams
This book is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Noelle
Adams. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or
transmit in any form or by any means.
Content Editing: Kristin
Anders,
The Romantic Editor
.
Proofreading:
Vanessa Bridges
One
Southwest
Virginia
Ashley Sullivan felt like an
idiot.
She hoped no
one she knew would see her in this outfit as she pumped gas into Miss Horner’s
old pickup truck. She’d even gone to a gas station a little ways out of town—a
run-down, one-pump stop on the side of the road—in the hopes of avoiding
people.
Ashley had
always been kind of a good girl, but for the last eighteen months she’d been
trying even harder. She never got in trouble. She was getting straight A’s as a
pre-med major at the University of Virginia. She called her mother several
times a week to check in. She’d even come back to her one-traffic-light,
mountain hometown in southwest Virginia this summer, instead of staying in
Charlottesville and hanging out with her friends, so her parents wouldn’t be
disappointed.
But putting on
this ridiculous outfit was just about as far as her good-girl-ness would take
her.
Eighty-eight-year-old
Miss Horner, who’d lived next door since Ashley was born, had wanted her to
come over for a visit, since her parents were still on their cross-country road
trip. Miss Horner insisted on preparing a whole afternoon tea routine, so
Ashley had to dress for the occasion.
That was why
she was dressed like an idiot at the moment.
She wore a knee-length,
floral skirt with a prim lavender top that her mother had bought her in high
school. The top layer of her brown hair was pulled back with a barrette. Miss
Horner gushed over how she looked prettier every time she saw her, so her
feminine outfit must have served its purpose. But Ashley couldn’t wait to get
out of it and put on her shorts and t-shirt again.
Her brother had
made a mess of his life and caused her parents endless heartache. Ashley was
determined to make up for that in any way she could by being a good student, a
good daughter, and a good person—and also having a safe, successful future as a
doctor.
Still, there
were limits. This would be the last time she put on this particular outfit.
Her parents
were driving back and forth from California, where they were visiting her
brother, so they wouldn’t be back for a couple of weeks. After paying her obligatory
visit to Miss Horner, Ashley was planning to spend a relaxing week of sleeping
in, reading, watching TV, and fishing before she started her job at the grocery
store in a neighboring town for the summer.
Miss Horner had
fretted about how her truck was low on gas during the hour Ashley had spent
there, so Ashley had volunteered to fill it up for her. Miss Horner had
gratefully given her the gas station credit card, saying she should buy herself
an ice-cream as a thank-you.
Ashley didn’t
need an ice-cream. She just wanted to get the truck filled up so she could
drive it back and then get out of these clothes.
She had just
twisted the cap back onto the gas tank when she heard a familiar voice. She
looked up to see a vehicle—a brand new, very expensive pickup truck—that
matched the voice.
If she ignored
him, maybe he would go away.
She tried to
ignore him, but he didn’t go away.
“Ashley,” Ethan
called, louder this time. He’d pulled his truck on the other side of the pump.
“I know you heard me. You looked right at me.”
“Then you
should take that as a hint and slink away quietly.” She tried to keep her face
detached and careless, rather than revealing how much she despised him.
He was one of
the main reasons she had to make an extra effort to be good.
She’d known
Ethan all her life. He’d been her brother’s best friend, and she’d alternately
been annoyed by him and been in love with him, depending on the day, until a
year and a half ago, when he’d pulled her brother into all kinds of trouble and
eventually gotten them both arrested.
She hadn’t seen
him or talked to him since—although she’d spent many long hours brooding and crying
about what happened to both Ethan and her brother, Mark.
Just her luck
that he would catch her in this prissy outfit.
Ethan was wearing
a pair of beat-up jeans, an open camp shirt, and a t-shirt he’d had since he
was sixteen that said, “So many fish, so little time,” so he had no right to
sneer at her appearance.
He sneered
anyway as his eyes reached her strappy sandals and slid back up. “I’ve never
slunk in my life.”
She looked at
the pump gauge, hoping her tank was almost full. It wasn’t. “Well, then don’t
slink away. Storm off in righteous indignation, or flounce off in a huff for
all I care. The point is to disappear as quickly as possible.”
She was quite
pleased with her clever response. Going to college might actually have made her
smarter.
When he started
pumping gas into his tank, he stepped around his truck toward her. His green eyes
traveled the length of her body once more.
He lifted his
eyebrows in surprise. “Are they dressing that way in college these days?”
Ethan hadn’t
finished college. He’d dropped out a couple of years ago when he’d gotten
involved in the local moonshine ring.
People outside
of her county in southwest Virginia might not realize that the production and
distribution of illegal whiskey was such big business even now. But there were
a lot of people in these parts and surrounding areas who didn’t like the
government getting involved in their business—including what they drank. This
particular moonshine enterprise had been established by Old Nehemiah Jones during
Prohibition and had been passed down through generations of the Jones family.
The men
involved were pretty sleazy, particularly Buster Jones, who was the heir to the
still. They all basically did whatever they wanted, since they had guys on the
take in both law enforcement and local government. But Ashley would have just
left them to their own thing had Ethan not gotten involved—and then pulled her
brother into it too.
They’d both
been charged with misdemeanors and were sentenced to community service, so it
wasn’t as bad as it could have been. But it would still be on Mark’s record for
the rest of his life, and Ethan had refused to talk to her brother since.
Mark was in
college in California now, evidently trying to get as far away from his history
as he could. Ashley didn’t even get to talk to him much anymore, and she’d been
trying desperately to never cause her parents the same kind of disappointment
and heartbreak. She was angry with Mark a lot of the time for being stupid, but
mostly she blamed Ethan.
When she didn’t
answer his question, Ethan added, “Or are you going to college in the 1950’s?”
His tone was
teasing, the way he used to talk to her all the time. As if nothing had
happened in the last year that might change the relationship between them.
She sucked in
an indignant breath and glared at him before she remembered she was supposed to
be acting cool and indifferent. “Don’t you have something to do other than
insult my clothes? Surely there are some illegal substances you could be
running.”
Ethan hadn’t
been arrested since the first time, but he was still hanging out with the
sleazy moonshiners and didn’t have any other job. He’d inherited a sizeable
piece of land right on the river with a boat dock when his grandparents died.
It wasn’t hard to guess how he was putting it to use.
His grandfather
had been a deacon in the church, and his grandmother had directed the choir.
They were the ones who had raised him, and they’d be horrified to know what had
happened to their grandson.
There were
plenty of people in the county who thought Ethan was a stand-up guy and that the
moonshiners were doing their civic duty—since the government had gone way over
the line in the last fifty years in forcing its intrusive way into private
citizens’ business.
But Ashley’s
brother—her whole family—had suffered because of Ethan, so she wasn’t inclined
to give him the benefit of the doubt.
His expression
changed as he processed her words. “So Mark didn’t tell you the whole story?”
he asked at last.
She stared at
him, confused and indignant. “He told me enough. And how can you stand there right
now and not look even a little ashamed at having dragged him into your mess?
He’ll have that conviction on his record for the rest of his life.’
“I know.”
Ethan’s face was odd now. Almost quiet.
Maybe he was a
little bit ashamed. She hoped so. At least it would be proof that he wasn’t
totally heartless, the way he’d been acting for the last year.
Ethan was still
as good-looking as he’d been before, a fact that annoyed her as much as
anything else. It seemed like a life of crime should cast its mark on your
appearance. But he still had the same strong features, vivid green eyes, and
lean, fit body. His hair had been blazing red when he was a kid, but it had
darkened now to an auburn. She knew he didn’t like it, so he kept it cut really
short.
“Mark isn’t
exactly an angel, you know.”
Ashley actually
gasped at the stab of pain that shot through her chest. Of course, she knew her
brother wasn’t blameless, but he’d mostly been going along with Ethan’s plans,
the way he always had. He’d always trusted Ethan.
So had she.
The thought
upset her so much that she set the lever to pump the deathly-slow gas
automatically and then walked into the small convenience shop without saying
another word. She normally didn’t leave her gas unattended—since she was a
rule-follower by nature and had been more careful than ever about it since the
thing with Mark—but she needed to get away from Ethan. Now.
Two years ago,
the summer she was seventeen, Ethan had come back from his freshman year in
college. He’d seemed to transform while he was away from the skinny boy she’d
known before. He’d broadened across the shoulders and chest, and he’d suddenly
become really good-looking.
Very
good-looking.
The lingering
crush on him Ashley had had all her life had morphed into full-blown love.
She’d thought
it was love, at least.
He’d hung
around the house a lot, since Mark was home for the summer too. He’d spent just
as much time with her as he had with Mark, though. He’d helped her in the
garden and taken her out on his old boat to fish.
He’d even put
his arm around her a few times. She’d thought, hoped, dreamed, he might be
falling for her.
Then the next
thing she knew, he and Mark had been arrested.
As she picked
up a basket from the side of the entrance and walked through the aisles,
picking up essentials like milk, Coke, and chocolate, she couldn’t help but
remember the years Ethan had been like part of her family, ever since he and
Mark had become friends in elementary school. He’d played games with them in
the back yard and come over for dinner regularly. She’d horned in on more of
their fishing trips than she could remember.
She wasn’t sure
what had happened to him in the last two years, and it really hurt again when
she thought about it.
She was
standing in front of the one small shelving unit in the shop with pantry items,
trying to remember if her parents had enough coffee, when a voice came from
behind her, “You shouldn’t leave your car unattended.”
She whirled
around and scowled at Ethan. “If you ever decide you’re going to obey all the rules,
then you can start bossing me around about them.”
“Seriously.
What if the pump doesn’t click off when it’s full? You’d have gas all over the
ground and you’d have to pay for it. Or Miss Horner would. That’s her truck,
isn’t it?”
She just rolled
her eyes and grabbed some coffee. If her parents already had some, it wouldn’t
matter. They could always use some more.
She wasn’t
going to risk being out of coffee.
“Are your folks
back in town yet?” he asked, following her to the next aisle. He had a bottle of
water in his hand—which he’d obviously come in here to buy—so he must just be
trying to annoy her now.
She wasn’t
surprised he knew they’d been gone. Everyone knew everyone else’s business in
this town. “Not yet. They’re driving home after visiting Mark. He used to be
your friend. Remember?”
“You know, it
might be smart not to draw conclusions before you know all the facts.” He
sounded cool, almost offended. “Mark was my friend. But I thought you were
too.”
She turned on
him, practically gnashing her teeth in her outrage, “And what facts don’t I have
now that would help me to draw different conclusions? If we’re not friends anymore,
then you have no one but yourself to blame.”
She realized
she was getting too upset, so she walked away from him again. She didn’t need
this. He upset her too much. She was going to have a secure future without any
mess or heartbreak.
And Ethan
always, only led to mess and heartbreak.
She was still
stewing—hurt and angry and indignant—as she paid for her stuff and brought the
bag back to Miss Horner’s truck.
The gas pump
had stopped and hadn’t overflowed, so she turned the cap and pulled out her
purse, setting it on the hood of the pickup so she could put her change back in
her wallet.
And, damn it,
there was Ethan again.
“Ashley,” he
was saying, “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I don’t think it’s as—”
He never
finished his sentence.
His eyes darted
over her shoulder, and, before Ashley knew what was happening, he had slammed
into her from the side, pushing her down to the pavement in a move that
scratched up her palms and knees. Shocked and winded, she stared up at Ethan,
who was pretty much on top of her now.
She started to
ask what was going on and request that he get off her, but he interrupted by
hissing, “Quiet.”
Recognizing
real urgency in his voice, Ashley shut up and waited, her heart pounding and
her breath uneven.