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He shrugged, the thin shirt bunching around the muscles of his arms and shoulders. “Just in case I was wrong. Don’t want to be that kind of guy, leaving someone out in the middle of nowhere.”
It was still a risk to drive so crazy, but it was also a risk to admit his problems to a stranger. “You’re a politician? Is there a reason they target you?”
He frowned. “Don’t ask.”
“Sounds like I need to. Even for gossip, breaking into a hotel room is pretty audacious.”
He stared off toward the road. “They wanted Internet drama. The usual sort. Let people find out something is wrong with you, hell just anything, and it gets twisted until hate rains down. Doesn’t help when…” He paused. “Never mind. Don’t worry about it.”
“Your name’s not really Ace, is it?”
He smirked. “Why are you out here alone?”
I didn’t like not knowing who he was, but then, I couldn’t fully be honest with him, either.
At least we both had a similar desire to be out of the public limelight.
Let him keep his secrets, but first thing I’d need to do was get away from him. I didn’t need vloggers doing something stupid and roping me up in whatever they wanted from him. “Looking for God,” I said flatly.
He waited and then laughed “Really?”
“Does it matter?” I asked. “If you’re heading toward Charleston, drop me off as close as possible without going out of your way. I’ll stay quiet the entire time. I don’t need to know anything about you.” I placed a palm over my heart. “I’m not a reporter or a vlogger or anything. I don’t care about you. I can’t entrap you if I sit still and do and say nothing.”
He pressed his lips together and breathed out slowly. He nodded. “Okay.”
I suspected there was more to this than he was saying. Vloggers usually don’t pick random people to harass in such an extreme way, to the point where those two could have been arrested. To not have called the police on them was strange. I’d a feeling he had more to hide than he let on. I raised an eyebrow but kept my lips pressed, wanting to keep my promise to stay quiet, not ask questions, and let him take me as far as he could.
I had my own problems.
I was impulsive and left town as soon as I’d heard there was trouble. My instinct had been to avoid the police—they were after my ex, not me. I wanted to stay out of the matter. I knew from movies to stay under the radar of the police, to not use my credit cards and to not turn on my cell phone or they could trace where you’re at. I had little cash on me. And I had no idea what I needed to do next.
I’d never been as scared for my reputation and dignity as within the last twenty-four hours. I was running low on steam and needed to find a place to cool my burning skin, to regroup and plan the next steps.
Suddenly, his head jerked back. His eyes widened as he stomped on the break. Hard.
I jerked forward, bracing as best as I could. The seatbelt tugged against me and held me in place at the waist.
The car skidded for a second but then stopped.
“What are you doing?” I cried out to him, sure that he was simply crazy now.
He ignored me and jumped out of the car, looking down toward the fender.
We had gone a few miles since he’d picked me up, and we were near farmhouses, two next to each other.
Ace bent at the knee, disappeared in front of his car for a minute. I waited, leaning forward, wondering if he was worried about damaging his car on something.
When he reappeared, he’d had a small Pomeranian in his hands. The little dog barked. He held a hand close to his nose so the dog could sniff. It did and then proceeded to lick at his fingers.
I pressed a hand over my heart. I hadn’t even seen a dog at all. It had sandy fur, nearly the same color as the road. He could have run right over it and not noticed.
Ace did a half jog toward one of the homes, I assumed taking a guess as to who owned the dog. He knocked, waited. Within a minute, it was opened and an older lady, looking surprised, spoke to him.
When he returned, he carried two plastic water bottles, grinning ear to ear like a sly cat.
“Apparently, he snuck out the back door earlier,” he said. He dropped one bottle in the cup holder and passed the other to me.
“You traded him for water?”
He chuckled. “She wanted to give me $20. I was going to just say no but…circumstances.”
“I didn’t even see him,” I said. “He’s the same color as the road.”
“Good thing I was the one driving. I’ve got hawk-like vision.”
I took the bottle he handed me, drinking all of it except for a splash I put into my hand to wipe at my face.
I stole glances at Ace as he drove. It was tempting to ask a few questions, but I’d promised to be quiet. Despite his craziness, I desperately appreciated his assistance. I wanted to know his real name so I could send him some sort of thank you later on, but respected his privacy enough to let it be. He wasn’t a bad guy, rather nice and thoughtful.
Nothing to do now but wait for him to drop me off somewhere.
The dusty road went on for miles. I settled back into the seat, staring out the window. Eventually, all the green and bright blue day blurred and was too much for my senses, so I closed my eyes.
