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“Thanks.”
Before Wick could retrieve them, though, I stretched out my hand to take the change for him so he and the cashier couldn’t touch.
Petty, I know. But I couldn’t seem to help it.
“Yes, thank you,” I added, grabbing our sack of food as well before hooking my arm through Wick’s and dragging him from the store. Away from her.
He glanced back curiously before eyeing me. “Um… What was that about?”
No way was I willing to admit I’d been jealous of the store clerk who’d been hitting on him. No way at all. So I said, “What? I’m just excited to get this spook-house night underway.”
He narrowed his eyes, letting me know he suspected the truth. But I ignored him and started to dig through our bag of goodies.
Wick’s sisters had been right behind us in line, so by the time he and I sorted out our things, everyone else was climbing in and ready to get back on the road.
Except, no one was saying a word. No one was diving into their snack bags. Darcy even neglected to put her road trip soundtrack back on. When the tension seemed to grow thick enough to make me extremely uncomfortable, I leaned toward Izzy and whispered, “Am I missing something here? What happened?”
Izzy leaned back and muttered, “Just wait for it.”
Another minute later, it happened. At first, my nostrils merely twitched, picking up the stench wafting past. But then my eyes began to water, and oh God… It really reeked.
I coughed a little, unable to stop myself. I didn’t want to offend whoever had passed gas, but wow. Oh wow, it was hard to breathe.
Darcy glanced back at me, and suddenly, she smelled it too. “Oh God! Charlie!”
Then Wick was crying, “Motherfucker, that is rank,” as he rolled down his window to air the place out.
Izzy followed suit. “Yep, there it is,” she announced, shoving at her side window latch in order to crack it open the mere inch it would allow her to go.
The teen shrugged. “Honestly, it’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?” Darcy shrieked, trying to wave cool night air in through her window. “Are you crazy? That is the worst thing I’ve ever smelled in my entire life, and I’m in the medical profession.”
“I get stuck on a bus with fifty other guys for hours at a time,” Wick added, “and I’ve never smelled anything that bad.”
“Oh, whatever. You don’t think it’s so bad, do you, Haven?”
“Oh God,” I gasped, lifting the neckline of my shirt to cover my nose. “How could you monster trap me in the middle seat like this? Scoot over,” I demanded of Izzy, crowding into her space. “I need air.”
Thirty-five excruciatingly long and smelly minutes later, we finally reached the spook house.
I plastered myself to Wick as soon as we alighted from the truck, and from the side of my mouth, I said, “The next time you try to warn me where the worst place to sit is, I’m fucking believing you.”
Chuckling, he took my hand and squeezed briefly before letting go. “You should make a note to always believe a guy in pigtails.”
I threw my head back and laughed, which caused his sisters to glance toward us curiously.
When we reached the door, I paid the cover fee for all five of us, which had half the siblings protesting and the other half thanking me profusely.
Feeling good about myself, I entered first, only to scream and back into the person who entered behind me when some crazy guy with a bloody knife came charging at me through the fog.
“Oh my God! What the hell?”
A warm, supporting arm wrapped around my waist. Glad it was Wick, I eased to his side and clung to him. “That was so not cool.”
“I almost peed my pants,” Izzy wailed from the other side of him.
“I didn’t even see what happened,” Darcy complained behind us. “What the hell happened?”
