AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I need to avoid that minefield for now. “How can you be sure?”
“I have my ways. All you need to know is that he was just stalking me, so it’s fine.” My heart rate picks up speed again and the white hot anger I feel towards that little maggot of a man takes me by surprise. Who the fuck does he think he is?
“Calm down, Rambo. I can see you getting all bent out of shape from here. I have dealt with it.”
“Daisy, he was…”
“And now he isn’t and he won’t ever again. I dealt with it. I forgot how protective you get.” Her skin blushes slightly at her comment. If only she knew how protective I was of her.
“We have a car… Oh, sorry, did I interrupt?” Chris is looking between me and Daisy.
“Nope, not at all. You say we have a car, that’s great. Daisy was just telling me that Gary isn’t an issue.”
“Really? That’s a relief.”
“We should get going, though.” I want to get on the road as soon as possible.
“Where are we going?” Daisy asks.
“A tiny village east of Malaga. It’s the closest of my hiding spots.”
“Will it be easy to get to?” Chris asks.
“Um, mostly. The piece of the book is hidden beneath a mango tree—”
“A mango tree, really?”
“Or was it an avocado tree?” I didn’t mean to say that out loud. It’s a mango tree, I’m ninety percent sure... Okay, seventy-five percent.
“When you say it’s ‘mostly’ easy to get to, what does that mean exactly?” Daisy asks. Her face is the picture of concern.
Alright, folks, here’s the skinny. I hid that part of the book on a mango or avocado farm five years ago. I was banging the daughter of the farmer and it felt—at the time—like a good place to stash the pages.
There is a strong chance that Lucia—said farmer’s daughter—won’t be jumping with joy to see me again. I parted without a word. Douche move I know, but I didn’t see the point in saying goodbye. I told her it was a sex only situation. Plus, I didn’t think I would need to come back for the book part, like at all. I had resigned myself to a life on the run.
Also, the particular tree is also halfway up a mountain, only accessible by donkey. 4x4’s haven’t reached that part of Spain yet. Daisy and Chris don’t need to know all that yet though, so I fob them off. “Don’t worry about it, come on, let’s get packed.”
Three hours later and we are ready to roll. The Hyundai Kona Chris has hired is nice. It has all the gizmos, including SatNav, heated seats and steering wheel. Although the weather in southern Spain doesn’t call for it, I still press all the buttons. It’s only when Chris declares his arse is on fire and Daisy glares at me that I stop playing around. Jeez, people are way too serious.
“The farm provides tours every day at ten and two. After that, all of Spain goes on a siesta.” I laugh at my own joke. I really have been alone for too long. “We have missed today’s tours, so we will have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Why can’t we just sneak in later?” Chris mumbles through a mouthful of Cheetos. My Cheetos, little fucker!
“Because the farm is guarded by dogs. They roam the entire property and let me tell you something, kiddo, you do not want to fuck with them.” His face pales and I laugh. “There is no point drawing attention to ourselves by doing something risky. If we can go on the tour, nip off when no one is looking, get the book and return to the tour before anyone notices, it’s all good.”
“And what if someone notices?” Chris again, this time with a red liquorice hanging out of his mouth. The kid is taking the challenge of eating my road trip food to heart.
“Then we are just dumb tourists who got distracted and wandered off.”
“There is an abandoned farmhouse about two kilometres away from where we need to be. We can rough it for one night. I don’t want to keep booking hotel rooms, not when everything is so up in the air at the minute.”
“I don’t mind a night in the open. I used to go camping all the time.” Chris has a wistful look in his eyes. I wonder if he is thinking back to his dad and the life he left behind. It can’t all have been bad. Well, I hope not. Poor lad.
“Fine with me, too. How do you know about the vacant house?” Daisy asks.
“I stayed there for a while.” Daisy doesn’t need to know that was where Lucia and I would meet up. My explanation seems to satisfy her. We spend the rest of the trip in silence. It’s probable that the weight of our task is starting to sink in. My eyes wander from the road to Daisy, who is tapping her foot to the music. Her hand is resting on the speaker, feeling the vibrations.
The sun is still high in the sky when we reach the dirt track that leads to the abandoned house. I don’t want to park our car out front. There are too many locals that would notice it and come snooping. Thankfully, the overgrown bush that I used to hide my vehicle the last time I was here still remains, wild as ever. The bush won’t cover the car entirely but it will do the job for tonight.
