Later On We'll Conspire: A Sweet Romantic Comedy (Christmas Escape) by Kortney Keisel

Author:Kortney Keisel [Keisel, Kortney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

PARK

The car stops in front of the gas pump.

“Wait here.” I open my door and climb out. “I’ll let you know when it's safe.”

I spend the next few minutes pumping gas, glancing around. When I’m done, I knock on Lacee’s window. She looks at me, confused.

“You can get out,” I mouth.

She shakes her head as if she’s still confused.

I roll my eyes, opening her car door. “We really need to work on our signals.”

“I don’t know what knocking means,” Lacee explains.

“How do you not know what knocking means?”

“I must’ve missed that in all my chemistry classes.”

I hold her arm, keeping her body close to mine. An electric spark travels down my back to my toes. I told myself that pulling Lacee to me was for her own safety, but I can’t deny how good it feels to have her close to me again, even if it’s just for a brief moment.

I keep my head on a swivel as we walk toward the entrance. I don’t expect anyone to find us here, but you can never be too careful. A bell dings as we open the door. I look around. The place is empty except for the cashier.

“They have hot chocolate!” Lacee runs to the machine across the store.

“What are you doing?” I follow.

“Is hot chocolate not allowed?” She doesn’t wait for my answer. Instead, she pulls out a foam cup and starts filling it up.

“I just like to be kept in the loop. That’s all.”

“Okay, fine. I’m getting hot chocolate.” Steam drifts up from the liquid into the air. “Yikes. It’s so hot it’s boiling through the foam cup.” She sets the cup down on the counter. “I’m going to let it cool a second.” She glances at the cashier. “Where’s your bathroom?”

The woman with colorful tattoos down her arms points to the back corner. “Over there.”

“Thank you.” Lacee smiles.

The bell on the door behind us rings again, and we both turn over our shoulders as a bald man with a goatee walks into the service station. His eyes flick toward us then he turns down the first aisle of snacks. I escort Lacee to the single bathroom and knock on the door, waiting a second before I open it. A loud fan turns on with the fluorescent lights. I lean around her, peeking my head inside the bathroom.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure it’s safe.”

“It’s a tiny bathroom. There’s literally only one place someone can hide.” She kicks the door hard, slamming it against the wall. “See? No one’s behind the door. It’s all clear.”

“You would’ve felt really dumb if somebody had been hiding there.” I hand her my secure cell phone. “Here. You can call your family on this.”

“Thanks.”

I step back. “If you have any trouble in the bathroom, just yell for me, and I’ll come running.”

“I’m sure you’re just being paranoid,” she says as she slams the door in my face.

The second I turn around, the man with the goatee wastes no time. He comes at me, punching me in the side.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.