Crave by Laura J. Burns; Melinda Metz

Author:Laura J. Burns; Melinda Metz
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2010-07-10T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

EIGHT

SHAY REALIZED SHE’D BEEN SITTING in the parking lot, staring blankly out in the darkness, for almost half an hour. Enough of this self-pity, she thought, roughly brushing away the tears that hung off her lower lashes. She didn’t have time for wallowing. She dropped her head back against the headrest. Now what? Call the Make-A-Wish Foundation?

She sighed. What would she even tell them she wanted to have for her last week on earth?

First, chocolate, she decided. She leaned over to the glove compartment and fished around inside. Martin always kept cash in the car for emergencies. She pulled out an envelope and peered inside. Two hundred bucks in a neat stack of twenties. More than enough for some junk food.

Shay got out and walked into the gas station mini-mart. She loaded up on M&M’s—plain, peanut, almond, and even this weird strawberry and peanut-butter flavor she’d never seen before. After all, she was living it up. Having an adventure. Eating an unexplored kind of candy.

She added a few other things she’d never tried—fried pork rinds, wasabi-flavored peanuts, and a truly noxious-looking drink called Mountain Dew Code Red. The fat and cholesterol and artificial colors wouldn’t kill her. They were too damn slow.

When Shay dropped her selections on the counter, the guy gave her a knowing grin. “Someone’s got the munchies.”

Shay tossed out her usual line. “I’m high on life, dude.”

“Road trip, then?”

Road trip. Why not? See the world. Go out in a blaze of sugar-fueled glory. “Got it in two,” Shay told him as he dumped her purchases into a plastic bag with a yellow smiley face on it. She grinned as big as the yellow ball as she headed back to the Range Rover. It felt good to have a plan.

Should she drag out the big atlas she knew Martin had stowed under the passenger seat? No. Road trips were for spontaneity. She was going commando. No maps, no plans, and unless she did some shopping soon, no clean underwear.

Shay pulled away from the gas station, her hands steady. She was absolutely, completely in control of her life for as long as it lasted. That’s the way it had to be. There was no one she could trust but herself. Not Martin, that was for sure. Not even Mom. Not Gabriel. He’d used her as a human shield.

She got back on the highway. When she found a town that had a funky name, she’d stop. On her road trip, she was going to stop only at places with funky names. She wasn’t going anywhere she’d ever heard of. Unless she felt like it. Because who was making up the rules here? Shay was.

She’d passed only one exit before she saw something familiar. A sign with a white H on a blue background. My first word was probably “hospital,” she thought.

An ambulance passed her, silent. Shay hated the sight of it. She’d had a few rides in ambulances herself, and she always wondered who was in the ones she saw. Wondered if they were going to make it.

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