For the Rockstar Romance Lover!
You’d
think, for a group of so-called rock gods, they’d have something more original
for ringtones than the generic shit their phones came with, but as they’d all
discovered, none of them had bothered assigning songs to their contact list. One
trilled, one rang like an old rotary, while another just chimed over and over
and none of them seemed to have a god damned clue which one their phone did.
The result was everyone but Tripp grabbing for the basket on the table that
they’d tossed their cell phones in.
Zakk’s had the flashing screen
though, and he was shocked to see that it was Dez’s number illuminated on it. It
was hard to make out what he was saying, what with, was that traffic in the
background? That motherfucker better not be trying to drive and use the phone.
“Hang on, I can’t hear you, just,
hang on,” Zakk said snatching up the remote and pausing the movie. “Okay, now
what’s going on?”
Need you guys to pull in at the next
rest stop. We’ll be there in a bit, we just, we need to get off the road.
The traffic made it difficult to get
a read on his voice, though Zakk picked up a hint of anxiety that was starting
to make him nervous.
“Dez, are you guys alright? What
happened?”
This psycho son of a bitch in a jacked-up
pickup nearly took us both out. We just, I need Riley and we both need a break.
“Okay, I’ll let James know. I don’t
know how far away the next one is.”
That’s fine. We’re taking a moment on
the side of the road. We’ll catch up to you at the rest stop.
“Shit, okay, be safe.”
We were the ones being safe, it was
the blind fucker in the god damned truck that wasn’t paying attention to other
vehicles on the road!
The strain in Dez’s voice came
through loud and clear this time, and Zakk wished they’d never gotten it in
their heads to make the drive on those bikes, especially when James had a
trailer attached to the back of the RV where the machines could easily fit side
by side.
“Deep breath. I know you’re rattled,
but are either of you hurt?”
No. Just really shaken up. Winter
almost ditched it. We’re both shaking. We need a smoke before we get back on.
We’ll catch up as soon as we can.
“Okay. Let me tell James what’s going
on,” Zakk said as he headed for the front of the RV. The others were on the
edge of their seats, eyes glued to him, and he cut them a look, trying to
convey that he would explain just as soon as he made sure James didn’t
miss the next rest stop. Still, he could practically feel their gazes boring
into his back.
“Hey, have you seen a rest stop
sign?” Zakk asked as he poked his head through the curtain dividing the cab
from the back.
“Eight more miles, the next one after
it is thirty-two, why?”
“Need you to pull into the next one.
Dez and Winter had a scare. Dez is on the phone. They pulled over and they’re
taking a moment to collect themselves then they’ll be back on the road. They’ll
meet us at the rest stop. They aren’t hurt, but they need a break.”
“No, what they need is to load up
those machines and get their asses in here for the rest of the trip before they
do get hurt!” James snapped. “The darker it’s gotten, the harder these fuckers
have been hitting the gas. It’s like speed limits don’t exist to these
bastards!”
“Pretty sure you heard that,” Zakk
said to Dez when he returned the phone to his ear.
There was a moment’s pause, then the
sound of something high-pitched zipping by. Tell him we’ll load up when we
catch up, and to be on the lookout for a tiny sports car that’s got to be doing
ninety dodging in and out of traffic, it just flew by.
“Okay, James said the next exit is
eight miles from where we are, we’ll pull in there and wait for you.”
Thanks.
Dez ended the call, and it was only
then that Zakk realized his own hands were shaking and Damien was looking up at
him with concern in his eyes.
“What exactly happened?” Damien
asked.
“From the sound of it, they got run
off the road and nearly hit by a truck that either wasn’t paying attention or
didn’t see the bikes in the dark.”
“I see. Have they finally come to the
realization that it would be best they end this bit of folly before someone gets
hurt?”
“Yeah, thank the gods,” Zakk said.
“They’re going to load up the bikes once they catch up with us, but Dez wants
you guys to be on the lookout for a small sports car that’s speeding and
playing leapfrog in the lanes.”
“I’ll thank him for that later, once
he’s safely on board,” James said.
It was obvious the others heard his
half of the conversation, all of them trying to talk over one another to ask
questions when he rejoined them. Finally, he held up his hand, bringing their
tangle of words grinding to a halt.
“They’re going to load the bikes when
we get to the rest stop,” Zakk informed them, watching the relief creep into
each of their faces. Tripp was fidgeting, Tavis kept glancing out the window
like he was searching for them, while Riley had his fingers dug into the back
of his hand, nails beginning to leave impressions.
“But they’re okay?” Tripp asked.
“Physically, yes, they aren’t hurt,
but they’re rattled. Dez sounded inches away from a meltdown, so we might want
to roll a few for when we have them on the RV.”
That was all he needed to say to get
Riley to pull out the stash box and a rolling tray, papers already laid out
from the last time.
“Do us all a favor,” Tavis said,
looking directly at Tripp. “Don’t give either of them shit about anything once
they’re in here. Was bad enough they were trying to ride at night in the first
place, don’t need them storming back out onto the road pissed.”
Well that certainly went right along
with Zakk’s suspicion that Dez’s and Winter’s decision to ride had been
directly influenced by the issues they had going on with Tripp.
“I won’t,” Tripp said. “I don’t want
my brother out there any more than you do. Dez either. Will be safer, and saner
to have them in here with us rather than out there with the crazies.”
And speaking of crazies, that same
zipping, zooming, high-pitched whining sound Zakk had heard through the phone
suddenly sounded like it was right beside them for half a second before it flew
past. A horn sounded to the left of them, while it felt like the RV slowed down
a little, its distinct horn blaring.
“Fuckin’ assholes gonna kill
somebody!” James growled loud enough all of them could hear as the RV bounced
and rattled.
“That wasn’t you running them over,
was it?” Riley called out.
“Don’t I wish!”
Zakk’s only thought was how glad he
was that it had passed Winter and Dez before they’d gotten back on the road.
“I’m um, going to swap movies out if
no one minds,” Tavis commented. “Load in the first Shrek movie. I don’t know
about Dez’s nerves, but it will help settle Winter’s.”
“It’ll be good for Dez too,” Riley
said as he worked on rolling a few fat joints.
Tavis switched the movies out, while
Zakk sat next to Tripp, who alternated between bouncing his leg up and down and
drumming his fingertips on the table.
“How are you feeling?” Zakk asked.
“Anxious as fuck.”
“I meant physically.”
“Was relaxed right up until the point
where you informed us all that my brother nearly got hit by a truck. Throat
still twinges from time to time, so you’ll have to excuse me for not smoking,
but I’m going to sit right here and laugh right alongside everyone else once
the movie starts.”
There was nothing but sincerity in
his voice, and that hand that had steadily been tapping out a tune on the
table, was now sliding up and down Zakk’s back as Tripp used him as a
touchstone, something he didn’t mind in the slightest. It was helping him relax
too, though Zakk knew that none of them would be able to settle down completely
until they had set eyes on Winter and Dez.
The wail of sirens split the night,
the RV along with the cars in the lanes beside them, trying to move as far
right as they could go to let the authorities roar by. Traffic degraded to a
slow crawl before finally stopping altogether, prompting Riley to scurry to the
front of the bus to see what was going on.
“Oh…damn…”
“What?” Zakk called, torn between
wanting to see what was going on, and staying right where he was with Tripp’s
hand on him.
“Big ass wreck is what,” Riley called
back. “We’re stuck for a while.”
“Son of a bitch,” Tripp growled. “Any
idea how far we are from the rest stop?”
“Three miles,” James called back.
“Going to be a long-ass three miles,”
Tavis muttered.
“Gonna be even longer for Winter and
Dez,” Zakk pointed out. He just hoped that the merging traffic, slow pace, and
frayed nerves weren’t a recipe for disaster.
Inch by inch they crept along, as
ambulances and two fire trucks joined the police officers in painting the night
with neon shades of red, blue, and white. It was next to impossible to make out
what types of vehicles were among the twisted masses of metal crunched together
against the Jersey barricade dividing the north and southbound lanes. One
looked like it could have been a jeep, while the other resembled an accordion
with jagged bellows of broken glass.
“That’s gotta be three cars, easy,” Tavis
commented.
Cocking his head, Zakk studied the
mess as best he could through the tinted window. “Pretty sure it’s four, looks
like an SUV on top of something way smaller.
“I think it’s five,” Tripp remarked,
standing shoulder to shoulder with Zakk as they peered out at the first
responders with crowbars and saws, trying to free the people trapped within the
vehicles. “Look under the back of that semi.”
Sure enough, when Zakk turned his
attention to the back end of the truck’s trailer, he could just make out a
small car wedged underneath it, its taillights a bright, angry red. Scarlett
tinged the smoke of its exhaust, while a bloom of brilliant orange and gold
burst along the quarter panel.
“Holy shit, it’s on fire,” Tripp
murmured, his hand coming to rest on the small of Zakk’s back.
“How fuckin’ fast do you have to be
going to manage that?” Riley mused.
“Faster than your guardian angels,
that’s for damn sure,” Tavis remarked.
The whole mess left Zakk wondering if
that small, speeding vehicle was somehow responsible for this mess. Perhaps
even a part of it, considering the size of two of the crushed vehicles. During
the slow, anxiety-ridden creepy-crawl past the wreckage, made even longer by
the attempted merging of cars from an on-ramp, Zakk kept one hand on his phone,
half-expecting it to ring. Would Dez and Winter see the mess of cars trying to
get over into the one passable late and turn off before they got trapped in the
mess, or would they push through to reach the rest stop?
Every now and again someone hit their
horn, protesting the attempted merger of another. One car tried to drive up the
shoulder only to have a wide vehicle block it to the point where they couldn’t
pass anymore. All that prompted was more honking, their tiny sliver of road rapidly
transforming into a parking lot, everything grinding to a standstill, cars forming
a logjam as drivers refused to yield.
Taking turns was supposed to be
something you learned in kindergarten, and yet, the vast majority of them
seemed to have forgotten that lesson. Those who did try to let a car in found themselves
honked at by those behind them, their act of kindness taken advantage of as
several cars tried to tailgate their way through the gap. It was a mess and
with the cops all dealing with the wreckage, the lunatics were left to run the
road.
Inching along was proving to be
frustrating as fuck. Riley bounced in his seat, so much so that Zakk wished he
had a length of rope to hog-tie him so he’d sit still. What should have been a
handful of minutes turned into almost an hour. By the time the RV pulled into
the rest stop, the wreck and ensuing traffic jam had made the news, confirming
that it had been a small, speeding sports car that had caused the initial
accident.
“I’m going to wait for them outside,”
Riley said, bolting for the door. Tavis and Tripp were right behind him, while
Zakk stood staring at the television. Cameras focused on the long line of
traffic stretched down the highway, while reporters warned folks to find an
alternate route if they had the opportunity.
Yelling in the background drew the
cameras’ attention, the fire beneath the semi having grown until the taillights
were no longer visible. Firefighters scurried around, aiming water at the blaze.
Tripp just hoped that whoever had been in it had died on impact, rather than
slowly roasting to death.
When the camera turned back towards
the long procession of cars inching up the highway, Zakk couldn’t help but hope
to catch a glimpse of the two familiar bikes everyone was beginning to panic
over.
“Zakk!”
“I’m coming!” he hollered back,
refusing to look away from the screen.
“Good, because they beat us here!”
Now that got him moving. Out of the RV and
into the night, where Dez had crushed Riley to him, and Winter sat on the back
of his bike, Tavis having slid on in front of him, facing him with his hands in
Winter’s hair. Whatever the two were saying was impossible to make out, so he
stepped up beside Tripp, watching the scene play out while offering up a
grateful bit of thanks to the gods that the pair had made it off the road safely.
And a Bundle of Books for your reading enjoyment!
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