Page 5 of Midnight Whispers (Forbidden Entanglements #1)
Chapter Five
I t turned out Riley didn’t have enough money for gas. He knew he’d run out when he’d only been able to put twenty dollars in his tank the last time he refueled. It had gotten him almost all the way to Fortune Falls. According to the GPS on his phone, he was ten minutes from his dad’s house, which meant he was just outside town. The road had to be the darkest and spookiest on the planet. It didn’t help that it was after midnight.
His car sputtered to a stop as he gently guided it to the side. When the engine shut off, silence took over. The only things surrounding him were the skeletal trees and snow-covered leaves. The forest seemed to take over everything, which would have been a nice change from the city where he’d grown up, if it were during the day.
He didn’t know how he was so used to the noises of the city, cars, and buses, and people always moving around, even at night. And the lights made it so it was never really dark. Riley panicked, letting fear grip him. It didn’t take long for him to get over it, though. He checked the door locks before calling his brother.
Griffin kept daytime hours, so it didn’t surprise him when it went to voicemail.
His hands shook when the cold ate up the heat. Riley couldn’t see his breath yet, but it wouldn’t take long.
He hesitated to call his dad next. He’d have to explain why he was stranded. It wasn’t from neglecting his tank but the lack of funds, which would be way worse of an explanation because Dad offered to send him money more than once and he’d said he was fine.
Instead of calling Dad’s cell, he looked up the number for the station and called it. He decided not to say anything about being the sheriff’s kid. He’d just tell them his name and let them figure it out on their own. They might be less likely to alert his dad if he didn’t help them connect the dots.
The best-case scenario would be the deputy helping him by putting just enough gas in his car to get him to his dad’s house and no one else had to know about it.
He did not want his dad’s employees to lie for him, but it would be great if they did.
The call was quick. Riley could tell the man who answered was used to answering calls from people he knew. He answered the phone as if he were prepared to take Riley’s order. “What can I do for you, hon?”
“I ran out of gas. I’m on…” He put the man on speaker to check what the road name was on the GPS map. “Hensley Road.”
“Are you a local or a college student?”
“I’m about to be both.”
“All right. Well, that’s pack lands out there. Just so you know. If you ain’t pack, I wouldn’t get out of the car.”
Well, that just made Riley pee himself a little. “Pack?”
“Just wait for Cass to get there before exiting the vehicle.”
“No problem.” Like he would. Dark, scary forests weren’t his thing. Add in all the pack stuff the dispatcher mentioned and leaving the car wasn’t a problem.
They ended the call.
And what the hell were pack lands, anyway? Were there wolves in Fortune Falls? A pack of them must live in the forests around Fortune Falls. But Riley wasn’t aware wolves were in Fortune Falls. He always assumed wolves were more of a western United States thing and not a mid-western animal, but maybe the government had reintroduced them to the area or something.
It would be totally neat to see one, as long as it didn’t get close to his car. He tried to see past the tree trunks and brush, deep into the forest, but couldn’t spot anything besides trees, snow, and dead leaves.
He looked up what wolf species were in Fortune Falls.
Huh. Riley found a site that said there weren’t wolves in the area and then a couple of known sightings suggested signs of them. A hunter killed one by accident, thinking it was a coyote, but that was in a county north of Fortune Falls. They could travel for miles, so it was possible.
But he didn’t think getting out of the car when the dispatcher told him specifically to stay inside would be a good way to do that. It was stupid to face a fear when the potential for that fear was very real.
So, he stayed put and decided he’d conquer another fear, like public speaking or singing in front of a crowd. Maybe Fortune Falls had a karaoke bar.
But facing down a pack of wolves. No, thank you.
Riley settled in to wait. After five minutes, he was freezing. He grabbed a blanket from the stack he’d put in the back seat and wrapped it around himself.
The blanket did the trick to ward off the cold, but it didn’t stop his imagination from taking over. The more his mind conjured images of snarling wolves with red eyes and bigger-than-normal teeth, the more he felt as if his heart would beat out of his chest.
He kept picturing wolves surrounding his car and him freezing to death before someone could save him.
All he wanted was to start a new life in Fortune Falls. One where he’d be a college student for the first time. He’d get to know his dad and connect with Griffin face-to-face instead of phone calls and video chats. They could finally have dinners as a family. They’d be able to do things together, like go fishing, not that he ever had before in his life. And maybe his brother would take him hiking. There were several trails close by. He’d have a give-and-take with his dad and brother in a way he never had with his mom.
He didn’t seem to be starting on a good note. He should have taken the money his dad offered him. It would have changed the vibe of his fresh start. But he let pride get in the way. And maybe he didn’t know how to depend on another person, not even his dad. It was something he had to learn. He needed a book. How to Rely on Your Dad . He needed to let go of the notion that he only had himself, and it was all on him. Survival mode. That’s what he needed to get rid of. He needed to start living.
But that was easier said than done.