Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46130 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter
One
Something that sounded like a slow hiss caught her attention. Molly turned off her radio and strained to listen. Shoot! That glass she’d driven over appeared to have cut her tire. Wondering if she would be lucky enough to get home before it was too flat, Molly slowed down as she debated how far she could go.
When she heard a thump from the front tire, she knew she needed to stop. Easing over on the side of the highway and stopping under one of the big lights illuminating the pavement, she debated what to do. She could have called one of the elders from the church during the day. They would have helped her but at two in the morning, that wasn’t possible. They’d have too many questions for her she didn’t want to answer. Suddenly, going to that late movie in the town down the road seemed like a bad decision.
“Okay! You’ve got a spare tire and a jack,” Molly told herself. “You can do this.”
She turned to look around her car, checking for traffic. One solitary truck drove past on the other side of the divided highway. Did she want someone to help her? That seemed dangerous on the deserted road in the dark.
After blowing out a deep breath, Molly launched into action. She opened her door and pushed the trunk release on the small hatchback. Racing to the back to get out of the road, she pushed the hatch fully up and leaned inside to push the church bulletins for next Sunday to the side. She pulled up the spare tire cover and stared down at it.
By the time she had it unfastened from its mooring spot, Molly was already doubting her ability to change this tire. “Never give up!” She attempted to rally her positivity.
“Uf!” The heavy tire moved about three inches as she heaved it toward the opening. Maybe she should work on getting the other tire off. That might be the first step. The jack was lighter to pull out of the car anyway.
Referring to the manual, she searched with her fingers looking for the spot it recommended to place the jack. Not able to find it, Molly stretched out on the shoulder, feeling the gritty gravel and who knows what else that had gathered there.
“Aha! There it is! I just needed to see from a better angle.” Her voice sounded really loud in the quiet that surrounded her. “I really need to stop talking to myself.” That sounded even louder, sending a shiver down her spine.
A few minutes of success later, she looked at the tire now suspended off the pavement with satisfaction. She grabbed the tire iron and fitted it onto a lug nut. Giving it a spin, she yelped when it whacked her shin as the tire rotated freely around.
“Okay, that’s just mean. How are you supposed to get the tire unfastened if it’s spinning?”
Back to the manual she went and discovered she’d skipped one important step. Molly had just started trying to lower the jack when she heard the rumble of oncoming motorcycles. She looked across the road hoping they were on the other side. Of course not.
Her hands tightened on the tire iron as the bikes pulled over in front and behind her car. They’re friendly. I’m sure they just look mean.
“Need some help?” a rough voice called as he kicked his stand down and swung his leg over the seat.
“No. No, thank you. I’m figuring it out,” she rushed to assure them as everyone followed his example.
“It doesn’t look like you’ve got it quite mastered yet,” that gruff voice said sarcastically.
Molly backed up slightly to the edge of the shoulder to keep the men advancing from both sides in her view. Her heels teetered on the edge, so she took a baby step forward to maintain her balance. A glance behind her showed a sloping drop off into tangled weeds. She shuddered at the thought of the creepy crawlers hanging out there.
“She’s definitely polite.”
“I like being pleasant. I will warn you that my cheerfulness is almost gone. Perhaps you should just leave.” Tears prickled her eyelids. She was tired, dirty, and scared. Molly had no idea how to change a tire and she really didn’t want to know how. Now, some bikers were here to kill her. Could this day get any worse? She brushed a hand over each eye to wipe away the tears before they could fall and tried to keep her shoulders from sagging in defeat.
“What’s your name?” that gruff voice asked.
A scuff on the gravel made Molly turn to look at him, and she jumped in surprise to see how close he was to her already. He was tall and muscular with tattoos that proclaimed him to be a very bad man. What made her stare was the dead look in his eyes. This man didn’t care about anything.