Road Tripping Read Online Free PDF

record. But
she got into the passenger side because it was an emergency and her getting
killed would upset her parents a lot more than her getting arrested. “I can’t
believe we’re doing this. How are you going to start the engine?”
    He fiddled a
bit under the dashboard, doing something Ashley couldn’t quite see. “This
doesn’t work on newer model cars,” he muttered. Very soon, the engine was
rolling.
    Ashley sighed.
Of course Ethan would be able to hot-wire a car. Why had she even doubted?
    Ethan looked
inordinately pleased with himself and backed the car out of the parking space.
    “What will we
do when the cops come after us?” Ashley asked as they pulled out of the parking
lot, turning right onto the main street.
    “With any luck,
the owner won’t even know it’s missing until five o’clock this afternoon. We’ll
be in the middle of Iowa by then. I’ll make it up to the owner, as soon as we
get this mess straightened out.”
    Ashley wasn’t
quite as confident as Ethan was, but she kept her mouth shut. They were going
to be stuck in this car for a long time together.
    ***
    They rode in peaceful silence
for a while. The morning was clear and warm, and the mountain landscape was
lovely.
    As they’d
turned back onto I-81 from Dublin, Ashley had questioned Ethan as to why they
were going south. Even she knew that South Dakota was to the north of Virginia.
    Ethan’s reply
had been snotty. “We have to go south in order to meet up with I-77. Then we go
north.”
    Ashley hadn’t
deigned to reply to that remark, mostly because she couldn’t think of anything
to say. She didn’t think she’d been on I-77 before. She hadn’t really been
anywhere in her life except Virginia—and Myrtle Beach for vacations.
    In less than a
half-hour, they got on I-77, and the gentle scenic mountains suddenly got
harsher and steeper—making the highway much more winding.
    In Ashley’s
estimation, Ethan was taking the mountain curves at far too high a speed. She
made sure her seatbelt was fastened and clutched at the door and the center
console.
    For the last
year, she’d made a point of always going the speed limit so she wouldn’t get a
ticket. She hadn’t wanted even the smallest brush with the police, since it
made her think of the trouble Mark had gotten into.
    “What’s your
problem?” Ethan asked irritably, looking over at her.
    Ashley would
have preferred that he look at the road. “Nothing,” she mumbled, cringing a
little as they reached the top of a mountain, and Ethan accelerated down the
winding descent, steering with one hand and edging closer to what looked like a
thousand-foot drop.
    “Don’t lie to
me,” he said, still peering at her. “You’re all tense and nervous. I don’t
think anyone is following us now.”
    Ethan darted in
between a tractor-trailer and a minivan that was starting to pass it. The
driver of the minivan honked his horn several times in outrage. Ethan, of
course, ignored this.
    “Do you think
you could slow down a little?” Ashley asked through her teeth, as politely as
she could manage. “These are mountains, if you hadn’t noticed.”
    Wrinkling his
brow, Ethan asked, “Do you get car sick?”
    “No,” Ashley gulped
as they headed for the sheer edge of a cliff before Ethan casually turned the
steering wheel. “But I don’t want to plummet into a ravine.”
    He eased up on
the gas slightly and grumbled, “I didn’t know you were so uptight.”
    She was being
smart and sensible, given her particular situation. It didn’t mean she was
uptight. She absolutely didn’t think she was uptight, and she hated when people
said she was.
    Especially
Ethan.
    She almost
shrieked when Ethan slammed on the brakes.
    “What are you
doing?” she gasped as her head snapped back jarringly against her seat.
    “Look ahead of
you. This is a damned toll road. We need two-dollars for the toll.”
    ***
    Their stolen car was low on gas,
so they had to stop at a travel plaza off the