Gavin twisted on his seat, his hand going behind him. “If I give it to you, will you shoot me and put me out of my misery?”
“You don’t have to be so melodramatic.” She snorted, opening the car door.
Shutting the door, she used her cell phone’s flashlight to make her way to the closest tree. Making sure there was no little furry critters around, Ginny took care of her business. It didn’t take long before she was coming out from behind the trees to see the flashing lights behind her car. Gavin was going to kill her.
She nearly tripped, she hurried back so fast. Then Ginny froze when a bright flashlight was pointed at her.
“Freeze. Put your hands in the air. Approach the back of the car.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gavin was so going to kill her.
Walking to the back of the car, Ginny waited as the officer talked to Gavin, who had his hands hanging out the window.
“Officer,” Ginny spoke up as a car sped past them, “I can explain.”
“Shut up.”
She shut up.
Ginny could only make out every other word as oncoming cars whizzed past.
“License … Registration … Stolen ….”
Ginny grimaced at that one. She was dead meat.
“Don’t move.”
She jumped as the officer walked past her to return to his squad car. Keeping her gaze glued to the flashing lights, she would rather go blind than look to see how Gavin was reacting. She was debating asking for protective custody when the officer got out of his car and walked past her again to give Gavin his license back.
Her lips tightened when she heard the officer laughing as he casually leaned against her car door. Edging to the end of the trunk, closer to the driver’s side, Ginny could finally hear what the officer was saying, then wished she hadn’t.
“My wife would divorce me if I didn’t pull off for her to use the restroom.”
Gavin told the officer what she had been doing! She was never going to let him win Name the Celebrity again.
“I’ll radio ahead. Owen would have caught you when you crossed the state line. He takes it as his personal mission to catch any BOLO going through his section. Anytime one of his ex-wives needs a new car, he has his brother, the judge, make sure it’s up for auction. I’ll give you my card; if you get pulled over again, dispatch can fax them that the BOLO was removed.”
Ginny promised herself to pay attention to the name of the next county they passed through so she could make an anonymous call to the FBI to report the shakedown going down in the small town.
“You can return to your vehicle.” The officer’s permission wasn’t given with the same good, old-boy friendliness he gave to Gavin.
Pretending a dignity she didn’t feel, Ginny got back in the car.
Flashing lights behind her car illuminated the interior, showing Gavin’s locked jaw.
“I don’t know what you’re so angry about. I was the one being laughed at.” Offended, she mimicked his locked jaw.
“One more word … Just one,” he threatened.
Her lips opened, preparing to further air her grievances.
“Do it”—he narrowed his eyes on her—“and see what happens.”
Sitting forward in her seat, she thought about zipping her mouth and throwing the key away again, but she didn’t want to chance her luck. So far, today sucked … other than the hours she spent enjoying every second she was spending with him.
Losing her self-righteous indignation by the time he was doing seventy on the interstate, Ginny turned the music on, bopping her head to one of her favorite songs.
“You’re going to give yourself whiplash,” he warned.
Taking it as a good sign that he was talking to her again, Ginny broke her vow of silence. “Can you name the singer before I count to ten?”
“No.”
“Come on … You’re not trying,” she heckled.
“Billy Idol.”
“Lucky guess.” Ginny playfully turned toward him. “The next one is mine,” she told him as the music ended and another one started playing. She only had to listen to the first beat. “Cher.”
“You’re cheating.”
Placing a hand on her chest, as if she were offended, Ginny didn’t miss the flash of his white teeth as he tried not to smile. It was more like a grimace, but she wasn’t above taking what she could get out of him.
“I don’t call it cheating. I call it winning.”
“Still cheating.”
“Nope, I disagree,” Ginny said in a sing-song voice.
She turned serious when Gavin slowed to take an unlit exit.
“This is where you’re meeting Jesus?” Ginny apprehensively watched the dark, winding road ahead as Gavin drove. She didn’t see any lights from businesses or homes. The spooky factor had her rubbing one of her little charms as Gavin decreased his speed to pull off the two-lane road and into a closed gas station. The outside was boarded up with sheets of wood on the front windows. Gavin parked next to one of the pumps that didn’t have a digital cover.