Chapter 529 Chapter 529
Amari still couldn’t believe she’d seen her family. She looked at her phone. She had their numbers now and could talk to them. Bauer was cooler than she remembered. He’d changed over the years, for the better.
“You must be excited about the new ideas Rayne was talking about.”
Amari looked over at him. “I’m just processing, you know? Seeing my sister and Mom,” she smirked, “even my brother isn’t the jerk he used to be.”
“Sounded like he’s been keeping tabs on you.”
“Yeah, that’s weird. All we used to do was fight and now—”
“He cares about you.”
She nodded, not sure how to express how she felt about that. Her cat was being weird right now and she couldn’t figure out why. She got that way sometimes when she wanted to go for a run, but this was something else. She glanced back at him, hoping to distract herself. “Your mom is pretty cool.”
He grinned, “Yeah, she’s great.” Tripp looked at her for a second, “I’m glad our sisters are friends and can watch each other’s backs.”
She nodded, “yeah, hopefully, they both manage to stay out of trouble.”
“Unlike their siblings?” He leaned forward and looked at the sky, “check out those clouds.”
She moved forward and looked up. The sky was darkening with full heavy clouds. “Guess a storm is inbound.”
Tripp put the window down and she watched him lean closer and take a deep breath. He straightened up and glanced at her, “snow.”
That explained her cats off behavior, they were built for snow, but those memories from years earlier always came back in bad storms. “Think we can outrun it and get across the border before it hits?”
“I don’t know. It’s moving in the same direction we are.”
“Should we stop and gas up and grab some extra supplies, just in case?”
He nodded and leaned over and reached for the GPS screen, “that’s a good idea.”
Amari tapped her hand on her knee. They didn’t need any more delays. The teams had a lot to do, and she had been away from them too long.
“Is internet enabled on your phone?” He glanced at her, “most of the new ones don’t have access for safety.”
She grabbed her phone out of the cupholder. “I’ll check.” She tapped the screen and went to open the browser—there wasn’t one. “I’m going to say no. There’s not even a browser installed.”
“Shit. I wanted to check on this storm and see how much area it’s going to cover.”
“I’ll call Zain when we stop, but we need to figure out where first.” She looked in the back of the vehicle. “Do you have a storm kit?”
“A storm kit? I have mylar blankets and warm socks.”
She snorted, “clearly you’ve never been stuck in a winter storm before.”
“Okay, what do we need for a storm kit?”
“Candles, those little tea light ones are the best, a coffee can and it has to be metal, not those cardboard ones.” She thought for a second, “we have protein covered—do you have a flashlight? Oh, and plastic bags, like garbage bags to keep you dry.” She always carried that. Always. Of course, with her gear stored somewhere from her wrecked van, she wasn’t prepared for a storm for the first time since she’d been out there homeless and on her own.
“I understand everything, but the coffee can and candles.”
“For warmth, you put the candle in a can, it’s not widespread heat, but it helps a lot.”
“Okay, I’ll get candles, bags, and a can of coffee, or a metal container of some sort.” He gave her one of his sexy smiles and for a moment she thought getting stuck in the storm with him wouldn’t be all bad.
That thought brought her back to this mate issue they seemed to have. She’d already announced they were mates to her family, and she’d noticed Rayne and the others checking out their necks at some point. She was going to have to address it and make a decision. Her cat stirred and let her know that a decision wasn’t in the equation. They were mates.
“There’s a gas station and store about twenty minutes from here. We’ll make a quick stop then,” he looked at the sky, “try to outrun this.”