Chapter 534 Chapter 534
The break in the weather didn’t last long, or it didn’t seem like it did. They’d abandoned the idea of using the main highway to cut back on time. With the lack of plows and other drivers’ lack of ability, they’d had to get off as soon as Amari had plotted a new route.
He’d been preoccupied with Amari and her stunt, the little girl’s comments, and the fact that all he could smell was his mate. Now he had no time for other thoughts, and it was taking all of his focus to find and stay on the road, moving forward. The snow on the road was deep and with the amount still coming down it was only going to get worse. “You’d think it would eventually run out of steam—or snow.”
“It’s Ontario. The weather does not follow any norms here. Ever.” He heard her shifting around in her seat but didn’t dare take his eyes off the road. At least he hoped they were still on the road.
Tripp’s stomach growled, reminding him he still hadn’t eaten. “I’m about ready to chew on my hat.” He leaned closer to the windshield, hoping that helped him not feel hypnotized by the motion of the wipers.
“Do you want some of the food they sent?”
He heard her unwrapping something and the smell of food immediately filtered to him. Tripp didn’t want to stop; they may never get going again. Driving one-handed right now was out of the question. Before he could answer, her hand with food in it appear in front of his mouth.
“This will be safer, I think.”
He took a bite of the sandwich and wasn’t entirely sure what kind of meat it was, but it tasted heavenly.
“Nothing tastier than a Bambi sandwich.” Amari chuckled.
Swallowing, he grinned, “since when do you do things safer?”
The sandwich that had been in front of him again was jerked back. “There’s a time for safe and there’s not.”
“Jumping off a ravine was safe?” Now probably wasn’t the best time to get back into that, but his mouth already said it.
“Yeah. In cat form, safe has different boundaries. While driving with no visibility, it’s time to be extra safe.”
Tripp grinned; he really couldn’t argue much with any of that. Before meeting her, he would have jumped off the ravine too. Instead of starving from pissing her off, he opened his mouth and heard her soft snort as she shoved the sandwich in his mouth for him to bite. The back end kicked out and slid sideways. By the time he corrected it, he had the entire sandwich hanging out of his mouth as she braced for the slide.
Reaching over, she took a hold of it again and allowed him to get a bite.
“You should put your seat belt back on.”
“It’s driving me crazy; I feel trapped.” She paused, and blew out a breath, “I don’t do well in storms like this, too many bad moments when I was on my own.” Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her lean forward to look out the windshield. “Are we pushing the snow like a plow?”
Tripp finished chewing and swallowed it. “Yeah, for the last twenty minutes.”
She leaned forward and looked out his window and then hers. “Is this even a road?”
“Pretty sure.” He had no idea at this rate, just hoped no trees jumped in their path. He saw it but didn’t have time to react, some kind of blue sign. The post for it dinged off the passenger mirror and he winced. At least it was on the right side, so they still must be on the road. “See. Road.”
“No, I can’t and that was a little close, special operations.”
“My mirror is wrecked, could be worse, could be a broken window.”
“We should stop before we have to dig out in the morning.”
Tripp inhaled slowly, then tried to blow some of the tension out. “Stopping in the middle is a bad plan and I can’t see shit to pull us over anywhere.”
“Want me to get out and lead the way?”
Tripp scowled at the snow outside, “no, I could end up running over you.”
“I didn’t mean I would stand in front of the vehicle, just figure out where the road ends and ditch starts.” He heard the rustling of material, “the jacket is bright red, you will be able to see me.”
Tripp hated this plan. Why did all of her plans make sense, but put her at risk? Every one of them. He would look ridiculous if he stopped, made her drive, and went outside himself. He glanced in the mirror but saw nothing but white. “Can you see any lights behind us?”
She chortled, “I think we’re the only ones still trying to drive in this.”
He sighed; she was right. He was just about to stop when her phone rang.
“That you, Z?” She sounded like she was chewing. He chanced a quick glance; she was eating the rest of the sandwich.
“Yes. Where the hell are you? You didn’t check in.”
Amari laughed, “I didn’t know I had to when I’m with, Special operations.”
“Considering the weather, yeah a check-in would have been good.”
“Okay.” She leaned forward and tapped the windshield. There were trees close to the road. “No idea where we are, we can’t see a damn thing.” Tripp inched the tires toward the tree, just enough that they’d hopefully be off the road. “We’re just stopping now.”
“You’re still driving?”
“Yeah.” She was chewing again. He hoped there were more sandwiches left.
“Everyone else gave up over an hour ago.” Zain sounded tired. “Look, pullover, rest, and hope that by morning it’s settled down. I need sleep and I can’t do that with a member of the team out playing in the snow.”
Amari chuckled, “okay. Go sleep. We’re stopping.”
Tripp put his window down and stuck his head out, he tried to see behind them, beside them and it was a whirl of blowing snow. Putting the window up, he gave his head a shake to get the snow off. He checked the gas gauge. Half tank. They wouldn’t be able to leave it too long, considering he had no idea exactly where they were on the map. That was the problem with low visibility, you could feel like you’d been driving for hours, but hadn’t really and didn’t make it very far. He glanced at his mate to see her smiling at him. He’d worry about the location and fuel later—much later.