AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Cool power.” I grinned back at him. “I’d say my superpower is being invisible except for when I’m doing something really embarrassing.”
“Cool power.” He chuckled again as he playfully repeated my words. He then nodded toward the truck, and we both hopped into our respective seats, him behind the wheel and me as his passenger.
And then, we were on our way to adventure.
* * *
Or at least I thought we were on our way to adventure.
I hadn’t been expecting this much traffic in Roanoke, or maybe the traffic had only appeared because I’d shown up in town. I wouldn’t put it past the universe, trapping me in a truck with an impossibly hot, straight man, leaving us nothing to do but listen to the radio and creep ever closer to having a conversation.
“So, what brings you to Wild Woods?” Damon asked, as the car slowly inched down the road.
“Oh… uh…,” I took a deep breath before I looked over at him, trying to find the right words.
“Not the kind of person who likes to share?” He pressed, with a small smile. “I understand if you’d rather keep things to yourself—”
“No, it’s not that,” I insisted. “It’s just that… you’re probably going to think it’s stupid.”
“Why would I think that?”
“Because you’re one of the guys who runs the place, right? Which means you’re probably an outdoors type.”
“Meaning…?”
“Meaning that if I told you that I came out here to reconnect with nature because the city gets to be too much sometimes, you’re going to think that I’m just another cliché client.”
“I don’t think that’s cliché, at all.” He shook his head, his eyes still on the road. “I think that’s admirable. Honestly, more people should take some time to reconnect with nature. I think it’d help a lot of things go a lot more smoothly if people weren’t so… agitated by city life.”
“Well, to be fair, city life is pretty agitating,” I joked. “I don’t know how I’d ever survive if I couldn’t get my chai caramel macchiato in the mornings.”
“Chai caramel macchiato?” Damon quirked an eyebrow. “Is that some new flavor they came up with at Starbucks?"
“Are you punking me right now?”
“Nope. I don’t think I’m familiar with that one.” He shrugged. “I usually just take my coffee black.”
“So, you’re telling me you just post pics of black coffee on your Instagram?”
“Actually, I don’t post pics of my morning coffee anywhere.” He grinned. “I usually just drink it and get on with my day.”
“Huh. I think we’re from two totally different worlds, Damon,” I paused, trying and failing to remember his last name.
Wait. Had he even told me his last name?
“Anderson,” he casually filled in my mental blank. “Damon Anderson.”
“Damon Anderson,” I repeated, with a small smile. “Who likes his coffee black and doesn’t like to post about it.”
“Sam Watson,” he replied, with a small smile of his own. “Who likes his coffee complicated but that’s okay because city life can be complicated, too.”
I relaxed in my seat, sparing him another look before I did.
This is nice.
Maybe this trip wasn’t going to be a total disaster, after all. Maybe I was actually going to get out of this entire experience unscathed, unharmed, unbothered—
Just then, my phone started to vibrate violently in my jacket pocket.
