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how to shut the damn things off. Not knowing what else to do, he reached over and
turned the water off, but that didn t seem to help.
Shit!
Desperate to fix this before it ruined everything, he reached over the candles he d
placed around the tub and grabbed the stack of folded towels housekeeping had left for
them. He tossed them on the floor to soak up the mess, which probably would have
helped if he hadn t knocked several of the candles down in the process.
It probably also wouldn t have hurt if he d known that bubbles from the bubble bath
solution were flammable under the right circumstances, something he was thinking
about four hours later as he stood in the crowded parking lot, staring down at the
waterlogged, burnt remains of their suitcases that hotel security had dropped at his
feet a few minutes ago along with a polite request that they would perhaps be
comfortable staying somewhere else.
It was a really sweet gesture, Haley said as she sat on the hood of his truck, shifting
the blanket wrapped around her so that she could push her glasses back up her soot
covered nose.
He didn t say anything, because there really was nothing to say.
He simply continued to stand there, staring down at their ruined bags as he waited for
the fire department to search what was left of their hotel room for his car keys so that
he could drive Haley home and put an end to their honeymoon from hell.
Chapter 8
Oh God, will this nightmare never end? Jason asked, banging his forehead against
the steering wheel as she sat there, chewing on her bottom lip as she tried to figure
out exactly where they were.
She reached for her phone only remembering too late that it had been a casualty of
the fire. She pushed her glasses back up her nose as she looked around the country
road that the detour signs had pointed them towards, idly wondering what the odds of
running into Big Foot were. As she glanced over her shoulder into the pitch-black
night, she had to admit that they were probably pretty good.
Then again, their chances of running into an ax murderer were probably high as well,
she realized as she discretely reached over and locked her door.
Can you see if there s a flashlight in the glove compartment? he asked, giving her
the distraction that she needed.
Sure, she said, pasting a smile on her face that he probably couldn t see as she
opened the glove compartment and felt her way around until she found what felt like
a flashlight. Found it!
Does it work?
Yes! she said, smiling as a beam of light suddenly cut through the dreary night only
to groan seconds later when the light flickered out, once again leaving them in
complete darkness. Oh.
Shit, he muttered with a sigh, making her wish that she could see his expression,
because she had a really bad feeling where this was heading.
I m going to go find a gas station or something and call for a pickup truck,
sweetheart. Stay here and lock the doors, he announced, confirming her suspicions.
Yeah, that wasn t happening.
As soon as she heard the telltale sounds of his car door opening, she was out of her
seat and scrambling after him, uncaring that she was only wearing a soot-stained
nightie and a blanket. Before he could shut his door, she was jumping out of the car
and-
Ouch! she gasped, hopping around on her good foot as she blindly reached out,
looking for something to grab onto, only to realize that somehow during the last thirty
seconds she d managed to move away from the truck and her husband and was now
hopping around blindly in the mud without the security of her blanket.
Haley?
I m fine! she promised him as she continued to blindly hop around, desperately
searching for something to grab hold of.
Where are you?
Close by? She hoped at least.
I see, he murmured and she really hoped that was the case, because she wasn t sure
how much longer she could keep this up.
*-*-*-*
Haley? he said, squinting into the darkness.
Over here! she said in between Ows and Owies.
Raking his fingers through his hair in frustration, he took a step towards the direction
of the last Owie, only to stop and glare into the darkness when the sound of the
Owie, shifted to his right. He took a step in that direction only to come to a halt
when the owies abruptly changed direction once again.
Uh, Haley? he said, coming to a halt as the direction of her owies once again
changed. Think you could stay still for a minute?
I m trying! she called out, sounding out of breath.
What are you doing? he asked, keeping her talking so that he could follow the sound
of her voice.
Ummm, nothing? she said with an odd squishing sound accompany her words.
He followed the sounds to his right and then to the left and back again until finally, he
had his arms wrapped around her. He pulled her close and pressed a kiss against her
forehead as he swept her off her feet and-
Oh, shit! he managed to get out just as the world fell away beneath his feet.
He managed to tighten his grip around Haley a split second before his feet went out
from under him. He hit the ground with a pained grunt, the air rushed out of his
lungs from the impact as he did his best to keep his hold around Haley. A pained
groan burst from his lips as he lay there in the dark, and apparently in a large puddle,
wondering how he d managed to fuck this up so quickly and so thoroughly.
Granted, this trip had been a spur of the moment kind of thing, but he d thought he d
done a damn good job of giving Haley the perfect honeymoon given the circumstances.
Well, perfect for her. Haley was so damn easy going, so easy to please and he d never
been happier about that than when he d had to come up with a honeymoon at the last
minute. While most women would have been disappointed with a trip to an
amusement park for their honeymoon, Haley had loved it.
What had started off with a glance at a brochure for New Hampshire had somehow
ended with the two of them sprawled out in the mud at five in the morning in the
middle of nowhere with no fucking clue how to fix this. Their cellphones were fried,
they were wearing the only clothes they had and they didn t have any blankets, food,
or a fucking clue where they were.
He d officially just given his wife the most fucked up honeymoon in the history of the
Bradford family, and considering all the horror stories that he d heard over the years
from his father, uncles and cousins, that was saying a lot. There really was no coming
out of this ahead, he realized, closing his eyes in defeat as he lay there, holding his
half-naked wife in a huge puddle in the middle of the night, wondering where he d
gone wrong. If he worked for his father every weekend and picked up a few shifts
after work during the week, he should be able to save up enough money to take her on
a honeymoon that she would never forget.
Not that she was likely to forget this one anytime soon, he thought with a groan as
the skies suddenly opened back up, forcing him to get up before they drowned.
Keeping his arms firmly locked around his trembling wife, he carefully stood up and
headed in the direction that he hoped his truck was in because the last thing they
needed tonight was to get lost in the woods during a thunderstorm.
Five minutes and several failed attempts later, he finally managed to find his truck.
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