Page 86 of Burn

“Don’t worry,” Bones said. “The seats are padded.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “That was what I was worried about.”

They were tossing their bags into the back of the bus. The door on the side slid open to reveal a couple of bench seats in the back, with two bucket seats in the front. I climbed in and headed to the bench seat in the back.

Goblin leapt up to follow me. There were no seatbelts visible, so I parked myself on the bench with my tablet still hugged to my chest. Goblin wagged his tail as he nudged my knee.

“Hey, boy,” I greeted him and then he was leaping up onto the seat next to me. He’d settled, laying there with his tongue lolling by the time the guys climbed in. Alphabet eyed me and then Goblin before he chuckled and took a seat on the bench in front of me.

Lunchbox followed him inside and gave Goblin the same look Alphabet had. He dropped onto the bench next to Alphabet and stretched his legs out. Voodoo climbed into the driver’s seat with Bones in the passenger seat.

“Please keep all arms, legs, and heads inside the vehicle,” I muttered, “and remain seated please. The vehicle doors will close. Thank you.”

Alphabet flashed me a grin as he chuckled.

“Everyone’s a critic,” Voodoo called, cutting a look at me via the rearview.

“You meant, everyone’s a smart-ass.”

“That works too.” He winked.

The bus gave a little jolt and barked out a backfire as we rolled out. I scanned the area as we drove. I still didn’t know where we were, but I could see where we were going. Not that there were signs betraying the location.

I shifted my attention back to the men packed inside the little VW bus ahead of me. If I thought it felt crowded on the plane, this was positively claustrophobic. Did they make choices like this on purpose?

My bladder began protesting about two hours into the drive. I hadn’t listened to anything on the tablet or tried to read. I didn’t feel like throwing up. Yet, there was some comfort in just holding onto it.

The guys had gone quiet, not chatting or even doing that much moving that I could see. I was pretty sure Alphabet had gone to sleep. Goblin definitely had, his snoring vibrated against my leg where he rested. It was soothing in a way. I made it another thirty minutes before I reached forward to touch Lunchbox on the shoulder.

He glanced back at me. “All good, Gracie?”

“I need to pee,” I said, an apology right on the tip of my tongue. It had been hours since we’d been anywhere near a bathroom. I’d been circumspect in hydrating, but I’d also had to drink too.

“Got it.” He leaned forward, almost going into a crouch that put him between the bucket seats in the front. Voodoo shot me a look via the rearview mirror and he nodded.

Hopefully, we were going to find a spot with a clean bathroom. I hated public bathrooms in general. The road we’d been on had absolutely nothing off of it for the past ninety minutes. No gas stations, grocery stores, or even homes.

We’d passed a dilapidated barn and an utterly trashed billboard. The only things out here were some dust devils and an occasional tumbleweed. The clouds had also begun to break up, adding more brightness to the overall day.

I missed my sunglasses.

“We’re looking, Gracie,” Lunchbox said as he slid back into the seat. He had his phone in his hand. “Shit for signal out here.”

He tapped Alphabet and I winced. The man sat up like he’d just been waiting to be brought in. “What’s up?”

“Need to find a place for Gracie to use the bathroom.” Lunchbox showed him his phone. “No service.”

“Right.” Alphabet scrubbed a hand over his face. “Give me a few. We may have to stop if I have to set up the dish.”

I grimaced. “If we have to stop, maybe we can find a bush I can step behind.” While I would prefer a clean bathroom, I could make do if necessary.

That earned me a surprised look from Lunchbox. Ten minutes became fifteen, then we were at thirty when Alphabet said, “Find a spot to pull off.”

“Not sure where you think I’m doing that?” Voodoo said. “We have a fat lot of nothing, more nothing, and oh look—nothing.”

My bladder ached and I was squeezing my legs together. Now that I’d given any thought to the need to pee, it was making me crazy.

“Can we just pull off to the side?” We hadn’t seen any traffic at all. “If you guys just go to the other side of the van and give me some privacy, I can just pee in the sand.”

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