Freeze (The Jewel Project #4)

15.1|| Failure to Comply

Jerry had been sure that his decision to step over his principles and way out of his comfort zone would pay off. As it turned out, it didn’t. When he’d returned to his room, Kyle was alone, not looking any less upset than before. The feeling that nothing had been fixed didn’t disappear the next morning.  

They resolved the credit card issue by taking money out from ATMs in different parts of the city, then they’d had a quick, quiet breakfast and drove away towards Amboise. There was no point even reaching Tours because they no longer needed a place to rest. They’d be sleeping after they searched their second castle. Jerry just hoped it wouldn’t be as big as Avignon.   

As he sat between Jessie and Tina, Jerry worried on his lip, his eyes glued on Kyle and Kay. She was riding shotgun this time since Jimmy had retreated to the trunk with Billy, trying to bring improvements to his prototype watch. The events of the previous night had left a round scorch mark on his wrist. Jerry was beyond impressed with his twin’s tinkering skills. And even if he slightly resented not being told about this great improvement in their means of communication, he agreed that if there were only two watches, Kyle and Jimmy were the ones who should be wearing them.

The watch had been a subject for five minutes of blissful conversation in which they acted like a team once again before returning to the tense, pressing atmosphere of now. Jerry couldn’t remember when he last felt so helpless and uncomfortable.

Kyle and Kay hadn’t apparently worked out anything, Jessie and Tina were very obviously ignoring each other, Jimmy had lost his cool about the Tina situation and they all spent their time in huffy silence. Even the radio was unable to cover the blaring silence between them. And then there was the matter of Sam and Tom being in trouble and Christine still missing. The air in the car was suddenly impossible to breathe.

“I’m stopping for gas,” Kyle announced just a few seconds before he took the nearest exit. “I want a full tank since I’m not sure how many stations we’ll find once we come off the freeway.”

“We can get some food, too,” Jerry suggested. He wasn’t remotely hungry and they'd all had breakfast, but food always made him feel better and maybe some of the others would lighten up, too.

“Yeah, knock yourself out,” Jimmy muttered from the trunk. “I could use a flat surface to wrap this up.”

Jerry was grateful that Jessie climbed down the moment Kyle cut off the engine, because he really needed the air. Kyle climbed down to fill up their tank while Jimmy, Billy, Tina and Kay headed for one of the nearby picnic tables set on the corner of the parking lot. At least they were dry and they could sit.

“I’ll come help you pick the food,” Jessie said, grabbing his elbow and leading him towards the shop.

Jerry followed her a bit reluctantly, his eyes on Tina who’d crossed her arms over her chest, and looked away from them pointedly. With a sigh, Jerry picked up the pace so Jessie wouldn’t drag him anymore. What was the point? Whatever he did, Tina was still going to be upset, and he didn’t want to get on Jessie’s bad side, too.

“There’s no escaping Tina’s bad side,” he mumbled.

“Excuse me?” Jessie turned her attention from the food display to him.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have come together. It will just make Tina more upset,” he answered. He cringed internally, expecting Jessie to smite him.

Jessie pursed her lips as if holding in any negative remark on Tina. “I wanted to talk to you, actually.” She looked away from him, focusing on the food. “I need to know if you’ve changed your mind and you’d much rather we stopped talking altogether.”