If Only She'd Loved Him

Chapter 86

Saturday 7:43 pm

Sean's head lolled on the seat. His whole body ached, his skull still hurt, and he was tired. The world was becoming one great big blur to him. Was that Matt driving his car? Slowly, he turned his head. It couldn't be, but was that Jean? What were they doing in his car? Jean saw him looking at her and smiled at him. Sean did a double take. Jean was smiling at him? Was this a parallel universe or what? Cautiously, Sean smiled back. Jean patted him on the shoulder.

"OK, Seany, we made that last turn. How much further now?"

How much further to where? Why was Jean still smiling at him? Sean lowered his window. Fresh air had suddenly become imperative. The wind rushed up at him. Man, it was cold out there, but it was helping to clear up his head. He left the window open. Jean had stopped smiling.

"Seany," she frowned. "I said how much further?"

Sean didn't want to listen. He stuck his whole head out the window. If he was a dog, I'd shoot him, Jean thought. Half crawling up onto the front seat, she tried to pry his head from out of the window.

"Matt, stop. I think he's leading us on a wild goose chase."

Matt pulled over and parked. He tapped Sean on the arm. "C'mon, don't make this hard on yourself."

Jean, now in the middle of the front seat, took Sean's ear and yanked, hard.

Sean pushed at her body. "G'way. I don't feel good."

Matt looked at Jean. Jean looked at Matt. It was Sean's car, but they'd have to ride in it if he barfed all over the seat. The minuses cancelled out the pluses. Jean leaned over Sean and unlocked his door.

"Out."

"Out," she repeated. "Unless you want to mess up your car?"

Sean crawled out and laid his head against the ground. The grass was cool on his cheek, but movement was not what his stomach wanted. Groaning, he threw up for the second time that night. His stomach hated him.

Jean tapped her fingers against the car door. "Done yet?" she asked.

"Jean," Matt cautioned.

"No," Sean raised up his head to glare at her, "I think there's still more to come. It may be a while."

Jean grinned. She could fix that. Leaning over Sean, she whispered in his ear, "snowballs."

At the thought of all that cake and gooey frosting, Sean lost it all over again. The ground got well fertilized in front of him. Grinning, Jean got back in car.

"Done now?" she inquired sweetly,

"Ugh, ech, yes," he muttered. Climbing into the second seat, he laid his head against the cool vinyl. Ahhhh good.

Jean turned around to face him in the back seat. "Now, how close are we to Erik's cabin?"

Sean didn't have the strength to fight even a little bit. He barely moved his head as he looked out the window. "Bout another ten minutes."

"Good."

Well pleased with herself, Jean settled back into her seat. Patting her on the leg, Matt turned the ignition back on. "Remind me never to piss you off."

Jean patted him back, added a quick grab to his kneecap. "Count on it."

Sean groaned in the back seat as Jean bent over to kiss Matt on the lips. First his dorm, now his car. At this rate he'd have to detoxify everything he owned. He groaned again. Get a room, he thought, or at least get out of my car! Needing to cleanse her palate after what she'd done back at the hotel, Jean ignored the moans coming from the back seat.

The noise whiplashed through the night, cracking through the open passenger window. It echoed in ricochets through the wooded valley. A noise that spread red through her eyes and across her vision. Jean began to shake. She couldn't stop shaking.

"Megan," she whispered. Her hands were ice as they reached for Matt. A second shot rang off. "That's Megan," Jean whispered again. In a flash, she opened the door and ran into the woods.

Matt fumbled with his seatbelt, "Jean, Jean, wait up! Wait a second! It could just be a hunter!" he called. "Wait, please! Wait!"