Hot Ticket

Huh? Aggie glanced from one band member to the next, having no idea what they were laughing about.

“Hey, the rainbow background was Jace’s idea,” Eric said.

Myrna went after Eric with a paddle. She struck him twice before he managed to escape.

“I have one too,” Trey said.

He shucked his jeans and presented his bare ass to the bus occupants. A vibrantly bright and colorful tattoo of a fluffy calico kitten riding a galloping, majestic unicorn adorned a third of Trey’s left ass cheek. A rainbow and wispy, white clouds surrounded the mythical creature. Little girls would be ashamed to have that feminine monstrosity on their lunch boxes. Why would a guy have that tattooed on his ass? Correction—two guys.

Aggie joined the laughter. Clutching his abdomen with both arms, tears pouring from his eyes, Sed was lying on the floor, rolling back and forth in the aisle as he laughed. Myrna paused and ran a hand over Trey’s flank as she inspected the “artwork” that matched her husband’s.

“Son of a bitch! You inflicted Trey with that grotesque thing too? I’m going to kick your ass twice, Eric Sticks.”

“It’s not my fault. They lost the bet,” Eric shouted. Trapped in the corner between the bathroom and bedroom, he tried to catch the end of Myrna’s paddle as she struck his thigh.

“You can hit me if you want, Myrna,” Jace said, grinning. “I did suggest the rainbow background.”

“I’m not going to hit you, Jace Seymour,” Myrna growled. “You’d like it.”

“If I wasn’t so scared of you right now, I’d tell you how hot you look in your bra, Myrna,” Eric said. “You’re giving me such a boner.”

She hit him harder.

The interior of the bus dimmed as it entered a tunnel. Aggie squinted out the windshield. Ahead, she could see daylight and something flashing red. Hazard lights?

“Dave? I think someone is stopped up there,” she told the driver.

“I see him,” he said and eased off the accelerator. When they emerged from the tunnel, they came upon a truck parked halfway in the road. Its owner was putting chains on the tires. With no time to stop, Dave veered left to avoid the truck. The bus skidded toward a guardrail on the opposite side of the road. Slamming on the brakes, Dave veered right and narrowly missed the truck.

A patch of ice sent the bus spinning sideways around a hairpin corner. The vehicle tipped onto two wheels. Aggie reached for the back of his seat for balance. A loud horn—like that of a semitruck—sounded a warning.

“Oh f**k!” Dave yelled as headlights approached at high-speed.

Someone grabbed Aggie around the waist just as the semi clipped the right side of the bus and sent it spinning in an uncorrectable circle. The back of the bus hit the guardrail, sending everyone tumbling to the floor. The sounds of shattering glass, rending metal, and her own scream ricocheted through Aggie’s mind. The bus flipped on its side. Jace held onto Aggie as they tumbled through the interior, banging against hard surfaces and sharp edges as the bus rolled side over side. It slid sideways across the pavement—metal grinding—and finally, lurched to a sudden stop as it crashed into something solid.

***

Jace took a shuddering breath, holding Aggie’s head against his pounding heart. Completely limp, she lay sprawled over his body. She’s dead, he thought. Aggie’s dead. Just like every other person he’d ever loved. Aggie was dead. Crippling anguish washed over him. Sharp talons pulled his heart and soul apart in every direction. He drew her nearer, wanting to follow her in death, rather than face life without her.

After a moment, she stirred. Moaned.

“Aggie?” His voice cracked.

“Jace,” she whispered.

His arms tightened around her. He opened his eyes, but everything was blurred by the tears. “Are you okay?” he said hoarsely. “Aggie?”

“I think so.” She tried to move away, but he was incapable of releasing her from his hold. “Let go, Jace.”

“I can’t.” He kissed the top of her head. “I can’t let you go. Not ever.”

“We need to get out of here now. You can hold me forever later.”

She was right. They did need to get out of the bus and make sure everyone else was all right. He forced himself to release her and recognized they were lying on the sofa’s back—except it wasn’t in the appropriate orientation. The side window Jessica had been looking out of not five minutes ago was broken out and facing skyward. The bus was resting on its driver side. Someone helped Aggie climb from Jace’s body.

Sed. He had a gash on his temple and blood running down the side of his face, but had never looked more solid. Aggie took a step toward the back of the bus, glass crunching beneath her feet. “You can’t get out that way,” Sed said. “There’s a cliff.”

“Where are the others?”

Looking physically ill, he shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Sed boosted Aggie out of the broken window above. She scrambled from the bus.

An acidic smell filled Jace’s nose and burned his eyes. The bus filled with smoke. Sed helped him to his feet. “We have to get out of here,” Sed said.

“Is everyone okay?”

Sed didn’t answer, but looked anxiously over his shoulder. Jace followed his gaze. The back half of the bus was missing, and beyond the torn edge lay open space—an endless chasm beyond a cliff.

Chapter 38

Aggie stood on the side of the bus that now faced skyward and looked at the debris littering the road. The back of the bus had not plummeted over the edge of the cliff as she had first suspected. It was yards away at the entrance of the tunnel buried under an avalanche of enormous logs. The semitrailer that had been carrying the timber was on its side against a rocky embankment. The truck that they’d swerved to avoid sat untouched near the end of the tunnel. Its owner was yelling into a cell phone—hopefully calling for help. Jessica was sitting in the middle of the road, clutching her head in both hands and screaming Sed’s name. Aggie was too stunned to tell her Sed was okay. Her brain and body operated in slow motion. She watched Brian pull Myrna from the wreckage. Trey wriggled out next. Aggie waited for the one person unaccounted for, her heart thudding as if it were stuck in a time warp.

“Eric?” Brian called into the wreckage.

No answer.

“Eric!” Trey yelled.

Still no answer.

Sed scrambled over the side of the bus and ran toward Jessica. He drew her into his arms, and they clung to each other, oblivious to the chaos. A hand settled on the small of Aggie’s back. She turned to look at Jace. He had little bleeding cuts all over his face from being pelted with broken glass, and grime blackened his skin, but she could honestly say he’d never looked better.