Wild Night is Calling by J.A. Konrath

Part 1
    T he red Grand Am crossed two lanes of traffic. Tires buzzing across rumble strips, it made for the off ramp. “Where is he going?” Caitlin jolted forward, nearly hugging the wheel. She swung in the direction Josh’s car had darted, trying to follow.

    A loud horn blared through her open windows and rattled the frame of her Subaru.

    A semi roared up beside her, cutting off the right lane, and she swerved back to avoid a collision. Caitlin couldn’t see the exit on the other side of the truck, but she felt them streak past.

    Her heart hammered against her ribs, jostling her stomach. Her whole body trembled. She glanced at Zach sitting in the passenger seat and prayed she wouldn’t be sick.

    He looked a little queasy himself. Bracing against the door and dash, he stared at her, eyes wide. “What was that?”

    “Josh just…” She gestured to the right, where the semi still blocked the next lane. “He veered off. I tried to follow. I—”

    “Almost got us killed.”

    He was right. She hadn’t looked over her shoulder. She hadn’t even used her mirrors. “Oh God, I’m so sorry.”

    Zach shook his head and relaxed his death grip. “It’s okay. I was watching Josh’s car, too. I don’t know why in the hell he did that. I didn’t see it coming.”

    “But you aren’t driving.”

    He let out a laugh. “Good thing. I am way too wasted to drive.”

    Caitlin had thought she was okay. Not old enough to buy beer in Milwaukee’s Summerfest grounds, she’d only had a couple in the parking lot. She hadn’t felt drunk. She’d been sure she could make it. Zach and Josh had said it wasn’t too far. But now she had to wonder if letting Hannah talk her into going to a party with guys they barely knew was a mistake, no matter how nice the guys had seemed. If Caitlin hadn’t promised to help Hannah celebrate how far she’d come in the last year, she would have said no.

    She pulled in a breath and let it out in shuddering puffs. Still sweaty after a long day in the sun, now she felt downright clammy; her palms slick on the steering wheel, her legs sticking to the seat. She adjusted her mini skirt and tried to smooth her frizzed and windblown hair.

    “Okay. So it might take us a little longer to get to the party. We’ll deal. So where do I go?”

    “Go?”

    “The party. Where is it?”

    “I…I don’t know.”

    He couldn’t be serious. “What do you mean, you don’t know?” She pulled her focus from the road and glanced into his sincere green eyes. Eyes that had given her a shiver—the good kind—the moment they’d met hers.

    Zach shrugged one shoulder, as if none of it was a big deal. “I don’t know where he lives.”

    “I thought you two shared a house.”

    “Josh and me?”

    “You don’t live together?”

    “I’ve only known him for a couple weeks.”

    “What’s his last name?”

    Another shrug. “I told you. I don’t know him very well.”

    “You don’t even know his last name? But you drove to Summerfest together.”

    Just as she and Hannah had. And when Hannah had gotten in the Grand Am with Josh and she’d agreed to give Zach a lift back to their house, to the party they were throwing, it had made sense. Or at the very least, it was spontaneous, adventurous and wild. Just what she and Hannah had decided tonight would be. Just what they needed after working so hard these past months.

    “Didn’t you guys drive together?”

    “Yeah. But he picked me up. He knows where I live.”

    She had to stay calm. She would find Hannah. Everything would be all right. It had to be.

    “So where’s the party?”

    “Josh’s place, I guess. I have roommates.”

    “How did you think we would get there?”

    “I thought we were following him.”

    “Clearly we aren’t anymore.” One hand gripping the wheel, she dug blindly in her bag for her iPhone. The next question was obvious, not that she’d thought to ask it back in the parking lot. “What was the plan