Eternal (Shadow Falls: After Dark #2)(72)

“We should go,” she said, remembering her conversation with Holiday.

“Yeah.” He started the car, and as he backed up, he put his hand on the back of the passenger seat, twisting around to look over his shoulder. The move came off as something he always did when he was backing up. But while his hand was there, his fingers brushed against her bare neck. The touch, accidental or intentional, sent a sweet shiver down her spine.

She watched as he drove out of the parking lot, shifting gears. Something about the process just seemed cool. She recalled how when she was younger and her dad would watch the car races, she’d been sort of captivated by the drivers in the cars. When she looked up, Chase was watching her again.

After a few minutes, enjoying the wind in her hair, she noted he’d turned onto a back road.

“Where are you going?”

“You’ll see,” he said.

He drove a few more miles and then pulled into what looked like a country road that ended in an undeveloped subdivision. There were roads, but no houses. He parked the car and then got out and came around to her side.

“What’re you doing?” she asked, still in the passenger seat, looking up at him and seeing herself in his sunglasses. For one second, the vision reminded her of the old Della, one who could have enjoyed just taking a drive with a good-looking boy.

“Scoot over.”

“What?”

“Get behind the wheel. I want you to drive.”

“No.” She shook her head, her ponytail swinging back and forth and tickling the back of her neck. “I told you I don’t know how to drive a stick shift.”

“You don’t know how to drive a stick shift … yet. I’m going to teach you.”

“I … I don’t—”

Before she knew what he intended to do, he slipped into the seat beside her, scooped her up and over the console and gearshift, setting her in the driver’s seat. The quick touch against her butt sent another wave of tingles through her.

She frowned at him, but he just smiled. He was having fun. And God help her, so was she. Maybe it was the lunch of just laughing with friends. Maybe it was the fact that this felt different because she could try something new without having to listen to Burnett ramble on about danger and rules. Or maybe she was tired of the pressure of everything, and, for just a little while, she wanted to forget and have fun.

“Now,” he said. “See the pedals? It’s just like an automatic or a regular car. But it has another pedal. The first one to your left is the clutch, the second is the brake, and the third is the gas. When you start the car and put it in gear, you are going to push the clutch in, then slowly let it out as you push on the gas. It’s that easy. Clutch releases as gas increases. Then you take your foot off the clutch.”

Della had her head turned sideways looking at the pedals. “It’s not that easy, you have to change the gears.”

“Yeah, but that’s simple. When the car needs another gear, you’ll hear and feel it. You let off the gas and do the same thing, clutch in, change gears, then gas again.”

He caught her hand in his and put it on the gearshift. His palm stayed on top of hers to show her how to shift. “Here’s first. Do you feel that?”

She felt his hand. Felt the tingles. “Yeah,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as wispy as she felt on the inside.

“Here’s second.” He moved the shift down. His thumb inched up and down beside her pinkie, sending all kinds of warm wonderful zings to her heart.

He went through all the different gears. Della tried hard to think about the placement of the gears and not the placement of his hand.

“Now you do it.” He moved his hand from on top of hers. Only pride kept her from pretending she couldn’t do it and having him show her again.

She did as he showed her. The only one she couldn’t find was sixth gear.

“Right here.” His shifted a little closer, his hand pressed on top of hers again as he showed her the slight move of down and slightly to the right side. “Do you feel it?”

“Yeah.” She felt everything. How he’d slipped his left arm over the back of her seat and how his forearm now brushed against her shoulders. How when he spoke this close, his breath tickled her cheek.

“You ready to try?” he asked.

She looked at him. His question echoed inside her. Was she ready? Ready to stop fighting what she felt? Fighting the so-called “bond” that made something inside her feel complete?

The answer whispered across her mind. Maybe.

“Yeah,” she answered him, while the “maybe” was all she could give her own question. And she knew what held her back. She still wasn’t completely sure he didn’t know more about who’d sent him to make sure she got through the rebirth.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

She had to adjust the seat to make sure she could reach the pedals. Taking a deep breath, wanting to master this, she put the car in neutral, put her foot on the clutch, and turned the ignition. She felt him watching her and cut him a smile. “Piece of cake.”

The way he’d parked meant she didn’t have to put the car in reverse, so she put it in first. She did as he said, put her foot on the gas, and slowly released the clutch. The car moved forward. A sense of victory waved over her, but jolted to a stop at the same time the car sputtered and died.