Desire in Frost by Alicia Rades

you to come here. That’s just another eight hours of driving for you, and you’ll have to get the car fixed somewhere around here anyway. We’ll be fine.”
    My jaw nearly dropped to the pavement when Teddy agreed. When Robin finally hung up, I stared at him wide eyed. “Teddy’s just going to let us handle this ourselves?” I asked.
    Robin ran his fingers through his hair. “I know. I can hardly believe it either, but I guess my logic made sense to him. I don’t think I could handle him seeing this. We’ll have it fixed soon and be back on the road in no time.”
    “He didn’t say anything about us being here?” At this point, I was certain he’d be more upset about me disobeying him than he would be about his car.
    Robin just shrugged, which left me to believe Teddy was upset at me and Robin wasn’t about to repeat what he said.
    Robin searched his phone for a nearby garage and towing service. When he finally found someone, he told me they wouldn’t have the right tires in until tomorrow and that we’d have to wait. Robin called a few other places nearby, but tomorrow was the best any of them could do.
    I shook with nerves when Robin called Teddy back to give him the news. I was shocked when Teddy said we had no other choice but to stay the night and wait for the tires to come in. He made us promise to call the police and get a report filed before we had the car towed.
    I was mostly calmed down until I saw the squad car drive into the parking lot. Luckily, the parking lot was secluded enough that we didn’t have any onlookers. The note felt hot against my thigh, but I knew I couldn’t tell the officer about what really happened here. My family and friends had been supportive when I found out I was psychic, but I didn’t think a stranger would be. I didn’t know how to explain my situation in any other way no matter how much I wanted to tell the officer this was a targeted attack.
    I watched nervously as the officer stepped out of his vehicle and approached us. “Officer Brown,” he introduced himself, sticking out a hand toward us. Robin shook it firmly, but I think my nerves showed through in my grip.
    Robin immediately jumped into an explanation of what had happened. “We just came out of the restaurant and saw it like this. We’re not even from around here. I figured it was a random hit. I’ve been looking around, and it doesn’t look like the restaurant has any security cameras.” He pointed to the areas where security cameras would be. The officer’s eyes followed Robin’s gaze. Mine did, too, but I didn’t spot any security cameras anywhere. I was shocked that Robin was calm enough to notice this.
    A sickening sensation overcame me the more I thought of the attack, which gave me a good excuse to not really pay attention to anything the officer was saying. I didn’t feel like I could talk to him about what really happened, so I let Robin answer most of the questions.
    Soon enough, pictures were taken and the officer had our witness report before he was on his way. I purposely left out a few details, like that I had a vague idea of who the vandal was.
    Maybe I should just stop pursuing this , I thought briefly, but at the same time, I knew I couldn’t just let this go.
    Shortly after the police officer left, someone came to transport our car to the garage. “You two need a lift somewhere?” the guy asked. I hadn’t even thought of that. What were we going to do while we waited for the car to get fixed?
    “No,” Robin said. “I saw a hotel down a couple of blocks. We’ll stay there and then get a bus or something to bring us to the garage when you’re done with it tomorrow.”
    A hotel? Like, I was going to be sleeping in the same room all alone with Robin? In almost any other situation, two teenagers in the same hotel room alone at night would be completely inappropriate. Then I had to remind myself that we were practically cousins. Although not blood related , a voice in the back