Burn Like Fire by Jody Morse, Jayme Morse Read Free Book Online Page B

motel . Are you sure this is the only place we could stay?”
    “I’m positive. It’s the only place that would let us check in this late at night. And it looks like it’s the only place to stay within sixty miles. We’re pretty much stuck here.” Anna sighed. Austin could tell that she wasn’t happy about the motel, either.
    Austin glanced in the rearview mirror just in time to catch Lexi wrinkling her nose. “It looks pretty skeevy to me.”
    “I think it probably is pretty skeevy,” Anna agreed. Turning to look at Lexi and Dan, she pleaded with them. “Look, guys, we’ll probably only have to stay here for a night or two. I know it’s not the most ideal place for us to stay, but it would mean a lot to me if you guys could make the best of it.”
    Austin watched his cousin’s face soften. “Of course we will. I mean, it doesn’t look like a luxury hotel or anything, but it’s probably not that bad. Maybe it just looks worse on the outside than it does on the inside,” Lexi offered lamely.
    Austin smiled. He knew that Lexi was trying to be positive for Anna, even though she didn’t want to stay in the motel either.
    “No, seriously, it can’t be that bad,” Dan commented. “We had to sleep outside and risk getting attacked by vampires when we traveled back in time.”
    “Do you know how crazy that would sound to most people?” Lexi giggled. “‘When we traveled back in time.’ It makes us sound crazy.”
    Dan smiled and reached for her hand. “I’m kinda glad you’re the only one who really understands it besides me. It’s something special we can share with each other.”
    Lexi leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
    Austin rolled his eyes. “And on that note, I’m going to go check-in.”
    “I’ll come with,” Anna said, grabbing her purse and swing the car door open.
    Once they were standing on the sidewalk, Austin glanced over his shoulder at Dan and Lexi. Their one kiss had turned into a full-out make out session.
    Austin cringed.  Even though he knew that they were all supposed to be mature adults, he couldn’t help but grossed out sometimes when his cousin and his best friend showed public displays of affection. He was happy that they were together, but he definitely didn’t need to see that.
    Anna opened the door to the motel registration office. The sound of bad jazz music filled Austin’s ears, as he closed the door behind him.
    There was a tall, lanky man sitting in the office chair, his legs resting on the desk in front of him and a comic book in his hands. He didn’t glance up at them.
    Anna cleared her throat. “Ahem.”
    “Oh, hello. Welcome to Motel Dixie. Can I help you this evening?” the man asked, peering over his comic book. It was obvious from the dismissive tone in his voice that he didn’t really want to help them; it actually sounded like he wanted them to just go away.
    “We have a reservation here for tonight,” Anna told him.
    “Oh?” The man sounded bored by the conversation they were having. He continued to stare into the colorful pages of the comic book he was reading.
    “Yeah, they’re both under my name.” When the guy didn’t even bother to look up at her, she said frustratedly, “Excuse me, sir. Can you please give us our room keys?”
    The man rolled his eyes and set the comic book down. He grabbed two keys from a key holder that hung on the wall. “Here you go,” he said, handing them to her.
    Anna raised her eyebrows at him. “Don’t you need to know my name?”
    The man shook his head. “No, I don’t. They’re the only two rooms that were registered to the same person tonight. This motel never sees many visitors. It’s the most business we’ve had in a few months—three rooms occupied at one time.” The man shrugged. “In any case, the two of these are yours. Rooms two and seven . . . Enjoy.”
    “Thanks,” Anna mumbled, taking the keys from him. She opened the door and walked out of the office. Austin followed close