In My Father's Shadow by Jl Paul Read Free Book Online Page A

the
windshield. He scrunched over the steering wheel, squinting as
though he’d be able to see clearly through the rain drops.
    Ally held tightly to the seatbelt stretched across
her chest – so tightly that her knuckles were white. “Jamie, do you
think we should pull over?”
    The windshield wipers streaked back and forth across
the glass at top speed, doing little to keep Jamie’s vision clear.
“Do you think we should?”
    “Yes, please,” she begged. “Just until it slows down
a little.”
    He maneuvered the car over to the shoulder and put it
in park, leaving the engine running so the heat could keep them
toasty and dry. He snatched his phone from the console and flipped
it open. “I can’t even get a signal out here. Can you?”
    Ally released her death grip on the seat belt and dug
her phone out of her purse. “I can’t get one either,” she told him,
wincing as he cursed.
    “I should have known better than to take Parker’s
short cut.”
    “Relax, Jamie,” Ally said, peering out the windows at
the trees that lined the dark, country road, bending in the howling
wind. “Jeez, this feels like a bad horror movie.”
    Jamie snorted. “Well, we’ve watched enough of them to
know better than to get out of the car to explore, allow anyone in
-especially someone with an ax - or to say ‘I’ll be right
back.’”
    Ally smiled and relaxed a little bit. “We should have
both skipped practice then we could have driven down with the rest
of them.”
    “There’s no way you would have skipped practice,
especially since you have a game next week. Besides, I couldn’t
skip - not when the coach was gone for two days.” He patted her
shoulder and rubbed his sleeve on the driver’s side window. “We
would be halfway there by now but for this rain.”
    “What time do they go on?” Ally asked, gazing at her
watch. It was already 6:45.
    “Eight, I think,” Jamie said, frowning at his phone
again. “We still have about a forty-five minute drive – or an hour
if the weather keeps up this way. And it really sucks that we can’t
even call to let them know we’re running late.”
    “It’s not raining as hard now,” Ally told him,
looking hopefully out the window. “Let’s just go.”
    He shrugged. “Okay,” he said as the rain lightened up
on the windshield. “Don’t worry if we miss the first set – we’ll
see it tomorrow.”
     
    They arrived at the hotel an hour later and had to
drive around for a few minutes in order to find a space. The lot
was so full that they finally had to settle for parking in the
overflow lot and running through the rain for the lobby. They were
soaked, dripping, and cold by the time they made it inside. Teeth
chattering, Ally was regretting her decision to send her bags,
along with Jamie’s, with Cole and RJ. At the time, she thought it
would be a smart move – they could just hop in the car after
practice and get to the show. But now she just wanted to check into
her room and change into some warm, dry clothes.
    Jamie took her hand and led her to the hotel’s
lounge/restaurant. It was brimming with patrons who had heard of
Cole’s band either because of his father’s fame or because they
were just good.
    The equipment was set up and everything looked ready
to go but they couldn’t find Cole or any of the other band members
anywhere. Ally took out her cell phone and prepared to call one of
them and beg them for a room key when the phone was plucked out of
her hand. She spun around in confusion and gasped at the anger
marring Cole’s handsome face.
    “So you do know how to use one of these, huh Ally?”
he nearly screamed. “We expected you guys here over an hour ago!
You guys weren’t answering your phones nor did you call us – we had
no clue what was the matter! Damn – I almost called Jay and
Mark.”
    Jamie grabbed Ally’s arm before she could hurl a
biting retort at Cole. “Dude, it’s pouring and we had to pull over
a couple times. We took that