Naughty No More by Brenda Hampton Read Free Book Online Page A

good plan to me. “Thanks officer. I hope you don’t mind.”
    â€œNot at all,” he assured me.
    I went back to the car and told Nokea the deal. She got out of the car, and instead of taking the flat tire off my car, I opened the trunk and removed the spare. I figured it would save me much time if I put air in the spare tire and bought a new one from a tire shop on the way.
    â€œMake sure you lock your doors,” the police officer yelled out the window. “There’s been a lot of theft in this area.”
    I checked my doors and asked Nokea if she wanted to take her luggage. She said there wasn’t nothing but clothes inside and she wasn’t worried about them. Seeing how cold she was, I took off my leather jacket, wrapping it around her.
    â€œCome on. Let’s go,” I said.
    We made our way to the police car. The officer unlocked the doors for us to get in. Nokea sat in the front and I sat in the back.
    The officer didn’t lie. The gas station was more than twenty miles down the road. When we got there, it was closed.
    â€œDamn,” I said, as I looked inside and saw racks of new tires. I also saw an air pump, so I asked the officer if he would wait until I put some air in my tire. He said yes. Just to be on the safe side, I made Nokea get out of the car with me. She walked with me over to the pump and I put the air pump on the stem.
    â€œThis place looks like a ghost town, doesn’t it?” Nokea said, observing her surroundings.
    I nodded. Even though the entire town gave me the creeps, I didn’t want to alarm Nokea. I pushed the button to the air machine, and just my luck, the damn thing was broken. I slammed my fist against the machine a few times. When the front of it fell off, I looked up at Nokea.
    â€œLet’s go,” I said, thinking about how much time we’d wasted. Even though the icy streets weren’t as bad as I thought they would be, we were still at least four hours behind schedule. We walked back to the police car. Once inside, the officer looked in the rearview mirror at me.
    â€œWhere to now?” he asked.
    â€œWould you mind taking me back to my car? By now, maybe roadside assistance showed up.”
    â€œI doubt it, but let’s go see,” he said turning the police car around.
    Disgusted, I dropped my head on the back seat, closing my eyes. I prayed for a quick solution to my problem, but when we got back to my car, it was obvious that no one had shown up.
    â€œThat gas station we just left opens up pretty early, young fella. You and the misses can stay the night at a motel, and get yourselves a new tire in the morning. By then, the roads should be clearer. There’s no more snow or ice in the forecast. I gotta get back to work, but I’d be happy to take you to the motel and pick you up in the morning.”
    I sighed and turned to Nokea for her suggestion. “Nokea, what do you think?”
    â€œI think we really don’t have much of a choice. I’m tired and I guess we’ll have to wait until morning.”
    â€œI guess so,” I said.
    The officer drove off and took us back down the long and dark curvy road. On the way to the gas station, we’d passed a motel. I remembered thinking that the motel looked like the Bates Motel in the movie Psycho . Nokea turned to the officer.
    â€œIsn’t there another motel close by? This one looks pretty crappy, you know?”
    â€œThe inside doesn’t look too bad. A few months ago, they remodeled the entire inside.”
    â€œNokea, if you don’t want to stay, we don’t have to. We can chill in my car, until morning.”
    â€œAnd freeze to death,” she said, opening the door. I thanked the officer. Before he drove off, he waited until we got our room. He said he’d be back in the morning. I gave him one hundred dollars for his trouble.
    When I opened the door to the room, it was old fashioned. Surprisingly, it was neat