Read Online Beta Test (#gaymers) by Annabeth Albert - Free Book Online Page B

I’ll send it along with whatever souvenir I get for Maria, my old nanny.”
    “You’re close to her, aren’t you?” Ravi asked.
    “Yeah.”
    Ka-plunk-rumple. A weird loud rattling sound jarred him out of further reply. “Heck. What was that?” he asked.
    “Not sure. You might have hit a piece of tire or a cardboard box—I wasn’t watching the road.”
    Rumple. Rumple. The truck shook again, the rattle louder this time. “That wasn’t a box. And the steering feels all off now.” The truck tried to pull sharply left, but Tristan kept it straight through herculean effort.
    “Keep it steady. Put the flashers on if you need to slow down.” Ravi kept his voice low and soothing.
    “Heck. I couldn’t accelerate even if I wanted to.” Tristan flipped the hazards on as the truck seemed to decide that thirty miles per hour was its top speed.
    “Okay. We’re going to need to find out which small town around here might be likely to have a rental franchise—”
    “Weed. The address is on the spreadsheet labeled Emergency Information. You can use my phone to call if you don’t want to disconnect yours from the stereo.”
    “Damn. You really are something.” The awe in Ravi’s voice would be really cool if Tristan wasn’t freaking out about the truck, which was continuing to make strange rattling noises intermittently.
    Ravi called the franchise, which, judging from his end of the conversation, really didn’t want to hear that they had a truck with problems, and really, really didn’t want them bringing it to them.
    “They want us to head back to Redding, but I told them I didn’t think the truck would make it,” Ravi said as he disconnected the call. “This location is apparently housed inside a mini-mart according to your phone, but take the exit here and I’ll turn on the GPS to guide us there.”
    “We’re going to have to switch trucks, aren’t we?” Tristan groaned as he looked out at the blazing midday sun. He’d been all happy with the unseasonably warm temperatures when they stopped in Redding, but he cursed them now. True, it was May, not August, but this still wasn’t going to be fun.
    “I’d say that’s the best-case scenario. Worst case is that the idiot on the phone keeps giving us the runaround, and we’re stuck in Weed for hours.”
    They passed a giant Weed Like To Welcome You sign as they got off the interstate and headed into town. The GPS led them downtown, under a metal Weed arch and past several tourist-trap places looking to capitalize on the name and the town’s proximity to the mountains. Finally, they arrived at a decrepit mini-mart and gas station.
    The place had probably had a brick facade once upon a time, but now it seemed mainly held together with dust and loneliness.
    “Uh, Ravi, is this the right place?” Tristan parked as carefully as the out-of-whack steering would allow him. But he didn’t move to unbuckle or get out, instead looking around the deserted parking lot.
    “Says so.” Ravi checked Tristan’s phone while Tristan grabbed his folder of emergency information. Yeah, this was the right address.
    “Where are the other rental trucks? Shouldn’t they have a fleet of them?” Several vacant lots surrounded the mini-mart, but the only signs of it being a rental franchise were a few sad trailers and a sign for the national chain on the door.
    “Oh, crap.”
    “I’d say we better lower our expectations of that ‘worst-case scenario,’” Tristan said grimly as they headed into the store.
    And fifteen minutes later, he had a new definition for runaround and a new picture to accompany it. Elmer, the clerk for the rental franchise, who was also working the register for the mini-mart, seemed determined to talk them into trying to turn around and head back to Redding. Tristan was sure that plenty of good, competent people lived in this town, but Elmer had passed competent probably two decades ago, and now had crotchety as his defining trait, complete