Promise of Paradise Read Free

kind of town is this?” she asked Alexa as she scowled through the windshield at the Krazy Kart ride in front of them.
    “I was just wondering the same thing.”
    “Look at that.” Nadya leaned forward, peered over the steering wheel, and pointed. “There’s this low-lying fog covering the ground everywhere but the road.” She bit her lip. “Isn’t that weird?” She had never seen anything like it before and she’d driven roads from Alaska to Mexico.
    “I noticed that, too. It’s almost as though it’s parting for us.”
    It did. Nadya shivered as the strangest feeling started overcoming her. Something didn’t feel quite right.
    “That’s just crazy, right? I’ll bet the heat from our engines caused it to dissipate on the road. Not too long after we’re through, it will most likely cover the road again.”
    That seemed as good an explanation as any, Nadya supposed. No matter what explanation they came up with for what caused the odd phenomenon, it still wouldn’t make it any less disturbing.
    “It’s creepy.” Goose bumps covered her arms and she shivered. “I almost feel as though there’s something out there in that fog, waiting for me. Like it wants to hurt me.” She glanced over at Alexa’s pensive expression and shook her head. “Listen to us.” She laughed. “Next, we’ll be imagining vampires in capes who tell us, I vant to dring your blood, with horrible B-movie accents.”
    “I know what you mean,” Alexa replied with a laugh.
    Nadya glanced at her, unconvinced. Her friend might have laughed, but she certainly wasn’t convincing anyone that she wasn’t scared out of her wits.
    The fog felt thick, evil, and it was all she could do to keep the truck on the road. She gripped the wheel, her knuckles white, her fingers aching with the strain of her death grip on it.
    After what felt like an eternity, but was more like twenty minutes, they finally left the hovering mist and stared at the beautiful valley below the road.
    Farms dotted the landscape, surrounding the town in lush fields of grass, and grain. Cows lowed in the distance and she could see the slight breeze bending the waves of wheat and grass, stretching out before them.
    Ten minutes later, she saw a little restaurant as they pulled into a parking lot on the outskirts of the small town. “Look.” She pointed. “A diner.” She brought her truck and trailer to a smooth stop in the vacant lot next to the building. “Oh, my god!” She slammed the gearshift in park. “Is that who I think it is?” She turned the key and pulled it from the ignition, opened her door and hurried out.
    Since the woman was on the other side of the truck, Alexa reached Milla seconds before Nadya. They all squealed as they pulled their missing friend into their arms and hugged her to them with all their might.
    “Are these friends of yours?” a stranger asked.
    Nadya bristled as she glared at the man who seemed too familiar with her friend. Who did he think he was, interrupting their reunion?
    “Yes.” Milla turned to the man with a smile and a nod. She brushed her tears away with her forearm.
    She hoped to God that those were tears of joy, because that man was in some deep shit if he was the one that made her friend cry. If he was the culprit, Nadya would castrate the bastard with hacksaw and two ramekins.
    “Perry’s going to shit a brick when he finds out you’re here.” Alexa grinned and pulled her tight again.
    “I’m sure he already knows,” Milla said dryly. “You guys have been on my trail since I left. I’m sure it was no accident.”
    Turning, she smiled up at the tall man next to her. He was large, very large, and handsome, but that didn’t mean anything. Perry was tall and handsome and the Neanderthal knew it.
    Still, Milla looked happy, not frightened, and Nadya relaxed a bit—but just a bit. She assessed the man who stood with his arm around Milla’s waist and stared down at her friend as though she hung the sun and the