Free Distraction: The Distraction Trilogy #1 by A. E. Murphy Page B

devilishly. “I was right. You stopped. I didn’t hear you drive up.”
    “Probably because you were snoring,” he comments wryly and moves to the driver’s side of my car. “What’s wrong with it?”
    “If I knew that, I wouldn’t be stranded waiting for my dad. Cars aren’t exactly my area of expertise.”
    His brow quirks and his blue eyes twinkle in the dim light from the darkening night. “Do you even have an area of expertise?”
    My mouth drops open; I feign offence. “Harsh, Mr P, real harsh. Besides, I’m sure I have many. I just haven’t discovered them yet.”
    He halts, his hand on the door handle as his body shakes slightly with silent laughter.
    I don’t get it. “What’s so funny?”
    “N… nothing.” Clearing his throat, he slides into the seat and I hand him my keys. “The switch for the bonnet is somewhere in there.”
    He presses something under the steering wheel and the bonnet clicks open.
    Well at least now I know where that is. Not that I’ll remember.
    “So, how exactly did it stop working?” He asks, climbing from the seat and moving around to the front of the car.
    “Umm… it just kind of began to choke and make these weird spluttering noises and then it just slowed to a stop. Whenever I turn the key it…” He marches past me, drops back into the seat and turns the key in the ignition. The engine makes an awful noise as it fights for life but fails.
    “Fucking hell,” he mutters and rests his forehead against the steering wheel.
    “What? Is it bad?”
    His head comes up and his face looks at me incredulously. “Are you kidding? How old are you?”
    “Eighteen in, like, six months.”
    “How long have you been driving?”
    “Three months.” I wait for him to continue, but he still looks at me, perplexed.
    “Is this even your car?”
    I shake my head and shrug a little. “Me and my mum share it. My dad won’t let me have mine back. I apparently didn’t look after it properly, but in my defence I didn’t know it needed water and oil, and a few empty wrappers does not mean I was lazy with it. I was just always in a hurry…”
    “It’s out of petrol.”
    Blink. “Come again?”
    “You didn’t fill the tank. It’s out of petrol. It’s dead because you have no petrol in it.” He sighs deeply and climbs back from the driver’s seat as my face flushes red.
    “I umm… knew that and I was just testing you.” I lie, which only makes him chuckle to himself and murmur something under his breath.
    “Is it diesel or petrol?”
    “Petrol,” I respond, chewing on my lower lip as he locks it up and moves towards his own car.
    He looks up and down the road and over to the trees, a look of indecision on his face. “I should just go and pick some up for you and bring it back, but I don’t feel that you’re safe here on your own.”
    “It’s Lily Hill; it’s never unsafe.”
    “That’s because most people in town don’t put themselves in situations where they’re potentially unsafe. If you’ll allow me to, I’ll take you to the petrol station. We’ll fill up a tank and bring it back.”
    My lips part and a shudder rushes through me at the thought of being so close to a male teacher… in his car… in the middle of nowhere. Part of me thinks I should decline. The other part is screaming at me to just enjoy his company for a little while.
    The sensible part of me wins… “That would be great.” Okay so my mouth doesn’t seem to be agreeing with my brain. “Thank you, Mr Price.”
    “Get in,” he orders and I quickly catch up to him, pulling open the passenger door and buckling myself in. “Don’t touch the radio.” My hand stops midway to the buttons on the console. “I appreciate it,” he adds, smirking as I place my hand back to my lap and pull out my phone to text my dad, letting him know that I’ve been rescued. “You’re lucky I was driving this way.”
    “It’s a fortunate coincidence that’s for sure. Four cars ignored me driving