Page 20 of Pursuing Desire

Dax checks his watch. “Looks like it’s almost go time. You ready, Jess?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I joke.

We say our see-ya-laters to Taylor and walk over to my side of the car. I’m reaching for the door handle when Dax beats me to it. “I can’t have my fiancée opening her own doors, now can I?” he teases.

“There’s no cameras pointed at us yet. I think we’re safe.”

“You just never know who’s watching,” he says ominously.

Once we’re both settled inside, I open up the show’s custom app on my phone. “I’ll read the instructions and navigate since you’re driving.”

Dax salutes me. “Aye, aye, captain. One minute to start time.”

We both sit quietly as we wait for our first instructions. The tension is thick as the seconds tick by.

I almost jump out of my skin when I feel a buzz from the phone and our first instructions appear in the app.

You will be taking a trip to Destin Beach in Florida.

“Dax, go ahead and start driving towards the Lincoln Tunnel. We need to get to I-95. I’ll put the map on the screen in just a minute once I read the rest of the instructions.”

Dax pulls out of the parking lot and quickly turns onto the road. “Okay, here we go.”

I wait while he navigates the traffic and gets us moving in the correct direction before continuing to read the instructions out loud.

“This portion of the trip should take approximately two days. Your food/hotel debit card has been credited in the amount of $300.00 for this portion of the trip. On the second day, you will arrive in Florida. Once you have checked in at the checkpoint of this round, you will be issued a new budget for the next segment of the trip. Reminder: You must stop at a hotel by midnight each night and stay for at least eight hours.”

I scroll down the screen to see if there is anything else. “That’s it. No other instructions for now,” I say.

“I didn’t expect the first leg of this trip to be so long,” Dax muses. “Guess we better settle in for the ride. Do you want to go through the envelope they gave us? Since we weren’t allowed to open it until now, I have no idea what’s in it.”

I grab the envelope that’s sitting on the floor by my feet and peel it open. I peer inside and take out the contents. “There’s not a lot here. There’s a debit card with a sticky note that says it’s to be used for our food and hotel. Then there’s a credit card for gas. There’s also a list of the rules, but I think we’re pretty clear on those.”

“Yep. And I read that our daily spend limits are just on the food and hotel. The gas charges don’t have a limit.”

Dax edges the car toward the Lincoln Tunnel just in time for us to get stuck in traffic. I can sense his impatience from the tapping on the steering wheel.

“Getting out of the area will probably be the toughest part of this first leg of the trip,” I tell him. “Once we get to the interstate, we should be good.”

“Yeah. I just hope we don’t have to sit here too long. I guess the good thing is that all of the other contestants are probably stuck in this same spot.” He taps the buttons on his steering wheel to turn up the music as he slowly inches the car forward. “What type of music are you into?”

“Anything,” I respond. “Pop, metal, rock. Whatever.” I suddenly remember there’s a camera in the car. I look at Dax pointedly, hoping he’ll get the clue because he likely forgot about the camera, too. “Then again, sweetie, you should already know that. We listen to music together all the time.”

Dax taps through the stations until he reaches a classic rock station. “Um. Yes. Of course. I just wasn’t sure what you preferred for right now since we have a long trip ahead of us. Hey, looks like there was an accident up ahead. It’s clearing. I think we’ll be out of this mess soon.”

Just as he says that the road clears, and we’re heading off the bridge. Not long after, we merge onto the interstate and Dax stomps on the accelerator. The car shoots out into traffic.

“Woah, don’t speed,” I caution. “We’ll be penalized if you go faster than five miles over the speed limit.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll set cruise control. We won’t go over,” he promises.

The car inches forward at a more sedate pace as cruise control takes over. Once we are on the road, I feel myself relaxing into the seat.

We ride in comfortable silence for several hours. There hasn’t been much traffic since leaving Manhattan, and we seem to be making good time. I’ve been reading a book by my favorite author most of the way, and Dax has been fully concentrating on the road.

I’m fully immersed in my book when I hear a low sound coming from the driver’s side. Dax is humming to himself.

“You like AC/DC?” I ask.