Holley Trent [Trent - Lowdown Dirty

As her friends low-riding Miata hit every bump and hole onthe narrow dirt road, Valerie Lawson did her valorous best to focus on her yellowticket stubs tiny print. Shed never been susceptible to motion sicknessnoteven in vehicles built so close to the ground that she could feel Satanssnores rumbling from deep within the Earthbut in a half-hour drive, Carine hadyet to pick her foot up off the accelerator pedal.

Carine seemed to get a perverse thrill every time the littletoy car hit a natural dirt ramp that sent them vaulting through the air forseveral yards.

Valeries feeling of unease, which had settled in early thatmorning due to escalating deadlines on her job site, wasnt helped much by therural darkness. Though they were at the end of summer, at eight oclock, thecountry path was nearly dark. Mature pine trees lining the road blocked whatlittle bit of light there might have filtered down.

You know, Valerie said and swallowed hard. I didnt thinkthis event was going to be so far out in the sticks. I thought this was goingto be a short outing.

In and out and back to work.

She needed to find a competent plumber for Monday morning orthe timeline on the new home build she was acting as project manager on wasgoing to be well and truly fucked. The delay hadnt at all been her blame, butof course, shed be blamed for the work not getting done. That was the way herluck had always been.

Sighing, she gave up on reading the supposed ticket and yankedher seatbelt strap away from her torso.

So nauseated.

Carine made a little hmm sound and flashed theheadlights at some sort of dog-sized critter scurrying across the long path.

It could have been a little bear or a fawnValerie reallydidnt want to know. Shed lost count of how many bears and deer shed nearlycollided with while driving around Eastern North Carolina in the past sixmonths. Theyd frolic onto the road, and then stand there staring as if shewasnt barreling toward them in a big murder machine. She thought they did iton purpose. She saw those sadistic glints in their eyes as she swerved towardthe ditch. More than once, shed had nightmares about them, so no, shedidnt want to know what was scampering across the dirt road. She needed to beable to walk to her car at that construction site without worrying she wasgoing to get jumped by one of what the locals called good eatin.

She groaned when Carine flashed those lights again. For heavenssake, are we almost there? Why is this place so far?

Youre not used to the long drives yet? Carine asked,wearing her patented smirk of condescension. Youve been here six months.

Valerie harrumphed.

Six months was exactly how long shed known Carine. Theywere coworkers at a new mixed-development community in the Inner Banks calledShora. Carine had been a local real estate agent brought onto the team to sellparcels and model homes, and Valerie was the architectural project manager.Their company, Lipton Properties, had sent her down from the home office tooversee the construction of the six model homes and to keep phase one of thedevelopment rolling smoothly.

Four houses down, two to go.

Itd been a busy-as-hell summer, andunexpected plumberdisappearance or notCarine had made an executive decision to get Valerie outfor a little R&R. Thats why they were in the car, heading ever deeper intothe goddamned boonies.

Valerie wasnt having fun yet. Fun would have beenslouching on her sofa in front of the television, assured that a guy was goingto show up on Monday to install the hot water heater in the Sandpiper modelhome.

Shouldnt have left the office without following up.

She wanted to kick herself.

Im used to everything taking a long-ass time, Carine saidcheerfully. The area is getting built up more and more with each passing year,but it still takes Momma twenty minutes to get to the grocery store. Im luckyto live in town.

Town, Carine called it. Valerie scoffed. Carine livedin Elizabeth City, a full hour from Shora. Carine made that drive every day, fivedays per week, and didnt complainprobably because shed be moving into one ofthe Shora model townhouses as soon as the block was completed. The end was insight for both of them. Valerie was due to be recalled back to the main office afterthe sixth model home was habitable.

Fortunately, the end was also in sight for that damneddriveway.

At the clearing, a large plantation-style home with whitepaint bright enough to compete with the stars in the night sky loomed. From aquarter mile away, Valerie could see the huge crowd of vehicles already parkedon the estate. The congestion didnt make sense for a private residence.

What the hell is this place?

Its a good time, thats what it is. Carine giggled.

That giggle was always some kind of harbinger of doom, andCarine had been way too mysterious about where they were going. Shed handedValerie a ticket stub and had said in a sultry purr, Youre going to bethanking me for weeks for this, I promise.

Grinding her teeth as Carine sought a wide enough parkingspot, Valerie pulled down the sun visor flap and used its weak lights to finallystudy the ticket.

Printed on the pale purple cardstock were the raffle entry price,the address and date of the event, and some fine print on the bottom: 21+only.

What kind of raffle drawing is twenty-one and older?Valerie asked.

Carine wedged her car between a pickup truck and one ofthose SUVs that was long enough to haul a casket even without putting the back seatsdown. Her smile quivers. Uh. The event has alcohol?

You wanna try again and make that sound less like aquestion? When you gave me the ticket back in Shora, I figured itd be somesort of barbecue fundraiser thing with maybe a little music. Valerie sure asshit couldnt hear any music, so if the event was happening outdoors, it wasthe quietest gathering shed ever attended.

Carine twined a length of her long red hair around herfingers. Her mouth scrunched at one side and eyes narrowed in consideration.

No, thats not suspicious.

Valerie narrowed hers right back. Youre thinking too hard.Tell me whats going on. You dont have to be twenty-one to enter a raffle.

Carine snatched her keys from the ignition and unfastenedher seatbelt, breathing out a grunt of frustration. Oh, just go with the flow,will you?

Valerie scoffed. No, I absolutely will not. Im anarchitect. Going with the flow is in direct opposition to my nature. I needplans. I need to know whats happening, so tell me now, or Im flinging you outof that seat and driving myself home to watch television. You and the countrycritters can fellowship until dawn, for all I care.

Carine gave the steering wheel a little thump and growled. Ugh,youre so unbending. Lets put it this way, okay? Its like what your sisteralways does with her pictures on Facebook. You knowthe ones where shes stickingout her ass and doing that duck-face thing with her lips? When people ask whatshe was doing, she writes back that she was at a