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“I’m going to find your brother and let him know you’re safe.”
My mouth fell open at his suggestion. One look at his hulking figure and tattoos and I had a sudden vision of how well that would go down.
He side glanced me. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just you look like you’re part of the Russian mafia and if you walk up to him and say ‘she’s safe’, you’re going to make him think you’re holding me for hostage money.”
He grunted. “What am I supposed to do? Send him flowers? Butter him up?”
“Can’t I talk to him?”
“It’s best if you’re not seen together right now. If anyone comes asking for you, he can honestly say he hasn’t seen you for a while. You should be back at the apartment but you need to stay near me.”
I breathed in deep and exhaled slowly. South Carolina dampness and car exhaust filled my lungs. I coughed. It was mid-morning, so the traffic made no sense. Why wasn’t everyone at work by now? “What if I left a note?”
“Where?”
“At the hotel. I could leave a note in the room.”
“You shouldn’t go near the hotel.”
“Why?”
“Same reason. No one to say they’ve seen you recently.”
“How would he know if I lived there?” I grumbled. They were making a lot of assumptions about this guy and what he could do. Coaltar met me yesterday. What did he know about me? Did he stalk every girl at his party? “What if I wrote a note and you took it to the room?”
He thumped his fingers over the steering wheel. “You can’t tell him where you are.”
“What can I say?”
He shrugged. “Tell him you’ve eloped with a handsome Russian.” He leaned on the door, angling to see around the row of cars. He pounded at his horn but despite the effort, the line didn’t move.
I snorted. “Me? Get married? I may as well tell him I sprouted wings.”
He leaned forward, digging his cell phone out of his pocket. “Tell him now. We won’t have to bother him later when we get around to it.”
I thought he was joking so I shook it off. “Where’s a pen?”
He gestured to the glove compartment while he was still buried in his phone.
I found a small notebook and a couple of pens, along with binoculars, and a pocket knife. Spy stuff. I wanted to dig further but wanted to get the note out of the way so I closed it up.
I was just telling Wil in the note that I was fine when Raven shifted gears and started cutting off to the right, driving along the shoulder. Part of the truck ended up in the grass. I gripped the suicide handle to keep from knocking my head into things. “What are you doing?”
“Going around,” he said. “This goes on for miles. Out past Summerville.”
“Why?” I asked. “Bad wreck?"
“Yeah, bad wreck,” he said. “The police fucked up. There’s a threat at one of the schools that called in the bomb squad. The responding officers cut off some people driving on the highway and there’s a ten car pileup down there.”
“Which school has the bomb threat?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
I shrugged. “Happened a lot at my old school,” I said. “There’s never a bomb. It’s just a stupid kid calling it in to get out of class. Which was nice. Usually stalled things at school for a few hours.”
“Probably lucky,” he said. “In Russia, they wouldn’t have called anything off. You fend for yourself. And the kid wouldn’t be bluffing. He probably wouldn’t have even called ahead.” He pulled the truck onto an off-ramp, weaving his way around other cars also trying to get off the road. He cut in front of an old lady in a clunker and made a left onto a main road.
My heart thundered in my chest as he drove. He muscled his way between two cars to cross the street. “Did you learn to drive in Russia, too?” I asked.
“What does it matter?”
“Just wondering.”
?????
It took another half hour to get to the hotel going through side streets. By then I was grumpy from not having eaten breakfast. I did my best to bite my lip and keep quiet. Now that I didn’t have a dime on me, I couldn’t afford a meal and didn’t want to beg.
As soon as we were within sight of the hotel, Raven lifted the center console and reached for my arm. He gripped it in his big hand tight enough to cut off the circulation for a moment, tugging me sideways. “Lay your head down,” he said. “I don’t want anyone seeing you.”
I did as he said, but as my head landed by his hip, he put his hand on my hair. His fingers threaded through my hair and he massaged my scalp.
I slapped him on the wrist hard enough that my own hand tingled. “Stop,” I said.
“What?”
“I’m not a puppy.”
He grunted. “Will you just stay in the truck? I’ll deal with you in a minute. Where’s your note?”
I held it out to him, and dug out my room key card. “221B. And do me a favor and grab the gray book bag. I may as well get my clothes.”
He waved me off, parked the truck and stepped out. He pointed a broad finger at me. “Stay.” He slammed the door before I could remind him I wasn’t a puppy.
I sighed, moving onto my back to stare up at the ceiling of the truck. So close. I wondered how Wil was doing. I told him in the note that I’d be gone at a new job that required me to be there overnight. I explained that was how I got the money for the hotel room. I told him we’d probably miss each other as I was only off while he was at school. I wondered if he could tell I was lying simply by writing. At least it would seem like I’d been there.
I missed him already and hoped Jack wasn't giving him too many problems. I hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid. I rolled over onto my side, tracing the grooves of the seat with my fingertips. Was I making the right choice to stick with the guys? Or was I giving in because I was curious about them?
A knock at the truck window made me think Raven was back. Maybe he forgot the room number. I sat up.
A man’s gnarled face was pressed to the passenger side window. He squinted in at me. “You okay?” he asked.
One of the random residents. Was he walking by to get to one of the other trucks parked in the lot? I tried to hold back an eye roll. So much for not being seen. I nodded, waving him off and hoping he’d go away.
He made a motion to roll down the window. “Hey, let me talk to you for a second.” There was a weary look in his eyes. I’d seen it before on these guys. Lonely and willing to risk a rape charge to get his dick in any hole he could find. Possibly mentally insane.
I mustered an angry glare and flashed my middle finger. “Go away.”
He seemed oblivious to this. His hand slid down in front of his body, and from the angle, I could tell he was rubbing himself. “Open the door. I won’t hurt you. Did you need a room?”
I started shaking my head when his hand shifted again. I thought he was going to pull down his pants, maybe step back and show me his wilted willy. Instead, he reached for the door handle.
I realized in horror that Raven hadn’t locked the door. I lunged for it, but he already had the door handle open. I grabbed for the handle, yanking back hard, but he drew back his fingers before I had the chance to smash them in the door.
A booming shout erupted: “Morgaly vikalyu, padla! Ebanatyi pidaraz!”
I didn’t know a lick of Russian, but I knew angry cursing when I heard it.
A fist smashed against the man’s chin. There was a thick thud sound. The old man fell like a lump to the blacktop.
Raven positioned himself between the truck door and the guy on the ground. “Get up, motherfucker.” He waved his fist at him. His shoulders appeared to have increased in size. The muscles in his bicep strained against the fabric of his T-shirt. The tribal and rose tattoos danced across his skin as he flexed.
In a moment of weakness, I thought about that morning with him shirtless and on top of me. And now he was defending me fr
om bad guys. I felt the pull of visceral excitement as Raven defended my honor. The wild, crazed look in his eyes, the ruthless way he glared, the powerful stance like he was about to rip the guy in two, it was overwhelmingly erotic.
The old guy wriggled on his back, cowering, caging his arms over his head in defense. When it was clear he wasn’t getting up, Raven spat at him and opened the passenger side door.
“Why’d you let him open the door?” he thundered at me.
He was going to blame this on me? Way to burst my fantasy bubble. “I didn’t let him! You forgot to lock it.”
He grunted, backed up and smashed the door back into place. He picked up two book bags off the ground. He jogged around, opening the driver’s side door and shoved them in the back seat. He hauled himself in and we were back on the road in minutes.
