“It’s complicated. I’ll tell you all about it over a sandwich.” I grinned.
Quinn pursed her lips. “That’s dirty.”
I shrugged. “You eat. I talk, and then you’re practicing how to get out of holds. I don’t like the way Brody looked at you.”
Quinn sobered. “Fine. All of it sounds really good, and I am really hungry.”
Finally, honesty. I poked her stomach, which growled at me.
We both laughed.
It wasn’t much. But it was something.
Chapter 23
Quinn
Ididn’tknowwhereI was. Not a clue. A semi-truck whizzed by me on the highway, and I took a step back, hitting the metal guardrail. Rough yellow weeds pushed through the cracked asphalt, and trapped litter skittered away from the cars speeding past.
I’d woken up from blackouts in worse places, not that it mattered anymore. In less than a month, I’d go under the knife, and this nightmare would be over.
I turned so I was walking with traffic coming toward me, and kept my eyes peeled for a sign.
Ten minutes later, I found one. I was about five miles down I-70, which was almost twenty miles from my apartment in the center of St. Louis. This was a huge jump. I was getting worse, or maybe not. Since I destroyed that man’s knees, I hadn’t tried to let Miss Q out. I took drugs, slept, and wished things could be different.
I’d already searched my person for a phone or wallet, anything. But I was in my pajamas. At least I had shoes on.
With an annoyed sigh, I kept moving.
I’d been walking for maybe thirty minutes when a state patrol vehicle cut me off and parked. A man in a dark uniform with a gun on his belt approached me. “What are you doing all the way out here in your pajamas, young lady?”
I shrugged. “Just walking back home.”
The officer looked around. “From where?”
I pointed behind me. “Back there.”
The officer frowned. “Do you have some ID on you?”
I shook my head. “It’s a bad prank. I didn’t know I was leaving the house today.”
“Well, how about I give you a lift?”
I brightened. “Really?”
The officer smiled and opened the rear door of his vehicle. I slid into the back seat. I’d never been in a police car before. He shut the door, and for the first time, I noticed there were no handles. My excitement ebbed.
The officer climbed into the driver's side and clicked his radio. “Officer Parker to Main Office.”
“Main Office to Parker, go ahead.” A staticky voice came on the radio.
“I have an unidentified vagrant found off the side of I-70 headed east. Suspected drug use with no ID.” Officer Parker said.
My heart thumped in my chest. He wasn’t giving me a lift, at least not to where I wanted to go.
The officer looked at me through his rearview mirror. “I can make all of this go away, for a little something on the side.”
I had nothing to give him. I curled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I should have kept walking. I might not have gotten home fast, but I would have endedup where I wanted to be.
