“I have no idea what our future looks like anymore,” I tell him, finding comfort in his warm brown eyes as my chest tightens with a new wave of anxiety.
He wags his tail, bounding around on the leash. I let him walk around and sniff for another ten minutes, making a note that we’ll have to find a dog park or someplace to let him off to run.
I glance back at the car, a sense of unease washing over my body.
Nothing about this is going to be easy.
And I wish I could undo all of this for Noah, but I can’t. All I can do is try to right my wrongs and love him anyway.
Because Idolove him… Well, the Noah IthinkI know.
11
NOAH
My arm hurts.My back hurts. My legs hurt. My ass hurts. Everything just fuckinghurts.
And for a second, I havenoidea where the hell I am.
My eyes flicker open to the pure daylight, streaming through the windows of a vehicle, and I rotate my wrists, for some reason expecting them to be bound with handcuffs.
This is a weird prison transfer. Why am I lying down? Did something happen to me?
And then it hits me—the entire last week of my life.
Fuck.I forgot I’m slowly making my way onto America’s Most Wanted list.
I roll onto my back, which forces my knees up in the air, my entire six-foot-three body crammed in the backseat. I run a hand over my face, the reality of being on the run feeling heavier than I ever thought it would when I stepped through those gates.
Especially ashervoice hits my ears.
Rue is singing something, but I don’t recognize the song, nor can I understand what she’s saying as I struggle to come to full consciousness. I angle my head toward the front, catching sightof Bullet in the passenger seat ahead of me, the only thing visible being his nose fogging up the window.
Then I see her.
Her hair is in a messy, dirty bun, and her sweater is mud-stained. Her eyes are focused on the road, and the profile view I have is…stunning.There’s a feminine softness to the curve of her jaw, and my chest burns with the desire to reach out and run my fingertips along it.
She would let me. I know she would.
And as if she feels my gaze, Rue turns, meeting my gaze. “You’re awake.” Her voice is flat, her eyes devoid of emotion.
She must be exhausted.
“How far out are we?”
“Almost four hundred miles,” she answers, and then angles her body away from me, focusing solely on the road.
Well, okay then.I slowly ease myself into a sitting position, my head going light as I do. I brace against the passenger door, the duffel bag thumping to the floor.Fuck.I squeeze my eyes shut, and only once the spinning stops, do I open them and peer out the window.
Flat ground. No Man’s Land. What state are we in?I blink a few times, trying to figure it out.Far west Oklahoma? Texas, maybe?It’s been so long since I’ve driven, traveled, or really done anything.
My gut knots up. I feel lost. Really fucking lost.
“You should eat.” Rue’s voice draws me back, and I watch as she leans over, picking up something in a white wrapper and tossing it to me. The breakfast sandwich lands on my lap, and despite everything, my stomach growls.
“Where’d you get this?”
She doesn’t look back at me. “The gas station.”
