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“In a box in my room,” she replied.
“Good, I was afraid old Glen and Stimpy took it and then I’d have to figure out where that cabin was.”
“Glen and Stimpy?” She giggled.
“I needed to give him a name,” he replied with a loud yawn. “Why aren’t you wearing it anymore?”
“I took it off a few months after coming to Montana.”
“Because you didn’t need to travel anymore?” he questioned, his words softer.
She could tell he was fighting sleep to learn more about her. “I’d found my home,” she said absently, her own mind drifting in a hazy space of half consciousness.
“Yeah, I get that,” he said. The arm she was using as a teddy bear tightened to her body holding her close. “Never thought Montana could feel like home until…”
His words drifted and he passed out, leaving Topaz to dream that she was theuntilhe was speaking about.
* * *
Onyx stayed as stillas he could to not wake Topaz. Though, he passed out for a bit, her nightmares woke him. The sleep she got had been restless and full of pain if the noises and faces she made were any indication. Looking down, he wondered if he could fall in love with a woman like her? He never really considered the idea until now. Something about her made him want more in his life. The stripper part, much like Hollywood with Free, was less of an issue to him.
The way she looked at him when she spoke of children, a home and future had him searching his own wants. All he’d wanted when he brought her out to the alley was to get an understanding. He wasn’t leaving. The LA chapter of the Steels wasn’t the same and the tat on his back proved he’d joined a brotherhood, one with charters all over the US he could transfer to, but not one he was willing to leave. That didn’t mean they would be home and besides, he didn’t want to go back to sitting behind a desk in LA, pretending to be a pre-teen girl so some perve could pick him up while playing a game about penguins. Hack may love cyber-crime shit, but he’d rather be on patrol, using his brain and body to stop crimes.
Even if he wanted to convince himself all he wanted was peace between him and her, a part of him wanted more. He’d never imagined he’d be looking at her and thinking about a future. She wanted kids, a home, was she thinking of the flipped homes in town like Freaky and Dreamer just moved into? Or one onsite they might construct like most of the officers had? Why was he thinking about this? They fucked. Nothing more. He’d been beaten, they didn’t know if they would survive and it was just a‘we’re the last people on the planet’type of situation. If they’d been on the compound, she’d have gone to bed with someone else. He was under no delusion on that fact.
The sun started to rise and he needed to figure out where they were and somehow find a town with a phone. Not worried about being found so much as they both needed to get in touch with the Steels. They would be able to come and get them to safety. He knew as much as his life depended on it. He couldn’t keep defending them his body was spent. He needed to recover from the beating he took.
Flipping the visor down, he finally examined the damage. Eye swollen, quite a few stitches popped, but his blood had clotted enough to create a natural Band-Aid. He did need water, fresh, clean and not laced with the trace metal and beer flavor. Never being one for the lemon wedge in his glass, he now missed a drink with an infusion of fruit to hops. Rubbing his jaw, the five o’clock shadow was peppering and sadly salting his face with hair. He’d started going gray after the explosion. Hell, after that cabin he was happy a few dark soldiers remained intermixing with the lighter hairs. The balance, the department’s therapists explained, a balance between the parts of him that couldn’t deal with the tragedy and the part that could. To him, the gray and sliver showed weakness, a crack in his armor. Something he shouldn’t possess and why he shaved himself clean at every shower.
Topaz started to move. Her eyes fluttering open and smiled up at him. “I must have fallen asleep. I’m sorry. I guess I was more tired than I thought.”
“What are you sorry for? That was why we pulled off. You needed to sleep and we couldn’t do anything until the sun came up anyways. By the way, the sun is coming up, so we better figure out where the hell we’re at and get to a town, or we’re going to be walking soon.”
“You stayed awake all night didn’t you Onyx?”
“Not all night,” he replied, rubbing his hand over his face. Moving to a sitting position and stretching allowed him to open the door and get out. His lower back, neck…hell his whole body ached as he needed to stretch and relieve himself. With a few cracks of his back, he watched as she straightened and smoothed her clothes. Flipping the visor down, she fixed her hair by pushing it to the side then roughing it up a bit before letting out a harrumph and flipping the visor back up.
“It’s a good thing I have this short hair style I can just mess it up and its ready to go. I must look a fright though. This has been a trying time for both of us.”
“Yeah, but look we survived it and escaped those people. Now, we just need to find us a phone. Maybe a house or town is near-by.”
“Well, all we can do is drive and see where it takes us before we run out of gas.”
He glanced at the pond, the water stagnant, but not overgrown with algae they might be able to at least get a drink. “I’m going to…it’s morning.”
Topaz opened the passenger door to the truck. “I need to go to the bathroom then we can go.”
He watched her disappear into the brush. He didn’t want to lose sight of her, but she needed a little privacy and so did he. The pressure building in his bladder he ducked behind a tree on the other side of the clearing hoping to be back before she reappeared. Why were his emotions all over the place with this chick? He’d known Topaz for nearly a year now and until they had sex, he hadn’t been this attached to her. Hell, he’d tolerated her at best. Why did one night of fucking do this to him?
Heading to the pond, he saw the water completely clear. Pebbles of all colors created the bed and he wondered how Montana could be so pure in nature’s beauty. Rinsing his hands in the water, he glanced over her shoulder, but Topaz hadn’t reemerged. Scooping with his hands, he drank the cool spring water and looked across to the pond to see a few deer on the other side lapping their own drink. The quiet of the moment lulled him into a sense of calm as he stood and turned back to the truck expecting to see Topaz to be there—only it stood empty.
His heartrate thudded in his chest. How long had he taken in the sights? Minutes at best, but still how long could it take to take a piss? He cupped his mouth with his hands and yelled, “Topaz!”
“I’m coming.” She reappeared stepping from the brush.
“You good?” he asked.
“Yep. Are you?” She tilted her head.
