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“Where areyou?” She repeated the question back to me, making me look around.
“A B&B. I don’t know…” I found a notepad, looking at the logo on the top. “Swanson motel. Grab a fucking cab, it can’t be more than a couple of hours. I’m not leaving him here.”
“I don’t have money. They took everything from me.”
“Listen,” I began, letting out a long breath. I had to help her. Not only because Marc would kill me if I didn’t, but there was something in her voice that reminded me of myself. I knew what I was like to be lost, with nothing but the clothes you wore. It was my fucking life for a long time.
“I’ll take care of that. We’re at a rode-side motel.” I put her on speaker, looking up a map on my phone and read the address out loud.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I owe you.”
“It’s fine.”
She let out a breath. “Can I text you? With updates?”
“Knock yourself out.”
I cut the call, turning the phone over in my hand as I thought about what I just did. Would Marc approve? Well, I couldn’t care less about his emotional well-being. This girl needed us, and I couldn’t turn my back on her. The little I knew, what he told me. She was already doomed to die. The least I could do was make sure she didn’t end up in some ditch, or worse.
I envied Marc’s sleep. Even with Bree in my life, the girl who saved me from suicide by whiskey, I still couldn’t sleep. With her, I could relax enough to get some shut-eye, but she wasn’t here, and I slipped right back to my old ways. Minus the cigs and the booze. Though, I was dying to get my hands on a bottle.
When the hours passed, and I heard nothing from the girl, I considered knocking myself out with the sleeping pills.
As the thought crossed my mind, a text had me snatch the phone up and relief flooded me.
“The driver says he’ll be there in half an hour.”
I sent a thumbs-up, and continued the pacing.
Half an hour passed quicker than I anticipated, and the lights from a car lit up the foggy morning outside our room. Marc was still down as I went to meet them and paid for her ride.
When the taxi drove off, I turned to the girl, surprised to find her older than I imagined—and stunningly beautiful.
A twisted grin spread across my lips.Thatmade more sense. I believed for a moment she was some sort of a phantom daughter to him. A projection of the newborn baby he lost. But this raven-haired beauty was no baby. She wasn’t even a fucking kid. Young, yes. Too young. But it didn’t seem to stop Marc from drooling all over her. And after seeing her, I understood why.
“Oh my God,” she breathed. “I’m—suddenly starstruck,” she confessed. “I’m so sorry. Just seeing you is…”
“You’re here for Marc, not me.”
She nodded, swallowed down the nervousness and let out a breathy, “Yeah, sorry.”
“Did someone see you?”
“No, I don’t think so. This is quite far away from… them.” She cast her eyes across the lone path, over to the parking lot, then turned to the building. One more glance my way.
I grabbed her arm before she could walk. “What are you to him?”
She let out a little laugh. “What kind of question is that?”
“He lost too much already.”
She looked at me, blinking two impossibly blue eyes at me in confusion, and I sighed.Whatever. This wasn’t my problem. Marc could take care of himself. Even though I somehow doubted his judgement with this one. Getting involved with a sick girl no matter how pretty, was only going to end in one way. And I’d be the one on the receiving end of his inability to deal with his pain.Again.
“Is he okay?” she asked, directing her nervous glances away from me and toward the door I still hadn’t opened.
“He’s… knocked out from pain meds. Just…”Fuck it. The way her eyes filled up with moisture when she spoke about him. The worry. The compassion. Those big eyes so similar to the way Bree looked at me from the start… no wonder Marc was hooked. I liked her from a short moment with her.
“Can we go in?” she asked, snapping me out of my head.
