AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, it’s the right one. I’m right where I need to be,” I told her, giving her a grin, and making my way through the compartment, toward where Laura and Benji were. I could stop them now, of course, force them off the train, and have Diesel come and pick us up. I could end Laura’s escape when it had just begun, but I already knew that I wouldn’t.
Laura Lavin was running from something, and I wanted to know what it was. She was clearly going somewhere, and I needed to know where. Did she have someone she trusted? Was there someone in the world who cared about the fate of this intriguing young woman?
I mulled over those thoughts, and while they felt lofty, a voice inside my head didn’t buy those pure motivations.
Or maybe you just want to get her alone, it whispered.
Yeah, maybe so. After all, who could stop me?
CHAPTER9
Laura
My old man wouldn’t have been a proper, paranoid survivalist if his cabin had been easy to find. After taking the train for five hours straight, I woke Benji up, and we got out in a little town in Pennsylvania, New York long behind us now. I’d toyed with trying to cross into Canada, but Dad’s cabin was too good an opportunity to give up. Benji was exhausted, and I carried him as far as I could out of the station.
“All right, kiddo, let’s find somewhere to sleep,” I muttered, heading toward the seediest looking hotel I could see. I needed a cash-only, no-questions kind of place. From here, I planned on taking a bus to another town, and then walking out to the cabin. If we got a good start tomorrow morning, we could be there by nightfall.
The clerk at the motel was completely uninterested in Benji and I, and barely looked up from solitaire on their phone as they checked us in. My wad of saved up cash felt heavy in my pocket. It was all I had for now, and I had to guard it with my life.
The room was tiny and smelled like old sweat and beer. I got Benji into bed, locked the door, and then headed for the bathroom. The old shower had stains I didn’t want to focus on too closely, but washing was too tempting. I was sweaty and felt disgusting. I never felt safe showering at Brian’s house, and prison had hardly been better. For the first time in weeks, I closed my eyes, let my guard drop, and tilted my face back to the hot water. Tears tickled my eyelids, and now, alone in the locked backroom, I let them come.
I cried for Benji, and for the disappointing life I was no doubt leading him into, if I didn’t get caught, that was. I cried for my mom, who would be so upset to know the life she had left us to, and I cried for myself. A girl who, on the outside, had a bright and shining future, but really, never had any hope of a good life. The sobs wracked my body, and I gripped myself, feeling like I could just break apart if I didn’t hold on.
Slowly, the water went cold, and the grief passed. I was mourning for the future that I could have had, if everything had been different. I might as well have cried because the stars were too far away to reach.
I got out, feeling lighter after the crying jag. Wiping steam off the mirror, I studied my face. Same old green eyes and unruly blonde curls, darkened with age to a warm strawberry blonde. Freckles dusted the ridge of my nose, giving me a young, cute air. I wasn’t a person who anyone would suspect of being capable of nearly stabbing a man to death in cold blood.
Looks could be deceiving. Anyone was capable of murder, under the right circumstances. Mine was in the next room. My reason, sleeping soundly in a creaking old bed with musty sheets.
I wrapped a towel around my damp torso and braided my long hair into a rope to hang over my shoulder before heading out to the dark bedroom.
I took three steps toward the bed when I saw it.
A dark shadow lying on the bed on the opposite side of Benji’s small sleeping form. A long, broad shadow, with its arms behind its head.
I turned, whirling with panic and making for the bathroom. I didn’t know why I ran when Benji was still outside. Anyway, I would never be faster than Bennet. I slammed into the bathroom, and as I turned to close the door, it shot open as he shouldered into the small, steamy space.
I backed up, staring at him, wild with panic. He looked nearly far too huge and manly in the tiny room, his black t-shirt pulled tight across his robust chest, and gray eyes eating up every inch of me. He stood in silence just before me, before sending a booted foot back to kick the door closed.
“That’s better. Some privacy to talk,” he said. He reached behind him, without turning, and turned the lock. It sounded like a gunshot in the quiet.
I swallowed a hard knot in my throat. “I have nothing to talk to you about.”
“Then I guess we can just start back home now. Benji can sleep in the car,” he said briskly.
My hand shot out, touching his arm before I could help it. “No. Please.”
He stilled at my words and slowly turned his head to where my hand rested against his bicep, which felt about as soft as a rock. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he met my eyes again.
“Tell me why you’re doing this, and make me believe it’s the truth, then,” he said. I took a deep breath. Crap, this wasn’t in my plans, and I couldn’t allow it to happen.
I couldn’t trust Bennet, even if I wanted to sink into his brawny arms and let him take care of everything. He was a powerful man, just like Brian and his many influential friends. Either Bennet wasn’t as good as he seemed to be, or he was, and helping me would destroy his company and life, and all the people he helped. I’d been impressed by him, when I’d looked him up, hours upon hours of searching about this man who had shown up in my life, when I was at my lowest point.
“I don’t want to go to jail,” I breathed. Irritation flashed across Bennet’s face. He stepped closer to me, making my breath stutter. It was like he had an invisible field around him that seemed to hum and draw me in. The man was magnetic, and the will to resist the pull was dwindling.
“Bullshit. I told you not to lie to me,” he said. He was so close now, my towel pressed against his chest. Every point of my body was focused on that place of contact. I could feel my nipples hardening. Christ, talk about inappropriate. My skin felt hot and glazed with clammy, confusing desire. I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly parched, and his eyes followed.
“I’m not lying. Who wants to go to jail?”
