Chapter 1 #3
Cash pulled in a harsh breath and started coughing again, and I held him close, helpless to do anything as I waited it out.
When he finally stopped coughing, I pulled him closer and fought the urge to cry, because I was fucking this up so, so badly.
I blinked away the tears and buried my face in Cash’s shoulder and tried not to think about the way his chest rattled under my palms. He rolled over and pulled me close, stroking my back while we both pretended I was fine, just like we’d done for years, until finally I fell into an uneasy doze.
The next thing I knew someone was nudging me awake. I jolted upright, my heart racing, until I figured out where I was.
Cash was crouched next to me, holding out half a burger. “Eat.”
I eyed the burger suspiciously, then turned my gaze on Cash. “How?”
He gave me a guilty look. “I went inside to take a leak, and a guy was leaving.”
My insides froze. Surely Cash hadn’t—
“He left his tray on the table with most of a burger on it, so I just took the tray to the trash and kept the burger,” he said, and just like that I could breathe again.
I glared at him. “I don’t want you going inside on your own. Why didn’t you wake me?”
His brow creased. “You were asleep. And I figured nobody would notice one of us, but both of us?”
And yeah, he had a point. Everyone noticed twins.
He held out the burger and repeated, “Eat. I already had mine.”
I took the burger. It was cold and thick with congealed grease, but at least it chased away the lingering taste of cum and settled the hunger gnawing at my belly.
“Thanks,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I felt better or worse that Cash had been the one to feed us when all I’d managed to get was a punch in the face.
We curled up together in our space and Cash rested his head on my chest. Before long his breathing had evened out, even though there was still that worrying rattle with every breath.
I lay awake for a while longer, tensing every time I heard a sound, but in the end I was so tired that I fell asleep too.
The next time I woke, there was something brushing against my cheek. I patted at it instinctively like I always did when Cash’s hair was in my face—but it wasn’t Cash.
It wasn’t human.
My eyes snapped open, and I found myself staring at a pair of tiny black eyes.
I sat bolt upright, rigid with fear, and a fucking rat went flying, dislodged from where it had been sitting on my cheek.
It landed somewhere near my legs and scurried away, and it was followed by a half dozen other sleek, long bodies that had been crawling on me, their claws skittering against the cardboard as they ran into the darkness.
“Fuck,” I croaked out.
I fucking hated rats. I always had. I scrambled to my feet while I patted madly at my face and hair. Knowing they’d been on my skin while I slept had my stomach lurching as I fought not to throw up.
There was a rustling sound from inside the dumpster, and I knew we couldn’t stay.
I reached down and shoved Cash’s shoulder. “We gotta go.”
He rolled over and blinked awake, his eyes sunken and his face sheet white. “What?” he croaked out.
“There was a fucking rat on my face.” My voice shook—I couldn’t help it—but this was Cash. He got it right away, his brow creasing with worry.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” I lied, “but we can’t stay here.”
He nodded and hauled himself to a sitting position, and I helped him to his feet. We emerged from behind the dumpster and crept around the corner toward the front of the truck stop.
The parking lot was quiet. There was a light rain falling, so we leaned against the wall in the shadows under the awning to stay dry. I ran my hands over my face and hair compulsively, but my skin still crawled with the memory of fur and claws and I couldn’t help shuddering.
“Hey,” Cash said, wrapping his arms around me, “it’s okay.”
I buried my face in his shoulder and he didn’t say anything, just held me, keeping me safe while I remembered how to breathe.
Once I’d calmed down some, he said, “Why not go inside and wash up? I’ll stay here with our bags.”
“What if something happens to you?” I hated the thought of leaving him alone.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” he said. “There’s nobody here.”
I looked around, and he was right. Plus I really needed to piss. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Cash nodded and crouched down, curling into the wall like a pill bug, pulling his jacket tight. As I went inside, I heard him start coughing.
I ducked into the bathroom and took a leak, then scrubbed at my skin with a damp paper towel until I’d chased away the sensation of something climbing on my face.
I stared at myself in the mirror, and hopelessness stared back.
I dropped my head into my arms on the edge of the sink and did my best not to fall apart.
What the fuck were we going to do? Cash was sick, and we had no money, nowhere to go, and no way to get there. We were screwed.
The bathroom door creaked as it opened, and a deep voice said, “You all right, kid?”
I spun around to find an older guy with a trucker cap and a fleece-lined jacket watching me. He was maybe forty, and he didn’t scream danger, but I saw the way his gaze traveled over my frame, lingering on my mouth.
I took a breath and did my best to get my shit together. “Me and my brother need a ride,” I said, hoping I was reading this right. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, and his gaze tracked it. “You gonna help me with that?”
The man’s throat bobbed. One hand crept down and cupped his junk, and he reached out with the other and pressed his thumb against the corner of my mouth. “How far?”
Maybe we weren’t screwed after all.
“Far as you can take us,” I said, ignoring the same sick feeling in my gut that the rats had given me. I forced a smile as I reached out and hooked my finger in his belt loop, and then I led him into the stall.