Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
Nadia’s cry for me has my heart stuttering—something’s wrong, the tone and slight shake in the pitiful sound is all wrong.
She’s terrified. Glancing over, I see her struggling with her harness and son of a bitch!
It’s not on, one shoulder strap’s hanging loose and twisted in the metal clasp as she desperately tries to get the other buckled in time.
It’s unsafe, dangerous even, and not the type that either of us prefers.
If we go off the road, it will kill her.
Shit!
Steadying the wheel as much as possible, I reach over and swat her fighting hands away.
I don’t give a fuck if the straps are twisted in the buckles, it needs to be tightened; right now.
Especially with Fuentes’s crazy ass leading us into the possibility of a head-to-head collision.
Not only that but we’re in the fucking country and though I haven’t concerned myself with it until now, there’s no telling if something will jump out in front of us before the maniac makes it here.
This is going to hell real fucking fast, true fear is taking root and I don’t know what to do to ease it.
Outside of the trooper and Fuentes, if more first responders appear we’re done for.
What the fuck happens if we crash and she’s ejected?
Zap and I planned for it but it’s not enough when you’re staring the possibility in the face.
That’s why we installed these damn harnesses but hers, it’s failing her.
I can’t, no, I absolutely will not lose control right now.
It’s not an option when I have invaluable cargo.
With her hands out of the way, I grab the strap's tongue and yank with all of my strength. Stupid thing refuses to budge at first, then I yank again. My muscles burn from my shoulder down to my mechanic’s grip the longer I hold on and force the strap through the tight metal binding.
The car swerves when it gives way, cinching down across her hips, and my body jerks to the side.
Both hands back on the steering wheel, they white knuckled the hard circle as Fuentes quickly approaches. This part of the highway is two-lane but moving at these speeds, and banked with trees on both sides, it’s going to be a breath holding-tight fit.
Two miles away.
One mile away.
His lights die out, killing half of the brightness between our cars, taking the brunt of the blindness as Nadia and I hold our breaths.
The seconds tick by in painfully slow increments; inches disappear in still shots rather than motion.
It’s said you relive the greatest moments of your life in the last seven minutes of brain activity—this is not that.
This is a train wreck happening in real time and I can’t look away; absolutely zero self-preservation.
In a flash, time fast forwards—I see Fuentes’s stupid fucking face as our cars squeeze by one another with a cartoonish like stretch, followed by the blur of his running lights streaking through the left side of my vision.
Snapping my eyes to the rearview, I see the officer drastically slow down, distance and the night’s darkness devouring what’s left of his headlights.
I can’t look for long, the road is moving too damn fast for me to be distracted for too long—she keeps watching the encounter behind us though, taking note of the ballsy move Fuentes made.
She lets out a sigh, turning back in her seat once the red and blues finally race after Fuentes instead–asshole will be on me for that favor before I know it. Actually, I give him twenty-four hours before he’s hitting my phone and needing me for some sort of ride along.
Between him and Emmett, I’m going to end up in jail–something I’m sure Uncle impatiently waiting for.
He’ll use the time to make an example out of me.
What not to do in our family, how not to embarrass my Ma, etcetera.
If anyone is going to show up in the headlines as a disgrace, it will be him.
How? I don’t know, but I know it’s coming and believe me, I look forward to the day.
Focused, my hands hold the wheel at ten and two, we’re both doing our best to come down without an adrenaline crash.
Surprisingly, a giddy laugh at my right startles me.
Nadia’s head is leaned back against the headrest, and she’s fucking losing it.
Heavy breaths expand and deflate from her chest when she gasps only to keep laughing.
That’s it, she’s gone completely insane.
I mean, I know we have been on multiple adrenaline highs tonight but she’s at her crashing point, frankly, so am I.
The moment she gets home, and crawls into her too-small bed, she’s going to pass out.
For how long, who knows, but I won’t be shocked if it’s for a good ten to twelve hours like she’s just come off of a forty-eight-hour acid trip.
She deserves it though. Of everything I’ve put her through tonight, her falling asleep in the safety of her bed is the least of my concerns.
“What’s so funny, sweetheart?”
“I…I don’t know. I just need to laugh. It’s…it’s so much.”
“Tell me about it.”
Alone on the highway once again, the off ramp for Hazelwood comes up quickly; a single self-serve gas station sits at the very end for people to use at all times of the night.
Hitting the blinker, it clicks softly with Nadia’s residual giggles.
The orange flicker reflecting off cars parked in a mom-and-pop car dealership next door, as well as the barred station windows.
Guiding the Civic off the highway, I ease on the brake, slowing down just in time to pull into the lot illuminated by one lonely light.
My nerves are slowing down, either that, or the rest of my body is finally catching up now that I’m done outrunning my guardian angels.
At a pump, I shift the car into park and climb out to fuel up.
The numbers on the pump roll by slowly, one right after another, while I wait with my hands tucked into my pockets–a little chilly outside for a late spring, early summer, night.
Nadia’s door opens, pulling my attention away from the pump when her toe pressing to the filthy concrete.
It’s not quite open all of the way, but it hasn’t caught wind or flung open either, simply resting on the back of her calf while she moves around.
Curiously, I watch rather than intervene or ask her what she’s doing–I like to be surprised sometimes, so why not be patient this once.
When I hear the radio station switch and the volume increase, I turn back to the pump and pray to the heavens–she’s going to ruin me.
A fucking piano and acoustic guitar maintain a slow melody when she pushes the door wide and joins me.
I can’t resist her when she reaches for me.
Vacating my jacket pocket, my hand takes hers and spins her around with her hand high above her head.
John Michael Montgomery’s singing about Cinderella and Prince Charming, moving heaven and earth, giving everything he has to the woman he loves and the weight of his devotion resonates deep in my heart.
Pulling her into my arms, seeing her face full of so much happiness and those beautiful eyes staring up at me in awe, I finally recognized it.
She’s here with me, truly, in the moment and though she doesn’t express her feelings the same way I do, I can read the devotion written in every micro-expression.
The world may be blind, but I’m not, not while we dance right here at the damn pump.
Nadia doesn’t move how I imagined she would; like we’re at prom, both nervous and stiff.
No, she has one hand on my chest, the other slid around to my back where she’s holding onto me as fervently as I’m holding her.
Dipping an arm around her waist, the other braces her delicate jawline, my fingers teasing into her hair, and a thumb caresses her cheek.
I’m not a singer, so I’m not going to punish her with my tone-deaf drawl, but that’s not stopping me from kissing her.
Hoping, praying, knowing she feels just how in love I am with her at this very moment–if she wants heaven and earth, she can have it.
My heart, sold. However she wants to be loved, it’s hers.
Just take it, please. Hold it in your hands, sweetheart. Keep it warm and safe, but whatever you do, never let it go.
Breaking the kiss, our foreheads press together when Bad Company queues up next—a bit more my speed but I’m not complaining. I’ll stand here until the sun breaks the sky and the world wakes up in a frenzy just to keep dancing with her as if nothing else exists.
Breaking the spell, the rude as hell gas pump shuts off with a loud thump.
“This has been the best night of my life, Nadia.” I can’t bring myself to talk normally, a whisper is all she gets.
I don’t want this to end–still wishing for that time travel device knowing it will never come, but if it did, I would turn back to the moment she took my breath away at the bonfire.
Then I would do it a hundred times more, repeating our greatest hits.
“Mine too, Rey. Thank you for tonight. You scared me and had me worried in all the wrong ways, just to turn around and give me a graduation night I could have only dreamed about.”
“Don’t have to thank me, I want you to have everything you’ve ever wanted. Especially if I’m the one who ends up in your arms at the end of the night. Pretty fair trade if you ask me.”
Kissing her again, I hug her tight to me and rest my chin on the top of her head.
Both content in standing here taking up space and time—whatever it takes to keep from returning her to her stupid friends and her dick of a dad.
These next few days are going to be the longest ones of my life, especially after having her all to myself with nothing else in the way.