16. Chapter 16
Chapter 16
Ben studied the relatively empty rest stop. They had left early from the motel. He didn’t know about anyone else, but he hadn’t slept much at all. He wanted to chalk it up to being worried about Lily, but lying next to Tessa was the real reason.
Yes, she was beautiful, but it was so much more than that. Her brains, her spirit, her humor all did something to him. Even when she kept things from him, he was still drawn to her. She wasn’t telling him everything about Lily or these mysterious friends of hers, but there was only so much he could push and not alienate her. Hell, he’d even risked telling her he was going to call John, which of course was a bluff, and she still didn’t share anything more.
But then, he wasn’t sharing either, so he couldn’t be mad now, could he?
They had driven for an hour to get some distance from Evelyn’s hometown and had picked up some breakfast takeout to eat at a rest stop. Tessa and Evelyn were throwing away the trash and running to the restroom before they headed out for the last hour of their trip.
Lily sat at the picnic table. She was in her own world coloring furiously on her sketch pad. Ben had seen her do the same thing at Evelyn’s house when she’d drawn the picture of the men taking her. He walked around the picnic table and looked at the picture. It was a drawing of Lily and she had wings. She was flying in the air.
What the hell did that mean? Was she an angel— Christ, was she dead? His chest rumbled, there was no other word for it, and he had trouble catching his breath. Heat burst in his head and ran down his neck, arms, and into his hands. No one would hurt this little girl if he had anything to say about it.
She was still coloring the other side of the picture, and he wanted to scream at her to hurry up. To show him who her attacker was. Who he needed to protect her from.
“Lily, who does this to you?” he asked in as quiet a voice as he could manage.
She sat back a little and pointed at him. What! His throat locked up. He studied the rest of the picture. It was a drawing of him. Except she had drawn gray slashes for his fingers and his eyes were oblong like a snake.
He stumbled back from her and bumped into the side of his truck parked behind him. His hands itched. Claws erupted from the tips of his fingers! Holy shit!
He looked up. Lily watched him with huge eyes.
Ben spun away from her and caught his reflection in the truck window. His pupils had turned into slits. What. The. Hell. He slammed them shut.
Not real.
Not real.
Not. Real.
When he opened his eyes again, they were back to normal. He flexed his fingers and saw that the claws were gone too. He sucked in a shaky breath. He was losing it. Had to be. A little girl draws a picture, and he imagines it’s real. What else could it be?
Maybe he was unstable. Hell, he couldn’t remember anything, and now he thought he was…he didn’t know what he thought he was. He dragged more air into his lungs.
He turned around to check on Lily. She smiled back at him. Would she be smiling at him if she had seen claws and snake eyes? Especially if he was going to hurt her when he was in that state? It had to be some sort of hallucination. Had to be.
But that didn’t make him feel any better.
“You two ready to go?” Tessa called to them.
He flinched. He hadn’t heard her and Evelyn coming back.
Lily closed her sketch pad and stuffed it into her backpack along with her crayons. Was he happy she did that? Or should he show Tessa and Evelyn the drawing?
Before he could decide what to do, an even scarier thought emerged. Maybe there wasn’t a drawing at all? Had he imagined the whole thing?
“Ben?”
“Yeah. Um…let’s hit the road. We’ll be in Nashville in no time.”
They climbed into the truck, and he wrapped his hands around the steering wheel to stop them from shaking. Maybe he should get out of the truck and tell them to leave him behind.
“You okay?” Tessa asked.
“Yeah.” He could feel her watching him, but he didn’t turn to her. What if his eyes changed?
His heart was thumping in his chest, and he took a breath to stop from hyperventilating. What was the truth? He didn’t know why he had a note with John and Mia’s name. He didn’t know who he was.
Now he didn’t know what he was.
The only thing he did know was that he needed to take these three to Nashville and make sure they were safe. Then he would get far, far away from them all.
The hour-long trip ended up being closer to forty-five minutes. He thought Tessa might tell him to slow down, but she held her tongue. Somewhat of a surprise since she wasn’t shy expressing her thoughts. She seemed to be thinking through some things as well, which was fine with him since his mind was spinning and he prayed that he got them to safety.
He drove toward her apartment, and she finally turned to him with a question in her eyes.
“I got a call while you and Evelyn were in the bathroom. I have a client that has an emergency that they need help with. I’m going to drop you off at your place so you can take them to your friends. Didn’t get the feeling from our talk last night that you wanted me to know where they live.”
Was that relief he saw in her eyes? If she knew what had happened at the rest stop, it would be more than relief at getting away from him. They parked outside her apartment, and he helped carry the bags over to her car before jogging back and grabbing the booster seat as well.
Evelyn smiled. “Thank you, Ben.”
He nodded.
Lily pointed to him and then the car.
“I’m not going with you, little bit. But you’ll be safe now.”
She frowned.
“It will be okay.” He helped her get into the car and made sure her seat belt snapped around the booster seat before closing the door and standing up.
Tessa stepped right in front of him before he could escape. “I’ll call you later, and we can plan next steps once I have them settled.”
“It might take me some time to help my other client, but then we can start our search for Mia again.”
She stared at him a little too long for comfort. “Okay. Just let me know.”
He stepped back from her. Lily watched him with eyes much too aware for a five-year-old. She held up her hand and placed it on the window, and he tapped his finger against the glass before Tessa backed out of the space and drove away.
Ben watched them leave, and his chest burned at the same time a voice told him he was making a mistake. That he should follow them and make sure they were safe. Should he stop them? No. Not when he saw claws extend from his right hand. Clenching his hand, he hurried across the street and yanked open his truck door with his left.
He climbed inside and closed his eyes, refusing to see if they had changed. Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. Finally he opened them again.
The rearview mirror showed him normal pupils. When he opened his fist, the claws were gone, but blood pooled in his hand from where they had dug into his palm.
He wasn’t hallucinating after all.