Chapter 12
Oliver
Iwalked into the bathroom breathless from that kiss.
I was a little surprised that she didn’t slap me. I was even more surprised when she kissed me back.
I took her by surprise, I knew that, but she responded to me better than I ever could’ve hoped. As insane as she made me, I was finding it harder and harder to resist her. That kiss told me that she was developing feelings for me, despite everything standing between us.
It was a damn good kiss. Probably the best I’d ever had, which only made me think lewd thoughts about what pressing for more would be like.
I stripped down and stepped into the shower, still unable to think about anything other than that kiss.
The more I thought about it, the further my imagination took it.
I found myself wishing that I hadn’t stopped where I did.
I should have picked her up against me. I should have touched her, kissed every inch of her skin until she was begging me to take her.
Just thinking about it had my cock rock hard and standing at attention.
I placed my left hand against the wall in front of me to support my weight, and I wrapped my right hand around my aching cock. I jerked my dick, the image of her naked body before me, and her soft, sweet lips on mine.
As I pushed myself closer to my release, I enhanced the image.
I imagined lying her down and taking my place on top of her.
I thought about how perfect her body was, how her tits would feel in the palms of my hands.
I imagined burying my face between them, kissing over her mounds to her hardened peaks.
I imagined the sounds she’d make when I sucked her sensitive nipples into my mouth.
My hand tightened on my shaft as I worked myself from base to tip.
As my thoughts got dirtier, my strokes became quicker.
I imagined watching my cock as I sank into her heat and my orgasm began to build.
I pushed deeper and deeper, hearing the sounds of her moans echo through my head like they were bouncing off the walls around me.
When I couldn’t hold it back anymore, I let go.
My orgasm washed through me hot, fast, and strong.
I rode out every wave as I emptied myself into the shower floor until I didn’t have another drop to give.
My heart was pounding against my chest, and my lungs were heaving for air by the time I finished. I took care of the problem our kiss caused, but I didn’t cure myself of the sickness I’d been suffering from.
I wanted her more than before.
I washed up and climbed out of the shower.
When I entered the room, I found her in bed, completely still and practically drowning in blankets and pillows.
I climbed into the empty bed and listened to her deep, even breathing, not knowing what the following day would bring or what kind of relationship we’d have after that life-altering kiss.
I woke with the worst stomach cramp I’d ever had in my life.
I felt like I was going to puke and shit myself at the same time.
I threw the blankets back and rushed toward the bathroom, where I fought for my life for two solid hours, going back and forth between lying on the floor and sitting on the toilet while hugging the trash can.
I knew it wasn’t the flu, and I didn’t have anything to drink the day before, so it wasn’t a hangover.
I had food poisoning from the diner’s meatloaf.
I lost track of time as I moved in and out of consciousness.
“Are you OK in there?” Crash asked through the bathroom door.
“Yeah,” I groaned, barely able to lift my head. I was totally exhausted and felt an inch away from death.
“You’ve been in there for hours.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t have the strength to.
“I’m coming in.”
I thought I locked the door, but somehow, she got it open. The next thing I knew, she was on her knees in front of me, running her fingers through my hair. “You’re sick.”
“I’m dying,” I replied, unable to move or even open my eyes.
“You’re burning up.” She pulled away, and then I heard water running. A moment later, she was back, putting the cool rag on my forehead.
I had been shivering for hours, leaving every muscle sore.
“Come on. Let’s get you in bed.”
I don’t know how she managed, but she helped me to my feet and led me to my bed. I lay down, curled up in a ball, and she covered me up.
After that, I was out.
I woke a few hours later to find her fully dressed, sitting on the bed across from me. I felt a little better, but I still felt terrible.
“What time is it?” My mouth felt like I’d been sucking on a cotton ball.
She looked over at me. “It’s going on ten. We have an hour, and we have to check out. Are you feeling well enough to hit the road?”
I pushed the blankets away and groaned as I sat up.
“I have to,” I said.
“We can stay for another night if you need.”
I shook my head. We needed to keep moving.
“You drive. I’ll sleep in the backseat. Deal?”
She nodded.
I was moving slowly, but I managed to get up, shower, and get dressed. I brushed my teeth and took a couple of Tylenol. I sat on the edge of the bed to pull on my shoes. Then I grabbed my wallet off the bedside table. My busted phone was sitting there, plugged in.
“Did it ever turn on?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t try. I just plugged it in.”
I pulled the cord from the charging port and grabbed the phone, holding the power button down on the side, but it did nothing. Shrugging, I just slid it into my pocket as I stood.
“Alright. Let’s get going.”
I climbed into the backseat of the car, and she took my usual place behind the wheel. I noticed she’d added another bag to the backseat floorboards.
“Where did you get the bag?” I mumbled, my stomach still upset.
“There’s a shopping center down the road. I got us some new clothes and a few other things. Snacks and this.” She reached out and handed me an electrolyte drink.
I took it and gulped greedily at it before capping it and placing it into the cup holder and closing my eyes.
I was asleep within minutes of her driving.
I slept off and on for many hours as she drove.
Since I was lying in the backseat, I had no idea where we were or what was going on around us.
It wasn’t like it really mattered, though, since we were just trying to get as far away from our mess as we could.
I knew we needed to start making a plan and get rid of the stolen car we were in, but I didn’t have the energy to give that any thought.
We’d already had the car for a few days.
I didn’t know whether it had been reported stolen, but if it had, we wanted to be far enough away that the police hadn’t heard about the missing car.
In small towns, stolen cars were big news, with all the local police hunting them down.
But in the bigger cities, stolen cars were a dime a dozen.
It was impossible for the police to remember every single one that had been reported stolen.
As long as you didn’t draw any attention to yourself by breaking laws, you usually slid right through.
And that’s what I was counting on to get us through another day or two.
“I’m going to stop and use the bathroom,” Crash said, glancing over at me.
I nodded. “Yeah, I could use a stop too.”
“How are you feeling?”
“A little better. That’s the last fucking time I get meatloaf from a diner.”
She chuckled. “Now you see why I stick with chicken strips.”
I closed my eyes and massaged my temples as the car veered right and began to slow.
I knew we’d be getting to the gas station soon, and I needed to stretch my legs.
I’d been wadded up into a ball for too long.
I was thirsty and slightly hungry, but I didn’t know if I could trust myself to put anything other than fluids into my body yet.
The last thing I wanted was to eat something and end up throwing up in the car the second we got back on the highway.
She pulled into the gas station and climbed out to pump the gas.
I wanted to take it slow, so I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
When I let my hands fall from my eyes, my vision was blurry for a moment, but the second it cleared, I caught sight of the black SUV that was parked in front of the building.
“Fuck,” I muttered, hiding myself behind the driver’s headrest. I kept my eyes on the SUV, waiting to see if they were following us.
Crash climbed back into the car. “Do you want to go inside for anything?”
“No, get back on the highway.”
“I’m going to run in—”
“I said, get back on the highway. Now, Amelia.”
Her eyes met mine briefly in the rearview mirror. She knew from my tone that I was being serious, and for the first time since we met, she didn’t challenge me.
“OK.” She started the engine and peered back at me for a moment.
“Just go. Now!”
“I am!” She threw the car in drive and took off. “What’s going on, Oliver?” I could hear the panic in her voice.
“Just drive. I’ll tell you later,” I said, twisting to look behind us. Just as she made the left-handed turn out of the parking lot, two guys walked out of the gas station. One of them pointed in our direction, and they both took off in a sprint, running toward the Black SUV.
“Fuck.” I cursed.
“What is going on?” she asked, getting onto the highway as she picked up speed.
“We’re being followed.”
“Followed? By who?”
“My boss’s henchmen,” I replied, annoyed with myself. I should have stayed awake, kept an eye out. Instead, I let my guard down.
“What the hell does that mean?” she yelled, her blue eyes bouncing back and forth between the road and the mirror to look at me.
“I told you that I stole cars and sold them.”
She nodded.
“Well, the car I was in when you ran me off the road was a car that I had stolen and was delivering to my boss. He wanted that car. I’m guessing that when I didn’t deliver, he started looking.
He probably came across reports of a stolen car found wrecked and abandoned.
He probably thinks that I’m backing out of our deal, so he sent them after me. ”
“Well, that’s just great, Oliver! And when were you going to tell me about all this?”
I turned and looked behind us, and didn’t see them yet.
“When I had to,” I answered. I turned back toward her. “We have to lose them.”
“You’re kidding. How are we going to do that, genius?”
I ignored her snarky comment so I could focus and put a plan together.
"Here’s what we’re going to do. As long as they don’t catch up, get off on the next exit. We have a much better chance at losing them on back roads that twist and turn rather than being stuck on the interstate that’s a straight fucking line.”
She glared at me. “Is that why you were on the backroad when I ran into you?”
“I’ve been doing this a while.”
She shook her head. “I can’t fucking believe you.”
I rolled my eyes, but then trained on the road behind us. It was a busy time of day, so there were plenty of vehicles on the road. I saw a couple of black SUVs, but they were so far away that I couldn’t tell which one was theirs.
“Get off here,” I ordered, and she did exactly what she was told.
“Take as many turns as you can. Drive fast, but not too fast. We need to get away from them, but we don’t want to go so fast that it causes other people to look at us either. Just keep your eyes on the road and listen to me. Got it?”
“Yes,” her voice wobbled, but she did exactly as I told her to.
Even though I saw the black SUV just as we turned every corner, she never knew they were getting close.
She was staying calm because she wasn’t looking back, but I knew they were gaining on us, and we needed to ditch the car.
It was the only way to lose them. There was no way they’d leave their vehicle and chase us on foot.
After a series of turns, I told her, “Stop here.”
“What?”
“Stop. Pull over. We’re ditching the car.”
“Are you serious?”
“Pull over. It’s the only way we’ll lose them.”
She growled, but she swerved into the parking lot of what looked to be an old filling station from years past.
“Pull behind the building,” I directed, so she pulled the car behind the building and killed the engine.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this again,” she complained as she climbed out of the car.
“How do you think I feel? I really don’t want to go hiking when I’m already sick with food poisoning, but here we are. Grab your bag,” I reminded her as I climbed out of the backseat.
We didn’t bother locking the car or taking the keys. We left the car just as we found it, only a few hundred miles away from home. We set off across the tall grass toward the forest behind the building.
“We’re so screwed,” she grumbled as she stomped through the tall weeds. “It’s going to be dark soon. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“We’re going to get lost.”
“It’s fine.”
“I hate nature.” She kicked a tree, then immediately started crying and jumping up and down on her one good foot.
“Ow, ow, ow.” She fell to the ground, holding her foot in her hand.
“What the hell did you do that for?”
Tears were steaming down her cheeks. “Shut up and help me up.”
I bent down and pulled her to her feet.
“Come on. Walk it off,” I said, keeping my arm around her and pulling her alongside me.
After a few minutes, she applied increasing pressure until she was walking on her own.
After that, she settled down. There was no more talking, no more kicking, no more bickering or griping.
We both just kept our heads down and put one foot in front of the other as we made our way through the forest.
The sun fell from the sky, and the darkness came.
It felt like we were the last two people on the planet, like the earth just swallowed us up.
We took breaks, and we listened. There was nothing but silence all around us.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the forest opened up to a big field. In the center was a lone barn.
“Let’s go check it out,” I said, before leading her across the grass as rain began to fall.
It was the best option we had.
It felt like we’d started all over again.