CHAPTER NINETEEN #2
“Tell me then,” I shot back, forced to keep pace as he dragged me along, my feet hitting the ground a little harder than necessary.
“What would you do if you were me and you were just trying to figure your life out, and out of every corner appears some creep or creature trying to either kill or kidnap you?”
He stopped in his tracks, and for a split second I thought—stupidly—that I’d gotten through to him. That maybe, just maybe, he’d actually consider what I’d said. Offer something resembling empathy.
Instead, he reached into his pocket and he jangled keys he must have taken from one of the beer bellies, turning away from me entirely.
Right. That answered that.
He made a beeline for a burgundy car parked just off the road, unlocking it before yanking the door open and shoving me into the passenger seat.
“I’d do as I was fucking told,” he said cooly, finally answering my question. “By the one trying to protect me.”
The door slammed shut before I could respond, the words hitting just as hard as the metal. A second later, he was in the driver’s seat like he’d never been anywhere else.
We drove.
And drove.
And drove.
Time blurred again. The roads stretched endlessly ahead of us, broken only by the occasional flicker of a distant village.
We were deep in the countryside now, properly out in the sticks, where the world felt too wide and too empty all at once.
It was only then that I really thought about the fact that it was me that had brought us here.
Not that I had any idea of how I had done that.
I had no memory of what had happened, not really.
I’d never experienced anything like it, the surge that grew within me to then snap, and in the blink of an eye it was all gone and I’d awoken in his arms.
At some point, we’d stopped for petrol at a lone station that was barely lit. He’d come back wearing a black hoodie and a cap pulled low over his face, like slipping into something less recognisable was second nature to him.
Now, behind the wheel he looked… different again.
Back in control.
Less frazzled.
One hand rested loosely on the steering wheel, fingers tapping occasionally in a rhythm only he seemed to hear, the other shifting gears with ease. His focus never wavered from the road and he only spared me the occasional glance, as though checking I was still there.
It was irritating, that constant sense that he was always one step ahead.
I turned my gaze back to the window, watching the darkness roll past, my reflection faintly staring back at me in the glass.
I must have drifted off at some point, because the next thing I knew, my head jerked forward with a sharp jolt as the car hit a dip in the road.
“Jesus—” I blinked, dragging myself back to consciousness, disoriented and stiff.
“Nice drool,” Davien said, not even glancing in my direction.
I wiped at my mouth, slightly mortified. “Did you just… sit there and watch me sleep?”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “That’s exactly what I did. Drove one-handed and stared at you the entire time.”
“Wouldn’t put it past you,” I muttered.
That earned me the faintest exhale though his nose, an almost laugh, if I was being generous.
I shifted in my seat, stretching as much as the cramped space allowed. “You could’ve woken me.”
“You looked peaceful,” he said. “Didn’t want to ruin the illusion.”
I turned to look at him properly. “The illusion that I’m not currently being kidnapped by an emotionally constipated vampire?”
“Protected,” he corrected, though he made no comment on the latter.
“Is that what we’re calling it now?” I raised a brow. “Because from where I’m sitting, it feels a lot like abduction.”
“Mm.”
I slumped back in my seat with a huff, folding my arms. That noncommittal sound did nothing but annoy me. I couldn’t believe I was almost into what happened between us in the caravan.
“You can’t seriously think the way you behave is normal?”
“It is…”
“You only think of yourself,” I said, glancing at him in his new attire. “You didn’t even think to get me something dry to wear.”
“What?”
“I’m still soaked,” I muttered. Between his blood and then from the men at the bar, I was saturated in it. Would it have killed him to grab me something dry and clean.
He opened his mouth as if to respond but quickly closed it again, looking diligently back at the road.
There was a pause.
Then a very clear, very deliberate silence.
I felt my face heat.
Because it became clear where his mind had gone. “That didn’t come out right.”
“No,” he said, a trace of amusement slipping through now. “It didn’t.”
I groaned, dragging a hand down my face, turning to face the window again. “Just—drive.”
“I am.”
Of course he’s fucking chatty now.
Dawn was approaching and I needed to change the subject. “Won’t you… you know, combust into flames at sunrise?”
He snorted. “As long as I stay out of direct rays I’ll be fine. Sorry to dash your hopes.”
I shrugged. “A girl can dream.”
That explained the cap. So he could potentially give chase even after sun up, but he’d definitely be limited and it’d be dangerous for him.
I gave a silent prayer for a sunny day.
We passed field after field, the trees now barren, a thin sheet of frost veiling everything.
The slow rising of the sun finally revealed the world beyond the dark.
I still didn’t have a clue where we were, though.
I saw a road sign a while back indicating that we were forty-seven miles from the next major city. Close enough, I’d find my way somehow.