CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - HOG #2
We drive for over an hour, taking State Route 70 due south until we arrive at a motel not far from Sacramento Airport.
She stirs as we pull up outside reception, her head jerking sharply off my shoulder.
“Sorry.” She grimaces and wipes her face as she scoots over to her side of the bench seat, the pillowcase of supplies plopped on her lap.
She takes out a bottle of water, but as she peers through the window at the motel, her scent sharpens with unease. “Where are we?”
“Outskirts of Sacramento,” Axel replies, turning to look at her. “We’re gonna stop for the night. Clean up and make a plan.”
Her fingers twist into a knot in her lap. “We're not going back to the cabin?”
“After you turned yourself into a human snowball and tried to roll down the mountain?” Colt jokes, giving her a cheeky wink. “That would be disrespecting a pretty impressive jail break, don’t you think?”
I’m tempted to reach over and give him a shake by the neck, but she just rolls her eyes at him. “And yet somehow, you’re still clinging like road grit.”
He gives a flirty shrug. “I’m attached. What can I say?”
She smirks, but then her gaze drops to my hand and the specks of blood on my knuckles. She sucks in a shallow breath. “Okay. A shower would be good.”
“There’s a diner down the street,” Colt says, leaping out of the truck. “I’ll grab some food while you check in.”
Birdie gives a distracted nod and Axel heads into the reception while Colt goes in search of food.
The quiet settles back over us like a heavy blanket and I realize her gaze is still on my hand.
I want to thread my blood-spattered fingers through her pale ones, but they’re now clenched into a fist, the faint trembling making my heart ache. “What are you thinking about, Omega?”
“I didn’t mean to drag you into this.” Her throat bobs, and the shadows under her eyes are so deep, they look like bruises. “This isn’t your problem to fix.”
“It’s not a problem, and you didn’t drag me into anything. I’m just sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”
Her brow crinkles, and I can tell she’s not convinced. Is it really so hard for her to think someone might want to fight her battles for her? “Because you think we’re scent matches?”
“It’s not something I think as much as feel.” The creases in her brow deepen and I back off, at least for now. “But I know that makes you uncomfortable, so we can just call it a sense of duty, if that’s easier.”
“Because of Charlie.”
This doesn’t seem to sit well with her either. “Because I fucking hate seeing people I care about getting hurt.”
Axel chooses that moment to exit reception and nod towards a motel room further down the row. I don’t bother moving the truck since it’s already in a shadowy alcove and it won’t be here for much longer, anyway.
Axel has got us two rooms joined by an interconnected door.
The décor could do with an update, but it’s clean enough, and offers two double beds and a mini fridge.
I carry my duffel into the adjoining room while water starts to run in the bathroom next door.
Axel follows me in, his expression grim. “I should call the general.”
I stiffen and grip my bag tighter. “You think that’s a good idea?”
He scrubs the back of his neck and sighs. “I think we need to find out what the fuck’s going on, and why his adjutant was attacking Birdie in an alleyway.”
“Agreed, but I want to get her side first.”
He pauses, his eyes narrowing. “You think the general has an opposing side?”
I sure as hell hope not, but at this stage, everyone is under suspicion. “Booth sent her to us for safekeeping, but maybe he changed his mind. Maybe he decided she would get in the way of our mission and sent Peak to remove her.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” I look at him in surprise and he shrugs. “Something doesn’t add up. Charlie said he lost touch with Birdie a few years ago, but that DoD tattoo on her arm is fresh. It had to come from someone in Booth’s team.”
“Like Lieutenant Peak.”
There’s a sound from the connecting doorway and Birdie steps into the room, her arms wrapped tightly around her body. Her gaze bounces between us, tension radiating off her in waves. “You knew Razor?”
“We knew him as Peak,” Axel explains, his voice taking on a soothing edge. “He works - worked - with General Booth.”
I grimace at his fumble and she bites her lip. “He was a friend of yours?”
“No,” I reply, my hands curling into fists. Peak was a bootlicker and a snob who could be as petty as hell towards the lower ranks. I dominated him in every way, but he still tried hard to make me feel small. “And even if he was, he crossed an unforgivable line with you.”
“I knew him as Razor,” she says quietly, leaning back against the doorframe. Her whole body radiates exhaustion, and I have to brace myself so I don’t walk over and try to lift some of that weight off her. “Pretty much everything he did was unforgiveable.”
“Who’s on our shit list now?” Colt asks as he steps into the room with a couple of bulging sacks of food.
He casts a quick look around and then drops them on the small table in the corner, offloading sodas from the pockets of his cargoes.
“I got a bunch of stuff, since I didn’t know what you all wanted. ”
Axel pauses but then grabs a stack of napkins and starts handing them out. “Eat first, and then we can talk.”