by Amie Stuart
“His name is Scamp. Use it,” she bit out.
Will glanced at her over the top of his sunglasses, then back down at the dog. He finally spoke through gritted teeth, “Move, Scamp.”
Instead of moving, Scamp looked up at him, the doggie equivalent of “fuck you” on his face.
“Please,” Sabrina said softly.
They really didn’t have time for this. “Please.” Again Scamp didn’t budge. God only knew what would happen if he picked the damn dog up. “Move, Scamp, please.”
With one last nasty look, the dog turned, showing his ass to Will, and jumped down, disappearing in the back of the van.
“Lay down, Scamp,” Sabrina happily called.
The dog replied with a bark as he settled on Sabrina’s mattress.
If Will knew one thing, he knew he’d have to find out who was after him as fast as possible. He didn’t know how much of...Scamp he could take.
Sabrina started the van, and abominably loud country music assaulted his ears. He reached over and lowered the volume. “Can you turn on the air?”
“No.” She backed out.
“No?”
“No. Fresh air is better for you. Plus the A/C burns more gas.”
Fresh air that hovered right around 103 degrees. Groaning, he rolled down his window, hoping he could persuade her to turn the A/C on after she finished punishing him. “Head for the nearest gas station.”
“I’ve got a full tank,” she said, pulling out on the farm road.
Could she possibly argue with him anymore? He scanned the countryside as far as he could see, but there wasn’t a car in sight. “Head for the highway and find me a convenience store so I can get a disposable phone.”
By the time he climbed out of the van ten minutes later, Will had what was possibly the worst headache of his life and his hand throbbed painfully. “Want anything?”
She glanced at him over the top of her sunglasses. “My life back would be nice.”
“Besides that?”
“Beef jerky.” She turned the music up and proceeded to sing along with some twangy, female country singer.
None of the cars looked like the one from the fairgrounds. Thank God for small favors, but Will wouldn’t be surprised if they were being watched. It’s what he’d do. Of course, he wouldn’t have missed his target in the first place, because he would have planned better.
Inside, the place was doing a brisk business, but he didn’t waste any time. It wasn’t like they’d shoot him in a crowded store, but the faster they got back on the road, put some distance between themselves and San Antonio, the better. Will grabbed a couple packages of beef jerky, something for his headache, a six-pack of water and, after perusing the candy bars, some sugar free gum. He never ate candy. Had never developed much of a taste for sweets, other than his mother’s pie, but right then, a Snickers bar sounded like heaven to him. He also got a phone.
“Drive,” he barked as he climbed into the van.
She stared at him, her gaze never wavering as she put the van in reverse. “You don’t have to snap at me.”
“You need to learn to move quicker.” He set the bags between them and fished out the phone. “Our lives may depend on it.”
“I’d tell you to loosen up, but I’m afraid to ask what you do to relax.”
“Drive.” He snapped his seatbelt into place and threw her jerky on the consoled between them. “Before someone makes it look like we’ve been carjacked and our bodies are found in a shallow ditch somewhere.” Again, his words were harsh out of necessity, but he immediately regretted them. Sabrina hadn’t asked for this. He should have just thrown her damn journals in the trash.
She drove, but Will regretted his words the minute they were out of his mouth. She didn’t talk to him again until they hit New Braunfels, almost an hour later. By then, Will had relaxed enough to tackle the distraction of another phone call. While the phone rang, he fished a first aid kit out of his bag. He wasn’t willing to use his own phone and had even shut it off and removed the battery in case whoever was after him had decided to use it to track them.
“Hello,” a female voice said.
“Let me talk to Wynn. Please.” From beside him, Sabrina snorted.
“Hang on.” Julie sighed, and he heard the muffled sound of her shouting for his brother. Julie and Wynn had been married almost a year, and she still hadn’t gotten past her disapproval over how the Collier men made their living. She would, eventually, if she planned on staying married to his brother.
“This is Wynn,” he said as Julie hung up.
“We’re on the road.”
Wynn snorted. “I’d ask who’s got it out for you, but I’m sure the list is hellaciously long.”
“Gee thanks.”
“Just saying, bro.”
“Look, we’re headed north on I-35—”
“We?” his brother echoed.
Will glanced at Sabrina and sighed. “It’s a long story.”
“Don’t come here.”
“I’m not dumb, Wynn.” But he had no idea where to go. “I need a place to hole up.”
“You want someplace in the middle of nowhere where you can see folks coming for miles, and run the risk of being trapped, or you want some place with lots of people where you never see the bullet coming?”
He should have gotten that Snickers and a soda. “You’re not funny. This isn’t funny.”
“I’m not trying to be funny, Will. I’m on it. Now lighten the fuck up.”
“Sorry,” he said even though he wasn’t. They needed to go to ground fast. “But I don’t have a lot of options.”
“Let me talk to Julie, and I’ll call you back.”
“Fine.”
“Hey?”
“What?”
“Is she pretty?”
“Go to hell.” He hung up, took his Ibuprofen and swallowed half a bottle of water as the rolling scenery raced by.
“You don’t have a sister in Austin do you?”
“No. She lives in Dallas.”
“Is she a hit...woman?” Sabrina asked a few minutes later.
Will almost laughed. “No. She’s a college student.”
Danielle hated guns, hated how her brothers made a living and gave their father endless grief about it. Will sighed, praying for his headache to let up, but he had a feeling it’d be a long time before it did.
“Will?”
“Hmmm?”
“Where are we going?”
“For now? North. Just north.”
While Sabrina drove, he kept an eye in front of and behind them. He sighed in relief when Wynn finally called back with directions to a lake cabin not too far from the Red River.
* * *
Many hours later Will sat on a rickety front porch, warped wood cutting into his ass, listening. For a car, for a rifle. For footsteps. He didn’t expect them to come from inside the cabin, but a floorboard groaned, then another, then the door opened, scraping against worn hardwood. Sabrina stepped outside, joining him on the porch.
The night was dark, and cool, thanks to a breeze from the nearby lake. It rustled through the oak trees, carrying the sound of frogs croaking.
Earlier she’d said she hated him; now she sat leaning against him, arms wrapped around herself, the darkness and her hair hiding her face from him. He didn’t bother fighting the urge to wrap a protective arm around her. She’d showered and her damp hair smelled sweet.The click of Scamp’s nails announced his arrival. Instead of joining Sabrina, he jumped down the steps, sniffed around in the trampled yard a bit then lifted his nose to the sky, smelling something.
Wetting his lips, Will tensed, his grip tightening on the gun cradled in his hand, but Scamp just resumed sniffing and walking. He disappeared around the side of the house.
Will didn’t blame Sabrina, but ever since he’d met her, his life had spiraled out of control and that didn’t sit well with him. He liked things tidy. He liked order. But here he was, on the run with this stra
nge, beautiful little vagabond. It scared him to even admit to himself how beautiful she was. Now was not the time for physical complications. Matter of fact, it was the worst possible time. They had enough to deal with.
They sat silently for a while listening to the wind scuttle through the trees, watching the clouds race across the moon to occasionally darken the yard. The heat of her body warming him as the night deepened.
“You should get some sleep. I’ll keep watch,” he finally said. There was no telling what tomorrow would bring, or when whoever was hunting them would finally find them.
“I still hate you.” Her voice was soft, and there was no oomph behind her words.
“I know.” He sighed, but made no move to comfort her again. He felt like he was wearing a lead suit that prevented him from moving.
She curled up smaller, resting her head on her knees.
“There’s a bed inside,” he said, giving her another verbal nudge. “You should use it.”
She sat up, flinging her hair over her shoulder and frowning at him. “Are you always such a cold-hearted bastard?”
No reply was necessary; the one he would have given would probably have gotten him slapped anyway.
“I’m not exactly in the mood for sleep, okay?” she said, her voice warbling with fatigue and emotion. “You don’t even care what you’ve done. What you’ve done to me and Scamp.” She motioned to the dog who’d found himself a nice spot in the yard to lie in. Unlike her, he didn’t seem terribly concerned with their new circumstances.
Will heard her words, felt her pain, but finally realized he didn’t know how to respond. Women confounded him. Even his own mother, who he loved more than anything, had left him scratching his head more times than he could count.
“You can ignore me all you want, but you can’t shut me up. I am not going to die because of your bad karma.” She took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Do you hear me?”
Will winced as her words echoed off the hills around them. “Like you have a lot to live for?” he snapped back, his patience worn thin. Between being shot at, her dog and the damn country music she'd forced him to listen to, he’d been pushed to the edge.
She lurched to her feet and dusted off her backside. “And you’re as warm as a side of beef in a meat locker.” She stood up, and went back inside the cabin, slamming the door behind her.
He sighed again, hanging his head. Give him a gun, a job and a timeframe and he knew exactly what to do. Give him a woman, and he was lost...as well, lost could get. Sabrina was nothing like Tilly, or his sister, or even his mother, but she still managed to mystify him.
Scamp’s tag jingled as he got up. He stopped briefly to lick Will’s fingers, and then headed for the door. He scratched twice and a few seconds later, Sabrina let him in, slamming the door again.
Shutting Will out.
He should go inside and talk to her, apologize, but words failed him and so did his legs. What good would apologizing do anyway? It wasn’t as if he’d missed a birthday or an anniversary. He’d put her life in jeopardy. Will deserved her anger. He just wished he knew how to comfort her.
* * *
He came awake in an instant, his heart pounding as he lurched to his feet and swung his gun to the left, his gritty eyes trained on the corner of the house. The sound of his brother, Wynn, telling him to relax had him sagging against the porch post, the hand holding the gun falling to his side. Wynn was taller than him by about four inches and as solid as that chilly side of beef Sabrina had mentioned. Marriage hadn’t made him lazy, but he was definitely eating better.
“Morning.”
Wynn returned his greeting, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “You look like hell.”
Will rubbed at his face, his palm scraping against a day’s growth of beard. He felt like hell too. And he didn’t think his ass would ever recover from his long night on the porch. “What do you know?”
He led Wynn inside the cabin. It wasn’t much, just a room with a tiny kitchen, a double bed, a sofa and some lamps and a television that got three channels—on a clear day. If the wind blew right.
“You need to do something about her,” Wynn murmured, motioning to where Sabrina lay. Her face was hidden by a mass of hair and she barely moved. At her feet, Scamp looked up, ears at attention. Once he’d decided they were no threat, he curled up again, watching them.
Will crossed to the battered coffeemaker and turned it on. “I know.” Boy, did he know. He’d spent most of last night trying to figure out what to do with her. He’d dragged her into this and he had to get her out.
He had to figure out how to get them both out—alive.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“You can’t hide out here forever,” the other man said.
Here was some remote lake in far North Texas. We’d driven, and driven, and driven, heading west once we’d gotten to Gainesville and losing ourselves in ranch country.
“I know.” That was Will.
I slowly pulled back the covers and peeked at them both, startled to see how much the other man looked like Will, except taller. And cuter. As in puppy dog cute. While Will looked like the unassuming boy-next-door-all-grown-up, good-looking Soccer Dad. They were obviously related and both of them would get better with age. But right now Will looked as tired as he sounded, and he hadn’t come in all night. I’d stayed awake as long as I could, worried about where he’d sleep, worried he'd take off with my van and leave me stranded, worried someone would kill us in our sleep, but I didn’t think he’d slept at all.
“And you can’t go anywhere near Mom and Dad.”
“No shit. You’ve got to find out who put a hit out on me. Before Dad gets wind of this.”
“And why.”
“They had the Monte Carlo—from Phoenix.”
“You sure?”
“My gut says yes.”
They moved outside, leaving me alone and wondering what they were planning. And I didn’t even want to know what had happened in Phoenix. I grabbed some clean clothes and headed for the bathroom. Despite plenty of sleep, I was still tired and I couldn’t shake the painful knot between my shoulder blades as I splashed water on my face.
Back out in the kitchen, our guest had apparently brought food. I poured myself a cup of coffee and rifled through the supplies in a box, then made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was thoughtfully nibbling at the crust when Will reentered the cabin—alone.
“You’re up.”
“Where’s your friend?” I took another bite of my breakfast, nearly choking on the thick peanut butter and the fear clogging my throat. Hot coffee helped dissolve the peanut butter but not the rest.
“He left.” He collapsed in a seat across from me, his gray eyes darkened to charcoal. A frown furrowed his eyebrows. He looked exhausted.
“Why couldn’t I have gone with him?”
“Because I need to keep my family out of this.”
“But it’s okay to put my life in danger.” I left my words dangling there between us.
“That’s not what I meant, Sabrina.” He blew out a heavy breath and his shoulders sagged. His head sank into his bandaged hand.
“How’s your hand?”
“Fine.”
“I can make you a sandwich.” As peace offerings went, it sucked but it was all I had.
He shook his head and looked up long enough to give me a brief, tired smile. “Thank you, though.”
“What’s the plan?”
“We’ll stay here for a few days.”
Because you have no idea what the plan is. I frowned at him, letting him know that I knew he had no plan of action. I sat at the table, the hardwood chair biting into my ass, and finished my breakfast.
“Hopefully my brother can find information, and fast, so we can get you back to San Antonio.”
In another world, under different circumstances, I wondered if Will and I would have met. What would have happened? Would he have asked me out? What would dinner and a movi
e have been like? Considering I liked Indie films and he probably liked action flicks, not so good. Then again, someone like him wouldn’t have asked someone like me out in the first place.
Will was a damned fine specimen, if you could get past the whole “killing people for a living” thing. Even with the shadows under his eyes and his normally pristine clothes, now wrinkled and smudged with dust and dirt.
But he was still handsome in a way that made not staring difficult, and I had to force myself to look away. Everything was already complicated enough.
“Are we safe here?” I finally asked.
“Yeah. For now.” He nodded, staring at me slow and steady as if he could silently assure me things would be fine.
I nodded and nibbled at my sandwich until it was gone. “Is anyone going to...miss you?” Like a wife or a girlfriend...or boyfriend.
“Just my family.”
How ironic that he had a family and I didn’t. “You were supposed to go on another job? Weren’t you?”
Nodding, he lurched to his feet. “I’m gonna take a nap. Don’t go outside.”
I couldn’t just sit here. Waiting. Watching Will sleep. He dislodged Scamp from the bed and stretched out. He came over and started munching on the kibble I’d brought in from the van. I sat, silently, waiting until Will’s soft snores filled the cabin, then glanced down at my dog. “Come on.”
* * *
I quietly slipped out the door, never looking back as I made the walk to the end of the driveway where I debated which way to go. It was a beautiful early summer day; the thick trees surrounding the cabin were still lush and green. Somewhere nearby a boat engine roared. The air was warm and slightly damp. Despite our dire situation, I smiled. Being outside, moving, soothed my frazzled nerves.
A stiff breeze stirred the reddish soil that made up the road and rocked the rickety mailbox back and forth on its rotten post. I glanced down at Scamp who was waiting for me to make a decision. Just like he’d waited on me so many times in the past. Much like my poor, not-so-sainted mother, I’d made a slew of wrong turns. Unlike her, I knew how to turn my ass around and get the hell out of Dodge. Until now. Now it looked like I’d gotten myself into a hell of a mess. That didn’t stop me from worrying that Will was right—if I ran, they’d find me.
