“No, I’m good.”
Sydney flinched at the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights inside the restroom. Once her eyes adjusted she was surprised by how clean the facilities were. She sighed as she finally got to relieve herself for the first time in hours. Looking at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands, she could barely meet her own blood shot eyes. Her dark brown hair was limp and falling out of the knot she had tied it into. Shame darkened her eyes and she narrowed them at herself. “Who are you?” she muttered at her reflection. Her eyes grew darker and her blood ran cold. Leaning forward she held her breath. “What the hell?”
Syd widened her eyes and studied them carefully. As she watched, her pupils dilated impossibly fast and a sharp pain stabbed into her brain. Closing her eyes against the burst of light that darted through her sensitive and exposed retinas, she cursed. “Shit.” Cracking open her eyes, caused a mild sensitivity but she was relieved to find there was no more blinding pain. Leaning into the mirror again she peered at her eyes once again. Normal. Her pupils were back to normal. She sighed, suspicious she imagined the whole thing. But the dull throb that was building in her brain said otherwise. She debated on telling Xander and finally decided against it. It may, or may not, have happened and she didn’t want to give him more reasons to be alarmed or worried than he already was. The whole thing could have just been because I’m so tired.
By the time she was done and returned to the truck, Xander was already inside eating as many Doritos at a time as he could. She grimaced at him. “Well, I’m definitely not making out with you now,” she chuckled, trying to forget the bathroom incident.
Xander gaped at her in exaggerated surprise. “That was a possibility?” he exclaimed around the crushed chips. Turning, he opened the door causing the dome light to come on and Sydney to cringe. She heard the sound of him spitting out a mouthful of Doritos. “OK, I’m ready,” he grinned at her with chip crumbs stuck in his teeth and on his lips and beard. He shut the door again and Syd was grateful for the darkness returning.
She couldn’t help but laugh at his antics. How the hell am I laughing right now? Xander rinsed his mouth with a swig from a water bottle. “I got you one too,” he held out a cool bottle and she took it gratefully. “Do you think you’ll have any trouble sleeping in the truck?” he asked.
“Surprisingly, no. I think I’ll be asleep before…” she let her head fall back as she feigned sleep.
They both chuckled at their silliness. “I think I’ve reached the point of being slap-happy,” Xander smiled as he pushed the bench seat back to try to stretch his long legs a bit.
“Me too,” Sydney yawned, raising her feet to the dashboard.
“Hey, no shoes on the dash!”
She looked at him astonished to see he was serious. “I’m pretty sure my shoes will help clean the dirt off…”
“Very funny,” he nodded pointedly at her feet.
“Alright, alright,” she snickered kicking her shoes off and returning her feet to the dash.
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered as she drifted off to the sound of Xander crunching more chips.
Chapter Twenty One
The next time Sydney opened her eyes she was greeted with screaming neck pain, numb feet and a Xander grinning down at her. “Ow,” she groaned trying to sit up. He had to lift her up and off his lap.
“You know, when I woke up and your head was in my lap I thought it was Christmas morning. Then I realized you were asleep and was pretty sad.”
“Ha. Ha. I’m surprised I didn’t lose an eye,” she snorted. She slowly twisted her neck in a circle trying to loosen the knot that prevented her from turning her head in either direction.
“I’m going to go clean up a bit and get some breakfast.”
“Me too,” Sydney grunted opening her door.
“Hurry back, Grumpy,” Xander chuckled.
“Shut up.”
Syd didn’t feel human again until she had used the bathroom and washed her face with cold water and brushed her teeth. With cool, minty fresh breath, she made her way back to the truck. When she climbed in Xander held a package of donuts.
“The rest stop’s finest.”
“Thanks,” she smiled.
“Well, someone is in a better mood.”
“I’m not really a morning person.”
“I see that.”
“Who the hell would have thought you were,” she muttered to know one in particular.
“I know, right.”
“Especially considering everything that’s happened.”
Xander shrugged. “What’s the point in brooding over everything? I told you, I’m not going to feel guilty over killing a psycho. If I sit around and freak out about what happened—is happening—then I won’t be moving forward. And if we don’t move forward, we won’t get to the end of this.”
Sydney shook her head in amazement as Xander stuffed his trash into an old grocery bag behind the seat. He started the truck and pulled out of their parking spot while she settled down and tried to get comfortable. “Well, are you ever going to tell me why you were in jail?”
“I’d rather not,” he sighed.
“Hey! I was honest with you.” Mostly, she reminded herself.
Finally he relented. “I went through a pretty wild stage when I was a kid.”
“And?” That news didn’t surprise her at all. The only thing that raised a brow was the indication that he was no longer “wild.”
“I got involved with a rough crowd.”
“A gang?” Sydney tried to be patient at having to drag the information out of him.
“Kind of. It was a club.”
“Club?” Syd laughed. “I’m guessing more motorcycle than A/V.”
Xander smirked at her. “Yeah.”
“Shocker. What did you do for them?”
“Ran errands mostly.”
“Like…”
“Like dropping ‘packages’ off. Like picking up ‘payments.’ Eventually, it graduated to...’teaching lessons’ to people who didn’t follow rules.” Syd raised a brow but didn’t interrupt. He was silent for a while. “A guy died. It was an accident. I was fifteen.”
“How does a fifteen year old accidentally kill an adult?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “I hit him with a car.”
“Damn.”
“I did three years in juvie for involuntary manslaughter. It would have been worse but it was my first offense, I was good at not getting caught at the stuff I was doing. And the guy who died had a long history with the cops.”
“Ah,” she nodded. Xander glanced at her, judging her reaction. “What?” she asked. “Did you expect me to freak out? Given my history and our past day or so, I don’t really have any room for judgment.”
Xander nodded and scratched at his beard. “When I got out, I backed off the club shit.”
“And they let you?”
“Yeah, they weren’t the worst guys in the world.” He chuckled at her wide-eyed look. “They weren’t angels obviously. But they respected my wanting out. And, I was never officially in. Plus, one of the old guys was always partial to me. He told everyone to let me go my way. They let me take over one of their legit business—the tow truck and garage—with the bit of money our grandmother left us,” he explained. Then, Coleman died and left me the rest of the business. The only connection I have to the club now is weed. And I do some mechanic work when they need it.”
Syd took a moment to absorb the information. “Thanks for telling me.” Against her better judgment she held out a hand and after glancing at it, Xander gripped it firmly. “We are quite a pair, aren’t we?” she laughed.
“Right.”
***
Twelve hours later the sun was setting as they drove into Las Vegas. Sydney stared open mouthed at all the flashing lights and people stumbling along the streets in varying states of excitement, drunkenness and despair. “Wow,” she muttered.
�
�Yeah, Disney Land for depraved adults.”
“Have you ever been here before?”
“No. You?” When she gave him an exasperated look he cringed. “Sorry.”
“OK. Now what?” she asked.
“Well, I don’t think we should rush into meeting Pandaren87.”
“Me either.”
“Find a decent place to stay?”
“How? We can’t leave an electronic trace for people to find us.”
Xander rolled his eyes. “This is Vegas. He pulled out his phone and tapped at it for a few minutes before smiling, tapping it a couple of more times and raising the phone to his ear. Sydney could hear ringing on the other end. Finally, a loud, crackling voice answered, “Yeah?”
Ignoring the gruff shout, Xander launched right in. “I’m calling about the room for rent?”
“Yeah?”
“Is it still available,” he asked, doing an amazing job of not sounding exasperated.
“Yep. One-Fifty a night.”
“Is cash OK?”
“Cash only.”
Grinning, Xander wrote the address down on a scrap of paper before informing the guy on the phone they would be there in ten minutes. “Easy-peasy.”
“Good thinking. How did you know that would work?”
“It’s a gambling town. There’s always someone out to make cash.”
Fifteen minutes later they pulled up in front of a surprisingly decent looking house and were shown to a room over the attached garage.
“My name is George,” the man panted carrying his oxygen tank up the exposed staircase on the side of the building. “Like I said.” Pant, pant. “Cash only. Three hundred now, for security and night’s rent. You’ll get one-fifty of that back when you leave.” Huff, pant. “And another one-fifty tomorrow if you want to stay another night.” Groaning, he came to a stop at landing in front of a door. “No parties.” Pant. “And if you break anything I’ll call the cops. And keep your deposit.”
“You didn’t say anything about a deposit on the phone,” Xander eyed him.
The old man looked from Xander to their disheveled appearance and rickety truck with Illinois plates. “Feel free to find another place that will only take cash this late at night.” The man smelled as bad as he sounded and Sydney had to turn her head to avoid his breath.
“Fine,” Xander shrugged and began counting out money.
The man opened a door and handed them the key. “It’s clean. No bed bugs. I spray it down whenever someone leaves. If you want your deposit back you’ll clean it up when you’re done,” the man growled and turned towards the stairs. Syd moved out of his way, holding her breath as he passed.
Sydney followed Xander inside, afraid of what she would find, but was encouraged by the lack of odor inside. After fumbling along the wall, he finally found a switch and flipped it. The dim overhead light revealed a clean, studio style apartment. There was a small kitchenette to their right with a two person table. A love seat and a bed on the opposite wall and a door to their right that she assumed lead to a tiny bathroom.
“Well, not nearly as bad as I expected.”
“Yeah, this is even nicer than your place over the garage.”
“Hey, the ladies never complain.”
Syd just rolled her eyes and dropped her bag on the table. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“I’ll try to find some food.”
“Sounds good.”
The bathroom, despite being tiny, was also nicer than Syd expected. It was clean, and had hot water, which were her two necessities at the moment. When she emerged she was feeling exceptionally better, especially when she saw the pizza box on the table. “There weren’t any better options,” Xander shrugged.
“That is the best looking pizza I’ve ever seen.”
Xander snorted. “Well, right this way, my lady,” he gallantly held her vinyl upholstered chair out for her. Sydney tried to not be impressed by his sarcastic chivalry, but there was enough honesty behind it to cause her stomach to flip-flop a little.
They cracked open beers and dug into the pizza, Sydney moaning in delight at the greasy, cheesy—and most importantly, hot dinner. “I was getting really tired of eating out of vending machines.”
“Same here. Oh, I looked up the address that Pandaren87 sent us. It’s only about twenty minutes from here. It looks like a coffee shop just off the strip.”
“Public is good.”
“I agree.”
Syd’s limbs felt like dead weights by the time she got done eating. “I’m so exhausted.”
“You look like it.”
“Well, thanks!”
“I just meant you don’t look well. You’ve got dark circles under your eyes, and they are blood shot. Are you feeling sick?”
“Not really. Just tired. And I’ve had a mild headache since last night.”
Xander’s eyes narrowed, “Are you sure you aren’t sick? Any more nosebleeds?”
“No! I’m fine,” she answered more forcefully than she should. Worry nagged at her. She had enough to contend with without her physical state getting worse.
“Sure,” Xander stared at her.
“Stop looking at me like that. I’m fine, really. I’ve just been stuck on the road for over twenty-four hours after having a rough few months,” she kept her voice even.
“OK,” he finally conceded. “Well, let’s try to catch up on some sleep.”
“Uh...what are we going to do about the sleeping arrangements?”
He considered the bed and the couch. “Well, we are both adults, we can share the bed. Unless you don’t trust me,” he wiggled his eyebrows.
“Oh, I don’t trust you at all,” Sydney stood from the table.
“Yeah, you do,” Xander smirked standing with her.
Dammit, he’s right. “I trust you to be you,” she laughed.
He stepped closer and her breath caught in her throat. “Much to your pleasure.” He was so close she could smell the remnants of his cologne and it smelt spicy and enticing. Jesus. Xander continued to hold her gaze as he looked down at her and his closeness sent chills over her body and caused her imagination to run wild. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to step back, but her body wouldn’t let her. Instead, it wanted to press itself against his chest like a cat.
As if he could read her mind, Xander grinned. “I’m going to jump in the shower.” He stepped away, taking the air with him.
She growled low in her throat hoping he didn’t hear it.
“I heard that.”
Fuck me, she muttered to herself. No! That’s what I shouldn’t do. But, damn, do I want to.
Wearing just a tee-shirt and panties, Sydney slid into bed and rested on her back. Despite how tired she was, she couldn’t turn off her brain. At the moment her current situation and all its possible outcomes slipped through her mind like a flip-book. Xander might be the least of her worries right now, but he was still a concern. She might trust him, but she didn’t trust herself. If she gave into what she knew she wanted, it would be harder to leave if and when she needed to. And she really, really wanted to give in. She wanted to forget about feeling scared and confused. She just wanted to feel good.
A short time later, the bathroom door opened and Xander emerged with damp hair wearing a pair of gym shorts and nothing else. Aw shit, Syd held her breath as she watched him toss his dirty clothes on top of his bag and turn off the light. Even in the darkness she could see the tattoos decorating his skin and she could smell the shampoo on his hair and the soap on his skin as he climbed into bed. He brushed carelessly against her as he slid under the blankets. A foot against her shin. His hand against her hip. And each place he touch lit up like she had been electrocuted. She waited for him to turn towards her and she struggled to think of all the reasons she would have to give him for denying him and how hard it would be—pun intended. She took a deep breath, ready to explain, but her chest deflated when he, unexpectedly, turned on his side with his back facing
her.
“Good night,” he told her pleasantly as he settled down.
Son of a bitch!
Chapter Twenty-Two
Even though she was so tired she felt like she hadn’t slept, Sydney was the first to wake up the next morning. Her head throbbed and her vision was blurred as she stumbled to the bathroom. By the time she had peed and washed her face she could see better, but her head still hurt and she still felt drained and unrested. Her stomach growled and she realized she was so hungry she was starting to feel nauseous. She found the remains of their pizza and didn’t even bother to heat it. She just plopped down at the table and glared at the lump in the bed that was Xander.
I know he did that shit last night on purpose. He knew I thought he was going to make a move and purposely didn’t just to piss me off. What kind of game is he playing? As if he could feel her eyes on him, Xander stretched and rolled onto his back. He sat up rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and when he saw her glaring at him he laughed.
“Good morning, Sunshine!”
“What’s so good about it?” Syd grumbled.
“Well, apparently breakfast pizza. Did you even save me a slice?”
“Nope.”
“Okay,” he drew the word out slowly. He shuffled into the kitchen, walking stiff-legged and zombie-like as he stretched his limbs and yawned obnoxiously. He banged around the kitchen looking for coffee fixings and hummed a wordless tune.
Sydney felt her irritation at him swell. And now he’s acting like nothing ever happened. I’ve just got to let this go. It’s a good thing that he didn’t try anything. She couldn’t remember ever being involved with anyone before, but she wasn’t dumb. She knew having sex with Xander would lead to more feelings than she wanted to have. She took a deep breath and let it out quietly. As her tension eased, so did the pain in her head. The combination of stress and hunger had made for a bad morning.
Xander sat a cup of coffee in front of her and she mumbled a thank you. “Coffee is the best cure for grumpiness,” he told her.
“It will help.”
“What has got you into such a foul mood?” he asked.
Don't Let Them Find You Page 13
