15
Tania drove with Serena laying down in her backseat. She had a ton of shit in her car, like she was moving or something. We managed to squash some of it into the front seat and to the side to make room for Serena.
I followed them on my bike.
Three towns down, she pulled up at a motel. “I’ll go get us rooms. You stay here.”
I got in the back with Serena, her head in my lap. Her tired gaze hung on mine as she slugged down water from a small bottle Tania had given her.
“Why are you helping us?” I asked Tania.
“Isn’t it a bit late to be asking that question?” Tania shot me a look as she took her wallet from her backpack.
“I’m curious ‘cause you don’t seem the type to—”
“That’s why, right there.” A grin grew on her lips. “By the looks of you I should’ve run the other way at top speed, but here I am. You obviously really needed help.”
“Well, I appreciate it,” I replied.
“This is about me as much as it is about you.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I need to take risks, which I tried to do very recently and failed at pretty miserably. And today, what drops down in front of me? The two of you. Literally dropped down in front of me in a crap gas station bathroom outside of Tripp of all places. That’s a pretty huge opportunity for a second chance at risk-taking that the Universe just laid at my feet, I’d say.”
“I had other plans, but they fucking fell though.”
“Believe me, I get it. ‘Other plans’ usually do fall through,” Tania agreed. “I’m going to go in. You guys duck down or whatever. You know.”
“You’re funny.”
“Yeah, that’s me.” Her gaze lingered on us. She was concerned.
“You go on ahead,” I murmured, my hand stroking Serena’s cool face.
Her pale lips tipped up into a weak smile.
Tania came back within ten minutes. “There was only one room. Two double beds though. I took it, but I’m sure you guys are going to want your privacy and I—”
“And you’re afraid I’m going to assault you, slit your throat in the middle of the night, take your shit and run,” I said.
“Maybe.”
“Not gonna do that. First, you’re helping me out, and I respect that. Second, I’m no rapist. And third, I’m too fuckin’ tired for anything but sleep tonight.”
“Well, all righty then.” Tania grabbed a small duffel bag out of the passenger side front seat. “Let’s go.”
“Serena, we’re going to go inside this motel now. Gonna get cleaned up and into bed. Sounds good, right?”
Serena only let out a small sound, and I slid my arm around her and lifted her out of the car. The three of us moved toward Room 110. Tania slid the key in the door, the click giving me a ping of hope for the first time in hours. We moved into the stuffy, dark space.
“You wanna get clean?” I asked Serena as Tania turned on the bathroom light.
“I can help, if you want,” said Tania. “If you need me to, that is. Sorry, I don’t mean to…Look, I’ve got some extra clothes that will probably fit her. She’s really thin, so they may be big.”
“That’d be great.”
“Sure. Let’s get her in the bathroom.”
We both took Serena in the bathroom. I ripped off my gloves and undressed her, my fingers shaking.
Tania glanced at my damaged hands and blinked. “You want me to do this? I mean, are you okay? You must be stressed out, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Tania helped Serena take off her shirt.
“Oh God.“ Tania’s face flared, her voice a rough whisper.
Bruises and scars from cuts and cigarette burns mottled Serena’s pale skin.
“That motherfucker,” I said on a hiss.
We got her naked, her ribs and pelvic bones peeking through her bruised flesh. I ripped off my clothes and guided her into the shower stall. Tania turned on the water, and Serena shuddered in my arms, clinging to me, moaning.
Tania’s face flushed, as if she’d now realized that I was naked too. She stepped out of the small bathroom. “I-I’ll be outside if you need anything.”
“Don’t go anywhere. Wait for us to come out. My gun’s in my jacket if you need it.”
“Goody.” She closed the door.
I held up Serena and washed every inch of her, my fingers smoothing over her white skin, the pink and blue veins visible at every curve. “I got you, baby. You’re with me now. I’ll send Tania out to get us something to eat. We’ll watch some TV and get sleep. Sounds good, right?”
Her head knocked back against the white tile wall, and her lips tipped up in a smile. I kissed her and the world stopped spinning. My soapy hands slid down her back and stopped at her ass. She let out a cry and buried her face in my chest.
If we walked out of this bathroom and that Tania chick blew us to bits, I wouldn’t give a fuck. I’d had this. Serena and me. Naked to each other, skin to skin under a stream of clean, hot water. No chains, no audience, no jeering, just us. Us together.
No, there was nothing less and nothing more I wanted.
I got Serena into bed and climbed in after her. She fell asleep right away in the crook of my arm.
“I’m going to get you a T-shirt and some first aid stuff for your arm and chest. And food,” whispered Tania.
“I got money in my wallet. Take whatever.”
“No, I got this.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Thanks, Tania. Hey, a favor? No sliced white bread for me.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Okay, Mr. F,” she said gesturing to the scars on my cheek and the tattoos down my chest of a series of F’s in different styles I’d gotten recently. I was owning it.
“You come back with good shit, I’ll tell you my name,” I said.
“That’s a deal.” She closed the door gently behind her.
Black darkness had fallen outside and the air was cooler. I heaved a sigh, sinking my head back against the pillow, Serena’s sweet body on mine, and let sleep overtake me.
Gnawing hunger woke me, and my eyes unglued. The bathroom light was on. I sat up, pressing Serena’s body back into the bed. A form was in the other bed, the deep breathing telling me Tania was asleep.
Plastic bags from a convenience store sat on the dresser, and I opened them. Apples, bananas, wrap sandwiches, crusty whole wheat roll sandwiches. I ripped open the thick roll and bit into it. Peanut butter and jelly. Nothing better. I slumped on the edge of the bed and ate.
Muttering rose up behind me, the sheets were tugged and twisted at my side. Serena was having a nightmare. I tossed the food back on the dresser and leaned over her.
“Hey, hey, Serena. It’s okay. Shh.”
I slid in beside her in bed and wrapped my arm around her. She gnashed her teeth, her head shaking back and forth, fists curling in the sheet, warding off someone, defensive. Her legs kicked out, her breathing hard and choppy.
I lifted up, smoothing a hand over her taut face. “Serena.”
She jacked up from the mattress, gasping for air over the edge of the bed.
I clicked on the bedside lamp. “Hey, it’s me, Justin. You okay? You were having a nightmare.”
She only nodded, her head turned away from me.
My hand slid up her damp back, arching under my touch. “I won’t hurt you, you know that, right?”
Her head slumped down.
“Look at me, baby. Please.”
She pulled at the sheets and raised her eyes to mine. So tired.
“Can I touch you?” I asked her. “Can I hold you?”
She nodded, her body shuddering, arms curled against her chest. I moved closer and she fell into my embrace, her cool damp skin against mine. “It’s okay. You’re here with me now. It’s over. It’s really over. You want something to drink?”
“Water,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Got bottles right here.”
I got out of the bed and grabbed a cold bottle from the pack Tania had stashed in the mini fridge and opened it for her. She took it, and I watched her throat move as she gulped.
“Slowly, baby. Slowly.”
She pulled the bottle away, her lips shiny and wet, her eyes gleaming. Better.
“You hungry? I was eating a PB and J Tania bought.”
“Okay.”
I handed her the other half and she ate. We sat on the bed cross-legged, facing each other like two kids staying up late sneaking treats in the dark. Only we were naked and my cock was hard as a rock.
Her eyes danced in the half-light. “That’s good.”
I slanted my head at her. “The sandwich?”
We laughed.
“You want something else?”
“No more food.” Her knees grazed mine. “This is nice.”
“Yeah.”
“I haven’t had much of any nice.”
“You got it now.”
She leaned over and planted a soft kiss on the side of my face. “Hold me.”
I lifted her into my lap, wrapped her legs around me, and held her tightly. “Not letting go.”
“Don’t.”
She burrowed into me. My dick was thrilled to be making contact with her body again.
We fell back on the bed taking in each other’s breaths. My hand stroked her sides, and I gently kissed the tops of each soft breast as her fingers slid through my hair. I lay my head on her chest, and we drifted asleep on the erratic rhythm of each other’s heartbeats.
The sweep of something cool whispered up over my naked body, and I forced my eyelids open. Tania. She pulled the sheet up over me and Serena who was asleep on my chest. I let out a grunt as I shifted her bare body to my side under the sheet.
“You okay?” Tania asked.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
I rubbed my eyes. “Yeah.”
“Go back to sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you. You two just looked like abandoned puppies for a minute there.”
I wiped a hand down my stubbly face and swung out of the bed, feet planting on the floor. “I’m going to take a shower.”
She cleared her throat at the sight of my morning wood. “Um, I got us some breakfast.” She turned away from me and quickly climbed back into her bed.
“Great.”
By the time I got out of the bathroom, Serena and Tania were talking and spreading the food out on Tania’s made up bed. Tania had gotten us scrambled eggs with cheese and ham on English muffins. We ate and it was so fucking good. Serena looked at my wound and applied disinfectant and gel and wrapped it firmly with a sterile bandage.
“I got you this too.” Tania took out a box from a plastic bag and tossed it on the bed by Serena. Hair dye. Dark brown. “Your red really stands out. I thought you’d want to change it.”
Serena only stared at the box.
I crumpled up the foil from the sandwich. “That’s good, right?”
“I figured you two wanted to stay out of sight,” Tania said. “Or did I get that wrong?” She drained her paper coffee cup.
“You’re right,” Serena said. “Could you help me?”
“Sure,” Tania replied, a grin on her face. The girl liked being useful. “I’ve done it plenty of times with my friends back home.” She cleaned up the food and juice and coffee containers from the bed. “Sorry, I’m blabbing.”
“I like your blabbing. Where are you from, Tania?” asked Serena, her voice steady, her eyes bright. Tania’s friendliness was a good, unusual vibe for her. I leaned back against the headboard as Tania told us about her hometown. Meager, South Dakota.
Meager. Home of the One-Eyed Jacks.
Tania’s eyes skidded over the tattoo of flames that ran down one side of my chest and the other tattoo of a knife over my left hip.
“I went to college in Chicago,” Tania said. “I graduated this past May. I don’t have a job or anything yet. No specific plans, but I know I wanted out of Meager. My best friend just got married to the man of her dreams. Her dreams, certainly not mine.”
I unwrapped the pack of smokes Tania had bought me earlier. “You mind if I smoke in here, Tania?”
“No, go ahead,” she said, shifting herself on the bed, uncrossing her legs yet again. “You’re a member of the Flames, aren’t you? I saw your tattoo.”
“Yeah, I am. You know any Flames?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Keep it that way.”
Her eyes flashed, her brows lifted. “Huh.”
I got the impression, she wanted to say something but swallowed it back down. There was a lull in the conversation, a thick awkwardness hanging between us. I dragged on my smoke, and that tension pulled on my lungs. Shit, I don’t know why I smoked tobacco half the time.
I rubbed a hand over my chest. “What are you going to do in Chicago now?”
Tania refolded her legs the other way. “I just want to get back there. I don’t want to just get any old job, but I will if I have to.” She rolled her eyes, tilting her head. “I’ll figure it out once I get back to the city. Of course, my mother and my sister had a cow over my decision, but I couldn’t sit still in Meager. No way. There’s more to life than...”
Tania continued on in her condemnation of small town life in Nowheresville, South Dakota while I smoked. Serena opened the box of hair dye, taking out the tube of color, another bottle, and the plastic gloves, unfolding the instructions.
The women went into the bathroom and dyed Serena’s hair. I switched channels on the television. Serena came out with a mountain of blackish goo swirled over her head, making faces, and Tania and I laughed. A half an hour later, after a shower, Serena emerged from the bathroom with a brand new look. They’d even cut her hair shorter. She looked sleek. Edgy. Even through the exhaustion and the anxiety she was fucking gorgeous. My dick hardened in my jeans, and I adjusted myself on the bed. Serena stared at me, a sly smile growing on those lips, which only made my cock harder and my pulse race.
“We need to change your bandage,” Tania said gesturing at my arm.
“Huh?” I cleared my throat and sat up. “Oh. Yeah.”
Tania came over with a small plastic bag from a pharmacy and sat down next to me. A whiff of fancy perfume came up between us. She smelled nice. She had nice clothes and used fancy words. I’d never been this up close to anyone like her before. Her big dark eyes concentrated on dabbing antibiotic ointment over my cut, applying new tiny sticky bandages to keep the wound together.
“You got experience with this shit?” I asked.
“I grew up on a farm. You learn to get the basics of life done on your own.”
“What kind of farm? Soy? Wheat?”
“A little bit of those, but mostly sunflowers.”
“Nice.”
“Yeah, it is nice. It was. Where are you from?”
“Nebraska.”
“Not too far away.” Her cool fingers smoothed over the edges of the bandage and traced along my skin where my flaming arrow tattoo was, next to my own scars from my time at the Smoking Guns. Her gaze snagged on mine. You could lose yourself in those big dark eyes. I took out another cigarette.
“Those are a hell of a lot of scars. They look recent too,” she said.
“They are.”
“You get in fights a lot?”
“Yep.”
“Serena’s got a lot of the same scars on her. Plenty more, though.”
I lit another smoke, inhaling deep. “Her ex did a job on both of us.”
“And your hands?” She pressed her lips together and took in a tiny breath waiting for my answer.
I only nodded.
Tania turned away from me and packed up the first aid material and shoved it back in the pharmacy bag. She rolled up the waste paper from the bandages in a ball and tossed them in the garbage basket at the side of the dresser.
“Don’t leave those there,” I said. “Don’t want to leave anything behind for anyone to trace us.”
“Oh. Right.” Tania grabbed the stuff she’d thrown in the basket and shoved it in another plastic bag and then in her duffle. “So what’s the plan? How long do you think we should lay low here?”
I glanced at Serena who had curled up on the bed behind Tania and fallen asleep. She looked more like a twelve year old than a full grown woman.
“I want her to gain her strength back. She wasn’t eating or sleeping right. For years, I expect. They beat her up bad the night before I went in and got her.”
“They?” Tania’s face tightened. “I thought you said her ex?”
“Her ex is part of a bike club too.”
“Oh shit.” Tania’s face reddened.
“They abused her.” I grabbed another smoke from the pack at my side and clicked my lighter on.
Tania sucked in a breath. “Oh, I forgot, I got you some ibuprofen. I have naproxen sodium too. It’s stronger, if you want, if you—”
“Yeah, load me up, Tania.” I shot her a smirk as she launched from the bed to her handbag and got out two pill bottles. I took one of each and chased them with the soda I’d been nursing all morning. I laid back down on the bed alongside Serena. “I’d like her to get stronger, then I’ll get her out of here.”
“They’re looking for her, right? Why don’t you come with me to Chicago? You two could get lost in the big city or—”
“I can’t leave, Tania. I got to stay around here.”
She laid down on the other side of me. “Your club?”
“Don’t ask me anymore. I ain’t gonna tell you anyhow.”
“I don’t want to know,” she whispered. “What I really want to know is what happened to your face. Sorry, but, it’s pretty brutal looking.”
“I’m ugly, huh?”
She smiled. A gentle smile, a smile that was so unexpected, so relaxed and welcoming, I didn’t know what to fucking do with it.
“You’re not ugly. The scars are, but you aren’t. Not at all.” Her face reddened again.
A flash of heat went off in my chest, and the tension there melted at the gentleness of her voice, the sincerity of her tone.
“Thanks. I guess.” We both laughed.
“Can I have a cigarette?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure.” I lit a cigarette and passed it to her and lit another for me.
“I’ve only smoked a few times before, but what the hell. I’ve done plenty of shit I’ve never done before in the last twenty-four hours.”
We talked, and she told me more about her sister and her baby brother. How she felt guilty leaving them, but she had to leave now or she knew she never would. She didn’t want to end up married and pregnant before she was twenty-two.
Serena woke up, stretching out on the mattress next to me. “I think we need to drink.”
“Let me go out and buy a bottle of whatever you guys want. It’ll cost less than opening those tiny bottles in the minibar,” said Tania.
“Very practical, Tania. I like that.” I tossed a twenty dollar bill on the bed. “Grab us a bottle of Jack.”
“Jack it is.” Tania took the bill, tucked her feet into her hot pink All-Stars, grabbed her bag, and left the room.
“I like her,” said Serena.
“Me too. We got real lucky.”
“See? Our luck has changed. The winds of fortune are blowing us on the right course.”
“There’s a course for good fortune?”
“Destiny always has a course for us.”
“You believe in that shit?”
“A part of me has faith in it. The little girl part of me. Like that part of Tania that wants to believe there has to be something more in her life than just a farm and the same faces.”
“Somewhere, over the rainbow, huh?”
She grinned. “Yeah. The three of us and Dorothy.”
I let out a laugh. “Let’s not forget the scruffy dog.”
“Toto!” Serena squealed like a kid, hands in the air.
“Yeah, Toto. Pity there ain’t no Auntie Em for us to go home to, baby.”
“We got each other.” She pushed the hair from my face, and my heart squeezed at her words.
“Yeah, we do.” I sat up on my elbows. “How you feeling?”
“Better. I keep thinking I have stuff to do, but I don’t.”
“No, you don’t. No more.” I took in a breath. “Get closer.”
She crawled up alongside me like a cat and hovered over me. The heat rising from her skin was palpable, and I craved it all over me, inside me, on me.
“Hi,” she whispered, her breath mingling with mine.
“Hi.”
I pulled on her tresses of dark brown hair and tugged her face toward me, brushing her lips with mine. She kissed me long and slow, our tongues stroking, sliding, exploring. A moan escaped my throat, and my hands cradled the back of her head.
“I’ve been wanting you to kiss me like this so bad,” she said.
“I’ve been wanting you, period, so goddamn bad,” I replied.
Our tongues tangled together wildly, and I held her close. She settled on top of me and rubbed herself up and down over my body. My hands gripped her ass, bringing her tight over my cock, holding her there. My fingers slid over the bare skin of her thighs and under her panties, digging into her soft flesh.
Our breathing grew ragged and short, and I flexed my hips against hers. “Fuck, you feel good. So damn good.”
The key bolted abruptly in the lock, and our bodies stiffened. My hand shot out toward my gun on the nightstand.
“Hey, it’s me.” Tania stood in the doorway, her expression freezing. “Oh, geez, sorry.”
“I thought—”
“Just me. I-I got the Jack.” She held up a paper bag. “But I can go.”
“No, Tania. Get in here.” Serena slid off me. “I’ll get glasses.”
Tania locked the door behind her. She took the bottle of booze out of the bag and threw two bags of barbecue potato chips at me.
“Good choice,” I said, sitting up and ripping into the chips.
The girls drank out of the two glasses Serena brought over from the dresser, and I chugged straight from the bottle.
A bang on the door made my body stiffen. Tania and Serena froze. I slanted my head at Serena, and she slid soundlessly off the mattress and under the bed. I gestured at the door to Tania, and she nodded, flinging the quilt over the drink glasses. Taking the bottle with me, I went to the other side of the door.
Tania glanced around the room one final time and holding my gaze, put a hand on the doorknob. “Who is it?”
“It’s the police, ma’am.”
Her gaze jumped to mine. I nodded and stepped back against the wall.
“Oh, okay. Do you have a badge?”
“Sure do,” came the reply.
She opened the door a crack. “Hi.”
“Sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for—”
“Your badge?”
“Yeah, right here. “
Tania’s shoulders grew rigid, an eyebrow followed suit. She wasn’t buying it.
“I’m a detective. Looking for a teenage girl.”
“Uh huh. Well, I’m not her, that’s for sure.”
He laughed. “Not too far off, though.”
Tania grinned. A brittle, impatient, get-the-fuck-on-with-it grin.
“Yeah, well, this girl’s a runaway.” He held up a photograph. “You seen anyone to fit that bill?” He shifted his weight, his feet shuffling in the doorway.
“No, but I haven’t been out either. I’ve been holed up here, waiting for my boyfriend. He’s about ten minutes out on his way from Meager. I’m getting ready for our own private party. So, no, I haven’t seen any runaway teenagers. This motel room is all I’m interested in tonight, if you get my drift. We’re out of here first thing in the morning. So, if you’ll excuse me—”
Tania closed the door, but a large hand planted itself on the surface pushing it back. Her face reddened.
“I don’t think you understand, ma’am. What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t say. And don’t you dare push this door again or I’m going to have to yell for help.”
“Sorry. Look, I’m just eager to find this girl. I mean, this is my first case solo.”
“Okay. Good luck to you. Like I said, I haven’t seen anyone fitting that description.”
“Right, okay.”
Tania swiftly stepped back and firmly shut the door in one move, bolting the chain lock with a shaky hand, her lips parted. She pressed her palms against the door.
I moved to her. “You did good, Tania. Real good,” I whispered, wrapping my arm around her waist. She fell into me, inhaling deeply. I rubbed a hand down her back. “You okay?”
She nodded. “He didn’t look like any police detective. He looked like an underground—”
“Bet he’s from Med,” came Serena’s voice.
Tania and I turned around. Serena stood by the bed. “We can’t stay here much longer.”
Tania grabbed the bottle from my hands and took a swig. “Hold on.” She picked up the room phone and dialed. “Hi, I’m in room 110, and a man was just here, saying he was a police detective looking for a—” Her eyebrows lifted. “Oh, he is a local officer?” She glanced at me as she gnawed on her lip. “Oh, okay, I wasn’t sure. Good to hear. I’m glad I called you then. Thanks.”
Tania put the phone back on the receiver. “He really is a cop. Front desk lady said he’s one of the local boys. She’s known him since he was in diapers.”
Serena let out a deep breath and dropped herself on the edge of the bed.
I took the bottle from Tania and drank. “We got to get a plan together.”
“Aren’t you taking Serena with you to wherever in Nebraska?” Tania asked, taking the bottle from me and passing it to Serena.
“No, I can’t. She’s got to lay low for a while. I was hoping this guy I know here in South Dakota was going to help, but it didn’t work out that way. Can’t trust nobody.”
“You can trust me,” said Tania.
“You’ve been great, Tania. Don’t know what we would’ve done without you. But I can’t get you more involved than you already are.”
She sat up on the bed, leaning on one arm. “Serena could come with me to Chicago. I’m staying with a friend there for a few days, but I’ve got money saved up and have a lead on an apartment, and I’m planning on moving in real soon. Serena could stay with me until things cool down.”
Serena blinked. “Tania, that’s—”
“That’s a real good idea and a real generous offer,” I said. “Tania’s got a point. No one knows we know each other. But you can’t ever tell anybody about us, Tania. Not your ma or your sister or your brother or a boyfriend. Not even your best friend. Nobody. You get that?”
“I can keep a secret. I want you two to be safe. That’s what’s important. Safe and alive.”
Serena put a hand on her arm. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
“All right then. Chicago it is. You good with that?” I asked Serena. The thought of her so far away from me twisted my insides, but it was the best solution, and it would be temporary.
Temporary.
“I’m good with that,” she replied quietly.
My beeper went off, and I glanced at it where it lay on the small table by the door. Los Angeles area code. Fuck, Kwik was checking in, and I was supposed to be on my way to that pickup in Sioux City. Luckily, it wasn’t too far from where we were, but I needed to contact Kwik, claim bike problems and get to Sioux City as soon as possible.
I turned the beeper over. “Don’t worry about money, I’ll send you whatever you need. I’ll find ways to keep in touch. You just need to expect it.”
Serena’s lips tipped up. “Sounds like a plan.”
“I got to go make some phone calls,” I said. “So Tania, how’s all this risk-taking feel now?”
A slow smile broke over her mouth. “Like the best fucking rush ever.”