Chapter Twenty-Two
Bree
The wave of relief that ran through my body when I saw Nathan's car made my knees weak. I had already exhausted myself pacing back and forth in our small motel room. He'd been gone nearly three hours.
At first, I had been occupied scanning all the news channels like Nathan had suggested. He was right that we needed to keep an eye on the headlines. After those men opened fire on us outside the bank, I was sure our names were known to the police. After all, we'd sneaked out of the bank just minutes before it all happened. And that bank manager had been nervous of Nathan from the get-go.
After forty-five minutes of solid of channel-surfing, I had been certain nothing on the news pertained to us. That's when I had started to worry.
I had gone over every possible scenario from the gunmen finding him to the police pulling him over and then as far as the military police finally tracking him down. I had agonized over whether I should stay hidden in the motel or somehow come to his rescue like he had come to mine. Then I had sunk into despair at the thought that Nathan had left me.
Why would he come back for me?
I had beaten myself up over harassing him that morning. Nathan had explained to me repeatedly why we couldn't contact the police, but I hadn't let up. So, when he didn't come back after two hours, I had just figured he was fed up with me and had gone on alone.
So, I was relieved to see him pull up. Then relief turned to anger. I got up on wobbly legs, went into our motel room, and slammed the door behind me.
Nathan followed me seconds later. "Bree? Are you all right?"
I swiped the tears off my cheeks and spun to face him. "Am I all right? How about I just spent the entire morning wondering if you were dead or not?!"
His mouth quirked up at the corner. "Not dead, just hungry."
I watched as he dropped a sack of fast food on the motel room table. "What happened to bagels? I thought you were at least going to go to the grocery store. Remember? Strawberry jam, my favorite?"
Nathan had the decency to wince before he shrugged. "I didn't like the look of it. I could have been spotted there."
"So, it took you three hours to go through a drive-through?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"Sit down, Bree. You're hungry. I know it's not great food but you'll be able to think a lot clearer after you've had something to eat." Nathan sat down and pushed the other chair out toward me.
I fought the urge to sweep the bag of greasy food off the table and onto the floor. "Tell me where you were."
Nathan opened the bag and took his time laying out the food. "I told you. I didn't like the look of the grocery store so I drove around a bit but couldn't find anything better. Then I hit up the fast food place a few miles down the highway and drove back. Sorry, it took so long."
I sat down only to put the table between us. My fingers itched to slap his face. "You're lying. Where were you?"
His jaw tightened where he was biting his tongue. "I took a drive. I'm back. What's wrong with you?"
I stood up again and slapped both hands flat on the motel room table. "Liar! You've got the worst tell. Every time you're going to tell a lie, you bite your tongue first."
Nathan glared at me. "I don't have a tell. I'm a great gambler. Best on the base."
"And it never occurred to you that that's what might have gotten you into trouble in the first place?" I asked.
"My gambling?" Nathan asked.
"Your arrogance." I was spitting mad. "Did it every occur to you what was happening with me while you were out on your drive?'"
Nathan tossed down the cheeseburger he had just unwrapped. "I'm sorry if you were worried."
"Worried?" I gave a sharp laugh. "How about terrified? Stir-crazy? Abandoned?"
"I came back." Nathan stood up so fast his chair toppled over. "And I said I'm sorry. I'm not going to say it over and over again."
"Where are you going?" I raced to block the motel room door but he was already outside.
"Relax, Bree. I forgot to get sodas and I'm thirsty. I'm just going to the vending machine," Nathan said. "Don't let your imagination run wild while I'm gone."
The only thing I could do was slam the door behind him. The cheap door bounced against the doorframe and popped back open. I dodged back, narrowly missing getting hit in the face. As I was about to shut it again, I looked at his car.
Nathan was already around the corner, and he wouldn't be gone long but I figured there had to be a clue in the car. I raced to it and yanked open the driver's side door. There was nothing in the front seat, only the receipt from the fast food place. Still, I knew he was lying and I was determined to figure out where he had been all morning.
I dove into the backseat and rummaged around but there was nothing except the normal build-up of a long road-trip: empty soda cans, burger wrappers, tourist maps, and a ridiculous mooing cow that he had gotten me from a roadside tourist trap. I started to get out but the feeling that he was lying still hadn’t abated.
Then I looked under the driver's seat. Tucked into the springs of the seat itself was a shiny rectangle. I reached under and gave it a tug. The object fell to the floor of the car with a heavy thud.
I had to press both hands over my mouth to keep from screaming. It was a gun.
Nathan would be coming back around the corner any second but I was frozen, crouched in the backseat of the car with the gun just inches from my nose. After what felt like an eternity, I forced myself to sit up. Then I slowly got out. I shut the door and jumped back into our motel room before Nathan saw me.
Then I started to shiver, as if ice was racing through my veins instead of blood. My teeth chattered in between sharp attempts to catch my breath. I paced back and forth but couldn't calm down.
Why did Nathan have a gun?
More than that, the real terror came from the fact that I really had no idea who Nathan was. Maybe he was the kind of man who carried a gun with him. Maybe he was the kind of man who needed a gun for the kind of things he did.
How would I know?
The cold, hard truth was that I had no idea what kind of a man Nathan was. It was entirely possible he had lied to me about everything, not just where he was that morning.
Nathan opened the motel room door, shielding himself as if expecting an attack. "Is it safe to come in?" he asked.
I dodged into the bathroom. "Be right out," I called.
I ran the water and forced myself to take long, deep breaths until the panic subsided. I didn't know who Nathan was but he had never done anything to hurt me. In fact, he had saved my life when the men in dark suits had kidnapped me. I focused on that and went back to the motel room table.
"I'm really sorry about the food, Bree. Next time, we'll find a motel with a kitchenette, and I'll cook you a real meal. Bet you didn't know I could make a mean stir-fry," Nathan said.
"It'd be nice to see a few green vegetables again," I managed to say.
Nathan leaned across the table and caught my hand. "Please, Bree. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have been gone so long. I didn't mean to make you worry."
I tugged my hand away before he could feel the icy fear in my veins. "I thought you'd left me."
Nathan caught my hand again and squeezed it gently. "I wouldn't do that. I won't. We're in this together, remember? I promise."
Again, I pulled my hand free. I picked up my cheeseburger and forced myself to take a bite. "You don't have to lie to me, Nathan."
Nathan stopped and stared at the table for a long time. "I'm really glad you're here with me," he said finally.
I cracked open a soda and wished we could skip back to when we had fallen into bed together, laughing. Nathan flipped on the motel room television and skimmed through a few channels.
"There's nothing on the news that connects to us," I said.
"You ever see that new movie about the drug cartel?" Nathan asked.
"The one that came out last year? No. Not my kind of thing," I said.
Nathan laughed. "Yeah, me neither."
"Luckily, they don't get much of that kind of thing here in Kansas," I said.
"We're in Colorado," Nathan reminded me.
I gave up pretending to eat and tossed down my cheeseburger. My head spun. Not only was I miles away from my normal life, but I was with a man who was a complete stranger. Not only did I not know who Nathan really was, but I was beginning to worry he wasn't a good man at all.
It didn't make sense. Every instinct I had told me that I could trust Nathan, told me that he was a good man. He had tried to keep me from getting tangled up in his mess. And then he had saved me when I had gotten myself enmeshed with the armed men.
The only problem was there were facts I couldn't ignore. Like the fact that good men weren't chased by armed men.
"Bree, I'm sorry but you've got to eat something. I'd take you out but I really don't think it's safe. We'll hole up here for another night and then head out." Nathan pushed the cheeseburger back toward me.
I picked it up and took another bite but it tasted like sawdust. "You really couldn't go to the grocery store?"
Nathan sighed. "I'm trying to keep us safe, Bree. I swear."
He wasn't lying about that but I knew there was something he wasn't telling me. I didn't have all the facts and those that I did have didn't look good.
Good men didn't disappear for hours without an explanation. And good men certainly didn't need to hide guns in their cars.