Colt was staggering around the room, dressing himself like a madman. I continued to stare at him from the bed, the maroon comforter tucked around my breasts, still only half-awake after our lovemaking session. I wasn’t quite sure if anything around me was real.

I giggled slightly, wondering if he was making a joke. “What are you getting so riled up about?” I asked him. “Come back to bed. I think we have till at least noon, as I told you. And Mexico will still be there, even if we don’t get there for the next five years.”

“You know I don’t have that kind of time,” Colt said, tossing the rest of his things into the backpack and looking, wild-eyed, toward the door.

“Actually, I don’t know,” I said, growing insistent. “I told you the reasons why I needed the money, but you’ve been leaving me in the dark ever since this all began. I think it’s about time you started to give me answers in return, Colt.”

In that moment, a knock sounded on the door. I leaped from the bed, wavering slightly with nerves, as Colt turned toward the far window.

“Don’t answer it, Luna,” he warned in a low voice.

“Don’t be silly,” I said, still certain that everything was fine. I donned my dress from the night before and put my hand on my hip, gesturing with the other toward the door. “You should get it. Don’t be such a scaredy-cat.”

The knocking continued, putting a chill in my heart. Forcing myself to be brave, I turned toward the spyhole and peered out, giving a relieved, loud laugh as I saw who it was.

Unlocking the door, I gave a large grin to Marge, the woman married to the owner of the motel and the one who often had to go around waking everyone up when her husband was on one of his benders. She looked grim, her mouth in a thin line across her face.

“Hi there,” I said, leaning against the door casually, trying to show off to Colt. Of course nothing is wrong! I wanted to tell him. Stop being so paranoid.

“Just wanted to let y’all know that we have checkout at noon. That’s in fifteen minutes’ time. And if you’re a straggler, we’ll have to ask ya to pay the fee. It’s twenty bucks.”

“Thank you, Marge,” I said, giving her a bright smile. “And how is your husband these days?”

“Haven’t spoken two words to him since he left me. Had an affair in this very motel, if you can believe it. Had to wake him up myself. He didn’t have twenty bucks to pay the fee; that was for sure,” Marge muttered.

I nearly burst out laughing at the irony, although I sensed Marge did not share my humor. As I began to express my condolences, my eyes glanced past her, noting a dark green car creeping along the edge of the parking lot. Marge turned around, heading back to her daily route and the next group of motel rooms, but I kept the door cracked open.

The green car rumbled across the gravel and parked near the far side of the parking lot, directly across from Colt’s Mustang. The man inside wasn’t familiar to me—certainly not anyone I’d seen recently at the diner—yet he had a creepy air about him. Beneath his black baseball cap, he was completely bald, with a large, square nose and snake-like eyes.

“Colt, come here a minute,” I whispered, beckoning him toward me.

He came over, sneaking behind the door and peering out. As he watched, his Adam’s apple bounced up and down, showing his immediate panic.

“Jesus Christ, Colt, who is following you?” I demanded, my voice a hiss. “And how are we going to get out of here without him noticing?”

Colt shut the door slowly, not wanting to attract attention. Without another word, he bolted the lock and grasped my hand, leading me to the window in the bathroom. Gripping both my shoulders, he peered into my eyes, his once-bright blue irises now darker, more ominous.

“I need you to trust me,” he said, his voice echoing against the tiles. “Otherwise, we aren’t going to make it out of this alive.”

Without giving me a moment to answer, Colt shoved open the window, removed the screen, and pushed one leg, then the other, out through it. He was standing on a slight brick edge that pushed out from the building, and then he made the leap onto the grass below. He landed, pumped his knees, jumped upright again, and shook it out.

“Are you okay?” I whispered down to him, my heart pounding in my throat.

“Just come on. I’ll catch you,” he whispered back, his voice harsh. “We don’t have time to talk.”

If this guy was only after Colt, I considered allowing him to go on alone. After all, this would solve my problem of having to abandon Colt later on down the road, when I would inevitably fall for him even more.

“I promise, if you don’t come with me now, you’ll be in over your head,” he said.

Still unsure if I should believe him, I brought one slender leg through the opening of the window, and then the other. Clinging to the edge, I peered back into the hotel room—almost saying good-bye to any kind of normality, as I was leaving it behind for good. With a final deep breath, I leaped from the second floor, falling directly into Colt’s strong arms below.

Bouncing slightly as he adjusted to my weight, I clung onto his neck, shivering with anxiety from the leap.

With a final shake of my head, I told him, in no uncertain terms, “Never make me do anything like that again.”

Then he set me down and we began to run.