She flung it wide and pressed herself to the wall. I jogged across the parking lot, the pavement like a hot griddle on my bare feet. When I reached a cluster of cactus and scrub brush, I set my friend off on a new adventure.
The motherfucker definitely had horns.
On the way back, I chucked Audrey's container in the dumpster. I had a feeling she wouldn't be using it again.
As I approached the room, I saw her peeking around the edge of the door, her eyes wide. "Taken care of," I said.
She nodded, still clinging to the door as I stepped inside. She shut it behind me and we scanned the room as if we'd find more uninvited guests waiting for us. Nothing jumped out at us—thank god. I didn't think we'd survive that.
Audrey twined her legs together, the bottom of one foot layered over the top of the other. I knew this wasn't the time, but I followed that bare skin and devoured every inch of her silky pink pajamas. Tiny shorts and a shirt I could unbutton in five seconds flat. I could probably run my hand up the inside of her thigh and— No.No.
Fuuuuck.I fucking hated that she did this to me and I hated that I didn't want to live another day without her. And more than all of that, I hated that I invented this whole stupid situation. If I hadn't lied to my mother, I could've gone about my life without sleeping beside the woman who broke me—twice—and rescuing her from a small dragon. And I damn well would've been happy about it. Or something close enough to happy.
"I'm obviously never sleeping again," she said, fully immune to the nonsense running through my head.
"Valid," I replied. "Really fuckin' valid."
"Can we agree we're burning this place to the ground now?"
Best idea I'd heard in days. "One hundred percent. Hand me the lighter fluid."
She laughed but it sounded like a cringe. "How long do you think that thing was in here?"
"I really don't want to know," I said.
"Yeah, the more I explore that thought, the more I want to sit in a simmering pool of acid because what if the lizard wasonme last night? What if it licked my ear or?—"
"Stop." I held up a hand. "Don't do that to yourself. Or to me, because it could've licked either one of us."
She gave an irritable shrug that told me she didn't like it when I was right and glanced at the discarded bits of scone strewn across the dresser. "Thanks for getting rid of the container."
"I didn't think you wanted it back." I nodded as I picked up the wastebasket and cleaned up the debris. "Sorry about this."
She glanced at the towel around my waist and then quickly away. "Sorry about barging in on you." Pink rose in her cheeks. She rolled her lips together, still avoiding my eyes—and towel. Shehadnoticed her effect on me, then. "I panicked and didn't think about what you were—well. I didn't think." She ran her foot up the back of her opposite leg and twisted a finger around the end of her braid. "I should probably let you get back in there."
I was suddenly very aware of how thin this towel was and how very much my body missed being close to her. "It's all good," I said. "I was just about at the 'contemplating life' stage anyway."
"Oh. Okay." She brushed the end of her braid over her lips and along her jaw. I heard myself swallow. "If you don't mind, I'm going to—" She pointed to the bathroom door.
"All yours." I closed my hand around the towel's knot. Couldn't believe it'd held up through all of that. "I'm going to touch base with Woody and see if he has any updates on the car and then make a few calls."
She swept a gaze around the room like she expected something to jump out and bite her. I didn't blame her for that but it occurred to me she might not want to be left alone. Before I could offer a change of plans, she said, "That's great, actually, because I was thinking about walking over to the fair."
"Yeah. Okay." I nodded as she went on teasing her hair over her lips. If she kept that up, this towel would start telling all my secrets. "I'll message you with any updates."
She grabbed a few smaller bags and ducked into the bathroom. The door snicked shut and then the lock popped into place, and I let out a long groan as I rubbed a hand down my face. "What the fuck just happened to me?"
chapter nineteen
Jude
Today's vocabulary word: detours
"What do you mean,the road isclosed?"
"I mean what I said," Woody replied, his focus on writing out a receipt. "There's a monsoon rollin' in."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I'd spent the entire day in this gas station, alternately reaming out the rental car agency for that fuckup, waiting for the part to arrive because I didn't trust Woody to not forget about it until the morning, and distracting myself with work.
