“You don’t think someone will be watching them?” I ask. I mean, where does it end? Are they watching Catherine, too?
Ethan leans against the window, resting his forehead against the glass. “I have no idea, Anna.” He sounds defeated.
I get off the bed and walk to where he is. I stand behind him, trying to decide if I’m brave enough to touch him. I hesitate a moment more then wrap my arms around him.
He tenses but doesn’t pull away.
“Let’s call Will. I hate this, too, but we’re in over our heads. At least it will get us out of town and maybe we can go to the police in another town. Tell them everything.”
“And then what? We’ll still have that contract on us.”
“We’ll figure it out as we go.” Resting my chin on his shoulder, I turn to kiss the side of his neck. “And I’m so sorry, Ethan. I really am. I should have told you everything I knew the second I had the chance.”
He leans back against me and hope soars through my body. “I’m just so angry about all of this, Anna. And I hated that I found out what your relationship was fromhim. And I didn’t understand why you would hide that from me. It just caught me so off guard. I really think I would have killed him if you didn’t stop me.”
Ethan slowly turns me around and backs me against the wall. He pins me there with his hips against mine and our hands locked together above my head. I can feel him pressed against me from my toes to my shoulders and up my arms.
“I was so jealous. The thought of that son of a bitch touching you makes me want to rip his head off. I’m sorry I was such an ass.”
He leans his head in and we’re kissing. The kind of kissing that we haven’t done since that day in the hammock. His hands let go of mine and sift through my hair. I move against him, snaking my hands under his shirt, and wish we were anywhere but here.
His mouth moves to my neck and then to my ear where he whispers, “The water’s stopped.”
“Huh?” I answer between kisses.
“Teeny. She’ll be out any minute.”
I know this looks bad but I don’t want to stop. It isn’t until we hear the doorknob turn that Ethan backs away, and I almost fall to the ground.
“I’m done,” Teeny says, looking between the two of us. “Were y’all making out?”
Oh, good Lord.
“I think I’ll take another shower,” Ethan says as he all but sprints to the bathroom.
“But you already took one,” Teeny says just as he closes the door. “He must feel really dirty.”
I crawl back on the bed and try not to let Teeny see me blush.
Morning comes after a restless night. There is only one bed in the room, a double, so Teeny started out between us, but ended upside down across us. I think she was the only one who got any sleep.
We’ve decided not to call from the room. If phones are being traced, whoever is looking knows where we are, but there’s no need to lead them to our exact location.
The French Quarter is very different in the light of day. The streets are clean, mostly, and lots of shops and cafés are open for business. It’s surprising to see so many art galleries sandwiched between touristy T-shirt shops. There was a huge discussion between the three of us before we left about whether leaving the room was stupid or not. But since we didn’t want to call from the room, we didn’t have much of a choice. We walk to the riverfront, passing by St. Louis Cathedral, in search of a public phone. We look for the man with the cross tattoos the entire time. After a few blocks, we find the first set of phone booths.
Ethan cashes in five dollars for quarters, drops a handful in the slot, then dials Will’s number.
“Hey, it’s me but don’t say my name out loud. Are you alone?”
Teeny points to the building with a green-and-white–striped awning across the street where there are a line of people.
“Can we eat there? It looked good when we passed by.”
“We’ll see.” I’m trying to hear what Ethan is saying and be on the lookout, but a group of street musicians crank up not ten feet from us. I can’t even hear myself think.
Ethan gets off the phone and pulls us down the block.
“Will’s coming. Leaving immediately and bringing some cash. He’s stopping by Pearl’s and telling her about what’s happening in Arkansas. Fred is an ex-marine, so hopefully he can handle whatever is happening over there. We’ll figure out where to go when Will gets here.”
