“Sounds like the beginning of a country and western song,” Zina murmured. “My momlovedthose kinds of songs when I was a kid. I remember listening to them all the time when we’d drive around.”
Immediately, she snapped her mouth shut again. What had possessed her to say a thing like that? She’d been trained for a long time against those kinds of little slip-ups. Her backstory when she’d been undercover had mixed lies and truth, as they almost always did, but that had been somethingpersonal– something she hadn’t meant to reveal. Maybe she was too exhausted to think clearly anymore, and that was dangerous.
Maybe Trent could read the closed expression on her face, because he didn’t remark on what she’d just said. He glanced at her, then cocked his head.
“If you want to have a shower, I can take care of keeping an eye out. And then I think you should get some sleep.”
Instinctively, Zina hugged her bag, which she’d been carrying since they left the diner, to her chest.
“It’s okay – I won’t let them out of my sight,” Trent said reassuringly. “Not even for a second. You can trust me.”
“No, I know that,” Zina blurted – and it was true, she really did. “I just… sorry. I’ve been looking after these for a while now. I guess it’s just a bit difficult to let go.”
“You can take them into the bathroom with you if you want,” Trent said, a light laugh in his voice. “I won’t be offended. I get it.”
“No, no, it’s… it’s fine.” Zina shook her head. She knew getting overly attached to the eggs, as precious as they were, probably wouldn’t be the best idea. She’d have to give them up sooner or later. It would be best to start doing that in small steps, she guessed.
Relaxing her arm muscles, she let herself hand her bag, with the box with the eggs inside it, to Trent. She let out a long, shaky breath.
There – not so hard, was it?
She knew the kick of nausea in her stomach had nothing to do with having relinquished them – that wasallabout the serum wearing off.
“Are you all right?” Trent leaned over slightly, looking at her with concern. “What’s up?”
“It’s – it’s nothing,” Zina said. Right now, she didn’t want to explain it all to him. Old habits died hard, she supposed, and keeping some information to herself was something she’d had to do for a long time, and she was still annoyed at herself about her slipup with her family history earlier.
But does it really count as a slip if it’s Trent? I know I can trust him… but…
Zina shook her head. She was too exhausted right now to do anything else, and if she didn’t get some rest she was going to make a mistake, and the eggs would fall into Hargreaves’s hands.
A cold chill ran through her at the thought.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said. “And after that…”
“After that, you’re going to sleep,” Trent said firmly. “I told you, I’ll take first watch. You need it, and I don’t.”
Exhausted, Zina could only nod. She felt gratefulness sweeping through her as she entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her, and started to strip off her clothes.
The shower didn’t have a lot of water pressure, but still, it was hot, and Zina managed to feel refreshed after stepping out from underneath it and grabbing a towel, giving herself a vigorous rub – it was scratchy and dry, but right now, she felt like she needed a good scrubbing. She was still getting used to having such short hair, but she had to admit, this definitely cut down on the drying time.
She looked with a little annoyance at her dirty clothes as she began to put them on – naturally, they hadn’t had a chance to buy anything new during their escape from Adelaide on the bus, but she thought it’d be a good idea to pick something up before they left tomorrow morning. Something completely different from what they’d been wearing already, and preferably, somehow, a new form of transportation as well.
Zina still had hard currency tucked away in her bag, and some more in a pouch she’d had strapped to her side beneath her clothes. There was no way she could risk going to an ATM, so she’d had to make sure she had enough cash on her.
It might be enough to buy a second-hand car,she thought, opening the pouch and running her thumb over the bills, doing a quick count.A really old second-hand car…
Swallowing, Zina gave herself a quick once-over in the tarnished mirror – one thing thathadapparently lasted through the motel’s ‘rennos’, as Trent had put it.
She bit her lip as the thought of Trent flittered through her mind. She still didn’t know completely what to make of any of that. Maybe she’d have a better idea in a day or so, once the serum had worn off completely. Tomorrow was likely to be a nightmare, but after that, she knew she’d have a clear head, and her shifter senses would be completely intact.
Still…
The idea of spending the night in a motel room with Trent was making her nervous for reasons she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It made her stomach churn to think they’d be spending the night together – not likethat, obviously, she scolded herself – and she couldn’t say it wasjustbecause of the effects of coming down off the serum.
“Ugh!”
Frustrated, Zina scrubbed her fingers through her newly short hair. She didn’t have time to think about this right now! Right now, she had to make sure she got enough rest so that she could make some sensible decisions about their next move.
