Soon, the exhaustion claims me, and I fall into a deep sleep in the grass, my arms shoved under my head as a pillow.
A soft gasp wakes me, and my eyes spring open to find my back burning in the midday sun. I push myself up, finding Stone awake and alert, trying to roll his stupid ass out of the car.
“Menace?” he calls, a hint of fear in his tone.
“Down here,” I tell him, my body cramping up after lying on the ground for so long. Or hell, maybe it’s cramping up because I had the shit beat out of me with a metal bar no less than twelve hours ago. I start pushing up, desperate to get to him before hemanages to pull at the bandaging around the gunshot wound, tear it open, and spring a leak.
“Where are we?” he asks, taking in the small cottage.
“We’re safe,” I tell him, hovering on my knees inside the open door as I drop my hands to his strong thighs. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I don’t know how the fuck I’m alive.”
I grin. “I wasn’t about to let you die,” I tease. “You haven’t even claimed my ass yet, and apparently you’re not allowed to be whisked away into the dark pits of hell without experiencing Heaven first.”
His lips twitch, the corners pulling into a smirk, and he tries to pull it back, not prepared to admit that I’m the funniest person he’s ever had the pleasure of knowing. Eventually, the laughter wins out, and a wide grin stretches across his lips. “Fucking hell,” he mutters. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that.”
“And I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’d make your life a living hell if you tried to die on me.”
He sits up and spins around, his feet coming down on the grass on either side of my knees as he takes my chin in his hand and lifts it until his eyes are locked on mine. “I love you, Menace. I don’t know what the hell you’ve had to do to save my life—or how fucking scared you must have been.”
I push up higher on my knees and press my lips to his. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“I won’t,” he vows. “But tell me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Where the fuck did all of these bandages come from?”
Ahhh shit.
I cringe, and he immediately pulls back, his sharp gaze not missing a thing.
“You left me no choice,” I say, already on the defensive as I get to my feet and move away from the car, knowing he’s aboutready to explode. When that happens, I don’t want to be near him, because I can guarantee that this time, he probably will spring a leak.
He gets out of the car, tracking me like a hunter stalking his prey, not even caring that every step he takes is probably filled with excruciating agony. “What did you do?”
“Well, ummm . . .” I cringe again and cautiously look at the ground as though the lack of eye contact is somehow going to make this easier. “You kinda passed out and were all like,oh noooo, I’m dying. Save me, Menace,and so I pulled off the highway and found a town that has a very bustling nightlife. I parked between two buildings that were kinda hidden away, stole some drunk girl’s purse, and went on a shopping spree in the local gas station, but before you yell at me—”
“YOU DID WHAT?”
“I found underpants. And soap. And toothpaste. And I—”
“Fucking hell, Menace,” he grunts, probably preparing himself to give me a three-hour lecture about how exposing myself was a terrible idea, but he won’t find an apology here. I did what I had to do to save his life, and that’s not something I will ever apologize for.
Instead, I look up at him and bat my lashes, knowing he can’t resist. “Did I mention I found sandwiches?”
His whole demeanor changes, and his brows arch high. At this point, I’m wondering how much longer he can bear to be on his feet. I need to get him in bed. “Sandwiches?”
I nod. “Plural. I bought a bunch,” I tell him. “Figured you’d need as much energy as you could get.”
“Shit, Menace. You should have started with that,” he says, turning his attention to the cottage behind me. “Now, show me where the fuck these sandwiches are while you tell me where the hell we are.”
“Cedar Falls,” I tell him, making my way up the back porch to the door.
“Where the fuck is Cedar Falls?”
I shrug and smile as I glance back at him. “I don’t know. In Cedar Falls,” I say. “I drove for as long as I could, and this is where we ended up. But so far, I think it’s alright. This little cottage needs a good clean, but it could be alright for us to stay for a while. There’s a town close by for food. There’s running water, and clean . . . cleanish clothes.”
