At any other time, I’d be gagging this girl for talking so much. Even when we were together, so many questions in a row would have me stuffing my cock in her mouth to drown out the words, and get her mind on something else. That used to work, but I have a feeling it wouldn’t right now.
Anyway, gagging Piper, regardless of the method, is the last thing on my mind right now. If she’s talking, maybe there’s still hope. At the very least, she’s willingly sharing my space, and I’m going to have to be content with that, for the moment.
“Do you knowanything?” she huffs.
“No.”
As a Devil soldier, it’s hammered into your head that you don’t ask questions. You obey. And even now that I’ve gone directly against Tragen’s orders, old habits die hard. I should probably care enough to find outwhyPiper is in danger, andwhyLogan is helping us, andwhereexactly he’s sending us, but right now, all I care about is that she’s sitting beside me in what looks to be the beginning of a very long trip, where she’ll be stuck with me, regardless of how she feels about it.
I stare at the printed-out sheets of paper with bullet-point instructions, feeling like I’ve crossed straight over into boomer-land. Couldn’t this have been a text message?
There’s a single burner phone with a number that’ll allow me to contact Logan, but only if absolutely necessary. There are instructions, also, to toss mine and Piper’s phones, a note about there being a suitcase with clothes and other necessary items in the trunk, and an itinerary with stops for gas and meals, motels already reserved and places where other cars will be waiting for us, so I can continuously switch between them.
And then, dramatically, instructions to burn the print-outs, because apparently Logan has seen one too many James Bonds.
Rolling my eyes, I follow his instructions, even down to tossing my phone. I take Piper’s phone too, and she grumbles loudly then goes back to looking out the passenger window, her eyes once more staring intently at anything that isn’t me.
I take advantage of her moodiness to put her phone in airplane mode and then slip it into the inside pocket of my leather jacket.
I’m sure Logan’s just being over-the-top dramatic. It’s like when you’re at the movies and they tell you to turn off your phone. Fuck that. Silent mode is more than enough.
I realize that silent modeisn’tenough to disable a tracker, but I’ve spent enough time as a Devil soldier to know that putting a phone on airplane mode should prevent any tracking app from working. Sometimes Dane puts a physical tracker under our contract’s phone case, but despite being broke and clumsy, Piper doesn’t use one of those.
I grit my teeth at the thought of Dane. I have a really fucking long to-do list, and it includes slowly dismembering him and Liam over the course of a week, finding out why the hell my dad has a paper with Piper’s name on it, and killing everyone who is even vaguely responsible for putting her in danger. But at the top of my list is holding onto my cricket. I’m not usually a waiting kind of guy, but the rest of my list is just going to have to fucking wait.
“I’m hungry,” announces Piper suddenly.
“Okay.” I stare at the papers that are currently going up in flames in the metal box I found them in, just as Logan requested. “Our first stop is in two hours.”
It’s a good thing that as a soldier, I’ve gotten used to committing long, detailed lists of instructions to memory. Though I’ve always been good at remembering things, even before I started my training.
“I’m hungrynow.”
“Okay.”
I realize she’s trying to get a rise out of me, but it would take a lot for that to happen. I’m determined to keep my cool. She has every right to treat me however she wants to. As long as she doesn’t leave.
“Okay? So you’re stopping?”
“Yes. In two hours.”
She crosses her arms, huffing as she sits back on her seat, watching the road. I’ve always found her anger cute, and I do now too, even though it also saddens me. I put a hand over hers, and she quickly whips it away, stuffing it between her thighs.
I wonder how long I’m going to have to wait before she lets me in again. Forever?
Impossible. I can’t wait that long.
If she doesn’t let me in…
I sigh, hating how monstrous the rest of that thought is. But what choice do I have?
We spend the first two hours of the drive in silence. I can tell it’s hard for her to stay quiet. She’s actually biting down on her lower lip with the effort. Maybe this is the way to get her to break.
Not saying a thing.
Luckily, that comes easily for me.
At last, we drive into the parking lot in front of the diner Loganlisted as our first stop.
