I stuff everything back into the bag, including Rue’s soaps as well as the motel’s. We could have to leave quickly, and if we leave shit all spread out, it’ll make it more difficult to get the fuck out.
What would I do if cops just showed up out of nowhere? Would I surrender? Go back to prison?I shudder at the thought. At those goddamned concrete walls and razor-wired fences.
Nope. Not going back to the human zoo.
I kick off the lights and pull the bathroom door inward, stepping out into the small motel room. I blink to adjust to the dim lights and tune into the heavy, steady breathing of Rue. She’s curled on her side beneath the covers, facing me. Bullet is tucked in the crook of her arm, his floppy ear resting against the tip of her nose.
The sight is as painful as it is adorable.
If I could go back in time, I’d have never let Matthew ruin your life.
But the past is the past. And now, all I can do is run from it.
I move silently across the room, setting my bag down next to her backpack. Part of me is terrified to crawl into bed next to her—or even just sleep in a bed in general.
It’s been over a decade since I slept on a mattress.
But I give in to the temptation, carefully pulling back the thin quilt and stiff sheets. I ease my body downward, my eyes fighting the urge to close before my head ever hits the pillow.
Holy fuck. This feels good.
Almost as good as Rue’s scent and warmth encapsulating my senses, and momentarily relieving the tightness in my body.
14
NOAH
“We’ve determinedthat Thomas Noah Peterson’s body is either lost to the waters of Moccasin Lake or…”the gray-headed marshal’s voice trails off for a pause.“He somehow made it out of the water.”
I stare at the screen, my head still resting against the fluffy motel pillow. The TV is playing the late-night news, and Noah snores beside me, though soft enough not to drown out the man on the screen.
“We’ll open the floor for questions now,”he says, his expression stone cold and unreadable. I purse my lips as his eyes scan the crowd of people I can’t see.
“What are the odds that the convicted murderer made it out of the lake?”a woman’s voice erupts from somewhere off-screen.
“Uh,” he pauses,“I don’t think we can put an actual percentage on something like that. This lake is well known for body recovery taking some time, and the conditions were unsavory for survival, so at this point, we still believe based on the injuries he sustained, it would be unlikely for him to make it out.”
“Are there any search efforts beyond the lake?”another woman’s voice calls out.
Something that resembles irritation flickers across his face for a brief second before disappearing.“We’re taking the measures that we’re allotted.”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” I mumble to myself, scrunching my brows together. I run a hand over my face and glance toward Bullet, who got overheated and moved to stretch out across the floor. His little side rises and falls with his breath.
I close my eyes again, as the news shifts to something else more local and foreign to me, and just as I’m about to drift off, a warm touch grazes the top of my thigh. I catch my breath as Noah’s entire body rolls toward me, the front of him now pressed against me.
He lets out a heavy breath as his hand slides up higher and more inward. It stops just inches from grazing my center. His grip curls into the softness of my inner thigh, and he presses into me harder, his full length hard.
Need—or maybe just straight lust—funnels through my core, and I fight the urge not to lean into him. IwantNoah to want me.
But my mind recalls all the coldness from him in the last twenty-four hours. And I roll away from him. Well,tryto roll away from him.
His grip on my thigh tightens, and as I land on my side, facing away from him, he drags me back into him. My ass pressed against his cock. He groans into me, his hips beginning to grind.
Arousal floods my core, and I let out a sharp exhale as his lips find my neck. He buries his face there, his breath hot against my skin.
“Fuck,Rue,” he murmurs into me, his voice thick with sleep. It ignites every fucking nerve ending in my body, and I push back into him, a light moan slipping from my lips.
Ugh.
