“It was the best day.” Our voices sounded in unison.
I smiled into his face. He reached up and cupped my cheek. For an instant our shared past was right there with us, something that made us stronger, better, saner.
“Jimmy, I—”
He sat up, pulling away from my stroking fingers, from me. “I’m okay.”
“You don’t seem okay.”
“You don’t know what I seem.”
Standing, he didn’t waver; his face had gone hard again.
I tried not to feel rejected and failed. The sweet memory we’d shared soured, crowded out by other memories of unhappier times.
He’d taken me and discarded me. He’d told me he loved me, then fucked someone else. He’d disappeared without a trace and he hadn’t come back. Those were the things I needed to remember about Jimmy Sanducci.
He stuck his head under the shower stream, scrubbed the blood from his hair and hands, then stepped out, dripping water all over the floor. Pig.
“Finish up,” he ordered without even looking at me. “We’re back on the road in fifteen.”
The door closed seconds later.
“Asswipe,” I muttered.
It didn’t help.
Chapter 16
We were back on the road in thirty. I doubted the extra fifteen made much difference.
By the time I’d finished in the shower, Jimmy was downstairs dressed in dark jeans, a black T-shirt, and he’d even managed to find black shoes. I found it a bit creepy that he could fit into the dead man’s clothes so well, right down to the footwear.
He’d made eggs, toast, coffee. I slurped mine without comment. What was there to say?
We’d done what we had to. We’d do it again, of that I had no doubt. Jimmy had lost it for a minute, but he’d gotten it back without too much trouble, then he’d pushed me away, both physically and emotionally. Nothing new there.
I’d also chosen jeans, but my shirt was hot pink with tiny green and white flowers; my shoes were also pink and at least half a size too large.
The outfit had been the least of all the evils stored in the closet and drawers. The dead woman had had a thing for pastels, which were definitely not my thing. Despite my light eyes, I was too dark everywhere else to pull off pink.
We each left the house with a carry-on bag stuffed with more clothes. When I’d gone searching for our bloody discards, I hadn’t found them. When I’d asked where they were, Jimmy had pointed to the still burning school. I took that to mean he’d tossed them into the inferno, which solved the problem nicely. If we wanted this to look like a tragic accident, leaving blood-splattered clothing anywhere in the vicinity would be a bad idea.
Taking it along in the car would be a worse one. Can you imagine a deputy finding that on a routine traffic stop? We’d be locked up until the next millennium and any explanations of a werewolf attack would only add to our chances of incarceration. We’d look and sound like lunatics.
Jimmy continued to drive. He still didn’t trust me not to make a U-turn while he was sleeping and race as far away from Sawyer as I could get. Being an ass hadn’t decreased his intelligence one iota.
The day was half over. We’d lost time by stopping in Hardeyville, but since no one was expecting us, it didn’t matter. Besides, I wasn’t in any hurry to arrive.
“Shouldn’t we be meeting with Ruthie’s DKs?” I asked.
“It’ll have to wait.” Jimmy kept his eyes on the road.
“I really think I should meet them.”
“Not yet.”
“But—”
“No, Lizzy. You need to be trained. Now. Every day we aren’t on the job makes them another day stronger. We can’t afford that.”
I stared out over the flat Kansas landscape, and I knew that he was right, but that didn’t mean I was happy about it.
“So we’re going to Sawyer’s, and you’re going to learn whatever you have to, and fast, or we’re going to see a lot more towns like Hardeyville.”
Since I never wanted to see another town like Hardeyville again, I silently gave in to the inevitable. A visit with Sawyer. More training. I’d have to be near him, listen to him, touch him.
Around Sawyer there was always an air of barely suppressed violence. He was a wild, unpredictable animal. I’d never known what he would do. It had taken me weeks to stop flinching whenever he moved fast. Since I hadn’t seen him, in person, for nearly ten years, I had no doubt I’d be flinching again soon. 1 hated it.
“You okay?” Jimmy asked.
“No.” I turned my face to the window and took in the scenery. Wisely, he left me alone.