It was touching in a way, she decided. He was trying to be careful, trying to be nice to her.
She kept her eyes half-closed so as to continue watching him without his knowledge. It was voyeuristic and perhaps a little bit wrong, but she couldn’t help herself.
Something about Elijah was mysterious and enigmatic, and she wanted to know more about him. Any glimpse she could get would help her understand that extra little bit.
Caelyn continued to pretend to be asleep, letting her head loll a bit as the car jostled slightly on the road.
Suddenly, Elijah’s eyes locked on the rearview mirror and his expression changed to one of alarm.
There was a loud WHOOP! WHOOP! sound from behind them, and Caelyn snapped her eyes open, turned to look behind her and find a police car approaching quickly, its lights flashing.
“Shit,” Elijah whispered. His strong jaw settled into a tight line, and he put his blinker on and slowed down, pulling over to the side of the road as the cop pulled up right behind him. The police car was just sitting there, and there wasn’t any movement at first.
“Were you speeding?” Caelyn asked Elijah.
“Nah,” he said. “Well, maybe just ten miles over the limit.”
“So you were speeding.”
He gave her an exasperated look, like he couldn’t believe anyone would consider ten miles over the limit the same thing as speeding. “Just let me handle this,” he said.
His eyes went back to the rearview mirror. “I should just hit the gas and leave this douche in the dust,” he mused.
“You’re joking, right?” Caelyn asked, her stomach suddenly churning. He didn’t sound like he was joking. Visions of a high-speed chase danced through her head, along with a trip to the police station, where she’d be forced to call her mother and confess everything. Only this time she wouldn’t have just run away from school. This time she’d have been arrested with a strange boy.
Elijah didn’t answer. His eyes were still glued on the rearview mirror. Finally, he turned to her. “Whatever I say, you just go along with me. Understand?”
“What does that even mean, go along with whatever you say?”
“Listen, Caelyn.” His dark eyes grew intense. “I’m not messing around. You go along with whatever I say, no matter what. Got it?”
She didn’t like his tone of voice and she didn’t particularly understand his instructions either. “No way. I’m not just going to do whatever you say because you say it. That’s crazy.”
There was the sound of a door opening, and when Caelyn craned her neck to look, the officer was slowly getting out of his car.
Elijah looked at her and shook his head, then leaned across her and opened the glove compartment. He reached into the glove box, and she could see his heavily muscled forearm and a dark flash of tattoo ink on his upper bicep as the sleeve of his tshirt rode up.
Something about his proximity, the nearness of him—made her a little weak. She caught her breath, but inhaled just enough to smell the clean scent of shampoo and soap and maybe some cologne.
And then he’d gotten his registration and was rolling down his window as the police officer approached the driver’s side door. “License and registration,” the cop drawled in a tone of voice that indicated an unpleasant mood.
Elijah was instantly a different person. His whole demeanor had changed. He had been scowling a moment ago, but now he was smiling. “Morning officer,” he said, as he handed over the registration, then dug into his pocket, took out his wallet, and fumbled briefly until he found his license. He handed that over as well.
The cop glanced down at Elijah’s license. “Mister Daniels, do you realize how fast you were going just now?”
“I’m really sorry sir.” Elijah put his hand on Caelyn’s thigh. His hand was strong and warm, and instantly her skin began tingling. “Me and my girlfriend got to chatting and I must not have noticed that I was going too fast. We’ve been on the road for a bit, and she was trying to keep me alert.”
The officer nodded, but his mouth was pulled down into a frown. He looked into the window and saw Caelyn. They made eye contact and she tried a friendly smile, but the cop was having none of it.
“Where you two headed?”
“Florida, sir. Taking a little road trip, get some R&R.” Elijah flashed another smile and his hand softly rubbed her leg.
Strangely, Caelyn found that she wasn’t at all bothered by the physical contact. In a bizarre way, she thought that she was actually enjoying this little charade—and that made absolutely no sense at all.
The officer glanced into the back seat. “You need to be careful around here. Lot of accidents on this road last year.”
Elijah nodded. “Yes sir. You’re right, sir.”
“Well, I’m going to have to give you a ticket,” the officer sighed. “Please stay put.” He left the car and walked slowly back to his cruiser, got inside.
Elijah watched him go in the rearview mirror.