“Where you from, Austin?” I blurted what I had been thinking since the second I laid eyes on him.
His mouth dropped open in another dramatic gesture. “Wow. She speaks, I had no idea. I was beginning to think it was me.” He smiled. “I do believe I asked you first though. Nice try."
He reached over, softly gripping the back of my neck, smirking at me. I realized pretty quickly that he liked to have his hands on me in one way or another, and I recognized even faster that I liked it.
“North Carolina,” he answered, anyway.
“Ah.” I nodded. “A down South boy. I guess it’s true what they say about Southern charm.”
“Baby, you have no idea. I’m just getting started.”
I didn’t falter, I loved the way he was looking at me too much. “Washington,” I revealed, shocking myself.
My eyes immediately widened by the truth of my response. It just came out of nowhere, a slip of the tongue. The last time I said I was from Washington my parents were alive and I was six years old.
“Hey…” he coaxed, taking in my stunned expression.
He took his finger and lifted my chin to look deep into his eyes. I shook my head, stepping back and away from him. He cocked his head to the side confused by the turn in events.
This was too much. He was stirring up too many emotions in me.
I couldn’t do this. It wasn’t fair.
Not to him.
I wasn’t meant to be this person. Maybe I was in another life, maybe in another time, maybe in another world. In this one, I was a Martinez.
So I just turned around…
And left.
Chapter 13
<>Austin<>
I looked for her.
Briggs.
I couldn’t find her anywhere. It was like she fell off the face of the earth or was a figment of my imagination. I spent two weeks, two fucking weeks trying to find her in Miami clubs, bars, and random house parties to no avail. I gave up my search, losing all hope in finding the blue-eyed angel.
The first place I traveled outside of Miami was Washington. I didn’t even realize it until I was getting off at the bus stop, I was in Brigg's home state. My subconscious must have taken over, thinking it would be easy to find the girl with purple hair and tattoos among millions of faces.
The girl I knew nothing about but her name. I couldn’t get her out of my head. I gave up searching for her after a few weeks, even though I didn’t want to.
I’d met a few young transients like me, traveling with just the clothes on their backs and the bag over their shoulders. Wanting to see the world and everything life on the road had to offer.
I learned pretty quickly that money runs out fast, and there were times I slept under a bridge, on the beach, or in an alley. I had been fucked with a few times, so I realized safety was in numbers. I had been to Colorado, Nevada, and Louisiana, to name a few, in the last six months. I left Ohio eight months ago and never looked back. I had sent a few postcards to my parents and Alex from random places over the last eight months, but I hadn’t spoken to anyone since I left.
Now I was in Michigan freezing my fucking balls off in the dead of winter. One of the guys I was traveling with wanted to see The Great Lakes and snowboard Boyne Mountain. The second we stepped off the train I regretted my decision immediately. Why the fuck anyone would want to live in this miserable cold was beyond me. I usually worked construction or bartending to make some money wherever we traveled, depending on what was in demand.
In Michigan… there was no work.
We found ourselves in Detroit under an overpass on I-75 with a can and match. We lit a fire and it still wasn’t doing anything to appease the subzero air all around us.
“We’re going to fucking freeze out here,” Heather said as her boyfriend Ross hugged her tighter into his body trying to generate more warmth.
They’d started traveling with us about three months before. We met them in Las Vegas one night when we were fucked up on the strip. There were six of us now, and she was the only girl. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of their relationship. They always had each other’s backs, no matter what. It was easy to get lonely traveling around from place to place.
I never thought I would want to share this experience with someone.
That was an unexpected surprise.
“She’s right, we’re going to fucking freeze,” I stated, trying to blow warm air into my hands.
It was no use. Nothing would work, it was just too damn cold. The pain pills I bought off the street weren’t even numbing me up anymore. My back ached from the frigid weather. I never believed it when people said the cold could fuck with your bones.
“Fuck this.” I stood, walking away. “I’ll be back.”
“Where you going?” Mike called out behind me.