All I had to do was play by his rules, and I’d stay on the board a little longer.
I was going to live to the fullest and when he took me down, I wanted it to be in a blaze of glory, not a pig to slaughter.
The next morning, I woke to hot breath on my neck. Six’s arm was dead weight, and it was hard to get out of his death grip.
After some fancy maneuvering, I stood and I looked down at him. There was no indication that he was awake, which was weird. He was always awake before me, and anytime I moved usually stirred him.
The cuff around my ankle pulled as I made my way to the bathroom. My reflection was a mess, and I stared in shock at my horror-movie-like appearance.
The handprint bruise was much more evident, but the freakiest part was my eyes. When I’d glanced at the vanity mirror when we were driving I thought my eyes were red from crying the day before, but that wasn’t the case. Blood red stained the white of my eyes, the left worse than the right.
“Shit!”
There was a rumble and crash, followed by the cocking of a gun and stomping of feet before Six appeared behind me. His eyes were wide, breath hard as his head swung from side to side.
“Wow. That was some kind of spaztastic.”
“What?” He shook his head and ran a hand across his face and scrunched his brow. “How?”
“Look what you fucking did,” I said, ignoring his confusion and turned around. With my finger I pointed to my eyes. “You fucking broke my blood vessels. I look like I should be in some slasher flick.”
He blinked at me. “It’ll go away in a week or two.”
Of course he knew that.
I slapped his chest. “That’s not the point! I look like a freak.”
The furrow in his brow deepened. “Did you really get up without me noticing?”
Oh, I wasn’t the only one who noticed that.
I nodded and he pushed past me, opening his toiletries case and pulling out his toothbrush. Without a word, he frantically brushed his teeth, and once done, pushed past me as he hurried to throw on some clothes.
He glanced down at my ankle, then threw all of the bags into the farthest corner. There wasn’t a word said as he stepped out of the room, the door slamming behind him. A minute later the car fired up, and the tires crunched on the gravel.
I was left standing, staring at the door. “What the fuck?”
Shaking my head, I turned back into the bathroom. After running a brush through my hair, I tossed it up in a loose bun, then washed my face and brushed my teeth. Deodorant, lotion, body spray, and I was set.
Left waiting.
Again.
I should have reveled in my first free period without him in over two weeks, but instead I was stuck contemplating his strange behavior.
Changing my clothes would have been nice, but he threw my suitcase in the corner with the others and one leg was unavailable at the moment.
My book was also in there.
Some lawyer forbidden romance with lots of sex.
I was alone, hungry, and with no idea when Six would be back.
Yes, things had been weird since I woke up in a car the day before, but why? I understood his anger and reprimanding me, even locking me up again, but the other stuff left me scratching my head.
I couldn’t even hazard a guess on what was going through him because he always kept himself closed off.
Luckily I had access to my water bottle and the TV remote, but as I switched it on and flipped through the limited channels, I found myself hating the shithole once again.
It took four hours of talk shows along with some soaps for Six to return. The tires on gravel stopped my heart for a beat, then I heard the slam of the car door. I stared at the door, watching as it opened and he stepped in.
The strange man of the morning was gone, replaced with the normal cool, collected version.
He threw a bag onto the bed as he walked over.
“What goodies do we have today?” I asked.
The bag had no markings, but inside was a wrapped deli sandwich and some chips. I licked my lips and smiled up at him. The tick of his jaw caught my eye just before he held out a can of Coke.
I grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward onto the bed where I moved up to my knees and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. A quick squeeze before pulling back and, just to confuse him, I placed a light kiss on his lips before I settled back down on the bed.
Turnabout being fair play and all.
“What was the hurry about this morning?” I asked as I unwrapped the sandwich.
He had to have driven far, because I doubted the tiny town we were in carried a delicatessen housing dark rye bread. There was turkey, swiss, lettuce, mayo, pickles, tomato, and sprouts. Definitely not local.
I opened my mouth and ripped a bite out of the sandwich like a starving animal.
He didn’t respond, but I didn’t expect him to. Instead, he startled me with a subject he hadn’t broached in quite some time.
“I need you to tell me what you know about Three.”
My chewing slowed, and I took a hard swallow. “Can I eat before we do this?”