“We need to go now.” My voice wavered a little as I looked around as if they were going to be in one of the cars around us.
“Fill the tank all the way up, may as well use my card now.”
“Fucking hell, be quick, here, you can do it, I’m going to wash my wrists, asshole” grabbing the new clothes I had gotten from Target and turning around, leaving him standing there, just watching me “I suggest you get those clothes off too, you stink.” I wonder if we could get an air freshener from the store here? I am pretty sure that the stench will be in the fabric of those seats for about half a million years.
“Anything for you, Sneaks.” He shouted at my retreating form.
Throwing my middle finger up at him, hearing his laugh as I moved further away with each step. A woman sat in her car was staring at him with wide, excited eyes. I know, right? Is what I wanted to shout at her. Even looking like a hobo who’d had a rough night, he was still hot as sin. Life was not fair, I tell you, it was not fair.
Staring at my reflection in the lousy gas station bathroom mirror, I tried to process what my life had become and how I had gotten here in such a short space of time.
If only I’d waited for Allie before going down to the lobby alone, I never would have ended up in this situation. At the same time, the thought about what could have happened to Noah if I hadn’t of been there made my blood run cold. Would they have just killed him then and there or as soon as they had gotten to that abandoned asylum, they had held us in? That was the only positive that had come from this whole situation. Me being there, well, that had bought him more time as they had negotiated for more money. Millions of dollars more.
Why was his father doing this to him?
What would make a man want his own son dead?
My hair was a mess, my bangs almost stuck to my forehead due to the grease, and in desperate need of a wash, maybe three. Mascara was smudged around my eyes. I looked like I had been on a bad night out that wouldn’t end. Well, I guess that kind of is a little bit of the truth.
Quickly pulling off the dirty clothes and using some of the liquid hand soap, I managed to wash the essential parts, before moving onto my wrists. Having to scrub a little too hard for the sensitive skin in order to get the dried blood off. They had begun to scab, which was a good thing, that meant that they were healing. No matter what I did to them, they would still look bad. Sighing, I knew I would have to get Noah to help me bandage them up, no way I would be able to do that with one hand.
While my body air-dried, I wished we had brought some toothpaste. I could really do with brushing my teeth right about now.
A fist pounding on the door made me jerk into the basin in front of me as I slid on the fresh and clean jeans.
“Sneaks, you fallen down the plughole?” Noah’s voice sounded like he was trying to be calm but filled with something else. Anxiety, possibly.
Laughing, I quickly got the rest of my new clothes on before shoving my feet back into my dirty Chuck Taylors, which had once been white but not so much anymore.
Sighing to the empty rest room I threw the door open once sliding the lock open, just as he was about to pound on the door again.
Casting my eyes towards Noah, they almost bulged out of my head, literally. This man, this hot man, just got one hundred times hotter. Oh, my actual god.
Dressed in the plain black t-shirt and blue jeans, he looked good. Better than good and a hell of a lot better than in that suit he had been wearing before. That wasn’t what I had been staring at, no, what had me starring at him was much more colorful. Tattoos.
Fuck. My. Life.
“Nice ink,” the two words came out as a whisper as my eyes roamed both of his arms that were covered in tattoos, stopping only an inch or so above his wrists. The burning sensation of his eyes on me as I basically assaulted him with my green ones made me swallow an invisible lump in my throat. Jesus.
How had he been hiding these this whole time?
“Liking what you see, Sneaks?” My eyes shifted to look up at him and the smirk on his face made the fists curl at my sides. Wanting to slap that smile straight off that perfect face. “That is all it takes, huh?” stepping to the bathroom. He chuckled, “Showing you, my ink?”
Swallowing, I instinctively took a step backward, but this only egged him on. My pulse began to race, unable to keep my eyes off the tattoos and his movements, I was feeling overwhelmed.
“You know there is more, want me to show you?”
He lifted the bottom of the black t-shirt he had on, and sure enough, his abs, good god abs, were covered in ink as well. This is not good. I was in trouble. Well, I wanted to be in trouble. He is an asshole Val, the devil. Do not fall for it.
God, but what good trouble it could be. My fingers twitched, wanting to reach out and touch him. Feel the warmth of his body as my fingers roamed the beautiful artwork on his skin.
“You wanna touch?” He closed the bathroom door and flicked the lock, securing us in privacy. I should have been concerned that he had just spoken out loud the thoughts I was having, but nothing in me cared right now. No, because right now, I was way too preoccupied with looking at him at this very moment. Fantasizing about touching him, in every possible way.
Finally, finding my voice and shaking my head in answer, “No.”
“Liar,” he blocked me in, against a wall that only held a small rectangle window. Only a couple of inches separated us from touching. Good god, did I want to touch him, and not just with my fingers. Even my tongue was salivating thinking about those tattoo-covered abs. Danger, my mind screamed. Step away from the Diablo, the hot as hell, tattooed Devil.
This was not the time for anything like this well, it was never the time with this man. Right now, we had a lot of other problems going on. The way he was looking at me only sent my heart rate soaring even higher. How was that possible?
“We need to go.” He pretty much just rang the bell for his father to come and find us by drawing that money out of the ATM.
He was just smiling down at me biting his lip on one side. Oh, fucking hell that did it, everything inside of me clenched. I wanted him, right fucking now.
Neither of us said a word and before I realized what was happening, he crashed his lips down onto mine. Forcing my back flat against the cold and dirty bathroom wall.
He tasted like chocolate and that made me moan into his mouth. Every nerve throughout my body came alive.
Those thick, pouty lips caressed mine with a ferociousness that made every joint in my body week. Electricity pulsated through my veins at such a rate I felt like I was about to combust. All I wanted to do was be closer to him, as close as I could get. God.
He was not just a good kisser. No, the fucking Devil was one of, no, he was the best kisser I had ever, well kissed.
His hands ran down my sides before grabbing my ass and hoisting me upwards, my legs instantly wrapped around his waist, making our bodies flush against each other. I could feel everything, and I do mean everything.
My hands wound into his shaggy blond hair. Even if it was greasy from our lack of washing, I didn’t give a damn. As I tugged on a handful of it, he moaned into the kiss and rolled his hips against mine. Causing my own moan from the delicious friction it had caused.
We needed to stop, we had to move fast after he had used the ATM, we needed to get out of whatever town it was we were currently in. The quicker, the better.
Pulling away, I found myself breathing heavily, like I had been running a freaking marathon or something.
“What are you doing?” He asked, dropping his forehead onto mine, trying to kiss me again.
“We need to go,” I repeated myself from before he had assaulted my lips, in the most delicious way.
He studied me for a moment and gave one short nod before dropping me back down onto the ground. My eyes slid down to his crotch and widened a little at the sheer size of the bulge.
“Like what you see, Sneaks?”
Clearing my throat as I tested that I could actually walk out of here, my entire body felt like jelly right now “Just shut up and let’s go.”
“You liked it, admit it” he was such a cocky ass. Ignoring him, I grabbed my stuff, shoving it into the plastic bag, and unlocked the bathroom door. As I made my way back to our car, well, it was currently our car. Just not legally. “That was some kiss, Sneaks.”
“Just shut up!”
“Can’t wait till next time, baby.”
“You’re incorrigible,” I shouted over the car, sliding into the passenger seat.
“You know, if I had known, that was all it took, I would have taken my shirt off in the elevator.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Depends who you ask, some say nothing and others, well others say that everything is wrong with me.” His eyes twinkled, but the smile on his lips didn’t quite meet them.
“You’re insane.” Clinically insane.
“For you.”
“Oh my god.” Groaning, I slumped down in the seat, covering my face with both hands.
“So, you’re calling me god now that we’ve kissed? Sweet”
“Just drive the damn car, Noah.”
“Best day ever.” he sung those three little words out loud, god did he frustrate me. In the best possible way, not that he needed to know that little fact.
Staying silent, I used every curse word I knew in my head. Such an asshole.
“You close to your brother?” He spoke after we had been driving for almost an hour.
Neither of us had made so much as a noise, just watched the night sky as we had driven. I had been unable to fall asleep, so I stopped trying at all. My mind just kept repeating that damn kiss, and imagining what could have happened, would have happened if I hadn’t finished it when I did. Why did I have to stop it?
I was wound up tighter than a virgin on prom night.
“We speak everyday” I wondered if he was still opening our store?
Nodding his head, I watched as he repeatedly checked the rearview mirror, as if he was checking they weren’t there. Right behind us. “My brother, Jack, we’re really close now.”
“Now?”
“Yeah, he’s the golden child. My father’s favorite, so when I was shipped off to England, he got to live his best life in New York. We didn’t talk for years properly.”
“Your father is a real dick.” The king of the dicks.
“No shit, Sneaks. I didn’t think he would ever do this to me, though, this is, I don’t get it.”
“Do you think, do you think if you spoke to him, it would...”
Cutting me off before I could finish, he spoke through almost gritted teeth. “No Sneaks, when my father has set his eyes on something, that goal consumes him. He will see it out to the bitter end.”
“Then what do we do? We can’t be on the run forever. I need to get back to my store.”
“You have a store?” The shock was obvious in his voice.
“Don’t act so surprised.” The way he had said ‘you’ had instantly gotten my back up. Who did he think he was?
“Sorry, but aren’t you like twenty-one or something?”
“I’m twenty-eight.”
“Huh”
“What the fuck does ‘huh’ mean, Noah?”
“You look younger is all. Take the compliment, Sneaks, for the love of god.”
“Thanks, I guess,” opening the bottle of water that had been sat in my lap, I couldn’t help but ask him, “how old are you?”
“Thirty-four.”
“And yet, you’re still a giant asshole playboy?”
“And what’s wrong with that? I came to the decision years ago. I mean, why should I settle for the cow when you can get the milk for free? That’s the saying, right? The girls in my orbit only ever want a man for their bank balance anyway. I’m not into that. My mom told me never to marry for convenience, she had to because of her parents, and she didn’t want her boys living a loveless marriage like her and my fathers.”
“So, you sleep around in honor of your mom? That sounds a bit douche like”
“Jesus Sneaks,” he side-eyed me. “When you put it like that, you make me sound like a piece of work.”
“That’s exactly what you make yourself look like.” He was one of the most confusing men. He hit on anything with a pulse, with some of the most outrages words and yet at times… at times he acted like he could be a somewhat decent man.
“I much preferred it when your lips were against mine. You talk too much otherwise.” Always trying to make a joke, I tried to hide my smile but failed miserably.
“The truth sometimes hurts, Diablo.”
The car idled in the middle of the street as we stared at the large sign giving us two options “You pick, Sneaks”
Nebraska was left, and right was Kansas.
Not knowing which one to go for, I paused for a moment. Did it really matter which one we chose? It was not like we were going to staying there, merely passing through.
“Right” was my pick with no rhyme or reason. Was that the correct option to take? Only time would tell, I guess.
“Right it is,” and we zoomed off, Kansas bound.
Chapter Nine
Noah
The sensation of her lips on mine took over every thought in my mind. It was all I could feel as the car sped through the streets on the dark night. She had fallen asleep pretty much as soon as we started driving towards Kansas.
Meanwhile, I was left in the silence thinking over every second of what happened in that god-awful gas station bathroom. Every single detail. The warmth of her small, tight body against mine. How perfectly she had felt against me. I wanted her, in any way that I could have her.
She wanted me too. Even if she claimed I was a pain in her ass, an asshole and the devil. The bloody diablo. She wanted me and fuck me did I want her just as much, if not more. All of the back and forth banter we had only cemented that fact. She was mine already, even if she didn’t know it, even if she would act like she didn’t want that.
Finding my eyes continually looking in the wing mirror, I sighed, as if they were going to be in the car behind us. It could happen. They could be just a few cars behind for all we knew. They could be anyone on the street. We had only seen one of their faces, and there had been three of them. Hell, there could have been even more for all we knew. We could not trust anyone we passed on the street. That, well, that was almost worse than knowing the faces of those we feared.
Thinking back to the man I had knocked out, a memory came to me out of nowhere, so vibrant I swerved the car ever so slightly.
**FLASHBACK**
Standing in the break room with Jack, I couldn’t help but laugh as he tried to work the new coffee machine.
“All I want is a fucking black coffee. Why does it have so many buttons?” He slapped a heavy hand on its side, almost sending the whole machine crashing to the ground. Sometimes I swear he forgot how strong he was. He spent enough hours pumping iron I wouldn’t be surprised if he was about to hulk out because he couldn’t work out how to get a coffee.
Laughing out loud at his antics I moved to lean over his large body and his angry face to press one button making the machine spring to life, purring as it filtered his precious coffee.
“What the... how did you do that?” He looked at me with comically wide eyes.
“I pressed the button that said start,” shaking my head at him. “It really is not that difficult.”
“Fuck you,” he flipped me off before rubbing his hands together in anticipation for the caffeine fix that was moments away from being his.
Laughing and pulling a pink donut out of the box on the side, “No thanks, I’m not into sausages.”
A groan came from the doorway, and Michael, one of father’s right-hand men, was standing, enjoying the afternoon entertainment that was my brother and me apparently. “Jack, you are wanted in the meeting room, now”
Devil In The Elevator: A Hartman Romance Page 9