Heat pooled inside of me, and all I could do was swallow the saliva filling my mouth. I wanted him right now.
“You okay over there, Sneaks?”
Shoving some fries into my mouth and trying to stop myself from saying something back to him, I tried to look away. What was it about him that made me go so crazy? The devil using his powers, no doubt.
“I think it’s your turn, even if you did fail to answer the question.”
Taking my time to think of a question as I ate, “What’s your favorite band?”
Now, this I was interested in, hope-filled me that he wouldn’t say something along the lines of ‘he didn’t listen to music’ those people confused me like nothing else in this world. How can you not listen to music? It was everything to me. No matter what happened in life there was always a song that fit, that could take you back to specific moments in time, both the good and the bad.
Shaking his head almost violently, I waited, with bated breath as to what he was going to answer me with “Can’t do it.”
“What?”
“There is no way I can answer that. I have a favorite band for every mood, moment, and feeling I have. You can’t ask someone that kind of question.”
My mouth fell open. If this had been a cartoon, my tongue would have rolled out onto the table.
“What?” It was his turn to look at me with suspicion.
Clearing my throat, I couldn’t help but laugh, “That, that is pretty much what I say anytime anyone asks me the question. I mean, how can anyone have just one favorite band? It’s like genres I listen to everything, apart from dance and techno shit, but I listen to heavy metal, pop, country, even rap.”
Smiling those dimples practically assaulted me from across the table, he almost whispered too low for me to hear, “Where the hell have you been all of my life?”
“Is that your question, or a follow-up?” My tone was teasing, but in reality, I was shocked by those words.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“That is why I opened the store, not because I’m ridiculous, because of my love for music. Me and Eduardo, my brother, opened our store three years ago, almost”
“And you sell music at the store? Like cd’s and stuff.”
“We mainly sell vinyl, but we stock some CDs, yeah, band shirts and random memorabilia, that kind of stuff.”
“Vinyl’s? This isn’t the eighties.”
“I will have you know ninety percent of our sales come from vinyl’s, their sales are at their all-time high in this country, it’s been growing over the last decade. People prefer to listen to music on vinyl, it sounds better.”
Scoffing in disbelief, “But it’s so much easier just to download it.”
“I agree, and I do, but the experience of listening to a good album on vinyl is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. When this is over, you can come to my store, and I will show you.”
“What’s it called? Your store”
“The Borroni Experience”
“It’s a date.” He smiled proudly at me.
“It is not a date, Diablo.”
“I’m making it one.” Nodding at himself, his smile only grew to an impossible size.
“No” It was not a date.
“Sorry, no take backs, you offered, and I accept.”
“Now who’s being ridiculous?”
“Still you.”
“Just shut up and eat, Diablo”
“Err, no, I’m still winning, and also I’m about to win our bet before we leave, don’t go thinking I’ve forgotten about little miss blush a lot.” Tapping his finger on his chin “I’m betting it was something to do with sex, the sex we had in the shower, probably”
Sipping on my milkshake, unable to say a word, I just stared at him, with my green eyes all wide, acting like the innocent girl I was not “Nope”
Clearing his throat, he very clearly, and with no care about who saw him adjusted his junk.
“You okay?” I asked, using my ring finger to wipe my lip in case any milkshake had spilled from the straw.
“Wanna get a motel room, now?”
“No, I’m good.” And was very much enjoying the pained expression on his face, purely from sexual frustration.
“You’re the one that’s the devil.”
“No, I’m just the one screwing him.” Apparently.
“Screwing sounds an awful lot of fun, Sneaks.”
“Then I guess we better eat, get some more cash and get the hell out of here, pretty boy.”
“I prefer Diablo.”
“Shut. Up.”
“Make me,” he lowered his eyes, challenging. If we weren’t in a semi-crowded diner right now, I would be climbing over this table and attacking those lips of his, but as it was, we were very much not alone.
So instead, I picked up the remaining part of my burger and ate. Both of us fell into a comfortable silence, even with the cops in the same room as us.
That was until a red Dodge Ram truck stopped on the other side of the street, instantly capturing my attention. It looked almost brand new and out of place from all of the other vehicles around it. As the door on our side opened, a tall bold man stepped out, wearing mirrored aviators.
A second man quickly followed him with a long ponytail that was so long the end was almost touching the top of his baggy jeans.
Unable to explain the sudden anxious feeling flowing through my veins, I found myself sitting up that little bit straighter. Eyes watching the two men crossing the street, looking up and down as they moved. Fear took over as I continued to watch them move right towards our car. There was only one explanation. It had to be them. The men that we were running from.
“Fuck” I could almost feel every milliliter of blood draining from my entire body.
“What is it?” Noah’s voice was a little too loud and had, without a doubt, caught the attention of others in the diner.
“It’s them,” standing up, abandoning any food we had left. I started to move as I saw the green-haired man step into the light from the other side of the red truck. Noah dropped some bills down onto the table.
“We’ve got to go, now.”
Chapter Twelve
Noah
My feet were moving faster than the rest of my body. Exiting from the opposite side of the diner than we had come in through, we both broke out into a run. I easily overtook her by a couple of strides. Checking that she was still behind me as we ran towards a green park down the next street, cars were honking their horns as we crossed the street without checking for any traffic. The need to flee far outweighed any other sense.
How the fuck had they found us?
Knowing that me using that ATM back at the gas station had been like a beacon. Might as well of called them and given directions. Damn it. We should have ditched the car and changed direction straight away, like our original plan, but me being me, I fucked up. We should not have stopped we should have driven further before stopping here.
“Noah!” Sneaks shouted behind me as we moved. Turning my head slightly to look at her, I almost stopped. I don’t think, no, I know that I’d ever seen things quite like it, in my entire life. Her arms were flapping around like she was a small bird on fucking fire or something and her legs, well, there was no explanation for what I was currently witnessing. They looked like they were both doing a different dance and not even the same genre at that.
“Don’t fucking even,” she shouted, “I don’t run for a reason. We need to get a new car. Now”
Continuing to laugh and changing our direction down a narrower street, my feet skidded. Coming to a sudden stop, making her slide right into my back.
Angling sideways, my hands instantly grabbed ahold of her, making sure that she didn’t crash into me or onto the ground. That was all we needed to happen was her getting hurt, we had more important things to do like getting as far away from that red truck as possible.
Smiling, I couldn’t stop the feeling of relief that filled
me as my eyes roamed what had made me come to a sudden stop, “Ever ridden a motorbike, Sneaks?” My eyes almost undressed the row of sleek black motorbikes in front of me. Such beautiful machines all sleek, black and sexy as hell.
“No, absolutely not, do you even know how to ride one?”
“No, but how hard can it be?” She began flailing her arms like she was running again, biting the inside of my mouth to stop myself from smiling. I coughed, trying to cover the laugh that was threatening to break free.
“I am not getting on that with you just for you to kill us, anyway, may as well let them at us right now.” Knowing that she was about naught point two seconds away from cursing me out as the devil, like fucking always, I rolled my eyes. She was strung higher than any woman I had ever met, but she was also one of the strongest too. And I had to respect that. Fuck, I think I fucking loved that about her.
When she started to walk away, I grabbed her arm. “I’m joking Sneaks, I have a bike, granted nothing like these beauties but I know how to ride one, we’ll be safe, and it will get us out of here really fast.” With any luck, we would be towns away before they even realized that we were gone.
“What about our stuff?” She was busy looking behind us as she spoke, checking that they weren’t right there “and helmets, I definitely want a helmet if you expect me to get on that death trap”
“I have the cash and the gun on me. We’ll have to leave the rest behind.” There was no way we could risk going back to the car. They had known precisely what they had been looking for and without a doubt, they would be waiting right now for us to come back to it. Especially when they saw the bags of stuff we had left on the back seat. Our food and clothes we had changed from. I had hoped that we would be able to find a laundromat and get them cleaned, but obviously, that was a moot point now.
The hesitation in her voice was clear, but she was trying to put on a brave face as she spoke “Okay, fine, but I don’t know how to hot-wire one of those”
Grabbing a helmet off the bike next to the one I had my eye on passing it to her “Here, put this on”
“I don’t want to die on a motorbike Noah”
Knowing it was hard for her to be vulnerable, I just smiled “Good job they left the key and it will be fine, I promise Sneaks, you’ll be safe” jumping onto the bike, my smile grew at the feel of the machine beneath me “Get the fuck on Sneaks, we need to fly.” When this was over, I was getting myself one of these.
“I Don’t th….”
“Just jump on, wrap your arms around me, real tight and don’t let go” Sensing the hesitation still, I added, “I promise I will keep you safe, but Sneaks, we have got to get out of here soon, or they are going to find us.”
Jumping on behind me and following the instructions, her little arms held on for dear life as the bike engine started, its roar echoing around the streets as it drove fast as possible out of this town.
Chapter Thirteen
Valentina
It was several hours later when I dared to look behind us. There were no lights on the road in the distance, but that didn’t mean anything. They could still be out there. Anywhere.
Dropping my head back down onto Noah’s shoulder, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the ride now that my nerves had passed about being on this deathtrap, I was actually enjoying it. Although the vibrations of the bike were making my but a little numb.
Losing count of how far we had traveled, or what towns we had even passed through. I was thirsty, tired and In desperate need of a pee. All I knew was that we had started going back West and I think we were going North now.
Tapping Noah on the stomach I went to shout in his ear but with the wind and how fast we are going, I realized that he would not be able to hear a single word I had to say. Damn it.
Realizing that I had something to say he slowed down to a complete stop, idling in the middle of the road. The bright sunrise glowing red in the distance.
“What’s up?” the expression on his face was still a little panicked, and I didn’t like it. The fact he was feeling that way at all. Feeling this overwhelming need to comfort him, I swallowed it down.
“I need to pee and sleep” If we had been in a car, there would have been every opportunity to catch a few minutes of sleep but not on the back of the bike. It was loud as hell and if that wasn’t enough, the vibrations would never allow it either.
“Okay, next town, we find a place to rest for a few hours before we make a move again. There is every chance they are only a mile or two behind us.”
Nodding my head in agreement, “We should ditch the bike.”
“We definitely need to get that dye.” Knowing he was right, I was not about to fight him on that anymore, we needed to do anything we could to blend ourselves in, and my hair was not that.
“For both of us?”
“Fine” he sighed as I smiled triumphantly. Tightening my arms once again as we sped off towards the next town.
Fear was still lining my stomach, with everything that had happened, finally hitting me. They could have easily gotten us in that diner, killed us right there in the street as we ran away. Tears began to fall freely and unable to wipe them, I let them run down my cheeks, dampening Noah’s shoulder as they fell.
My eyes were frozen on my reflection in the mirror, “I hate it.” Groaning I couldn’t stop running my hands through my hair. My once beautiful hair that now made me look like someone else. Which I guess is good, because that was the point at the end of the day.
“Ditto” Noah let out his own groan beside me as he stared at his reflection, with a scowl on his beautiful face.
“You look hot with dark hair.” His hair was now jet black and it made him look almost like an exotic European, especially with his tanned skin. If I hadn’t of been going through my own hair drama, I would probably be trying to climb him right now. The day was still young, I guess, but right now, I was not in the mood.
The glance he gave me in the mirror was nothing but disgust “Oh my god” groaning “I look like my mom”
“Well shit” he smiled “If your mom is this hot maybe I should make my moves on her”
“Touch my mom, and I will kill you, that is disgusting!” Turning to slap him on the shoulder, he stepped back, making me miss, “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“You look, Sneaks, you are fucking hot with brown hair”
“Thanks?” I think.
“You’re welcome?”
It really did look good on him, even if he hated it. On the other hand, I looked like I was back in high school before discovering hair bleach and crazy colors at the age of fifteen. My mom hated it of course, which made me do it all the more, always the rebel. Now I didn’t feel like myself if I didn’t have a different color every couple of months. Like right now in this moment.
Who was this haunted-looking woman starring back at me in the mirror?
Dark circles under my eyes, despite a couple of hours of sleep we’d had, the dark hair only seemed to enhance them, especially under the fluorescent yellow light of this bathroom.
Running his fingers through his once again, Noah grabbed one of the black baseball caps he had bought at the thrift store down the street from our current motel and planted it on top of his head.
“There, unrecognizable.” Turning to me, he gave me a lopsided smile.
“This isn’t ‘You’ Noah, just because you put on a baseball cap on and pop your collar, people aren’t going to magically forget what you look like and not realize it’s you when you pass them in the street.”
“My hair,” he pointed one single finger at his freshly dyed hair.
“Oh, for the love…. just feed me, will you. I’m hungry after that nap and after this trauma of my hair, I need something sweet.”
“I have something...”
“Nope” cutting him off, I just pressed my hands against his hard chest, hidden beneath a hoodie and began to, well attempt to push him out of the motel bathroom. Un
successfully, of course. He may be lean looking, but he was solid muscle.
“But..”
“Absolutely not, feed me food, Diablo, food.” And then maybe later we could have his kind of something sweet. Defiantly, probably.
“Fine, let’s go to that taco joint across the street I haven’t had Mexican food for ages, and then we need to see what new car you can steal.”
Devil In The Elevator: A Hartman Romance Page 12