by Laura Hysell
Chapter 18
I jumped in the truck and quickly buckled in, outlining the plan to Jared as he drove us out onto the highway. I sipped on one of the sodas and rifled through the bag, pulling out a couple burritos. I handed one to Jared and reached back to hand another to Kirk. Kirk was sitting exactly as I’d left him, with his head bowed. I waved the food under his nose, but he didn’t move.
I sighed in frustration and put Kirk’s burrito back in the bag. There were potato wedges, over-cooked chicken strips and a couple corn dogs in the bag as well. I grabbed the chicken strips, swallowing drinks of soda in between each bite of the dry chicken. The food was barely edible, but I ate it anyway. As soon as I was finished, I climbed into the back seat and buckled myself in next to Kirk.
“Kirk, you need to eat,” I said, grabbing the burrito out again and handing it to him.
Kirk stayed as he was with his head bowed. I put the burrito into his lap and grabbed the soda, holding it up to his mouth. “Drink,” I said, again getting no response. “Rover, drink.”
Kirk tipped his head up and grabbed the soda, sucking the drink down quickly. I pulled it away from him before he drank it all gone and picked the burrito up again. “Rover, eat,” I ordered. I cringed internally as he complied immediately.
I looked away from Kirk as he ate, my eyes meeting Jared’s in the rearview mirror. “If anyone can bring him back, it’s you Izzy,” Jared said. “You almost had him before.”
I nodded absently and turned my attention back to Kirk as he finished the burrito. He was so different from the Kirk I had known. Kirk could be a jerk at times, but he had always been strong and confident. Timidly, I reached out and put an arm around his shoulders. He flinched as though I had struck him, but settled down quickly.
“Rover,” I whispered and his head came up eagerly.
Kirk stared at me, not moving. I could only compare his expression to that of a dog, waiting for his master to acknowledge him. “Do you know who I am?” I asked softly, and was relieved when Kirk nodded his head. “Who am I?”
“Master,” he replied.
It felt like someone had punched me in the gut. No, he hadn’t said what I thought he’d said. I tried again. “What is my name?”
He frowned just before he turned his head away from me. “Master,” he said again softly.
“What is your name?”
“Rover,” was his quick response.
“No, your name is Kirk. Tell me, what is your name?”
“Rover.”
“Damn it, look at me!” I screamed and Kirk’s head jerked toward me; fear evident on his face. “Your name is Kirk and my name is Isabella. Don’t you remember?”
He shook his head, his eyes wide with fear. What was I going to do now? I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to me. He was stiff at first, but eventually he relaxed against me and laid his head on my shoulder while I stroked his hair. Tears poured down my face and I let myself cry, releasing all the anger, fear and frustration that was inside me. I felt an aching despair, as though I was doing everything wrong. I was failing Kirk, just as I was failing my brother.
Kirk snaked an arm around my waist, startling me as he squeezed me gently. His head nuzzled against my shoulder and he snuggled himself tighter to me. My heart sped up. “What is your name?” I asked again softly, holding my breath while I waited for his response.
“Kirk?” he asked and I let out my breath.
I smiled and nodded my head, moving back slightly so I could look at Kirk’s face. “Yes, you’re Kirk and I’m Isabella.”
“Isabella,” he said softly. I grinned, feeling a weight begin to lift off my shoulders until he spoke again. “Master Isabella.”
“No, Kirk, just Isabella. Look at me,” I said. Kirk immediately lifted his head up, his brown eyes wide as he stared at me. “Do you remember me?”
He frowned, his eyes searching my face. I thought I saw recognition flare briefly, then his eyes fell and tears welled in his eyes as he shook his head. “No,” he muttered so softly I could barely hear him.
“Kirk, I know you remember me. We were together for five years!” I yelled, and quickly regretted it. Kirk winced and huddled against himself, shaking.
“She warped his memory of you,” Jared said from the front seat. “Try another tactic. Make him remember something good.”
I met Jared’s eyes briefly and nodded my head. Okay, new tactic. “You were in love with a girl with long, blonde hair. She was a teacher. Her name was Isabella. You were going to marry this girl.” I stopped, not sure how to continue because the rest of the story didn’t have a happy ending. There was no fairytale wedding. I’d broken off the engagement three months before the wedding. I took a deep breath and tried again, this time thinking of a specific memory.
“Do you remember that snow skiing trip we took?” I asked, pulling my arms tight around Kirk until he relaxed into my body. “We’d been dating for about four months and you wanted to show off your moves. I’d never been skiing and never went again after that trip.” I chuckled, remembering. “You tried teaching me to ski and decided I was good enough to go up on the big lift. You practically had to push me off at the top. Then one of my boots came out of the ski halfway down the hill and I couldn’t stomp it back in. You tried coming back up to help me and ended up sliding down the hill backwards, while I slid down on my butt with one ski on my foot and the other ski sliding beside me.
“By the time we made it back to the lodge we had a dozen bruises and snow in a variety of unmentionable places.” I paused and leaned close to Kirk, whispering in his ear. “That was also our first night together. I was shivering from the cold and you so gallantly offered to warm me up. And you most definitely did warm me up, all night long.”
I pushed Kirk up and grabbed his face, turning him until he was looking directly at me. He looked at me in return and reached a tentative hand up to stroke my cheek. “Izzy,” he said softly, “What happened to your hair?”
I laughed and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him fiercely. “You remember me?”
He pulled his arms tight around me then leaned back, searching my face again. “You’re my fiancée, Isabella Howerton.”
I hadn’t been his fiancée for several years now, but I couldn’t say anything. I was treading dangerous water here. “What do you remember, Kirk?”
He frowned and looked around the truck, confusion evident on his face. “What’s going on? Why am I naked?” He started breathing quickly and I feared he was about to have a panic attack. He looked down at his arm that still had the dirty cast on and his breathing quickened again.
“Kirk, please, look at me. It’s all going to be all right. Everything is fine, just calm down please.” I took Kirk’s face in my hands again and forced him to look at me. “Focus on me, Kirk. You know me. I’m here for you. You’re safe now. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”
His eyes were wild and darted back and forth, but I kept my face right in front of his until he focused on me. His breathing began to slow as he stared at me. “Izzy, why did you leave me?”
“What?” I asked automatically, confused. He opened his mouth to reply and I quickly covered it with my hand. “Shh, please don’t worry, Kirk. I’m here for you now. I’m not going anywhere.”
He eased at my words and caressed my cheek again, a small smile playing at his lips. “My Iz-a-belly,” he said softly just before he kissed me.
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just kissed him back. The kiss was slow at first and gentle. Then the kiss began to grow as Kirk opened my mouth with his tongue. His uninjured hand moved from my face and found my stomach where the coat opened slightly. Warmth flowed across my stomach at his touch and his kisses grew more insistent. Within seconds his hand had found its way upward and he was pushing me back on the seat.
Jared cleared his throat loudly and I jerked up, pushing Kirk off me. The blanket I had placed over Kirk’s lap had fallen onto the floor, showing me just how happy h
e was to see me. He reached for me again, grabbing at the buttons of the coat. “Kirk, stop,” I said, pulling the ties tight on the coat and pushing him back again.
“Why?”
“We’re in the back of a truck and we have an audience, that’s why,” I replied quickly.
Kirk looked around, seemingly noticing Jared and the truck for the first time. I picked the blanket up off the floor and placed it on Kirk’s lap, adjusting his seatbelt to hold it in place better. “Where are we? What’s going on?” Kirk asked, and I heard the panic in his voice again.
“Kirk, it’s all right. We’re just driving somewhere safe,” I replied as I adjusted my clothes.
Kirk didn’t respond with words, but he curled his legs up under him on the seat and buried his face against his knees. I took a deep breath before putting a hand on his back, patting him softly. Scars crisscrossed his back mixed with newer, angry red welts. I leaned into him and he jerked away, sending me a quick glance. “Master?” he muttered.
Two steps forward, one step back, as the old saying goes. I wasn’t sure if I’d made any progress or not. “Isabella,” I said, taking Kirk’s face in my hands and forcing him to look at me again. “You know me. I’m Isabella. You’re Kirk.”
“Master Isabella,” he said again. “Master Isabella.”
Over and over he muttered the same thing and I couldn’t take it anymore. I was mentally drained. I unbuckled myself and climbed into the front seat. I had briefly regained a part of Kirk and had just as quickly lost it. Jared kept glancing at me, but I stared straight ahead, not wanting the judgment I was sure I’d see in his eyes.
After about ten minutes, Jared finally spoke. “So if I forget who I am will you help me remember by a little make out session? Maybe a lap dance would help?”
I turned and glared at Jared and got a laugh out of him. “Very funny,” I muttered.
“Don’t beat yourself up so much, Izzy. You had him back for a while. I’d say that’s a sign he’s not completely gone. Just give him some time.”
I nodded my head but I wasn’t so sure. I looked into the back seat. Kirk had curled up and appeared to be sleeping. He was so different from the man I had known, mentally and physically. His body was still muscular, but thinner than I remembered. Kirk had always been confident, good-looking and a smooth talker. His confident attitude had been one of the things that had drawn me to him in the first place, and one of the things that drove us apart. He was a ladies-man when I met him and I found out far too late that he never stopped being a ladies-man.
I never told him I had found out about his infidelity. One day I just gave him his ring back and moved my stuff out of his place. Even after five years together, I had never completely moved in with him. I think a part of me knew we weren’t right for each other and I always had my apartment as a backup. Kirk had tried for months to win me back, but I shut him down and told no one of my reasoning, including my brother. Justin and Kirk had been friends for far too long for me to ruin their friendship, and I wanted to keep the peace. That’s what I told myself, but in reality I didn’t want to admit that maybe I hadn’t been enough for him. The shame that I felt was too overwhelming for me to ever admit that Kirk had sought pleasure from the company of another woman.
The truck jerked, bringing me out of my reverie. I cast a worried glance at Jared as the engine groaned again and thick smoke began coming up from under the hood. We drove for another mile until the smoke was so thick and dark we could hardly see. Jared steered the truck off the road and stopped, shutting off the motor.
I sat in the truck as Jared popped the hood and looked over the engine. I decided to use this time to stretch my legs. We were on a vast open stretch of highway with a small forest on our side of the road and fields everywhere else. I walked around and stretched before coming to stand next to Jared.
The smoke had dissipated quite a bit, but I had no idea what I was looking at. “Is it overheating?” I asked.
Jared glanced at me then stared back at the truck, hands on his hips. “I don’t have a clue,” he said. “Radiator is full. Oil is empty though. I guess that could do it. The hoses all look hooked up right. No obvious leaks.”
“Do you know anything about engines?”
“Not a damn thing.”
I laughed, looking at Jared in his stolen mechanics overalls. “What do you propose?”
“Let it cool down and try again. There’s a little traffic on this road. We could probably hitch a ride if we can’t get this thing back on the road.”
“Kirk’s naked. Who do you think would give a naked guy a ride?”
“Good point,” he said, turning to look at me. “I could walk back to the last town. It’s only about five miles. Or you could hitch a ride to Walla Walla and meet these friends of yours while Kirk and I wait here.”
“Or we could all just wait here. When we don’t show in Walla Walla, my friends will come looking for me,” I replied, hoping I sounded confident. I wasn’t sure that’s what they’d do, but it seemed likely. “I don’t want to split up. I’m the only one that Kirk listens to right now, so I don’t think I should leave him.”
Jared nodded. “Why don’t I go back to the last town then?”
“That was barely a town, Jared. I don’t think they even had a gas station. And what are you going to do when you get there? Besides, you don’t have shoes. It would be a long and painful walk.” I turned away, frustrated. “Let’s just wait a few minutes and try the truck again.”
“Okay,” Jared said softly, coming up behind me. He put his arm around my shoulder, hugging me from the side briefly before letting me go.
Ten minutes later we tried the truck again and managed to drive it three miles at a slow pace before the smoke got so thick we had to stop. We waited twenty minutes and tried again, making it another two miles before we were forced to pull over again. After the third time doing this the truck wouldn’t restart again.
“I guess we know why this truck was in the shop,” Jared commented as he slid his seat back to get comfortable.
I chuckled and slid my seat back as well. Kirk was still sleeping on the back seat, seeming at peace. “We should have been there by now,” I commented.
“Well, yeah,” Jared laughed. “We’ve wasted over an hour messing with this damn truck.”
“They could be in Walla Walla by now. Mark said around two or three they’d get there.”
Jared clicked the key over until the clock display lit up. The time was 2:18pm. “It all depends on the traffic,” Jared mused. “Let’s say they’re in Walla Walla already. How long will they drive around looking for a white Blazer before they leave the town and start expanding their search for us?”
“You still think I should hitch a ride with someone?”
“I think it’d be our best bet,” Jared replied, glancing at me. “I get why you don’t want to go though, and I won’t push the issue. I’d go myself, but I don’t know what these people look like and it’s probably safest if we stick together.”
“So we wait.”
Chapter 19
By 3:45 we had eaten all the remaining food in the bag and I was anxious. It was early November and the sun would be setting in about an hour. There wasn’t a lot of car travel on the road, so every time I saw a vehicle coming towards us I got excited, thinking that maybe it was finally Mark. Then, of course, disappointment would set in when I’d realize it wasn’t him.
Every thirty minutes or so Jared would try to start the truck again, but the motor would no longer turn over. It got colder with each passing minute and I was curled up on my seat, shivering. We had been taking trips outside, running and jumping to stay warmed up until the rain had started. It was just sprinkling at first, but it soon turned into a downpour. Dark clouds had crept in, blocking out the remaining sunlight. I didn’t know enough about vampires to know if they could come out under cloud cover or not, but the dark sky was making me increasingly nervous.
As the temperature dipped furt
her, Jared and I moved to the back seat and sat on either side of Kirk. Kirk had slept most of the day, but he had woken up as the temperature had dropped. His legs were curled under him and I had pulled the blanket around him the best I could, leaning into him to keep us both warmer.
I was definitely warmer, with my bare feet tucked under me, but Kirk was still shivering beside me. “Kirk, you need to get warmed up.” Kirk blinked at me and didn’t move. I ran my hands over his arms, trying to warm his skin with friction.
“I knew he was close to the edge before Sarah captured you, but he seems completely gone now,” Jared said sadly.
I didn’t like Jared getting pessimistic. He was usually the one keeping me in good spirits. “He remembered me before,” I retorted.
“He remembered you from the past.”
I nodded because it was true. “That’s better than calling me Master and waiting to be ordered around.”
Jared shrugged, not agreeing or disagreeing with me. “Tell him about the snow skiing trip again. That worked last time.”
I sighed. I didn’t really want a repeat of what had happened last time, but I tried anyway. I had recounted the whole tale again, stopping at the part where we’d gone back to the lodge. I watched Kirk as I spoke, but I didn’t see a flicker of recognition. “We spent the rest of the night warming each other up,” I finished. “Kirk, do you remember that?”
Kirk stared at me, but there was no recognition there. I felt tears well in my eyes and I quickly turned away. After a few calming breaths, I turned back to Kirk and grabbed his face, pulling him to me and kissing him. He responded immediately, kissing me back intensely.
I pulled away and looked up at Kirk. “Kirk, who am I?” I asked softly.
He laughed and caressed my face. “You’re my fiancée, of course. Izzy, what did you do to your hair?”
I smiled and shook my head. “Oh, I just decided to try something new,” I replied.