Iggy asked, “You think someone will recognize me from that news report?”
“You were a hostage who ended up standing around staring at people. You haven’t committed a crime. If anyone presses you about your involvement with me, just tell them I kidnapped you and you don’t know who I am or where I’m at.”
Cody waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “They’re probably way too swamped to remember a news story from a couple days ago. Besides, you look like a soaked rag doll with a swollen nose. Not the person who was on the news.”
Chapter 14
Cael
Four hours later, Iggy was in the shower and I was stuck under a bedspread while Cody washed clothes in the hotel’s guest laundry facility. Since our backpacks had been stolen along with everything else, we had no change of clothes. So when Iggy emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, I realized I probably had an hour or so of waiting before she would be dressed again. Even with stitches and a swollen nose, my brain couldn’t stop thinking about how attractive she was. This was neither the time nor the place for thoughts like that, so I warned her to look away, and I padded naked into the bathroom.
By the time I got out, Cody still wasn’t back with our clothes and my stomach was growling. With a towel wrapped tightly around my hips, I headed for the tiny kitchenette and fixed myself a glass of water. Iggy was sitting on the sofa in the living room, watching television. While I appreciated the space that came with our king bed suite at the regular room price, I still wanted to sit right down beside her. And though she would probably think I was doing it simply to antagonize her, I sat beside her anyway.
She glanced at me before stiffening her spine. I mumbled, “You’re probably feeling a lot better since you got a bag of IV fluid. You don’t look so pale anymore.”
“Yeah, I feel better. But I’m still tired. I tried to lie down while you were in the shower, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I think I’m too hungry to sleep.”
I smiled at her comment and glanced down at her bare legs. She held out the remote control for me to take, but I shook my head. “Let’s see your stitches.” She turned her head, and I took her chin between my fingers to tip her face toward the light. “That’s a nasty looking bruise you’ve got there.”
She smiled nervously and swallowed. “I can’t breathe out of my nose. I hope I don’t snore so loudly that it keeps you and Cody up all night.”
I released her chin. “Are you still mad at me?”
Iggy shrugged. “A little. Are you still mad at me?”
I sat back and said too forcefully, “No, I’m not mad at you.”
Iggy wrapped her bare arms around her waist, and the action drew my attention to her delicate collar bones. “Liar.”
“Are you going to tell me why you’re scared to wear a seat belt?”
She bit her lip and averted her gaze. “Probably not.”
“If you don’t talk to me about stuff, I won’t understand your choices. And then you’ll get mad at me for being mad at you for not being careful.” When she didn’t respond, I dragged a hand through my hair and leaned closer to her. “It scared the shit out of me when you hit the windshield. Maybe it doesn’t bother you much, but I watched it happen. You didn’t see it like I did.”
Iggy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Jensen strapped me down to tables and chairs and blindfolded me.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I couldn’t see the people who came by to whisper threats in my ears or stick needles in my arms. Sometimes I was stuck there for days at time.” Her eyelids fluttered open, and the fear and sadness in her eyes was overwhelming. “I…I don’t want to talk about it, Cael. But that’s why I can’t wear seat belts. I can’t even go to amusement parks and ride roller coasters. Anything that ties me down or pins me in place triggers panic attacks.”
I had no idea what to say. I just stared at her, shocked and angry, until she looked down at her lap and I realized I was making her squirm. Finally, I dragged a hand through my hair and told her, “Iggy, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m glad you told me. I understand now. I just…” I shook my head. “It’s my fault you got hurt. You could have died. If I’d hit the truck, you could’ve gone through the windshield.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t hit it then.”
“But if I hadn’t been following so closely, I wouldn’t have had to slam on the brake, and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
“You weren’t following too closely. It was my fault. Not yours.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Think about it. If I could have managed to wear the belt, then I wouldn’t have gotten hurt. And if I hadn’t gotten hurt, we wouldn’t have been robbed.” She gave an angry shake of her head. “I could’ve stopped all four of those guys so easily, Cael. One look and I could’ve taken them down. Things could have turned out so differently.”
I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “I should never have brought any of you with me. You’re hurt. Wesley’s gone. Cody’s been through hell. My parents aren’t in any of the surrounding hospitals, and I’m going to go to jail. And for what? I could have looked around without putting all of you in danger. It was stupid. I didn’t think things through before I acted.”
“And I completely failed in my purpose. I was supposed to protect everyone. I was supposed to be useful. Helpful. All I did was cause problems right from the start. It’s my fault you shot two people. My stupid paranoia got us robbed. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me.”
“You are so frustrating.”
“Well, I guess things haven’t changed much since we were kids then.”
Her eyes lowered to focus on my lips. I moved toward her. “A lot has changed since we were kids, Iggy.”
She sank back into the cushions. “We’re older. I don’t think I’m as mean.”
“And instead of wanting to run away from you, I want to kiss you.”
“You do?” she whispered, looking up at me through long lashes.
“I think about it all the time.” Iggy licked her lips, and the movement drew my attention to them. And when her lips parted slightly and she inhaled, I reached out to pull her close.
And then someone pounded on the door.
We jumped apart. I stood up and walked over to look through the peep hole. “Why didn’t you use your key?” I asked Cody as I opened the door.
“No free hands,” he said, balancing a brown paper bag in each arm while grinning. He breezed past me and declared, “You guys are gonna love me now.”
Iggy came over to the table where Cody set the bags. He started pulling out cans of food, a bag of potato chips, two packages of hot dogs, buns, a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. He even had a microwave safe dish, some plastic silverware, and a can opener.
“And now for the pièce de résistance,” he said, reaching into the second bag. He pulled out a bottle of Grey Goose like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat. “Aha!” he exclaimed. “Am I good, or am I good?”
“How did you get all this stuff?” Iggy asked, wide eyed.
“While I was waiting for the clothes to dry, I went in search of someone who still thought money was worth something. Of course, this feast cost me a small fortune, but I think it will be worth it.”
Iggy threw her arms around Cody and he hugged her back, laughing.
I grimaced. “Exactly how much was it?”
“Four hundred dollars.”
“What?” I grabbed the package of hot dogs and smoothed my fingers across the plastic covering. “Guess we better appreciate every bite. We’re looking at the most expensive Oscar Mayer wieners ever made.”
“It’s like champagne and caviar.” Cody grabbed the Goose and twisted off the lid. He swallowed down a gulp, licked his lips, and sighed. “Worth every penny.”
He handed me the bottle and I took a long swig. It burned going down. I took another swallow and then felt the heat spread through my veins. My stomac
h was empty and the liquor hit fast. I handed the bottle to Iggy. As she drank, I ripped open the package of hot dogs, held up a link and saluted with it. “Here’s to a fifty dollar hot dog.” Then I bit half of it off. I’d never tasted anything so good in my whole life.
“Don’t you want to heat it up first?” Iggy asked, smiling.
“I’m so hungry, I could eat through the can to get to the beans,” I told her, grabbing the can of country style beans. “I’d eat raw meat at this point.”
Cody grabbed the can and the opener, and then he poured the beans into the microwavable dish. “We can put the hot dogs in with the beans,” he told Iggy.
While the beans and hot dogs cooked, Iggy and I grabbed spoons and dug into the peanut butter. She sat down and licked the spoon like an ice cream cone, moaning about how good it was. “Anybody mind if I double dip?” We shook our heads and she scooped another spoonful while Cody went for the vodka.
Iggy grabbed his wrist. “Can you pretty please go get my clothes before you get drunk?”
He smiled and kissed her on top of her head. “Sure. Be right back.”
I watched Iggy dip a chip into her peanut butter and crunch it down. I said, “He likes you, you know.”
“I like Cody too. He’s like the big brother I always wanted.”
Hearing her say that made me feel better. I took a gulp of Goose and asked, “What about Wesley? I thought he’d be your first choice for a brother.”
Her eyes took on this wistful, sad look, and I regretted bringing him up. She said, “He means more to me than I can say, but he’s not exactly brother material. He always has been and always will be my best friend.” She took the bottle from me and drank, making a face that had me laughing.
“Why do you drink the stuff if you think it tastes so horrible?”
She retrieved dinner from the microwave. “It’s not horrible, it just burns like fire.” She stirred the beans and franks. “Hot sauce and wasabi burn too, but I keep eating the stuff.”
When Cody returned with our clothes, Iggy disappeared into the bathroom, and I changed in the bedroom. Cody was still wearing his wet clothes, and I held my hand out. “Give me your wet clothes and I’ll go throw them in the wash.” He stripped and started to sit down. “Tell me you don’t plan on being naked when Iggy gets out of the bathroom.”
Cody mumbled all the way over to the bed where he yanked off a sheet and wrapped it around himself toga style. I could tell he was anxious to get as plastered as possible, and I hurried through starting the wash so I could get back and make sure he ate before consuming too much liquor.
When I walked back into the room, Iggy was holding the bottle in one hand and shoving a hot dog into Cody’s mouth with her other hand. “Eat the whole thing, and then you can have another shot.”
I sat down at the table with them and fixed my own hot dog. Cody ate his in two bites and reached for the chips. An hour later, he was asleep on the sofa with only a third of the bottle left.
Iggy covered him with a spare blanket from the closet, and then she gently pried his fingers off the bottle and brought it back to the table. “That man can eat a lot of food.” Everything was gone except half a jar of peanut butter and a half loaf of bread.
“You didn’t eat much. Were you saving it all for Cody or something?”
“I think it’s stress. Or maybe the antibiotic shot they gave me in the hospital.”
“Maybe the pain pills,” I suggested.
“I didn’t take any pain medicine.”
“How does your nose feel?” I pushed the Goose toward her and leaned forward on my elbows.
“Like it’s stuffed with cotton. But it doesn’t hurt much.” She took a swig of vodka, shivered, and passed it back. She blinked slowly at me and yawned.
“Looks like it’s time for you to go to bed.”
“I don’t want to go to sleep. Can we watch a movie?”
“Sure.” I grabbed the Jif jar, a spoon, and the bottle of vodka while Iggy turned out the lights and switched off Cody’s television. I followed her to the giant bed. She grabbed the remote from the dresser in front of us and propped herself up on a couple of pillows against the headboard. I set the peanut butter and vodka between us and then propped myself up beside her in the same manner.
She flipped through the digital guide and we talked about what movies looked interesting. We settled on a thriller, which seemed to be our favorite genre. But instead of watching quietly, Iggy was pretty talkative, and I enjoyed listening to her. She asked about what college was like in New York, and she laughed at some of the stories I told her about me and Cody. I confessed that I’d screwed up by partying too much and then my guilty conscience finally got me to move off campus to share an apartment with some of my friends who were serious about making good grades. I had cut down on the amount of free time I wasted, and my GPA had gone way up after that. Iggy said she’d always wanted to live in a big city, even if just for a year. But she figured it wasn’t meant to be. Though she said she was jealous of my college experience, I knew that she loved the farm. And if she ever did leave for the city, she’d miss it too much to stay gone for long.
She reminded me about some of the stuff we’d done as kids, and we laughed over how scared I’d been of her. Back when she was nine and I was eleven, she’d been tall for her age, and I’d been short. She’d been bigger than me and had bossed me around. I remembered having mixed feelings about Iggy back then. Sometimes I liked her and admired the way she told other kids what to do. Other times, I ran from her for fear she was going to use me as target practice. She laughed when I admitted this to her.
“When did the growth spurt hit, then?” she asked. “I last saw you when you were thirteen, and you were still pretty scrawny.”
“I was a late bloomer.” She giggled and I poked her side, making her jump. “It was a tough time. Really. I didn’t hit puberty until I was fifteen.”
“That’s difficult to imagine.” She drained the last of the Grey Goose and handed the bottle to me.
I set it on the night stand and shifted closer to her. “I hated being small.” I licked the peanut butter blob on my spoon. “I used to have nightmares about you attacking me. You were like twelve feet tall in my dreams.” She laughed. “I can’t tell you how much I hated that you were taller than me even though I was older. It damaged my ego. Along with all that crap you blamed me for.”
She laid her head on my shoulder. “Dad knew better than to believe half of what I said about you. I blamed you for stuff that I or my friends damaged, but he stopped falling for my excuses.” She grabbed my spoon. “I was an evil child, wasn’t I?” She licked off the rest of my peanut butter and said, “But I’m no longer evil, and you’re no longer scrawny.” She handed the spoon back to me.
“And you no longer have buck teeth.”
Iggy giggled. “I wore headgear. Can you believe it? I guess the wheel came around and paid me back for how I treated you.”
“I bet nobody teased you though. You would have beaten the crap out of them.” I tucked some hair behind her ear, carefully moving strands away from her stitches.
“I only wore the head gear at night, but you’re right in that no one dared tease me about my braces. But I didn’t get asked out on any dates until my sophomore year.”
“That’s probably because you scared the boys.”
“Nah. I just wasn’t very pretty.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, I look better now than I did then. I’ll have to show you some pictures.”
“I bet all those guys in school would take one look at you now and kick themselves for not asking you out.”
She shrugged. “Not with a nose like this.”
“Would you go on a date with me if I asked?” I touched her cheek, careful to avoid her nose. She went still.
“Why would you want to date me? I’m nothing like the sorority girls you went out with up at NYU.�
�
I rubbed my thumb across her soft cheek and said, “You’re right. You’re smarter, stronger, more special and beautiful than any of them.”
She turned away. “Cael. I’m not beautiful. My nose is swollen and I have eight stitches on my head.”
I sighed. “Okay. Allow me to clarify. Right now, with your nose swollen, you’re beautiful. When your nose isn’t swollen, you are the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen.”
She looked back at me and said, “That’s the vodka talking.”
“Fine. Then I’ll say it to you tomorrow, and the next day. And every single day until you believe it’s not the vodka.” I sat back against my pillows. “You didn’t answer my question. Would you go out with me if I asked?”
“A date?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah. I would. Unfortunately, the world is falling apart, and there’s nowhere to go on a date.”
“Then let’s plan out what we’d do, and when everything is back to normal, we’ll go out.”
And we stayed up talking until Iggy put her arms around my waist, snuggled against me, and began softly snoring.
Chapter 15
Cael
I sat up in bed, careful not to wake Iggy. We’d left the television on as a night light, but maybe someone had woken up in the middle of the night to turn it off. There were no windows, and it was pitch black. When I glanced in the direction of the bedside clock, the red digital numbers were gone. I pushed a button on my watch and it glowed to reveal that it was just past seven a.m.
“Power’s out,” Cody whispered, and I pinned his location to the kitchenette.
I snuck out of bed and used my glowing watch to illuminate my way to the table. After taking the seat across from Cody, I ran a hand through my hair and yawned. I asked, “How long have you been up?”
“Not long,” he whispered. “I sure could use some coffee.”
“Me too,” Iggy said. I heard some shuffling sounds and then a thump followed by a mumbled curse word. Iggy bumped into our table and grumbled, “We lost power? Well that sucks.” She sighed. “How you doing, Cody?”
Users Page 13