“So what?”
“We can’t leave him like that.”
Lex shakes his head. “We sure can, rabbit. Have you learned nothing from this whole venture? We’ve finally gotten our shit together so we don’t have to keep running. I won’t risk that because of some hitchhiker.”
“But you’re here with me. He’s not going to do anything with you here. You’re the biggest predator in these parts.” I have no fear of any other man with Lex around. He’ll always protect me. I push out my lower lip. “I’ll feel really shitty if we leave him out there in the storm.”
“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t like how selfless you are. I love that it put me in the car with you in the first place, but your selflessness is suicidal sometimes.”
He has to remember what it was like to need a ride.
“Please,” I beg. After what happened to the poor clerk, I feel like I need to make amends to the universe and improve one person’s day to account for robbing the gas station.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Selena, fine. But so help me God, if he even thinks about touching you, you’re going to wish I never stopped to pick him up. His death will be on your hands.”
He slams on the brakes, throws the truck in reverse, and backs toward the man. At first I think I must have imagined him because he seems to have vanished within the darkness, but a knock on the window startles me and throws me right back into the night I met Lex. It feels like déjà vu.
Lex lowers my window a little and speaks over me. “Do you need help?” I’m sure the man can tell how much he doesn’t want to ask. He couldn’t seem less approachable if he tried.
The man stares at us. Rain plasters his dark hair to his forehead. He looks young, closer to my age, and he’s not nearly as intimidating as Lex. “Depends. What kind of help are you offering?”
The rain finds its way through the cracked window and wets my jeans. At least it kind of hides the fact that I came just a little while ago and soaked my pants.
Lex seems annoyed by his evasive response. “A ride or a place to stay for the night.”
The man looks ahead at the dark, dreary, wet road. “I could use a place to stay for the night, if it’s not too much trouble.”
“Hop in,” Lex says with an annoyed sigh.
I move over, sidling up to Lex so the man can get in. He has that same smell Lex had—a heavy, earthy aroma that sticks with you long after you dry.
“I’m Jamie,” the man says. His wet clothes soak into mine.
“I’m Ben, and this is my wife,” Lex says.
“Does she have a name?” Jamie asks.
“It doesn’t matter what her name is. She’s my wife and that’s all you need to know.”
Lex is being rude. The guy is only trying to introduce himself to us. He seems innocent enough. I know Lex is mistrustful, and I understand why, but nothing and no one will separate us now. I’m confident of that.
The rest of the drive back to the cabin is heavy and silent, and I fight back my urge to ask why he was walking along the road. The longer he’s in the car with us, the more I worry I’ve made the wrong choice. We worked so hard to find a place where we didn’t have to run anymore, and now I’m putting us at risk because of residual guilt from the robbery.
We pull onto the utility road and take the winding path to the cabin. We get out of the truck once we park in the spot where the tires sink into the familiar section of ground. Lex gets out first and opens the passenger door. His lips draw tightly downward as the rain begins to soak his clothing. The man beside me scoots out of the truck and Lex steps aside so he can get down.
“You live out here?” he asks.
“The fewer questions you ask, the better,” Lex says.
We walk into the cabin, and the heaviness continues past the threshold. As Jamie looks around, I finally get a good look at him. His eyes are as dark as his unruly hair, which has dried, thanks to the heater in the truck. He brushes a hand over his groomed beard and takes off his black jacket. Damp still clings to his white shirt and holds it against his skin.
Lex clears his throat to stop my staring. I’m not staring because I’m attracted to him—and heisattractive—but I want to know more about this strange man from the side of the road. I want to know how his story differs from Lex’s...and how it’s the same.
* * *
Lex
I hate this.I fucking hate this. Selena is too good, and it puts her into bad situations. Like the night she met me. She’s too trusting. I’ve spent a fair bit of my life on the run, hitchhiking from one place to another, but I wasalwayson the run fromsomethingwhen I held my thumb in the wind. Very few choose to walk along the road and hope for the kindness of strangers. That’s not to say everyone who does is up to no good. Not everyone is like me. But the risk of this man being somewhat like me is too high, and it’s a chance I didn’t want to take. I do things for Selena that I wouldn’t do myself, like heading back to New York when I’m wanted there or leaving half the money during a robbery.