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1158 Words
Elizabeth had no idea where they were driving to. She had cried for over an hour until she was finally exhausted and had been able to fall asleep, and when she woke up it was already dark again. She didn’t know how long she had been asleep, but it was clear that Sawyer had just been driving the entire time without taking a break. She glanced at the fuel gauge, and the fact it indicated they were low on gas confirmed her suspicion.
The AC was blasting and she felt freezing, but assumed it was on for a reason; either to try and keep the body in the back cold, or to dissipate the smell of death which was a million times worse for Sawyer than it was for her.
“Do you need to take a break?”
“I’d rather get there as soon as possible.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“A few hours, I don’t know exactly. We passed through the city a couple of hours ago, but I didn’t bother stopping off. I don’t even know how long I have been driving.”
As if on cue, the car let out a insufferable bleeping noise and a red light flashed on the fancy electronic dashboard along with the words ‘fuel level low’ on the computerized screen.
“Long enough.”
He sighed but stopped off at the next service station.
He filled up the car, paid, then got back in to continue the drive. Elizabeth reached out and put her hand on top of his as he went to start the car.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to take a break. A real one. When was the last time you ate? Or slept? Have you even done either since what happened?”
“I’m not a human. I have gone far longer than 24 hours without food or sleep plenty of times, it’s not a big deal.”
“What about me? I am human; at least, part of me is. And the other part of me isn’t feeling so good on account of the fact I am still on heat and what happened to me only helped for a little while. It’s getting worse again, and I may have been a f****d up mess when you were executing that master plan of yours which we still haven’t even spoken about, but I did pick up on you thinking very clearly that you would never let me get that way again. Last night… you almost couldn’t stop yourself when I was like that, because you needed me nearly as badly as I needed you. You can’t let that happen again, and if you try to ignore it, you’re just going to end up messing with your own head as well as my body.”
“Elizabeth,” his tone made it seem as if he was going to berate her, but he took the keys out of the ignition and sighed, “let’s go get you something to eat.”
“What about the other thing?” She didn’t want to address it directly again, she felt awkward enough the first time.
“My father’s dead body is in the trunk of this car, can you please wait a little longer? I won’t let you get bad; I promise. I will never willfully do that to you ever again. It may have worked out, but it wasn’t fair of me to do that.”
“I get the impression I am not the first person you’ve done that to.”
“I never once took it that far. It was not even remotely pleasurable seeing you like that, and the guys who do that to women deliberately are not looked on kindly. It’s shameful to get a woman into that kind of state.”
“But you did used to tease them for fun, you’ve told me that.”
“They knew what they were getting into, I never mislead them. They came to me knowing I wouldn’t sleep with them.”
“Why? Why would anyone even risk getting like I was?”
“I always knew when to stop. But… maybe they thought I would give in one day? Or that coming to me and letting me use them like I did would give them an edge over other women when it came time for me to choose a mate? It doesn’t matter, does it? Why are you feeling insecure about it all of a sudden?”
“We should go and get food so we can get back on the road.”
She was not willing to admit the truth; that she was intimidated by the fact she was going to have to look some of those women in the eye soon, knowing what they thought about her and what they wanted from him. She was sure that Tobias would have told them what he had planned for his son, but Gabrielle had told him about the fact they had deceived him when he was almost at the cabin anyway, so they were probably oblivious to what she had revealed. All they knew was that he had agreed to take a mate, and if it wasn't going to be Gabrielle, it would be one of them.
“What are you in the mood for?”
She looked across at the lone sad looking fast food joint available to them at the service station, and then noticed that he was smiling, even if it was a little forced.
“I don’t think what I want is going to be on the menu.”
“Behave. I need to sort my head out a little. I know you’re insatiable, and I know I need to help. Please trust me that I will do that before it gets too unbearable this time. See if you can find somewhere for us to stay for the night on your phone once we get back on the road.”
“Why didn’t you stop at home overnight? I was only like this for a day or so last time, it probably won’t be bad tomorrow.”
“I didn’t want him at our home; even like this. And I was trying to get us there while you are like this, because you don’t smell human at all and it would be the sweetest vindication for me to introduce you to them while you are undeniably one of us.”
Vindication: these were the people who had seen his bond with her as abhorrent and akin to a crime, and he felt that he needed to be exonerated. It was too easy to forget what he had been through at their hands, and she felt guilty when she remembered how they had made him suffer through a devastating physical attack before exiling him for what they thought at the time was the rest of his life. She couldn’t think of that without thinking of the physical marks they had left on his body, and that was infuriatingly distracting right now.
She looked over to the fast food joint, and then back to Sawyer.
“You know, I really don’t think I am hungry enough to risk eating anything this place has to offer. Let’s just find a place to stay for the night.”
- Writer
