She studies me. “How did they die?”
I almost regret opening myself to the questioning. “Um. Well. My…my dad did that—” I gesture at her. “To my mom. My whole life, her whole life. A few days ago, she snapped. Shot him, then herself.”
She gasps. “Oh. Oh my. I’m…I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah. I was…I was on the phone with her when she…” I swallow hard, clear my throat. “Yeah.”
“Silas.” It’s the first time she’s said my name. It’s a breath, and the sound of my name on her lips makes something in my chest thump, makes my skin tighten, makes my lips tingle. “That’s awful.”
“Hasn’t been fun.”
“Is that why…” she pauses to slow her breathing; she seems to be fighting panic just engaging in normal conversation with me. “Is that why you’re helping me?”
“Part of it,” I answer, honestly.
“And the other part?” She’s getting a little bolder with the questions.
“Couldn’t leave you alone, hurt and scared, on the side of the road. I’m not a good dude, Naomi. But…even I’ve got some ethics. Not many, but some.”
“Why are you not good?”
I shake my head. “That’s a big question for another time.”
She bobs her head in a shy, subtle nod. “Of course.”
I glance at her again, stealing a surreptitious scan of her face—blood is crusted beneath her nose and on her chin, her lip is puffy and split, and the bruise shadowing her eye is darkening with every passing moment. She needs to get cleaned up at the very least, and I’d feel better examining her ribs myself. I’m not sure she’ll allow me that close, though.
I’ve been driving for more hours than I can count at this point, and while I could probably keep going, just looking at Naomi makes it clear to me she’s in a lot of pain, terrified, exhausted. She can’t go much longer.
The fuck of it is, I have no clue what to do with her. I can’t be responsible for this girl—woman? Another glance; she appears to be in her early twenties, so at least I can’t be charged with abducting a minor or some shit. Not that I’m particularly worried about that—I can handle myself, and I damn sure know how to avoid the law.
But what the hell do I do with her?
I chew on what to do and wrestling with what I’ve gotten myself into for the next hour of driving. Naomi is perfectly, utterly still the entire time. Her hands are folded on her lap on top of my Glock, head ducked, eyes downcast, shoulders hunched up around her ears as if waiting for a blow any moment. She barely breathes.
In all my life, I’ve never seen such preternatural stillness in a human being. It’s fucking freaky. She doesn’t look out the window, doesn’t fidget, shift, sniffle, change positions, nothing. Just sits there.
Finally, the lights of civilization cast a glow on the horizon—I’m on a rural county highway rather than a freeway, so there are no signs to tell me if there are any gas stations or hotels. As we approach the town, it becomes apparent it’s a tiny little place. We pass a gas station, now closed, a general store, a hunting and fishing supply place, a local dive bar watering hole populated with a handful of older model pickups. And, thankfully, a twenty-four-hour drugstore and a motel. The motel isn’t much to write home about, but it’s somewhere to stop for the night.
I pull into the drugstore first. Naomi doesn’t react at all.
“I’m gonna grab a few things. You need anything?” I turn my torso to face her, careful to move slowly, keeping my hands far from her personal space.
She shakes her head, not looking at me.
“You sure? Hungry? Thirsty?” Her gaze snaps to me, and I hear a rumble of her stomach; I laugh. “Yeah, you’re hungry, but you’re too scared of me to say so.”
Her eyes are wide, and she’s breathing hard, panic panting. God, now what?
“What do you like?”
A shrug of her shoulders.
“Potato chips? Pretzels? Soda? It’s a drugstore so it’s not like I can get you a real meal. Everything is closed at this time of night in a podunk place like this.” I wait. “No input?”
“I don’t know.” It’s another of those barely audible whispers.
I sigh. “All right. I’ll grab a few things and you can decide.” I gesture at the gun. “I won’t be gone long. It’d be best if you stay in the car. If you get scared, come in and find me. Okay?”
