Part 13 (1/2)

He'd emptied himself inside me, but I couldn't worry about the consequences now. Chances are I wouldn't live long enough to worry about them anyway.

We clung together, panting, as he grew soft inside me, and he slowly lowered my feet to the ground.

As though we both suddenly came around to the reality of what we had just done, an awkwardness settled between us. X stepped from me and tucked himself away, while I quickly yanked up my panties and jeans and shoved my foot back into my sneaker. I was aware we'd wasted precious time we didn't have, and guilt washed over me. What if something awful had happened to Nickie while I was eating burgers and getting screwed by some guy up against a truck? I felt so bad, I couldn't even look at X.

”Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out to touch my arm. I flinched, but it didn't have to do with him. My reaction was down to my own self-loathing. ”I'm sorry,” he continued. ”I don't know what came over me.”

”Me either,” I replied brusquely. I checked the cell phone which miraculously had stayed in my back pocket while my jeans had been around my ankles. I was relieved to see the screen blank, and not showing any missed calls. If I hadn't noticed Nickie's abductor calling while we were f.u.c.king, I'd never have forgiven myself.

His c.u.m wet the inside of my panties, seeping through to the crotch of my jeans. I would have liked to take a shower and change, but there was nothing I could do about that now.

I'd dropped the bag containing the guns. Stupid. So stupid. I should never let my guard down like that. Anyone could have taken aim at us and killed us on the spot, and we'd barely have noticed the shot.

”We need to go.” I picked up the bag and found the keys for the truck. I hit the b.u.t.ton to open the internal locking. X cast me a glance, and I deliberately ignored the confusion and hurt in his face. A guy like him would go around nailing whatever women he came across. This was just another notch on the bedpost. I doubted he even had real emotions-he was a hired killer, after all.

Hired to kill me.

And I'd just had s.e.x with him.

Chapter Twenty.

X.

I watched Vee get into the car as though nothing had happened.

I guessed I couldn't blame her. She'd just had s.e.x with the guy her father had sent to kill her. I wasn't exactly perfect boyfriend material. But the instant regret I'd seen in her eyes had felt like she'd stabbed me all over again.

My wounds throbbed afresh; the physical effort I'd put into the act was not playing nicely with the healing process. I should have been resting, or seeing a doctor, not chasing down gangsters and f.u.c.king hot, tattooed girls with sad, dark eyes up against the side of a truck.

Climbing into the pa.s.senger seat, I tried not to notice how Vee stared straight ahead, acting as though I wasn't even there. She started up the vehicle and backed it out of the spot behind the diner and into the parking lot. She spun the wheels, causing a screech from the asphalt, and then threw it into first. Within seconds, we were back on the main road and heading in the direction Tony the Hound had told us to go.

I a.s.sumed we'd hear from the gangster sometime soon. I was surprised we hadn't already. If he'd thought we would drive without stopping, he'd have believed us to have covered the mileage already. Had he known about the stop? The possibility made me twist my lips, considering it. How could he? No one had been following us, I was sure of it, yet his lack of contact made me suspicious.

”Hey,” I said, breaking the silence. ”How well do you know the guy from the bar?”

She glanced at me, taking her eyes off the road for the moment and frowning. ”Johnny?”

”Yeah, Johnny.”

She shrugged. ”About as well as you can ever know a boss you've only had for a few months, I guess. He was always good to me, though-gave me an advance when I needed it, always let me switch s.h.i.+fts if something came up.”

”Almost too good?”

Her frown deepened. ”Why are you asking?”

”I can't help wondering how Tony the Hound knew which direction we were headed. You thought the deputy was the informant, but what if he wasn't? What if it was the bar guy all along?”

Slowly, she shook her head. ”Nah, not Johnny. He's one of the good guys, I'm sure of it.”

”So why hasn't Tony called us? It's like he knows we're not close enough yet, which means he knows we stopped. But unless someone is following us, which I'm sure they're not, how could he possibly know that?”

She chewed her lower lip, a gesture I'd come to recognize as something she did when she was unsure. ”Maybe it's a coincidence.”

”Yeah, maybe, but too many coincidences set my teeth on edge. I'm starting to wonder if there's a tracker on the truck, and that's how Tony knows exactly where we are.”

”How would Johnny have known we were going to borrow his truck and know to put a tracker on it?”

”Maybe he didn't. Maybe Tony the Hound has him on the payroll and had put a tracker on his truck in case he ever decided to go AWOL. It's just bad luck on our part that the deputy saw us leaving in my car and we had to change to the truck. Johnny would have called us in right away, and Tony would have thought he'd hit the jackpot.”

”f.u.c.k,” she swore, knotting her hand in her hair and tightening it to a fist. ”What do you suggest we do?”

”I think we need to ditch the truck and find another vehicle.”

”Yeah, that makes sense. Even though we're going where Tony is telling us, I'd like to have some kind of element of surprise.”

”Good. Next place we find to stop, we'll ditch the truck and pick up a new ride.” I was relieved she agreed with me, and wasn't deliberately giving me a fight because of what had happened. For some reason, having s.e.x had put more tension between us than trying to kill each other.

But Vee wasn't done.

”First of all, I need to know.”

I glanced back over at her. ”Know what?”

”That Johnny was a snitch, reporting back on me. I told you I don't trust anyone, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know for sure. I don't want to be thinking badly of him if he did nothing wrong other than help my sorry a.s.s.”

”If there's a tracker on the truck, we might not be able to find it. They can be d.a.m.n small these days.”

She gave a shrug. ”I don't care. I want to look for it.”

”Tony will know we've stopped again.”

”I don't care,” she repeated.

”Okay. We'll stop the next time we come across a place that has other cars.”

We continued to drive.

Vee had set the cell phone on the dashboard, and we both continued to check the screen for any missed calls. In a couple of places we lost coverage, but then it popped back up again. Another twenty minutes pa.s.sed when another roadside cafe appeared up ahead. It was on a junction, and was busier than the last. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Without checking if this was the best option, Vee pulled into the parking lot.

She opened the truck door and jumped out, with me following.

”So where are these things normally put?” she asked. The sky was losing light, so she switched on the flashlight app on the phone.