“Let's just say we should definitely cover our asses.”
She bit her lip and stared down at their clasped hands. “Do you promise me that once we get somewhere safe, you'll tell me what's going on?”
“I promise,” he said rashly, popping the locks open. “Let's go.”
They ran hand in hand through the rain to the nearest clothing store. He flagged down the first salesgirl he saw. “We're in a serious hurry. Bring us a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, a wool sweater, underwear, socks, hiking boots, and a winter coat. Size six. Quick.”
The girl took one look at Seth's blazing eyes and Raine's gory, bloodstained sweater. Her jaw went slack with alarm. “Don't you, uh, wanna pick the stuff out yourselves?” she faltered. “Colors, and stuff?”
“No time!” he barked. “Move it!”
She backed away. “Um... lemme call the manager.”
“Never mind.” Raine cast an irritated look at Seth. “I'll pick them out, but stick close so you can ring them up right away, OK?”
A flurry ensued, of grabbing things off the rack, checking labels in breathless haste. Then he spotted the underwear bin. He grabbed a random handful of thong panties. See-through lace, in awesome, lurid colors. Black, hot pink, purple, lime green, lipstick red. He flung them on the counter. “Put these on the tab.”
“Those are thongs,” Raine said, blushing.
He leered at her. “Yum.”
Raine was busy struggling into a navy blue parka when he spotted the nightie. It was a peachy color in a clingy knit that would hit her just above mid-thigh and show off every curve and hollow. And it would peel off. Stretchy, just like he'd always wanted.
He yanked it off the hanger and flung it onto the pile in the salesgirl’s arms. “Ring that up, too. Hurry up.”
“Yes, before he finds something else he likes,” Raine snapped.
He paid out of his thick wad of emergency cash. As soon as they were back inside the Toyota, he was yanking clothes out of the bags and biting off the plastic label tabs. “Off with your clothes, babe. Quick.”
Raine looked at the cars driving past, and back at him, appalled. “Right here?”
“Every stitch. I can feel them breathing down our necks.”
She hesitated, looking bewildered. He grunted and yanked open the sash of her trench coat.
That jolted her into action. “No, no, I'll do it.” She tugged her boots off with a wistful sigh. “These boots were so beautiful.”
He pulled his knife out of his pocket while she was peeling off her jeans and underwear and slid his knife beneath the sole of one of her discarded boots, managing at the same time to keep an eye on the tantalizing nest of ringlets at her crotch. She pulled on one of the thong undies. The hot pink one, he noted with unquenchable interest.
“These things are not comfortable, Seth,” she grumbled.
He gave her a wolfish, unrepentant grin. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
He peeled back the upper. Bingo. He pulled out the tiny chip with its dangling antenna. “Check this out.”
She stopped in mid-shimmy, her new jeans halfway up her thighs. Her jaw sagged in horror. “Victor?”
“Hurry, Raine,” he said grimly.
She needed no further encouragement. In moments, she was freshly clothed and ready.
“Leave it all there on the floor,” he instructed. “Let's go.”
“We're just leaving the car?”
“We'll get it later, if we can,” he said indifferently.
He grabbed the bag that held his laptop and his X-Ray Specs gear, and pulled her through the pelting rain at a dead run, expecting every set of headlights to veer towards them, for someone to lean out and open fire. They darted across the highway, to Schultz's New And Used Cars. Fifteen minutes later his emergency cash wad was a hell of a lot slimmer, and Samuel Hudson, one of his alternate identities, was the proud owner of an only slightly dented bronze '94 Mercury Sable. Not what he would have chosen, but it was the best of the lot for the cash he had on hand.
After forty minutes of winding torturously through streets and back roads, Seth was reasonably sure they weren't being followed. He got onto a small highway that began to climb into the hills. The rain got heavier, verging on slush. On the outskirts of a little town called Alden Pines, there was a neon sign that read “Lofty Pines Motel-Cabins-Cable-Vacancy.” He pulled into the long, forested driveway and parked.
The desk clerk was a fugitive's wet dream, deeply involved in an old Clint Eastwood movie that flickered on his twelve-inch screen. He was completely unperturbed by Semis preference for paying in cash, and barely glanced at the fake driver's license before shoving a key attached to a cedar shingle across the scarred counter.
“Cabin number seven,” he said, eyes riveted on the screen. “Check-out time, eleven-thirty.”
The room itself was musty and cold. Seth fiddled with the antiquated heating device and Raine dragged the extra wool blankets out of the closet. The radiator hummed and clanked The cracked, brownish lampshade cast a dim light onto the fake wool paneling, the threadbare furniture. The stark reality of the past twenty-four hours rendered them speechless. They stared at each other across the bed.
Raine shrugged out of her new coat and walked over to him. She pushed gently on his chest until he understood that she wanted him to sit down. He did so. The lumpy bed sagged under his weight.
She crossed her arms, adorably cute in her new, raspberry red wool sweater. It clung to her soft, braless tits. “So?” she prompted.
The pink swelling on her face would ripen tomorrow into bruises. It made him clench up inside, to think of how close to the edge she'd come tonight. “Let's get into bed,” he suggested.
A half-smile curved her solemn, sexy mouth. “If you think you can distract me from this conversation with sex, think again.”
“No way,” he protested. “I just want us to get warm.” He rummaged through the bags until he found the nightie. “Put this on.”
She took the tiny scrap of a thing, and regarded it with deep suspicion. “This is supposed to keep me warm?”
“No,” he said curtly. “I'm the one that's going to keep you warm.”
She disappeared into the bathroom. He stripped, laid the SIG on the bedstand, got the condoms out of his bag and slid naked into the bed with a harsh gasp. It was like a wintertime leap into Puget Sound.
After a ridiculously long time, the bathroom door squeaked open. She stood, silhouetted against the light for a moment before she stepped out into the room.
She did it to him every damn time. He just couldn't get used to how beautiful she was. The peach thing clung tenderly to her body, showing off the sway of her breasts, the curve of her belly, the soft indentation of her navel. Her eyes had that soft, shining look that made his throat tighten up until it hurt. “Come here,” he said, scooting over to the icy side. “I warmed it up for you.”
She smiled her thanks and slid under the covers, signing with pleasure when he pulled her close against his heat. He ran his hands all over her body, needing to reassure himself that she was real, and safe. Warm and soft and right here in his arms. He pressed his aching erection against her thigh and pulled up the brief skirt. She was naked beneath it, her soft downy curls open to his teasing fingers.
She stiffened. “Wait. You promised!, Seth. I need to know—”
“Please, Raine,” he pleaded. “The adrenaline got me so jacked up. I have to touch you. I was so scared of losing you tonight.”
She gave his chest a little push. “You're not getting away with it this time, my love. Adrenaline is no excuse. I had an adrenaline rush, too, you know. I don't know why you're so afraid to talk to me, but you have got to get over it. Right now.”
He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. At least she had called him “my love.” He would cling to that when it all went to shit. “It's true,” he said tightly. “I don't want to talk. Talking is where I get into trouble. At least when it comes to ... relationships.”