“Dr. Phillips to curtain seven for the slight cough,” came the PA announcement that crushed a little more of his soul.
“Christ,” Noah said as he rubbed the back of his neck, wondering how much more of this he could take.
Every day was the same, coughs, sprains, bruises, hangovers, drug seekers, and his personal favorite from the retirement communities that made up this dull town, STD exams. He honestly wasn’t sure if he could handle doing one more pelvic exam on a little old lady while she pulled out pictures of her great-grandchildren and offered to make him a casserole.
He should have left when he had the chance, Noah told himself for the hundredth time that day as he pushed away from the small desk in the back of the emergency room that was little more than a glorified walk-in clinic and resigned himself to listening to some asshole bitching about a cough that wouldn’t go away even as they whined about the hospital’s no smoking policy. Noah grabbed his stethoscope and-
“Time to go,” came the voice that he’d almost convinced himself wasn’t real as Noah looked up at the large man with the Celtic tribal tattoo wrapped around his neck and jaw.
As Noah watched Caine’s
grey eyes turn red, he stood there, thinking about all the things that he should be doing, yelling for help, turning around and running, anything to get away from the man that had torn his world apart and made him realize that those things that went bump in the night were real. Instead of doing what any other sane adult would do, he simply tossed his stethoscope aside and nodded.
“Let’s go.”
*-*-*-*
Waterway, Nebraska
“She doesn’t look so good,” Jacob noted as Ethan found his gaze once again searching her out in the rear-view mirror.
“She’s fine,” he bit out as he watched Indie, who’d somehow managed to look paler than before, curled up more tightly into herself.
“She doesn’t look fine,” the large shifter said as he searched through the large bag of junk food that Ethan had bought earlier with the hopes of enticing Indie to eat something, but the only thing that she’d managed was a politely murmured, “Thank you,” before passing out.
That had been four hours ago, and since then, nothing. The only thing that she’d been able to manage was to curl up into a ball in the backseat of the SUV that he’d been forced to steal since the asshole next to him had totaled his car. Well, that and occasionally whimper, which had him tightening his hold around the steering wheel, wishing that he could kill something.
She was fine, Ethan told himself again even as he couldn’t help but wonder why he cared. She was just a means to an end, albeit, one that he’d taken pity on, but that didn’t change the fact that he planned on discarding her as soon as he got what he wanted. The only thing that mattered to him was getting to his son and every moment that he worried about her was a moment wasted.
She. Was. Fine.
“Maybe we should take her to the hospital?” Jacob said, throwing another worried glance at the small woman who appeared to have passed out again.
“She’s fine,” Ethan bit out evenly, wondering when he was going to start believing it.
“If you say so…” the shifter said, letting his words trail off with a shrug.
“She’s fine,” Ethan snapped, tightening his hold around the steering wheel as his gaze once again sought out the small woman in the backseat and-
Fucking hell!
He hit the directional and headed off the highway towards the large signs announcing motel rooms with double-beds, air conditioning, and cable with low priced adult movies with a two-for-one special. It was the perfect place to-
“You do realize that this bullshit plan of yours doesn’t work, right?” Jacob asked, gesturing towards the line of cheap motels ahead of them with a Twinkie.
“And what plan would that be?” Ethan asked as he settled on the rundown motel that looked promising.
“The one where you stay at fucked up motels permeated with human filth with the hopes of hiding your scent, thinking that we don’t know where to find you,” Jacob said, finishing off the Twinkie as he shifted his focus to the rest of the king-sized candy bars.
“It works,” Ethan said with a glare aimed at the shifter that he should have left at the hotel, and if it hadn’t been for the small woman lying on the backseat, he would have done just that.
Hell, he should have just left her with him and got his ass on the first plane to Boston so that he could get to his son faster, but the thought of that bitch getting her hands on Indie had turned his stomach. He didn’t know who she really was, or more importantly, what she was, but he did know one thing, she didn’t have what it took to survive in their world. He’d take care of her, keep her safe until the bitch was dead and then he’d let her go.
“True. We can’t find your scent under all that filth, but since we know where to look for you, we don’t have to. It’s not really all that difficult to find you when we know where to look. How do you think I was able to find you so quickly? You’re too fucking predictable,” Jacob said with a sad shake of his head and a, “You couldn’t find any Reese’s Pieces?”
“How exactly am I predictable?” Ethan asked, sighing heavily as he reluctantly drove past the motel that had looked promising and headed back towards the highway.
“You mean besides the motels?” Jacob asked around a Mounds Bar.