Secret Worlds (378 page)

“I don’t need any money. I have a credit card,” Naomi said when he got off the phone.

“If someone is after you, you’re going to have to lay low. Cash only. Don’t leave a trail.”

“How do you know so much about this? Are you dealing drugs? Welita would skin you alive if she found out.”

Chuy rolled his eyes. “It’s not that. I’ll tell you when we get there. Take the next exit, Lash.”

“Where are we headed?” he asked.

“It’s a few miles outside of the city. No one knows about this place except for me and Lalo. We’ll be safe.”

Naomi rubbed behind Bear’s ear. She had no idea where the road ahead was going to take her. All she knew was that she trusted Lash, and as long as the danger followed her and not her family, that was all she could hope for.

Lash paced the expanse of a wraparound porch that had seen better days. They had driven for miles down an unpaved country road and then turned off onto a worn path that he wouldn’t have noticed if Chuy hadn’t directed him to it. They finally came to a stop at a two-story house. The house was a mix of white and grey where the paint had peeled off. Rust carpeted the metal roof, and the glass from every window was broken. Knee-high grass covered the ground as far as the eye could see, and there was not another house in sight. It was obviously abandoned. As isolated from prying eyes as it was, he couldn’t get rid of the anxious feeling that he needed to get Naomi out of Texas as soon as possible.

He glanced at his watch. “It’s been an hour.”

“He’s coming.” Chuy stretched out his legs from the steps where he sat. “Lalo may be slow sometimes, but if he says he’ll be here, he’ll be here.”

Lash leaned against a porch post and grumbled. He should leave now. Actually, he should have dropped Chuy and left immediately. A soft hand touched his bare arm. “Five more minutes.”

He looked into Naomi’s eyes and a wave of calm washed over him. He nodded in understanding. She wanted to be sure that Chuy had a way back. She wouldn’t leave without making sure he was taken care of.

It was hard for him to focus on anything else but her safety. It was all he could think about. He couldn’t get his mind off how close she had been to being killed—again. If they had been on that plane, he wouldn’t have been able to shield her with his human body. The explosion would have left him alive but severely injured. Naomi, on the other hand, she would be … he shuddered, not even wanting to think the word. He was at the point where he felt entirely worthless and wondered if she’d be better off without him.

Naomi giggled.

“What’s funny?”

“I was just thinking. You’re ticklish.”

“And?” That was a strange thing for her to say. He wondered if she was going into shock again.

“And it saved my life.” She grinned.

He lifted his brow, amused. In spite of all the madness going on around them, she managed to find the humor in all of it. He loved that about her. “Who knew that my incompetence as a seasoned flyer would come in—I hear a car coming. Why is the car bouncing?”

A bright orange car rolled toward them, its gold-rimmed tires flashing in the sunlight as it bounced above the grass.

“It’s a low-rider. He and Chuy rigged the car to do, uh, that.” Naomi waved her hand at the car as it rolled to a stop.

“That’s my homie. Told you he’d be here.” Chuy jumped off the porch. “You’re late.”

“Welita was at my house when you called. She wanted to say a prayer over me before I left.” He slapped a thick envelope into his hand. “She stuck some extra cash in there, too.”

“I can’t take Welita’s money,” Naomi said.

“She knew you’d say that. She told me to tell you that she knows you put your graduation money back into her bank account.” He pulled a rag from his back pocket and wiped his forehead. “Hey Chuy, when we get back, you gotta help me fix the AC in the car.”

“How did she know I did that—Chuy?” Naomi eyed him suspiciously.

“It wasn’t Chuy,” Lalo said. “Welita said some chick named Rebecca told her. Who’s Rebecca?”

Chuy slapped him on the shoulder. “Long story, man, I’ll tell you on the way back home.” Turning to Naomi, he placed the envelope in her hand. “Take the cash. You’ll need it.”

Lash looked over her shoulder and saw it was filled mostly with hundred dollar bills.

Naomi’s eyes widened. “Where did you get all this?”

Chuy looked nervously at Lalo, and he nodded. “We’ve been saving to bring Lalo’s cousin over from Mexico. Her parents were killed a few months ago and she’s there alone. All her family is here.”

Naomi shook her head. “I can’t take this. You need it.” She held out the envelope to Lalo.

“I’m confused. Why don’t you let Lalo use your credit card in exchange for the cash? Lalo can buy his cousin an airplane ticket with it,” Lash suggested.

“He can’t. She wouldn’t be able to travel here by regular means. It’s not exactly … legal.”

“Oh,” Lash said when he realized what she meant. From what he’d seen on various news shows, undocumented immigration appeared to be a much-heated debate.

“You’re family, too,” Lalo said to her. “Take it. Chuy and I will figure out what to do with my cousin.”

Naomi kissed him on the cheek, and he turned beet red. “Uh, yeah, well, don’t spend it all in one place. I’ll wait for you in the car,” he said to Chuy.

Chuy hugged Naomi. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“You know me.”

“Yeah, I know you.” He turned to Lash. “She’s going to want to push you around. Don’t fall for her eye-batting thing that she likes to do when she wants to get her own way.”

“I don’t bat my eyes.”

Lalo snorted.

Naomi rolled her eyes. “I’ll wait in the car.”

“There’s something I need to tell you.” Chuy placed a hand on Lash’s shoulder, leading him away from the car and out of earshot. “I don’t know what kind of angel you are, and I don’t care. She’s been a lot happier since you’ve been here—happier than I’ve seen her in a long time. Take good care of her, and bring her home soon.”

Lash looked down at Chuy’s outstretched hand for a moment. He wanted to promise him that he would bring her back to her family. How could he if he didn’t know what would happen once they got to the safe house? All he’d been given was a location. He looked into Chuy’s trusting eyes and felt a strong sense of obligation that he’d never felt in all the time that he’d worked on his various assignments. His responsibility for Naomi’s welfare weighed heavily on him.

“You have my word. I’ll use all my powers to make sure she stays safe.”

***

Lash drove, not saying a word, while Naomi wept silently and Bear licked her hand trying to comfort her. He glanced at her periodically, wanting to pull over and take her into his arms and tell her they were going to be all right. When she finally fell asleep, he had time to think about all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Why was Luke Prescott giving Sal orders to hunt down Naomi? Why would he want to get rid of her? She wasn’t a threat to him. Was she? “Come on, Raphael. Give me a little hint.”

He heard soft snoring and chuckled when he realized it was coming from Bear. He gave her a light pat and then turned on the radio. He kept it low, not wanting to wake the sleeping pair.

And in the latest news report, all eighty-eight passengers on Flight 5256 from Houston to Albuquerque are believed dead. At this time, airport officials are refusing to comment on the source of the explosion. There is speculation that a bomb may have been responsible. Airport baggage handlers are being questioned. All flights have been canceled, and the airport has been shut down until further notice.

Naomi moaned in her sleep, and he clicked the radio off.

“How long was I asleep?” Naomi yawned as she stretched.

Lash glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “A couple of hours.”

“Two hours! Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You need your rest. It’s going to be a long drive.”

“Where are we now?” Naomi looked out the window.

“Still in Texas,” Lash grumbled. It felt like he’d been driving forever. “How big is this state anyway?”

Her stomach grumbled and she reached for her backpack. “Great. I forgot to bring food,” she said, rifling through the bag.

“Since we have no hope of getting out of Texas anytime soon, we can make a pit stop in the next town. We’ll refuel you and the car.” Lash looked down at the gauge. “It looks like we’re getting good mileage in this thing. We have about half a tank.”

“Welita loves this clunker. I hope somehow we can get it back to her. I don’t know if it’ll even survive the trip there.”

When they passed the Abilene city limits sign, Lash pulled into the first gas station. As he pumped gas into the tank, Naomi crawled out of the car with Bear.

“Bear and I need to use the ladies’ room. Meet you inside?”

Inside the gas station, Lash grabbed a small basket and threw some snacks and sodas into it. At the end of one of the aisles, he spotted some dog treats. He was about to get a box of dog biscuits when he heard a familiar southern drawl.

“Is that you, Lash?”

He turned and clear green eyes stared into his.

“Oh, my. It
is
you.” He dropped his basket as Megan wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

He was speechless. This couldn’t be the same Megan he’d taken back to his hotel room months ago. She smiled to reveal a perfect set of pearly white teeth. Her hair glimmered and laid in soft waves on her shoulders. White jean shorts hugged her hips and a pale yellow blouse highlighted a healthy glow, so different from the sallow skin she once had.

“You don’t remember me,” Megan’s pink-stained lips pouted.

“Megan,” he squeaked. He cleared his throat, annoyed that he sounded like a prepubescent schoolboy. “Yeah, I remember you. You caught me off guard. You look different.”

“I bet. I got a full makeover since I moved back home and started taking classes at Abilene Christian University again. You like?” Megan stood back and twirled around as if giving him a fashion show.

“Oh, uh,” What should he say? He didn’t want her to think that he was interested in her in that way. At the same time, he didn’t want to come across as rude. He thought in horror of the way he had treated her,
used
her. He didn’t want to be like that again. “You look … good. Very pretty.”

Megan beamed. “I have you and your friend, Raphael, to thank for that. Is he here with you?” She looked around the gas station.

“No, it’s just me.” Lash wondered how much she remembered about that night. Obviously, she remembered enough to clean herself up. Maybe revealing himself had been a good thing. Although if she shared this information with her friends and word somehow got out, it could lead Sal to them. “That was some night we had.”

“It changed my life.” Megan leaned against the glass door of the refrigerated case, her eyes staring into the distance as if remembering. She laughed. “I was so wasted. I actually thought I saw wings sprout out of your back.”

Lash faked a laugh. “Yeah, we both were.”

“I don’t remember Raphael being with us at the bar. Did he come in later for a … you know?”

Lash furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what Megan was trying to insinuate. Then he grimaced when he realized what she was asking. The thought of him and Raphael with her … together … at the same time … Raphael naked. He shuddered. “No! God, no! He came after we … you know.”

“Oh. Does he have a girlfriend? He’s cute and sweet. All I remember was that he helped me with my withdrawal, listened and gave me some good advice. I can’t remember exactly. It was the way I felt when he held me.” Megan sighed.

Poor, Megan. How was he going to explain to her that Raphael was just being his angelic self and would never be romantically interested in her? And even if he were, Raphael couldn’t do anything about it. Lash felt a pressure on his chest as he thought of Naomi. There was nothing he could do about her, either. He decided to change the subject. “I’ll make sure I tell him the next time I see him. We don’t hang out as much lately. So, you’re in college?”

“Yeah. After that night, I went back to my apartment and basically passed out for about eighteen hours. That was the longest I’d ever slept. When I finally woke up, I felt sick about where I was living and what I was doing. And I remembered what Raphael told me.”

“What did he say?” Raphael had said a lot of things to him that night. Lash had a tendency of letting Raphael’s reprimands go in one ear and out the other. He wished he had paid more attention.

“He told me to remember who I was.” Megan opened a bag of chips and popped one into her mouth. “I think it was the feeling I had when he said it that did it for me. I felt like someone could see past my needle marks and the slutty clothes I used to wear and see me for who I really am.” Megan held out the bag to him, offering him some.

He shook his head and looked away, avoiding eye contact. He was one of those who had judged her, used her for her body—all because he was being stubborn and angry with his situation, blaming Gabrielle for something he’d brought on himself.

“I decided to call my aunt, Verna. She told me I had a place to stay if I ever wanted to come home. So I packed my bags and took a Greyhound to Gardenville. Aunt Verna came into some money recently. Sold some of her land to Prescott Oil. They’re doing lots of fracking in the area. How lucky is that? She’s paying my first year’s tuition until I get back on my feet.” She popped another chip into her mouth.

“That’s great, Megan. You look happier now.”

“I am.”

“Um, Megan.” Lash knew that the weight of guilt would never go away if he didn’t apologize. “I feel like I need to apologize for how I treated you that night.”

Megan stopped munching and looked at him, surprised. “You don’t have to.” She swallowed. “I wanted it just as much as you did.”

How could he tell her that the only reason he’d been with her that night was because Megan looked like Gabrielle, that it had been his way of getting back at her?

“Yes, I do.” He looked directly into her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Megan gave out a small sob and threw her arms around him. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear and then kissed his cheek.