The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories (238 page)

I unscrewed the plastic cap and took a long, slow swig. The water was lukewarm, but I didn’t care. I could’ve drunk the whole thing, I was so thirsty, but that would be totally selfish. So I put the bottle down and wiped my lips with my fingers. There was salt from the chips on them, and I ended up spreading it on my mouth. I licked it off and caught Ethan watching me. A blush blossomed on my cheeks as if I was a schoolgirl. He was so incredibly intimidating.

I offered him the bottle. He took it without saying anything and brought it to his lips. His bicep bulged when he bent his arm. A thick vein pulsed under his taut, tan skin, and I had a strange urge to run my fingers over it. I mentally slapped myself, bringing my senses back to normal. I tried to reason that I was just terribly confused.

Ethan passed the water back to me, but I knew he only drank a little. I declined and said that he should have the rest. He shrugged indifferently and did as I suggested.

We stayed silent for a long while: me watching the quickly passing trees and buildings on the side of the road, and Ethan keeping his eyes straight ahead, occasionally glancing in the rearview mirror.

I caught one of those glances and asked, “Do you think someone actually might be following us?” My heart did a flip in my chest and started to race again. What if we
were
followed? What if we didn’t escape unnoticed as we hoped?

“I don’t think so. Since we left, I didn’t see a single vehicle or a motorcycle follow us. But I’m keeping an eye on the road,” he said quietly.

Was he really so sure, or was he trying not to freak me out? My breath got shallow and ragged. I knew what was coming—I developed anxiety as the aftermath of all the latest occurrences. I dug in my backpack, searching for my pills. I hated taking meds, but sometimes it was the only way to calm down. And now I didn’t want to have the full-blown anxiety attack.

Ethan squinted at me but didn’t say anything. By now my hands trembled uncontrollably. My panic attacks were usually mild, but this one was approaching fast. Too fast. The vial fell down from between my fingers and rolled onto the floor. I tried to bend in my waist to retrieve it, but the seatbelt restrained me, so I unfastened it and quickly grabbed my pills.

“What’s that?” Ethan inquired. His eyes moved from the vial to my face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m... uh, not really. I have anxiety now... from all those terrible things... you know, all I told you about. I need to take my pill.” I shook out a few white tablets onto my palm, put one in my mouth, and tilted my head back. We didn’t have any water left, so I had to swallow the medicine without it.

“What are you taking?”

“Buspirone.”

Ethan asked, “How often?”

“Usually once a day, sometimes less. It depends on how I feel.”

“Do you have a prescription refill?”

I looked at him, not comprehending why he was asking me all these questions.

“I’m trained as a paramedic too, remember?” He seemed to read my mind. “If you need the meds, I have to know what pharmacy carries your refills.”

Wow, that was smart.

“Oh, it makes sense. Thanks for thinking of that,” I mumbled, openly staring at this bewildering man. “But I just got it refilled, so there is a month worth of the meds in here.” I lifted the orange-colored plastic container to show him.

He nodded. I leaned back in the seat and closed my eyes, trying to breathe deeply and slowly. A few moments later I turned my head toward Ethan and looked at him. He was chewing on his lower lip, deep in thought, driving with one hand on the steering wheel and the other arm draped across his leg.

My medication must have started to kick in because I felt more relaxed. I slumped even more in my seat, still watching Ethan. He wore washed-off jeans with a few small holes around the knees and a larger hole on his thigh. The black t-shirt with a small silver raven on the left side of his chest definitely wasn’t the Fire Department issued, so I assumed he changed when he went to grab his backpack from the firehouse. I thought about my own clothes which I swapped with Chris.

“What?” He raised his eyebrows. “You’re staring at me.”

“Sorry.” I shrugged. “This is the first time in weeks that I’m actually not scared out of my wits. It feels really good.”

His eyes lingered on me. I was wondering what went through his mind now, but then he changed the subject, “That grocery store I mentioned is not far from here. When we get there, we’ll need to be swift and act inconspicuous so nobody remembers us.”

My expression must’ve changed at his words because he added in a little bit gentler voice, “It’s okay. If we don’t bring any attention to ourselves, nobody should really notice us.”

“Ethan, I need to tell you something,” I said quietly.

He whipped his face back to me.

“My real name isn’t Gloria Glass. The FBI witness protection program changed it.”

“I figured that much.” He visibly relaxed. “So what is your real name?”

“It’s Lisbeth. Lisbeth Anderson.”

––––––––

I
thought her real name must have been something else, not Gloria Glass, since she was in the FBI witness protection program. But I already got used to calling her Gloria, although I only met her a few hours earlier. Lisbeth was a cool name. I’ve never met a woman named Lisbeth.

“So where are you from really?” I asked.

“Florida. Tampa Bay originally. But my family came from Sweden. I don’t remember any of them though. They all died when I was just three years old.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I really was. I couldn’t imagine being all alone in the world, even though my own family drove me crazy most of the time. But my parents, brothers, cousins, Grandma Ruth and everyone else were there for one another, no matter what. That’s how our family has always been—one for all and all for one. I probably took it for granted more than I ever realized. We all did.

Lisbeth became quiet, staring straight at the road ahead of us. I was stealing little glances at her when she wasn’t looking. She was a gorgeous woman, with high cheekbones and a small, straight nose. She was slim but curvy in all the right places. My eyes kept going to her lips, especially when she licked them. Crap, I was in so much trouble. How could I steer clear of her and be on high alert at the same time? I had to, no matter what. After all self-control was a big part of both my job and my personality.

I slowed the truck and took the exit on the right. A sign on the side of the freeway indicated some restaurant choices. I wouldn’t opt for a place to sit down and order, since we were on the run. But there was a fast food Mexican joint, which I hoped had a drive through option.

“The grocery store?” Lisbeth said through the mouthful of chips.

“No, we still have a few miles before we reach the store, but I want to grab something else to eat. We’re both hungry.”

I found the restaurant close to the exit. It didn’t look like much, but maybe the food wouldn’t kill us.

I expected Lisbeth to refuse to eat anything that came from there, but to my surprise she exclaimed excitedly, “Oh, I want a mega burrito, with a lot of shredded lettuce and chicken. Yum!”

A woman who got excited about eating a greasy burrito was not among those I knew. Lisbeth just scored with me really high. I chuckled to myself.

There wasn’t a drive through. I ran inside, keeping my eye on Lisbeth. I asked her to stay quietly in the truck. The burritos arrived quickly. I got two extra-large Cokes, bunch of napkins, and a handful of hot sauce packets with the order, all stuffed neatly into two brown paper bags.

Lisbeth straightened out as soon as I approached the truck. She leaned across my seat and opened the driver side door for me. I placed the bags on the seat and then passed one of them to her together with the Coke and a very long straw. She took it swiftly and held my food out of the way, so I could get in. That earned her even more points.

I was impressed once more and started to think that all the women I took on dates were selfish, since I couldn’t remember even one going out of her way to help out, even with the smallest stuff. It was as if each of them expected to be always waited on and carried for. I did that nevertheless, maybe just to humor myself. It never mattered anyway, because there rarely was a second date. I wasn’t interested in relationships. All I wanted was hot, sweaty sex, and then I was moving to the next girl.

Lisbeth sank her teeth in the burrito and made a satisfying sound. She looked at me, raised her eyebrows, and, swallowing quickly, said, “Oh, man, this is heaven. So good.” She took a long pull of her Coke and sighed. “I haven’t had a burrito in so long.”

“Glad you’re enjoying it.” I smiled.

“Oh, wait.” She set down her food in a nest of napkins placed between her tights and licked her fingers. She took my burrito from my lap, carefully unraveled the top part of the aluminum foil, and handed it back to me. “Will you be able to eat and drive? If not, we can take turns.”

Would she stop impressing me? I wasn’t used to women like her. “I can handle it.” I took a bite. Lisbeth was right—that burrito sucker
was
tasty.

Soon after, we were done with our food, and I took another exit.

“Where are we going this time?” Lisbeth asked.

“To get some groceries.”

I stopped the vehicle close to the front door of the store. The building sat alone in this part of the lot, but there was a Chinese restaurant, a barbershop, and a pawnshop on across the parking. Before exiting the truck, I quickly scanned the area. There were a few other cars and trucks parked in the lot, some of them by the grocery store, but most by the other buildings.

Lisbeth put her hood on, pulling down on its front to cover her face as much as the fabric would allow it. When I reached for my sweatshirt from the back seat, she was unbuckling and leaned in my direction. We came face to face, too close to ignore. She was just inches from me, her lips parted, her eyes on mine. Her warm breath tickled my mouth. Sudden heat roared inside me, sending waves of desire straight to my groin. I quickly pulled away from her and clicked the button to release my seatbelt.

She turned her head in the other direction, her body tense. Keeping her eyes down, she asked, “Is it okay to open the door and get out? What’s the plan?”

I felt a pang of remorse for being such an asshole to her earlier today. Lisbeth didn’t deserve any of this. Hell, she didn’t ask for my help. I offered it freely. I needed to make her feel protected and not uncomfortable or scared of me. That was going to be a real challenge, because I’ve never had to worry about a fragile side of a woman. They came and went, and that was all I always wanted. But with Lisbeth the situation was completely different, and so I had to switch my way of thinking. And my way of acting.

“We will go inside and buy some necessities. There isn’t much at the cabin since the last time I was there. Try not to look at anyone and act natural.”

“Natural? We might have a different understanding of what’s natural.”

“Okay, I get it,” I said. She was right. What the hell did that even mean,
natural
? “Kind of like a bored teenager, I suppose?”

“I’m past my teenage years, in case you haven’t noticed.”

Oh, I noticed alright. I noticed how deliciously curvy her body was, how mature was her demeanor. “I wasn’t suggesting you’re a teen.” I snorted. We just need to act sort of invisible, blend with the crowd.

“Sure, okay.” She opened the passenger door and got out.

We walked in. Much to my relief, there were many shoppers inside. I noticed the cameras mounted in the corners above the shelves, but as long as Lisbeth kept her head down, we were fine.

I took a cart from the front of the store and pushed it toward the frozen section isle. Soon, the cart was filled with a few boxes of frozen pizza, a small tower of microwave dinners, two tubes of ice cream, three large bags of ice, and a small bag of frozen peas.

“You like peas?” Lisbeth asked.

“Not my first choice.”

“I won’t eat them, in case you got them for me,” she said.

“They work great as an extra icepack for sore muscles or such.”

She looked at me from under her hood. I grinned. I honestly got them for sore muscles, since sometimes I overexerted myself during my daily workouts. But now I remembered what a frozen peas bag was recently used for back at my Portland house—Anne Fisher’s swollen pussy, after an exceptionally wild weekend together.

Lisbeth shot me a curious look. “Something funny about frozen peas?”

“Let’s get a couple of those large jags of water.” I turned to the next isle, and she followed.

I pushed Anne Fisher out of my mind. It was over between us. I liked my freedom, and there were plenty of beautiful and willing women who felt the same and were happy with serving to my particular sexual taste. I wasn’t interested in marriage, kids, and a little house in the suburbs like Anne was. Even though she made a great submissive and eagerly agreed at first to my “no strings attached” rule, she got clingy after a couple of weeks. She kept texting and calling me multiple times each day, which ended our fun together right away.

Lisbeth and I hurried through the store, loading the cart with a shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, coffee, and food. She insisted on splitting the bill, but I only waived her off. It would be ridiculous to accept any money from her. I doubted she had much, and we could only use cash. We stood in a short line to the register and then moved all the items from the cart and onto the conveyor belt. The cashier woman rang it all, one item at a time. I paid and took a receipt from her when I heard Lisbeth say in a shaky, scared voice, “You! You’re from there! Are you one of them?”

What the hell? She was pointing at a guy who stood in line behind us. He wore a blood-red shirt with large block letters in white that spelled RU FLORIDA. Below, was an icon that pictured a hand holding a single flame, framed in a thin circle of an olive branch.

The guy’s eyes grew large at Lisbeth’s bizarre accusation. He glanced around as if making sure she was in fact pointing to him. Yes, she was. Everyone around stopped what they were doing and gaped by turns at her and then at the guy.