Side Effects

Chapter 29

It wasn't a fun trip to Rome on the train. The accommodations were fine and the company exceptional, don't get me wrong, but with the news we'd had, it was hard not to be paranoid. Every time the train stopped, we had to look over the new arrivals to make sure they didn't look sketchy, but we could never be sure. One of us was always awake, we just couldn't take the risk of being caught unaware.

Not that we slept well anyway. When we changed trains, which we had to do in Hamburg and Basel Switzerland, we got whatever we could for food in the train station. We had another change in Milan, but by that time, we were too worn out and stressed to look for food.

It was a different kind of stress though. But this time, we'd been on the run for almost a day, and we weren't thinking about being caught any more. All the articles we were reading talked about finding the terrorists, and less about the victims. They hadn't released the names of any victims yet, and we kept doing searches on my sister, just to see if she would release anything on the loss of the plane and crew. Of course, the news still hadn't mentioned that the plane was a part of the Watts Pharmaceuticals fleet, but that was just a matter of time.

The new stress was Viola. How would she react to us showing up? I was debating calling her, since it wouldn't take much effort to look up the office she worked for online and then ask whoever answered to transfer me to her. I knew she'd take my call, but I didn't want to warn her. I wanted to show up, looking like crap with all our luggage and giving her the visual of our desperation. Then, in a perfect world, she would do the right thing, once I gave her reasons to. I hoped. 

As much as I knew Esme was all in on seducing her, I didn't want her to ever do that for us out of obligation. If Viola agreed to do it, and then Esme went after her, then that was fine. But beyond that I couldn't ask more of her.

"Three more hours," sighed Alaya as she curled into my side once we sat down in our new seats on our last train at the Milan railway station. "My ass is going to be numb for a week."

In the seat across from us, Esme started snickering. "I bet Kian can help it feel a few things."

I wasn't going to make a comment, but Alaya fired right back. "Oh, he does," she purred sleepily. "He makes every inch of me feel things."

"Damn, you go girl!" Esme passed out the bottles of water that would hopefully get us through the trip, and then sat back to relax. "I need to get laid. I really hope Viola's in the mood!"

"You're really going to go after her?" I asked. "I told you that you didn't need to."

Esme just shrugged. "Listen, it isn't easy having a relationship flying all over. You know that already. Hell, if you weren't dating Alaya, you still wouldn't be in one because you can't commit when you're never there. A few weeks on a boat with a gorgeous woman would be a longer relationship than I've had since I got out of the Air Force. Who knows, maybe we'll hit it off. If not, then I have some great memories and a girl in Rome I can maybe visit when she needs a fix."

I mean, she was right. I wasn't going to say anything, but if Alaya wasn't here, I probably would have given Viola whatever it took to get us to the states. But my current plan had a high degree of success, so I was hoping that if Esme and Viola did anything, it would be for themselves, not a debt. "I hope it works out for you then. She probably needs someone better in her life than the political assholes that have been hoping to use her for her money."

"Right. I just want her for her hot body," Esme stated. "Kidding! If she does this for the right reasons, I'll know she's a good person too. That would help." She flashed a quick wink our way. "I'd still try to seduce her either way though."

Alaya and I both burst into laughter, and it felt good to do. There hadn't been much laughter lately, and I think we all needed it. If we were going to make it through this and come out still breathing, then we needed to keep our spirits up and have a positive attitude. It was going to be a long shot already, but we still had things on our side, and that was all I could ask for.