Unlikely Meetings

CHAPTER 10 - LINES IN THE SAND

After making sure that his dogs would be fine on their own for the hours he'd be gone, Max loaded up his car with a few extra items he might need. A blanket, a cooler full of drinks, and a hot cooler full of warm food items for not only himself, but for his girlfriend as well. "Are you sure you don't need help with anything? Feeling kind of like a freeloader right now." With a look over his shoulder he found Eli fully wrapped up in her actively heated clothing along with only her ruby eyes exposed to the world. Her body was outlined by the expanse of snow that covered his property, causing her to seemingly glow brighter than her surroundings. Or Max was just going insane, he couldn't tell and didn't care.

With a warm smile, he closed the back hatch of his little red tracker and moved to the passenger side. "Well everything is already done, so no, there really isn't anything to help with. Besides, it would ruin the surprise I have planned." The only emotion from her that he could glean was her head tilting slightly to the side before she gave a defeated sigh and shrug.

"Alright then. So what's first, the hardware store?" With a nod, Max held the passenger door open for her as she slid in and pulled him down by the collar to plant a kiss right on his lips. The scarf was pulled away from her smooth scales for just a moment to steal a morsel of his sinfully decadent heat in the bitter air. Everytime she pulled away from him she felt how he looked. Knees weak and short of breath as his eyes took on a look of adoration and deep longing.

With a loving smile, he stumbled the first few steps to his side of the car and struggled with the latch on the door. After he sat down, he took a few breaths before turning the car over and cranking the heat to max for his cold blooded partner. "Whew. First is the hardware store, but after that we'll need to start preparations."

Eli raised an eyebrow as the car began to traverse over the snow covered gravel that made up his driveway. "Everything alright? You seem a little out of it."

Max reached out and removed the glove from her hand to meet his bare one. "Everything's fine, you just take my breath away." A sly smile crossed his lips as her free hand flailed in the air as her previous charisma was turned back on her. "Still have the list?"

She nodded shyly as her free hand dug into the hip pocket and procured the three sheets of lined notebook paper. Clearing her throat she flipped through the pages as she noted some items on the pages. "Iron oxide powder, aluminum powder, flour, styrofoam, fertilizer... Max I really don't get this list. It just seems like a random list of items. What are you making?"

Max pursed his lips as he entered the main road debating with himself if he should tell her the true use of the listed items. With a sigh, he relented telling her what the list entailed. "They're... items to make IEDs and other chemical based explosives that we'll use in small amounts. I'm not trying to kill anyone more so just...scare them into reconsidering."

Eli held the list a little more tenderly as the information dawned on her. "Are we allowed to do this? Like, is it legal? Furthermore, where did you learn to make explosives?" Her confused expression stared at his neutral expression before flipping through the list again.

"For legality sake, it's a gray area for me and by extension you. I have my FFL license which covers explosives, but what we're making is strictly under the table." Placing his phone onto the dashboard he hit a number off on speed dial where it only rang once before Noah's familiar voice came over the speaker.

"Heyo bitch boy! What's up with the early call? I'm getting the kiddos ready for daycare." Shouting and laughing came through in the background as the chaos of their home bled through the speakers. "Gotta be quick, we're almost out the door!"

"Just keeping you in the loop. Eli and I are heading out to get supplies since yesterday we learned that Trevor might be stupid enough to attack my property." The silence hung in the air as Noah took in the information.