Tightrope; A New Romance

Chapter 28- Soldiers

Something I'd learnt about Adrian; when he's assigned to do something, he gets it done.

We had to have been travelling for nearly a day. Adrian obviously needed a rest regardless of his hesitation. I finally managed to convince him to pull over at a 7 Eleven in the cover of dawn, so we could refuel and get some food. We both needed the break. To recoup...

He passed me a large, fleece jacket from behind my seat, throwing it over my shoulders once we got out of the truck; to hide my bloody shoulder that was still surprisingly numb.

"How is it?" Adrian asked, fixing the jacket.

"It only hurts a little bit. It keeps numbing."

Adrian didn't seem surprised by that. "C'mon, let's get you something to eat."

The store was practically empty, save the grubby man behind the register with his nose in some dirty magazine. Etta James' At Last played quietly on the radio beside him and lights flickered above our heads as we entered with a beep through the sliding doors, barely grabbing any attention from the cashier.

Adrian picked out some bagels from the tiny bakery section and juices from the fridge. Before we got out of the truck he'd opened the glove box and pulled out a tin underneath some documents. The tin had a few bills rolled up with a rubber band around them. I didn't ask.

I watched as Adrian paid for out food, the grubby cashier barely looking up as he handed him change. Employee of the month right there.

We didn't have long to rest; Logan and the others would still be after us, but we had a leg up on them. Adrian told me the quickest way to this mystery doctor, was on the state highway- the most obvious road to take for a safe getaway; loads of traffic to lessen the chances of them trying to hurt us with plenty of people around. But Adrian suspects they wouldn't let that get in the way; that they'd hunt us down no matter what, fuelled with anger after I'd killed Jeb and escaped.

"I don't think Logan would be capable of that," I'd said to Adrian, "he's too careful. He wouldn't risk exposing Nephilim."

"You didn't think he'd be capable of betraying you either." Adrian's grim tone stung along with Logan's image. But Adrian was right.

So he had the strategy of travelling around the coastline. It was the unlikely option, where'd we be less likely to be found, only it'd be longer route.

Adrian and I sat down at a little round table away from the window and I didn't care that anyone else was around. I ate like it was my last meal.

"So why Darwin?" I asked, the words muffled by my stuffed mouth. I didn't know much about Darwin, only that it was on the other side of the country and that Adrian had made it clear that that was our destination.

Adrian had finished his bagel in a split second and was now downing his juice. "There's a doctor there, he can....fix you up." He said the last bit in a hushed voice, like I was some sort of mental patient. Fix me up? Oh. God.

"There are doctors everywhere Adrian, what's so special about this one?" I asked partly out of curiosity and partly of my impatience due to the pain. "And how are you so sure they won't ask questions?"

"He's worked with Nephil before."

A chunk of bagel got caught in my throat. "What?" I coughed, thumping my fist against my chest, "I thought Nephilim were in hiding? How can you trust a human with that?" I said in a whisper, careful not to get the attention of the cashier.

Something about me still didn't like identifying as a Nephil, saying the word human like it was some unusual creature.

"Do you trust me?" Adrian's grey eyes were fixed on me intensely.