Safe Haven

Nine

I woke up to find myself alone in our 'borrowed' minivan parked in an Arco gas station. I sat up and peered out the window; scoping for any signs of Aiden before trying the handle. To my utter dismay and frustration, the bastard had put on child lock. I blew out an aggravated sigh and thumped my head on the dash board. I had a sinking feeling that my chances of escape were going to be slim to none.

I looked up in time to see him toting plastic bags full of various snacks and bottles of water. He flashed a condescending smile as if he knew I attempted to run away, and I grimaced at him in return.

What a jerk.

Aiden got in the car and tossed the bags into my lap, ignoring me while I struggled to keep all the contents inside.

"I thought you might be hungry." He said, turning the ignition. I hated that he was right, and I hated that he was sort of being nice to me. It made it harder to hate him. I mumbled my thanks and tore into a bag of Doritos, stuffing my face with the artificial cheesy goodness. Staring about myself, I noticed that we were driving through nothingness again--just dirt, tumble weeds and red rocks. Occasionally we'd pass another gas station or an auto parts shop, but other than that, there was nothing much to look at, so I ended up spying on Aiden's profile.

He had strong features; straight nose that was attached to a subtle brow ridge and full lips. From this angle, I could see how long his sooty eyelashes really were, and how his cheek bones stood out to be bathed in sun light. His skin was tanned to perfection, his jaw masculine and square with a peppering of black stubble that matched his unruly hair. On closer inspection of his skin, I could see the faint marring of scars from previous fights or accidents.

He was annoyingly beautiful.

"Like what you see?"

I startled, realizing that I had unconsciously leaned over the emergency brake and was breaching his personal space. Red hot embarrassment clawed its way up my throat and pooled in my cheeks. I lurched away, sputtering some lame excuse about trying to see past his big stupid head out the window, and began eating with renewed vigor.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

I felt horribly awkward after that, and was relieved when he said we needed to ditch the car and find another place to rest a few hours later. I obediently followed him when he left the van on the side of the road, and carried our food while he carried the bag full of guns. We trudged along the strip of land for a good 20 minutes before happening upon an Inn.

It was the same charade with the last desk lady: She shamelessly flirted, Aiden dazzled her with a blinding smile, he charmed her into goo, I internally gagged, she glared at me, I made a face at her, then she ever so eloquently threw our room key and change at us, and we went up into our once again shared room.

At least this room had a T.V and a decent enough shower this time. I sat on the bed--well, I was handcuffed to the iron head board so Aiden could take a shower--and turned on the T.V. I was channel surfing for a few moments, paused, then flipped it back to see if my eyes deceived me.

My picture was up there; it was a good one of me smiling with the words Missing underneath. Everything seemed to slow down as I stared at the screen, an interview with my parents was playing, and their sad anxious faces tugged at my heart.

"We pray that she's alright..." my father was saying, his eyes bright with tears as he held my sobbing mother in his arms, "All we can do is pray  and hope that our baby girl returns to us safely."

Tears filled my own eyes, and the overwhelming need to call them and tell them that I was alive nearly overtook me.

I'll be home soon... I silently promised, watching the rest of the program. They had my bio and where I was last seen, along with a short excerpt of Sage crying into the camera that this was all her fault. I wanted to comfort her--even though it was partially true, but I decided that I had enough of this. With a heavy heart, I turned off the T.V, and scrubbed my tears away. I had to be strong for them, I had to get through this.

If I'm going through Hell, I have to keep going.

My courage resolved, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and waited for Aiden to get out of the shower so I could take mine.

Even though he showered with the door closed, the room still filled with humid air. I busied myself by tracing the hairline cracks in the ceiling with my eyes, or counting the very few cars that would drive by our window when I heard the water turn off. I tensed up as the door whined open and almost swallowed my tongue.

Holy...

I know I've seen him shirtless once before, but I didn't really get a chance to look since he was chasing me. But now... wow.. he had to be photo shopped, or just some kind of perfect anomaly. He was sun kissed all over--I could tell, since he was only wearing a towel that hung low on his cut hips. His abs were still moist and they were perfectly aligned. His chest was wide and hard, a thick scar slashing across the right one, connecting to burly shoulders and lean traps. I also didn't know that one could have a muscular neck--until now of course.

I watched unabashed as he lifted his rippling arm and ran a hand threw his wet, midnight hair.

"There's still some hot water left, if you want it."

"Huh?"

Aiden cocked a perfect black brow, "The shower? There's hot water left if you want to bathe."

"Oh!" I blurted, and fumbled to stand, only to be jerked back by my handcuffs. Aiden sighed, and apologized as he unlocked me, but I was too busy staring holes into the wall and fighting to keep my blush under control to answer. Trying not to smell him, I bolted into the still steamy bathroom and locked it behind me. I stripped down, turned on the water and jumped in; eager to wash all of the past events off my skin. It was relaxing, and I took extra time on my hair.

I only got out because the water ran cold. I didn't want to sleep in my clothes, so I figured it'd be fine to sleep wrapped up in my towel. At least then I could revel in being clean for one night. And Aiden slept on top of the covers last time, so it's not like he'd know, and I'll just wake up before him and get dressed!

I peeked around the corner to find Aiden doing push ups in his underwear with the news on. His muscles were ridiculously defined, and I've never seen a man's body before, so It fascinated me immensely. I tip toed to the bed, and scrambled under the covers before he could see me and sighed. Get a grip. He's probably like, 30--and married. It'd be weird to check out someone's dad. I reprimanded myself. I sighed deeply and tried to ignore him and all his glory. We were just going to his base, and then I'd get to go home.

I chanted that to myself until I fell asleep.

Sorry that was a short one guys. But it'll be longer next chapter, I promise!