Wanted

Chapter 17

I take in the city before me. It’s incredible and I cannot believe I have gone sixteen full years without being in one. I’m at a loss for words. Thank God theses windows are pretty dark because if someone were to glance at the car they would see me with my faced pressed up against the window with my eyes as big as saucers.

            “You look like a little kid on Christmas,” Parker says as we come up to a red light.

            I ignore him and just continue to take the sights in; the towering buildings, the little shops and restaurants, the hordes of people. I’ve seen pictures but I guess seeing things in real life are a lot different than staring at an old photo.

            “I think we should get to the hotel before she jumps out of the car,” Colton says, trying to push me off of his lap, which I had climbed over to get to the window. He succeeds but it’s not like I was making it overly hard for him. I just wanted to see outside and since I was in the middle Colton was a barrier but it’s not like I was going to refuse to move. That would make me look a little more insane.

            I sit down in my seat and turn my head from side to side to look instead of clambering on top of people.

            In five minutes or so we pull up in front of what must be our hotel. Parker gets out of the car and goes inside, leaving the rest of us in the vehicle. I really want to stretch my legs. We have been in the car for over seven hours without stopping, straight driving.

            Then again if I feel horrible and cramped up, I can only wonder what Parker feels like. All he has been doing is driving. He didn’t even get to waste away the bulk of the trip sleeping like the rest of us did.

            I don’t have to wait too much longer because Parker soon comes back out with our room keys and such. He gets settled back in the driver’s seat and turns around to face us.

            “There’s a parking garage attached to the hotel,” he begins. “So we are going to go there and go up to our rooms from there, so we don’t have to parade through the lobby.”

            Parker then starts to circle around the hotel until he finds the parking garage. He pulls in and finds us a parking spot near the hotel doors. As soon as he shuts off the engine I propel myself onto Colton, reach for the door handle, push the door open, and then tumble out of the car.

            I land in a crouched position, thank God; it would have really hurt if I had landed on my butt or my back. Pavement really needs to lighten up.

            I straighten up and begin to stretch my legs. They feel like jelly from not being used for multiple hours.

            “Are you okay over there,” Alec asks, cocking an eyebrow at me from the other side of the vehicle.

            “I’m fine,” I say back. “My legs don’t feel like legs.”

            Before he can say anything else or shake his head in disbelief at me, I move to the back of the vehicle to grab my bag. Once I have it I leave the door open and move back so the guys can grab all of their stuff.

            “Come on, come on!” I yell, clapping my hands together. “I’m getting old here. I swear I can see the gray hair.”

            “Maybe in thirty years,” Parker calls back, but he quickly grabs his stuff as he is the last one to do so. He hits the key clicker thing that can lock and unlock the van and hits what I hope is the lock button then we walk into the hotel.