Hitchhikers (Wolf Point #1)

-44-

"Have fun while I was gone?" Kayla announces, waking me out of a bored doze. Nothing else to do but sleep. Too cold. No food. Several times I wished for that book I'd stolen from the library in Broken Bow. Too bad it was in my backpack, with Kayla, the whole time. Too dark to read now anyway.

"I finally got more clothes." She drops the crammed backpack on the mattress. I notice she's wearing a new pair of fuzzy gray mittens that smell like the bottom of a box left in storage. Between her knit hat pulled down over her ears and forehead, and the fleece scarf that covers her mouth, all I can see of her is her red nose and brown eyes.

The backpack oozes other scents just as strange. Smoky car seat. Mothballs. A faint gardenia-scented perfume. "Socks. Long underwear. Regular underwear." Kayla pulls these garments from the backpack as she names them. "Flannel-lined jeans. Fleece shirt. Down vest."

She looks at me. "What are you waiting for? Start stripping." She grins. "Now."

I smile back, but wait to see what else she has.

"You think I'm kidding? Come on. You need to put this stuff on."

"Okay." I feel more than a little weird taking off my clothes in front of Kayla. Plus it's freezing, so I'm hopping around trying to get my pants down as fast as I can. I grab the long underwear.

"Daniel, you need to put on the new underwear." She shakes the package at me. "Yours smells like... well, let's just say I can tell you haven't done your laundry in a few weeks."

"Okay," I say, accepting the underwear. She continues to watch me. "Um... maybe you could turn around or something?"

"What, are you shy?" Kayla grins. I suddenly get the idea that she was hoping to see me take off my underwear. But she turns around.

To be safe, I turn my back to her while I change. When I'm done putting on the underwear and the socks and the long underwear and turn back to get one of the new pairs of pants, Kayla's watching me with that grin still on her face.

I can feel myself blushing and I can't seem to meet her eyes. I have a harder time than usual putting on a simple pair of pants. As I'm fumbling with the button on the fly, Kayla's fingers dance up my spine.

"You need some help?"

"No!" My voice is a little too loud and I jump away from her touch. There is a tense moment.

"Here's a clean shirt." She hands it to me. I glance up at her eyes. She avoids mine and her smile is gone.

I take off the scraps of the shirt I'm wearing.

"You've healed up pretty quick," Kayla remarks. I raise my eyebrows. She gestures to her neck. "The bruises. They're gone."

My fingers explore my neck, pushing where only yesterday it was so sensitive. No pain at all. How long since I had that rope around my neck? Has it really only been two days?

"Yeah. I guess they're all healed up." I pull the thermal shirt on. I feel warmer already.

"You need to eat more," Kayla says, eyeing my ribs. "And I don't mean broccoli soup."

I lean over to see if she has anything in the backpack I haven't sniffed out yet. There's a faint trace of hamburger but it's coming from Kayla's breath. "You didn't bring any food back?"

"I barely had enough money to get clothes for you. I had to steal the socks and underwear."

"But you had enough money to go to McDonald's."

She stares at me. "It was Wendy's. I guess you don't need any training for your sense of smell."

My stomach growls. Or maybe I'm growling at her.