Bulletproof (Agent #1)|WATTYS2019

》22. You look pretty good after being punched more than a few times《

Chapter 22: You look pretty good after being punched more than a few times

"Princess. Vivian."

I felt a nudge to my shoulder and I pried my eyes open. Aiden's face hovered over mine and I instinctively flinched back.

"What?" I groaned and rubbed my eyes.

He moved back and I sat up. I looked around; the low rumble of the engine made me realise we were still on the boat, rushing through the ocean. The sun was setting past the gentle waves of the ocean, reflecting it's orange and pink hue on the water.

"We're nearly here. I see the shore."

Aiden pointed behind him and I saw land - a wooden deck not far off which led to a sandy beach. I grasped the guardian and checked to see if we were on the correct track.

"Sorry I fell asleep," I said and stiffled a yawn.

"You needed to rest. You've lost a lot of blood."

Aiden's words caused me to peer down at my leg and it's like by acknowledging it, the pain came rushing back. From the deep red stain on the white bandage, I knew I had to check the cut again. A numbing ache spread through my leg and stomach. I guess getting hit on the same place again bruised my abdomen even more.

I blew out a breath. "Let's just get the hell out of here."

Aiden nodded and steered the boat towards the deck.

I grabbed a pack of wipes from our bag, and began scrubbing the dried blood off my face and hands. We already looked a wreck, and I didn't want anyone questioning us.

On arrival, Aiden stopped the engine and we both clambered out. He threw the bag over his shoulder and glanced over at me warily. I held back a grimace at the pain shooting through my leg and stood straight.

I stared back at Aiden and that's when I noticed the purple bruise blossoming on the left side of his jaw. I cringed and pointed at it. "That must hurt."

Aiden winced. "Yeah."

I took in our surroundings. The beach was empty. I'm guessing people didn't want to come out bang in the middle of winter when the ocean breeze made the hairs on your skin stand straight. I tightened my ponytail.

"Come on."

As we began trudging through the beach and towards the upcoming road, I glanced at the guardian for directions. The ferry would have dropped us off at a different place, and it seemed where we had stopped with our little boat was a lot closer to our destination.

"We don't need to take a boat through that lake I was telling you about. It's just a lot of walking from here. We need to go past this forest, see?"

Aiden peered over my shoulder. "How do we get there?"

I pursed my lips and thought. "Well, it's one of the biggest forests in Phoenix. And we can't steal anymore cars, the previous ones have probably been tracked and I don't want them to track us here."

Aiden nodded again. "So?"

"We walk."

Aiden groaned. "Really? For how long?"

I checked the device. "It says the forest is three hours away from here with a car. So maybe double the amount if we are walking?"

Aiden exhaled a breath. "Why can't we take a cab then?"

I pursed my lips and shrugged. "I guess we could, but we'd still have to get off early and walk quite a distance. It's not like we can ask the driver to drop us off to the forest."