Killer One ✓

Chapter 41

Travis.

The next morning was cold. Lacey and I were outside by the creek and temperatures had dropped during the night. We put most of our clothes back on at some point and the low temperature just meant I got to hold her that much closer to me. The sun hadn't been awake for long enough to heat everything back up and when I felt Lacey's cheek, it was chilly.

Sleeping outside hadn't been as bad as the last time we had done this. Before, we had just escaped psychopaths. This time, we were the only ones out here and I felt like we were in our own little bubble.

Sitting on my knees beside her, I braced my arms on either side of her head. She was lying on her side, using my jacket as a pillow, and practically burying herself in the blankets we were using.

We needed our own place so I could wake up peacefully next to her every day. That could wait until after we traveled. I'd had Lacey compile a quick list of places she wanted to visit and she might have thought I was just joking around but when panic woke me up at one point in the night, I wrote her list down in my phone before falling back asleep. It didn't have a lot of places but I could get her to add to it.

I leaned down and kissed her on her cheek, forehead, and was on my way back to her cheek when she turned and I caught her lips instead.

"Good morning, gorgeous," I whispered, pulling away from her.

She smiled and opened her eyes. "Good morning, handsome."

My heart jumped awake for the day.

I pushed her to sit up and unballed my jacket, putting one of her arms through it before she started to do it herself.

"You're going to be cold," she stated, pushing the sleeves up but only the tips of her fingers showed.

"I'm okay," I admitted. "Let's go back to the house."

We threw everything from last night back into her car. I told her we could deal with it later and she didn't protest. I'm pretty sure it was because she didn't want everyone asking questions on why we were carrying two arms full of blankets inside in the early morning.

After she locked her car, she grabbed onto my hand and squeezed. I glanced down at her and she shot me that smile I'd follow anywhere.

Two hours and one hot shower later, the top of Lacey's hand brushed my own and her fingers intertwined with mine again as we walked down an uneven cobblestone path in a town that matched the atmosphere of the shithole farm we were staying on perfectly. We were in a town square of shops that didn't look like they'd know what a cell phone was even if I threw one at their faces.

I narrowed my eyes, watching all of the shop doors to see if anyone was about to step outside. There was one person across from us on the other end of the square with a young kid and behind us, there was a man holding a large box. One of the store doors near him opened suddenly and I craned my neck to see an older woman usher him in.

In front of us, Carlos and Annabeth walked with the reason for half of my worries: Lacey's vanilla friend. Ben, Lacey, Cam, and I walked behind them while Hannah and Finn followed us. It made me feel a little bit better about being in such a public space with Vanilla. I thought about grabbing a weapon before we left, but my hands started to shake and it was at that point that Lacey had entered the room so I shoved my hands in my pockets so she wouldn't see and left without one.

I didn't know about Carlos, but I knew Annabeth would have at least four weapons on her somewhere if the cop tried anything. And Cam had told Hannah to walk behind us. He whispered it but I overheard. I also overheard him tell Finn to walk with Hannah so Finn wasn't tempted to throw anything else at Vanilla's head. So, it was nice to know that I wasn't the only one on edge. If Vanilla thought it was odd that he was separated from Lacey, he didn't make it known. He seemed to be too captivated by Annabeth to care.