Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

  I stared blankly out at the landscape as we raced along the highway at top speed. We’d been driving for roughly four hours now, and I was doing my best to keep what was in my stomach where it belonged. A combination of Jonas’ speeding and weaving in and out of traffic however, was causing it to churn mercilessly.

  “You feeling ok, love?” Jonas questioned me, clearly concerned as he glanced over at me.

  I closed my eyes. “I feel like I’m on a roller coaster,” I moaned. “I even have the wind in my face,” I joked, referring to the air conditioning which Jonas had blasting in order to help keep him awake and alert.

  “Sorry,” he apologized, “but we can’t afford to slow down right now. Later though. I’m not going to be able to keep this speed up much longer anyhow, I’m already beginning to get tired,” he explained in a somewhat strained voice.

  “It’s alright, I know we have to put as much distance between us and LA as possible,” I assured him weakly.

  He looked over at me again, still worried. Then, he flipped his ipod onto some more soothing music for me, instead of the loud rock he’d been playing; another way to keep himself awake.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem. Just don’t throw up, alright?”

  “I’m confused, is your concern for me or for your car?” I asked him with a weak laugh.

  “Both,” he replied automatically.

  “Gee, thanks Jonas.”

  “But I’m much more worried about you,” he added hastily. At that moment, the phone rang, distracting us. I quickly answered for Jonas, knowing it’d be better if he didn’t have the distraction of talking on the phone while he wove in and out of traffic.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey. Have Jonas get off at the next exit,” Alaric instructed me. “I need to stop for some gas and he should probably grab some too while we stop anyway.”

  “Ok, I’ll let him know,” I told Alaric before hanging up.

  “He want to stop?” Jonas inquired.

  “At the next exit. He says he needs some more gas and figures we should grab some too while we stop off anyway,” I relayed.

  “Might as well. We don’t want to get too far apart from each other,” Jonas approved.

  As planned, we got off at the next exit we came across and found a gas station to fill up at. We pulled in, and Alaric came in right behind us. It had been his decision that he would follow us rather than have us follow him. He’d said that it was so that he could keep an eye out for anyone tailing us, but we all knew it was so that Jonas could set the pace and Alaric could stick close to us.

  “You mind running in and buying some coffee while I get gas?” Jonas asked me as he took off his seatbelt. “I’m sure whatever they have here is hardly up to my usual standards, but I’ll take just about anything at this point.”

  “Sure. I’ll test it too, just to be sure it doesn’t taste too awful,” I promised him as I took off my own seatbelt and got out of the car.

  “Getting coffee?” Alaric called from the other side of the pump we were parked at, already filling up the Benz.

  “Yes, you want some?”

  “Definitely, we’ve still got a long ways to go, and I don’t have anyone to talk to me and keep me awake,” he replied. I hurried into the store and sought out their coffee. After tasting it, I was surprised to find that it tasted fairly well - all things considered - and bought three large cups of it. By the time I got back outside, both Alaric and Jonas were finished. We passed out the cups of coffee, and then hit the road once more.

  “This is going to be a long trip,” I mumbled as we pulled back onto the highway.

  “Try to grab some sleep,” Jonas urged me. “I’m feeling awake enough. You should get some rest while you can so you’ll be able to keep me awake when I get tired.”

  “And maybe I’ll be able to drive while you get some rest too, later,” I hinted, hoping he’d agree, but knowing he probably wouldn’t.

  “We’ll see,” was all he would say. Soon, I’d drifted off to sleep.

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  I woke up again to the sight of the sun peeking up on the horizon. I stretched and looked at Jonas who was watching me.

  “Shouldn’t you be watching the road?” I reminded him, mildly alarmed.

  “We’re at a standstill, Britt. We’ve only moved a few yards in the last fifteen minutes,” he informed me with a laugh. I sat up from the scrunched-up position I’d been in and looked out the window to see he was right.

  “Why aren’t we moving?” I asked him with confusion.

  “I think there must be a bad accident up ahead or something,” he said as he gazed out the windshield. “That’s all I can figure anyway.”

  “Well, since we’re not moving anyway…do you want to pull off on the shoulder for a sec and switch places? Since we’re not really going anywhere, you could use the opportunity to get some sleep,” I suggested to him.

  “I’m fine,” he assured me, giving himself a slight shake and gripping the steering wheel tighter.

  I sighed, exasperated. “I’m going to drive at some point. Wouldn’t you rather have it be now, when there isn’t much driving involved anyway? You’ll be all rested to start speeding again when this traffic jam breaks up.”

  “Alright,” he agreed, pulling over as I’d suggested. We both got out of the car and traded places. Soon, we were back in the flow of traffic once again. Within minutes, Jonas was fast asleep in the seat next to me. Besides the sounds of our car and other cars around us, it was quiet and I could think.

  We were a long way away from LA now, but we still had a very long way to go. According to our plan, we were supposed to keep driving until late tonight, when we’d find a place to stay the night and get some rest. In the morning, we’d get up as early as possible and head back out. Alaric was pushing us to hurry so that we could disappear before our week was up. He had little doubt that we were being followed by someone. He just hoped we could lose them before the truce was up. Mentally, I calculated how much longer we had. Today was our sixth day, which meant we had today and tomorrow, and then our grace period would be up. Though I wasn’t really sure where we were or how much longer it would take to get to wherever we were going, I had my doubts we’d get there before the truce time was up. Of course, the fact that we currently weren’t even moving didn’t help matters any. We were losing valuable time.

  I looked over at Jonas who was sleeping peacefully. He couldn’t keep up this pace, it took much concentration and focus for him to weave in and out as he’d been doing. He was constantly tense and on edge, needing to be careful that he didn’t make a mistake and cause an accident going as fast as he was. I couldn’t even imagine how Alaric was managing to continue holding up as well as he was. He put up a brave, tough front, but his shoulder had to be killing him, there was no way around it. He couldn’t be in much, if any, better shape than Jonas was in. Whether the guys liked it or not, we were going to have to start slowing down considerably, and soon.

  A few hours later, as we were starting to actually move at a decent pace again, Alaric called, waking up Jonas. He answered the phone.

  “Yup,” Jonas said as he picked up the phone. A minute later he said, “Britt’s driving.” There was a brief pause and then he said yes again, and after that, hung up.

  “Alaric wants us to get off at the next exit and find a restaurant so we can talk about what we’re going to do,” Jonas let me know.

  “Ok,” I answered with a nod, “I’m sure he’s probably upset by all the time we lost this morning.”

  “I’m sure he is too,” Jonas confirmed as I pulled off the highway and found a quick fast food stop for us to grab something to eat at. Alaric pulled into the spot next to us, and everyone got out of the cars.

  “We can’t stop for long,” Alaric warned us. “We’re only stopping long enough to get food, gas, and plan some things out.” Jonas and I both nodded our understanding, and we went in together and ordered our food to go, taking it back out to the Maserati to eat together. I got in the back seat and let Alaric have my usual place next to Jonas.

  “We lost way too much time with that accident or whatever that slowed everything down,” Alaric began, “I think we need to stay on the road until at least midnight if we can to help make up for this morning,” he suggested. “Are you up for it?” he asked his brother.

  “I got some rest while Britt was driving the past few hours, I’ll be fine,” he quickly assured Alaric.

  “Well, we’ll start going at a bit of a slower pace just the same,” decided Alaric, eating a french-fry. “We’re heading into a more congested area, so it’ll be too dangerous to go at your normal rate anyway.”

  Jonas agreed to the slowing of our pace, and they continued to talk about how much longer they figured we had left to go. They soon came to the same conclusion I had earlier: It wasn’t very likely that we’d make it to our destination before our week was up. We still had a lot of California, all of Oregon, and part of Washington to cover before we made it to where we were going.

  After we had gotten some more gas, we hit the highway once again, and didn’t get off again until much later to grab another gas and coffee refill. By the time midnight came around, we were all tired, and ready to sleep.

  We pulled into a mostly-clean looking motel where Alaric got us all one room with a couple small beds.

“You two have to share a bed,” Alaric announce. “You couldn’t pay me to sleep on this floor.” He grimaced as he looked at the floor and then up at the beds.

  I was too tired to protest, so I just crashed onto the bed, fully clothed, immediately falling right to sleep. I was just barely aware of Jonas settling in next to me and the sound of Alaric’s bed creaking as he got into it. I slept until morning, when Alaric woke everyone up so we could get going again. I changed my clothes in the bathroom and did my best to clean myself up quickly. As Jonas took his turn in the bathroom, I decided to talk to Alaric about how he was getting along.

  “Alaric? How are you doing? I know this has been rough on Jonas, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you,” I mentioned as we packed up what few things we’d brought in with us.

  “I’m fine Britt,” he assured me nonchalantly, stuffing a shirt into his backpack.

  “Alaric, you were shot in the shoulder less than a week ago,” I reminded him. “It must make it difficult for you to drive.” He looked over at me briefly, and I could tell I was right by the look on his face.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he instructed me as he returned his attention to what he was doing.

  “I’m going to worry about it,” I retorted a bit sharper than I’d planned to. More softly, I added, “Maybe we should take some time to really rest.”

  “We don’t have time to stop, we have to get to Washington,” he argued.

  “Alaric, we all know there’s no way we’re going to get there by the end of the day, it’s impossible. We might as well take a day or so off so that we can get some rest. You and Jonas will be useless if you’re both burnt out from driving at this mad pace,” I pointed out, hoping he’d see reason. “We might even be able to throw them off our trail if we lie low for awhile.”

  “Britney, even if we were to stop and rest, we wouldn’t lose them. They’ll check every single motel, hotel, and Wal-Mart parking lot until they find us. It won’t do us any good,” Alaric rationalized.

  I bit my lip. I had an idea, but I wasn’t sure if Alaric and Jonas would agree to it. There was a slight risk involved that could cause them to refuse. It was a gamble, but it could end up being worth it in the long run.

  “What if I could tell you of a place where we could go?  Somewhere where they probably wouldn’t think to look for us?” I asked him.

  He gave me a perplexed look. “What exactly do you have in mind?” he questioned guardedly.

  “I have a cousin near here, I think,” I began slowly. “If it were any of my other relatives, I wouldn’t even be suggesting this, but Adam’s different. I don’t know any details, but several years ago, Adam was disowned by the family. He and I kept in touch for a couple years, but eventually, we just stopped talking. Last I’d heard from him, he was living in Redding, CA.”

  “Who lives in Redding?” asked Jonas as he came out of the bathroom behind me. I turned to look at him and couldn’t help the smile that spread across my lips. He’d washed his hair, and it hung in silky, wet, disheveled curls.

  “A cousin of mine,” I replied, filling him on what I had just told Alaric about my cousin.

  “Well, he was disowned, he gets points for that,” Jonas announced after I had finished.

  “It’d be taking a pretty big risk though,” Alaric observed.

  “Adam was always very nice to me,” I informed them. “I don’t think he’d tell anyone about us.”

  “Do you think he’ll help us, Britt?” asked Jonas earnestly.

  “I think,” I said carefully, “that he’ll shelter us for a day or two if nothing else.”

  “It’s a bit of a ways still,” Alaric remarked, having pulled out a map when I mentioned where Adam lived, “but it’s on the way at least. We could be there by afternoon today if we leave soon here.”

  “The only thing I’m worried about is what all he knows. We don’t know how he might react to us just showing up. He probably knows that your father died, and can put two and two together to know that we had something to do with that, if he doesn’t already know,” mentioned Jonas.

  “I think it’s our best chance,” I stated, holding to my idea. Alaric and Jonas needed a break, and Adam was our best shot. Besides, I was fairly certain that no one would look for us there, and we could lose our tail.

  “I think you’re right,” agreed Alaric with a nod. “This may be just what we need to throw them off our trail so that we can join Kara without them following.”

  “Alright,” Jonas assented a bit reluctantly. “But we should only tell him what we have to. I think the less that your cousin knows the better.” Alaric nodded his agreement with Jonas’ words.

  With that, our impromptu meeting was brought to a close. We finished packing up our things and headed out. Soon, we were hitting the highway once again. I just hoped that Adam hadn’t moved since the last time I’d heard from him. After all, it had been at least three years since I’d last heard from him.

  As we drew closer to Redding, I pulled out my laptop and looked up the address I had for my cousin. I wrote it down and then called up Alaric, who agreed to take the lead of our little two-car caravan. With the help of a map, he managed to find the correct address, and we pulled into the driveway of a small white house. We sat in the cars for a couple minutes, unsure of whether we ought to all go up to the door, or just some of us. Finally, without saying anything to Jonas, I pushed open my door and climbed out of the car. As I slammed the door closed, the front door of the house opened, and a man I immediately recognized as my cousin stepped out.

  “Britney Gloria Larkin,” he exclaimed slowly, distinctively. “I can hardly recognize you. It’s been what, five years? What brings you to Redding?” As he talked, I’d walked towards him until there were only a few feet between us. I could hear Jonas getting out of the car behind me, but I didn’t turn to look at him just yet.

  “It has been awhile,” I agreed with a slight smile. “I wasn’t even sure you’d be here to be honest.”  Adam’s attention was caught by something behind me, and I assumed it was Alaric and Jonas that drew his attention.

  “Why don’t you and your friends come on in so we can talk?” suggested Adam, returning his eyes to me with a smile that made them sparkle.

  I returned his smile. “That would be great,” I told him with relief, feeling welcome here. Jonas and Alaric joined us where we stood, and Jonas wrapped a protective arm around me.

  “Adam, this is Jonas and Alaric Matthews,” I introduced, motioning to each one in turn. “Jonas and Alaric, this is my cousin, Adam Larkin.” The men all nodded to each other, and Alaric and Adam even shook hands.

  “I was just telling Britney that you should all come inside,” said Adam. “I think we ought to talk.”

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  “So,” began Adam as he released a deep breath, “why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

  I took a lungful of air myself and twisted my hands together in my lap nervously as I sat down on one of Adam’s living room sofas. Jonas sat down next to me and smoothly pried my hands apart and entangled his hand with mine. He gave my hand an encouraging squeeze and I smiled my appreciation to him for his support before turning my attention to Adam.

  “I don’t really know where I should start,” I admitted to him, remembering that Alaric and Jonas both thought it would be best to keep things simple, with as few details as possible.

  “Well then, why don’t you pick up where your dad left off?” suggested Adam casually. “Last winter he called me saying you’d run away from home. He’d thought that you might have come or at least contacted me. So why don’t you start there?”

   “Alright,” I said slowly while my mind quickly began piecing together a story to offer that would be satisfactory to him. “When I found out about my dad’s occupation, I took off on foot that same night. Some guys started following me, so I decided to slip into a place that turned out to be a bar. They followed me inside. Jonas was there that night and kept them from hurting me,” I continued.

  “I’ve been helping her stay away from her dad ever since that night,” Jonas concluded for me. Adam looked from Jonas, to Alaric, to me, and finally, to Jonas’ and my clasped hands.

  “And that’s all?” he asked us skeptically.

  “Pretty much,” I replied weakly as Jonas tightened the grip on my hand once more briefly. Adam sighed heavily, and I wondered with rising panic if he would demand a fuller story than what we had offered him.

  “Well I’ve never been much for sticking my nose into other peoples’ business,” he announced at length. “Why exactly did you come to me?”

  “We just need a place to lay low for a day or two,” explained Alaric.

  “You just want to stay here for a couple days? That’s all?”

  “That’s all,” Jonas assured Adam.

  Adam shrugged. “In that case, you’re more than welcome here for as long as you need a place to stay,” he offered.

  “Thank-you, Adam,” I responded softly and gratefully. “We appreciate it more than you know.”

  “It’s no problem,” he answered, quickly brushing it off as no big deal. “I’m curious though, what’s your plan?” he asked, directing the question to Alaric. Apparently, though Alaric had barely said a word, he knew that Alaric was the one in charge of this venture.

  Alaric stiffened visibly at the inquiry. Guardedly, he responded by saying, “We’re headed to a small out-of-the-way town in Oregon. We’re hoping they won’t be able to find us there.” Adam nodded his head thoughtfully, seeming to accept Alaric’s words for the truth well enough.

  “As I said, you’re welcome here for as long as you wish to be here,” he restated.

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  “Why’d you lie to my cousin?” I hissed out to Alaric as we went to get some things from the cars.

  “I don’t trust him,” Alaric replied simply. “You forget, you’re just assuming he doesn’t agree with the ways of your family. The truth is we have no idea why he was disowned or where his loyalties truly lie.”

  “You think Adam’s going to turn on us?” I asked in disbelief.

  “He might Britt,” Jonas indicated quietly from by my side, speaking for the first time since we’d left Adam to get our things. “Alaric’s right, love. We don’t know enough about Adam to fully trust him with everything, especially with our actual destination.”

  “So how long are we going to stay here then?” I inquired in a low voice, knowing that Jonas and Alaric had a good point though I hated lying to Adam when he appeared so willing to offer us aid.

  “Just for the night. We’ll leave before he gets up tomorrow morning,” Alaric informed us.

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  After a quick dinner, we all talked for a while together in Adam’s living room. After a few minutes of trivial conversation, Adam turned his attention to Jonas and me.

  “So, are the two of you engaged?” he asked us with a lightness that didn’t reach his grave eyes.

  “Not yet,” admitted Jonas ruefully. “We haven’t really had much time to just be together with everything that’s been going on.”

  “Well things like this tend to bring people closer together, and it appears to me that it’s done just that in your case,” observed Adam. I felt the familiar blush rise up in my cheeks, knowing that he was right. Adam laughed at my reaction.

  “I can see I’m making you uncomfortable,” he said. “Perhaps it’s time we all said good-night so that you all can get some rest? I’m sure that you could use some good sleep after coming all the way from LA. You must be very tired.”

  “We could at that,” Jonas agreed, realizing for the first time just how tired he truly was.

  “I figured as much,” Adam assumed with the slightest hint of satisfaction in his voice that Alaric didn’t miss. “I have a room for Britney to use, but I’m afraid you gentlemen will have to sleep out here on the sofas,” Adam announced.

  “No complaints here,” Jonas hurriedly reassured him with a stifled yawn.

  Adam picked up my bag and led me to a small bedroom in the back of his little one-floor house. He placed my bag on the chest at the end of the bed and turned back to me with a smile.

  “Sleep well, Britney,” he told me, preparing to leave the room.

  “Thanks for helping us, Adam. I knew that I could count on you to help us,” I told him gratefully. He hesitated, his hand on the doorknob, before finally nodding briskly and closing the door, leaving me alone in the room.

  I quickly peeled off my clothes and crawled into the bed in a pair of sweats and a camisole, feeling even more tired than I’d the night before. I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

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  Alaric was tired. Too tired, was the warning that came from some very distant and fuzzy corner of his mind. Something was very, very wrong. He knew it.

  With blurred vision, he looked down at Jonas’ shirtless and still slightly discolored and bruised body. He was already dead to the world. It was then that it clicked in his mind what was going on.

  “I knew you’d figure it out,” remarked Adam quietly from his place in the doorway, “But it’s too late, there’s nothing you can do about it now. It’s already well into your system at this point, I assure you.” Unsteadily, Alaric whipped around to look at Adam.

  “What’re you doing? Britney trusted you! How can you just betray her like this?” demanded Alaric.

  “Britney will be safe here. It’s only the two of you that I’m handing over,” Adam informed him. Alaric did his best to stay on his feet as long as possible, fighting the effects of the drugs Adam must have slipped into their meal.

  “Handing over to who?”

  “To DeRuise. He called offering me more money than I could possibly turn down not long before you all arrived. He wanted Britney too, but I can’t bring myself to give her up to him as well. I always was fond of Britney. She’s about the only Larkin I actually give a rip about. I’ll keep her protected here until I think it’s safe and she can take care of herself.”

  “No way is she going to go with that,” Alaric shot back as he collapsed into an armchair. “She’ll fight you every step of the way. She loves Jonas. Nothing’s going to change that.”

  “I’ll just have to help her forget him then,” decided Adam with a shrug as he watched Alaric lose his fight and slip into unconsciousness.  He pulled out his phone and flipped it open.

  “Mr. DeRuise? I have the Matthews brothers subdued here,” he announced into the phone. “You were right. They came here not long after you called.”

  “I figured as much. What about your cousin? Do you have her as well?” asked DeRuise. Adam hesitated only briefly before replying.

  “No, unfortunately not. They must have suspected something. They sent her out to supposedly get something in one of the cars, but she never came back,” Adam lied smoothly.

  “Very well then,” said DeRuise. “I’ll send my men by to take them off your hands and pay you for your assistance.”

  “Thank-you, sir. It’s a pleasure to have been able to do business with you.”

  “You will notify me if your cousin shows up or you hear anything about her again? I’m still very much interested in her as well.”

  “I certainly will,” Adam promised before hanging up. He smiled with satisfaction at Jonas’ and Alaric’s sleeping forms before he headed outside to hide one of the cars in order to back up his cover story for Britney.

  He might be known as a traitor to the Larkin family, but he still held some loyalty to his young cousin. Even after his exile from among the family, she’d continued to stay in contact with him until her father had demanded they discontinue talking. Only then had she at last stopped.

  He’d learned from DeRuise that Alaric was responsible for the death of his uncle, but this wasn’t about seeking justice for his relative as he had allowed DeRuise to believe. In truth, he could care less that Britney’s father was dead. This was purely for the money. He had outstanding gambling debts that couldn’t be ignored any longer.

  Britney would forgive him eventually; there wasn’t anything so special about her little Aussie boyfriend that couldn’t be replaced. Once he’d taken care of his debts, he’d take her to Australia himself. She could have her pick of blond-haired, green-eyed Aussies. He was sure there was no lack of them.

 

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