Evade (The Ever Trilogy) (15 page)

“A
re you okay?” Toby asked.

“Are you serious?”

“No. I mean…never mind. That was a stupid question.”

We’d been in the car for four or five hours. Toby had tried a few times to talk to me, but I’d only answered with one or two word responses, and the occasional pit stop request. A girl could only ride in silence for so long, though, and I was about at my limit.

We were driving through Bakersfield or Barstow or some other brown, deserted place that started with a B, and I was starving. My stomach announced my hunger before I could speak up about it.

“You’re hungry?” asked Captain Obvious.

“Yes, obviously. Can we find a place to eat? Is it safe to stop and sit down?”

“Um,” he stammered. His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror for about the nine-thousandth time since we’d left Orange. “I don’t think we’ve been followed, but you know a Seeker could be anywhere. We could be spotted if we stay in one place too long.”

“You mentioned that, but what, we don’t even get to rest? Or eat? Toby, how long is that really going to work? Nothing but driving, until what, my birthday comes along or a Seeker finds me and kills me right here in the passenger seat of the Mustang?”

“No, it’s not like that. We can stop to eat, and of course, there are these things called drive-throughs…heard of them?”—he grinned—“I just really want to get you out of state. Greg, Jessie, and your mom are trying to lead the Seekers in different directions while we head north. Greg and Jessie are heading back down into Mexico, and your mom and Ted are heading north like us, just a bit more inland. Ariadne is heading east with—”

“Ariadne? Are you serious? She’s probably leading them right to us!”

“No, she’s not. She’s actually helping us, Ever. I really believe her. Apparently we assumed incorrectly about her reason for being in Mexico. She wanted to warn you. That’s why she’d been there. She was looking for you.”

“Yeah, right. To
find
me so she could turn me in
herself
.”

Have they all lost their minds?

“I know it seems that way, and even I had my doubts, believe me, but I think she’s sincerely trying to help. I don’t think she had any idea what she was doing when she brought Frankie back and promised to collect your soul instead.”

“What? Are you freaking kidding me right now? Oh look,” I said in a mock-sweet voice, “I found some black magic, maybe I should play with it and cast some spells on my friends! Weee! Or, oh I know, look at this awesome looking gun, maybe I’ll go shoot it as if I don’t know what will happen when I aim it at someone’s face! There’s a plan!”

“I know you won’t believe me, but I don’t think she truly meant to brand you, Ever. I think she acted in anger and jealousy and made a stupid, ignorant mistake.”

“Oh, well, no big deal, right? I mean, it’s just my life on the line.”

I didn’t want to argue with him anymore, especially not about what a completely horrid person his ex-girlfriend was. I pointed to a sign on the side of the freeway. “Barbeque. That’s where we’re eating.”

“You want to eat in a town called ‘The Bathroom?’”

“What?”

“Look at the sign.
Los Baños
means
the bathroom
.”

“Oh. Well, yeah. I guess I do. I want barbeque, and they’ve got the ‘World’s Best.’”

Well, that’s what the sign said anyway, and I was tired of sitting in the car.

Toby glanced over at me, so I squared my jaw and crossed my arms. On this, I would not back down. He shook his long bangs out of his face with a huff and turned on his blinker. Then he did something even more surprising: he exited the freeway. My pout worked. Amazing.

My surprise was quickly replaced by excitement. I was about to have a belly full of brisket.
Thank you, Los Bathrooms.
I had to enjoy the little things, seeing as how I was marked for death and running for my life. No biggie.

The city—if it could even be called a city—was small and dead. I wondered if I’d left the world of soul collectors and jumped right into the zombie apocalypse. Why not, right? Signs everywhere boasted world’s garlic capitol, or world’s largest artichokes. Frankly, I couldn’t imagine how anything could be grown in such a brown, dead-looking place.

Hog Heaven BBQ was almost as empty as the town itself, but the restaurant was open, and I could smell the smoked meat from the parking lot next door. Toby was fidgety and nervous, his eyes darting all around as we walked inside. Though seeing him behave in such a paranoid manner made my stomach sink, I tried to ignore it, knowing he could see things I couldn’t see. I wondered briefly why I’d never noticed him scanning the area around him so much…were the ghosts so
agitated
, as he put it, that they behaved in a way he’d never seen before?

I’d ask him about that later. I mean, we were just stopping for a quick dinner and would be on the road again in under an hour. What could go wrong?

We entered an old western-style restaurant with wooden everything—tables, floor, walls—and a dinky little salad bar was the focal point of the room. But I wasn’t there for the salad bar, and I figured no one else ever visited for that reason either. Lassos and cowboy paraphernalia decorated the walls, and an ancient man worked behind the counter. His skin was as leathery as the old saddle that hung in one corner, but his smile was sincere and the sparkle in his eye told me he loved his little restaurant. The pictures on the wall, with him and about every celebrity you could think of, told me this was in fact his restaurant.

When we approached him, he began cutting off small bites of meat for us to sample. I didn’t know if he was just lonely and excited to see customers, or if this was how he treated every guest, but I definitely didn’t care. The second that sample of brisket hit my taste buds, I instantly knew I’d never want to eat barbeque anywhere else again.

“Ohhh mah gohd,” I said around a mouthful of heaven. I smiled at Toby, and he just shook his head. Then the old man handed him a hunk of meat and I watched as his face lit up the same way I imagine mine had. His eyes closed, and I smiled widely as he experienced the same heaven-sent goodness that I savored. We sampled some chicken and ribs as well, but both ordered the brisket. I don’t know why Cowboy Grandpa even made that other stuff—I couldn’t imagine anyone ever skipped the brisket.

We ate in happy silence, and for a second, as short-lived as it was, I pretended we were just on vacation.

Absently, I focused on Toby as he ate, and I didn’t realize I stared at him until he winked at me. Of course, my cheeks heated up in response.

“I’ve missed you.”

I smiled and looked down at my nearly-empty plate. All that was left was a huge hunk of white onion, and frankly, I’m not really sure why that had been on my plate in the first place. I ignored Toby’s statement, which was cowardly of me, yes, but I wasn’t ready to acknowledge him yet. At least not as anything more than the person driving me to Timbuktu and trying to keep me alive.

“You’re blushing.”

“Duh.”

“Are you going to eat that?”

I looked up at him quickly, my lips curling into a scowl. “Eew, no way…why, do you want it?”

“Um, no. I think I’ll pass.”

I looked down at his plate and noticed his onion was the only thing that remained as well.

“What’s up with the onion?” I asked.

“I have no idea. But I’m glad you made me stop here. That was ridiculous.”

“I know, right? Best brisket ever. I’m stuffed.”

“Good. ‘Cause we have to go. We should keep moving until it’s time to rest.” He stood, then took our trays back to the counter, and upon returning to the booth, he extended his hand to help me up. I placed my hand in his, and he pulled me to my feet. He looked down at me, his eyes lingering a bit longer than necessary, making my heart pick up its once-steady pace.

My skin prickled, and I wondered if this was a new reaction to Toby. Something like the excitement I used to feel, only slightly stronger and a bit…
off
. Maybe this was my body warning me I was too close.
Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

Toby stepped closer, and I held my breath as words spiraled through my mind, none of them willing to form an intelligible sentence. Before I could think any further on my ridiculous reaction to Toby’s closeness, or come up with something witty to say regarding his unwelcomed familiarity—or even figure out what my hand was still doing in his—Toby’s gaze shot behind me, to the front door of the restaurant.

“Shit. We’ve got company,” he whispered low enough that only I could hear him.

I started to turn around, but he pulled me to him so I was unable to look behind me. I didn’t have time to question him. In one quick movement, my back was pressed against the wall behind our booth. On one side of me, the mounted digital jukebox pressed into my shoulder—the newest bit of technology in a restaurant that hadn’t been redecorated since Wyatt Earp was still king of the Wild West—and on the other side of me, the length of Toby’s body pressed against mine.

I froze.
Who thinks of Wyatt Earp at a time like this?
Toby’s face was pressed into my neck, his breath doing funny things to my skin and causing my heart to jump up and down like a freaking trampoline had been installed in my chest. I closed my eyes, unable to see anything past him anyway, and frankly, I needed to compose myself. I was torn between running my hands through Toby’s hair, or pushing him back and slapping him across his face for pressing up against me like this, without any invitation from me.

Then I remembered his words. Just seconds before he’d crushed me into the tiny crevice between the booth and the jukebox, he’d said we had company.

Seekers.

This intimate moment between us wasn’t intimate at all, thank God. Toby was simply trying to hide us from whoever had just entered the restaurant. Well then. I guess I could let it slide, just this once…oh, who was I kidding? The close contact with his body—all long and lean—was making my mind feel like mush and my heart skip around like a broken record…just as it always had before.

Wyatt Earp could have walked in that door and had a shootout with the ancient cowboy behind the counter, and I wouldn’t have known the difference because all I could think of was the way Toby smelled, and the strength in the body that now covered me protectively.

Toby pulled his head back a few inches, and his eyes were dark and slightly hooded. His gaze fell to my lips, then flicked back up to lock with mine.

“Don’t kill me,” he whispered.

Then his lips were on mine, and I almost gasped into his mouth. I stood frozen as his mouth gently moved over mine, and warning bells shrieked within my brain.
Stop! This is wrong. All wrong! What is he doing?
Toby couldn’t just waltz into my life and kiss me again like nothing had happened between us. He’d have to be out of his mind to think I’d be okay with this!

Toby deepened the kiss slowly, as if waiting for me to respond with some indication of yes or no, when all I could do was stand there like an idiot and listen to the wise little voice in my head screaming at me to stop.

My lips woke up from their stupor before the rest of me did, completely on their own and definitely without permission, but as our mouths moved together, every single nerve-ending in my body responded, waking up as if they’d been dormant for months. My hands found their way to his chest, and my lips moved in sync with his.

All
without
my permission. I swear.

Toby responded to me by deepening the kiss even further, and his fingers squeezed my hip. I hadn’t even noticed his hand there because I’d been so focused on not kissing him.
Damn it all, who am I kidding?

As we kissed for a few long moments, I realized that when we were alone like this, it was like no time had passed.

I recognized something in that kiss, something that had been off between Frankie and me. We never lacked for love or friendship, or even intimacy…but this
fire
was never present between us.

Frankie was right. Something had been missing.

And this was it.

When Toby broke the kiss, pulling back a few inches again, his eyes were wide and dark, smoldering with the surprise and hunger that I’d just felt. His chest rose and fell as quickly as mine did, and I realized he was out of breath as well. His mouth twitched, and he opened and closed it a few times as if trying to find something to say, but in the end he opted for that amused smirk I knew so well.

“So, I take it you’re not going to kill me?” he whispered.

My mouth dropped open, but I realized I had no response. What could I say when I’d responded to his attack so eagerly? He winked at me, and slowly looked around the restaurant. His body was still pressed against mine and the pressure and closeness of it made me feel all sorts of things—all of them good, some of them familiar, and none of them fear. But as I watched him survey the dining room, I realized fear was the only thing I should be feeling.

A Seeker had found us, and I had no idea how close it was or if it was still here waiting, and here I am, a ball of mushy, weakened limbs, my chaotic brain analyzing what was missing between Frankie and me.
Idiot!