Run (13 page)

The sun still hadn’t risen. Mason and I were on a never-ending trek on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere.

We finally came across a gas station where we used five bucks on a beef jerky (that we split) and two slurpees to quench our thirst. It was by far the best meal ever when you hadn’t eaten anything reasonable in such a long time.

We didn’t know where we were going. Mason did what every man does—he pretended to know what he was doing. If I hadn’t known him all my life I would have believed him.

“So, here’s my idea,” Mason said, watching a shiny black car pull into the gas station. He slung our backpack over his shoulder, finishing up his drink.

“What’s that, Mason?” I said, pretending to be interested when all I really wanted was a bed to sleep in. We’d been walking for hours on end and my feet hurt and I was tired. And, Wanda was gone for good.

“Remember my friend I told you about? The one who lives in Jersey?” Mason asked me. “Jay Archer?”

I nodded, knowing all about Jay Archer. He was a friend only because of Payton. Jay was older than Mason. And from everything I had heard about him he wasn’t a good person. He did nothing legally. He stole cars for a living. Mason had found himself in a lot of trouble in his life because of Jay Archer.

When Mason recounted really bad times in his life, Jay’s name was usually attached to each and every one.

“I know we’d have a place to stay as long as we needed it and it would give us time to figure out our next plan.” He stared at me, waiting for my response.

The first plan hadn’t panned out so well. I didn’t have a whole lot of hope left in me.

I sighed and backed away only to be nearly run over by a red crotch rocket flying into the parking lot. Mason grabbed my arm to pull me to safety, but not before he gave the driver a menacing look.

“What are you doing?” I shouted. He threw a hand in the air blowing me off as he headed back into the gas station, leaving me alone in the parking lot. I crossed my arms in aggravation and sat on the ground, resting my back against the light pole.

I wasn’t feeling too confident Mason could get us where we needed to go. At least with Aunt Wanda we always had transportation. Wanda wouldn’t be caught dead hiking across America.

“Kendall!” Mason said, running from the gas station with a huge grin pinned to his face. I nearly choked on my slurpee when he shook a set of keys at me.

I jumped to my feet. “Are you joking?” I exclaimed.

“Come on,” Mason said, heading over to the red crotch rocket. I hesitated at first. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to risk road rash, but I pushed past that and slung my leg over anyways. Mason plunked the helmet down on my head.

He walked the bike slowly around to the back of the gas station before he started it up.

And we were off.

I held on tight, leaning against him as we put more and more distance between us and Virginia.

I felt carefree on that bike—all I had to do was hold on tight. I wondered how he’d gotten the keys. Was it as bad as I thought? Was that the reason he had blood on his hands? How much longer before I regretted everything so much that I couldn’t handle it anymore? Did Aunt Wanda ever get to that place—where she couldn’t even look at herself in the mirror anymore?

No matter how bad people were, I was sure they had a conscience somewhere deep down on the inside.

Mason stopped the bike on the side of the road as it took its last breath. He dropped the bike on its side, barely checking that I was off it before he let it go.

He was angry. His body rigid, his muscles tense. He ran a hand through his hair frustrated and stared up at the sky--like the answer he was looking for would drop from the heavens.

“You almost broke my leg, stupid ass,” I griped, dropping the helmet to the ground beside the bike. I was sure the bike was dead. The smoke was a good indication. And we never stopped for gas. That in itself proved to me that he’d done something terrible.

“Did you kill that man, Mason?” I asked, crossing my arms. I could barely see him until passing cars provided a couple seconds of light.

“Kendall, don’t worry about what got us here. Just be glad we are hours away,” he said.

I swallowed.

I caught a glimpse of something in his expression, masked behind anger.

“Where are we?”

“The outskirts of Delaware. Now what to do to get to Jersey,” he said. I sighed, knowing what that meant. I was the ticket to obtaining a ride. Men would rather pick up a cute girl than a young guy.

Mason moved back getting out of view and plopped down in the ditch to stay out of sight.

I dropped the backpack on the ground and tied my shirt in a knot at my waist. I did my best to fluff my hair. It was all I could do and it would have to work. I stuck out my thumb.

“You know, sometimes I wish I was a girl,” Mason said from behind me.

“Shut up, Mason. That doesn’t make any sense at all,” I told him, silently pleading with the traffic.

I just wanted anybody to stop and put me out of my misery.

“Kendall, since when do you talk to me like that?” he asked, acting hurt.

“Since you have me on the side of the road, begging for a ride,” I said, grabbing our backpack as a red jeep came to a screeching halt.

“Kendall,” Mason called after me.

“I should use my brain for once and leave you here,” I told him. I approached the passenger side window a big smile on my face.

“Hi there, thanks so much for stopping,” I said sweetly.

The man was about thirty. He looked me over, a big smile on his face. He nodded his head not saying a word.

“Does this mean I could hitch a ride with you, handsome?” I asked breaking his stare.

“Of course. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Where would you like to go, darlin’?”

I looked him over, trying to quickly assess the type and manner of this guy. For one thing, judging by the bad haircut, he didn’t care too much about his physical appearance.

“Oh, I’ll let you know,” I said with a wink. He melted instantly and unlocked my door.

“Hop on in,” he told me.

“Just a sec,” I said holding one finger up as I backed up right into Mason. He scurried like a ninja to the back of the jeep and in one quick flash was inside. The man shrieked, startled by Mason’s surprise attack.

“Please don’t hurt me,” the man begged, his hands in the air. Mason forced him into the backseat.

“Come on,” he yelled at me. “I should just leave you here for treating me like shit a few minutes ago.”

I scoffed, knowing full well he would never have the gonads to leave me on the side of the road.

I climbed in shooting a quick look at the backseat at our panic stricken passenger.

People express their fear in various ways. Some shut down or just freak out. They’re usually the ones who make more trouble for themselves in bad situations.

And then you had those who refused to believe what was happening. They were the ones who did the sensible things and saved themselves.

“What’s your name?” Mason asked as he drove the jeep down the lonely highway. The light from the dashboard illuminated his face and made him look intimidating.

“Leonard,” the man answered flatly. It had been a few hours and I could tell he was ready to be put out of his misery. Mason had said nothing to him the whole drive. That alone was torture.

“Are you married?” Mason asked, releasing one hand from the steering wheel.

“No, I’m not,” Leonard answered.

“Kids?” Mason pressed.

I stared at Mason, annoyed he was making things harder for this guy. And I was even more annoyed that Leonard was being honest.

“No,” he said.

“Hey, Leonard, little word of advice, when two crazed kids hijack your car, lie your ass off,” Mason told him, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Uh, what?”

I looked back at the man. He was sweating like crazy.

“It’s always better to make people feel for you, rather than feel nothing. No one would want to hurt a man who had a family,” I explained.

“Oh god…are you going to kill me?” he asked starting to panic.

Mason sighed, gripping the steering wheel. He was as much a killer as I was.

“We just need a way to Jersey. I ain’t planning on killing you. What do we look like?” he asked looking back at Leonard. “I would, however, appreciate if you kept this to yourself though. Okay, Lenny?”

“Absolutely, it never happened,” he said.

Just a few kind words from Mason was all it took to settle Lenny’s nerves.

The jeep came to a quick stop, nudging me out of my sleep. Still groggy, I tried to figure out what was happening. I squinted my eyes at the sunlight flooding the car.

“So this is Jersey?” I asked. Mason stretched, letting out a loud grunt. Leonard had gotten a nap as well and he was finally waking up.

I had never been to Jersey. In all the years we’d been on the run, it was one place I’d never seen.

“Yes, this is Jersey. It’s a blast—you’ll love it,” Mason said pulling out our backpack.

He leaned back into the jeep and told Leonard to get into the front seat.

“Mason are we here?” I asked looking up at the manicured bushes and two separate staircases that led up to a breathtakingly beautiful home. I was positive only the filthy rich lived here—windows upon windows and two private balconies.

I grabbed the backpack Mason was shoving my way, unable to take my gaze away from the gargantuan home. My mind was working overtime trying to figure out who lived there.

“You’re free to go,” Mason said shooing Lenny away. I turned finally. I was annoyed with how Mason seemed so unconcerned about sending Lenny on his way after kidnapping him and scaring him half to death.

I was about to let him have it when a young guy came bounding down the staircase to greet us.

“Are my eyes playing tricks on me or is this the pretty boy himself?” the guy said totally happy to be laying eyes on Mason.

I laughed at the pretty boy comment. I wasn’t sure who this guy was, but he was stunning. He smiled at Mason and then took a look at me as Mason talked his ear off.

“Get inside and you can fill me in on the rest of your wild ride, man,” he ordered, heading back up the stairs in his designer jeans and vintage t-shirt.

The inside of the house was huge and seemed to go on forever in every direction. I felt so small looking around.

I waited patiently for Mason to tell me his name. I kept staring at him--he was flawless. 

I couldn’t imagine he was that much older than me.

“So, Mason, are you going to introduce me to your gorgeous sidekick? Or are you still that rude when it comes to beautiful girls?” He flashed a perfect set of white teeth in my direction, his crisp baby blues sucking me in further.

“This is Kendall. Kendall, this is Jay Archer,” Mason said leaving me in shock. I couldn’t believe this was
the
Jay Archer—the one I’d heard so many bad things about.

I couldn’t believe what he looked like. The guy I had despised all these years was hot. And that was saying a lot because Mason was hard to beat in the looks department. Jay was gorgeous in an entirely different way–he looked so wholesome and all-American. 

My heart sped up. My attraction was quite possibly obvious as I looked at him.

“Mason has
always
talked about you. It’s almost like we’ve already met,” Jay said with a smile. He winked, leaning against the counter as Mason and I came into the kitchen.

“Good things, I hope. Although with Mason you never know,” I joked. Mason gave me a weird look trying to figure out my sudden good mood.

“Nothing but. This kid has talked about you since the beginning of our friendship,” he told me cracking another mind-blowing smile. Mason seemed a bit embarrassed Jay was letting me in on his little secret. It didn’t surprise me.

“Well, then, I’m glad,” I said, shooting him another smile myself.

Jay touched my shoulder sending a shiver through me.

“I love the accent. You’re very southern like the southern belles in the movies,” he said, his hand still on my shoulder. His smile remained as our eyes met, he didn’t look embarrassed in the least.

“Uh, thanks. I’ve never liked the way I sound. Makes me feel different,” I blushed. “I love the way you talk, though.”

Mason cleared his throat breaking into our moment.

“Yeah, Kendall hasn’t shaken the hillbilly yet. Anyway, can we grab a bite to eat and a shower?” Mason asked helping himself to the refrigerator.

Jay backed off, looking at Mason with concern. He was puzzled by Mason’s sudden change of mood.

My eyes never left Jay as he helped Mason make sandwiches.

“Kendall, do you want a water?” Mason asked. I nodded.

Jay leaned across the counter grinning at me. He grazed my hand as he put the sandwiches together.

“Do you like pasta, Kendall?” he asked going to the stove to tend to the boiling water.

“Yeah, it’s one of my favorite things to eat.” I bit down on my bottom lip drawing it in as he stirred the pasta. Mason dropped my plate on the countertop and headed for the dining room. My sandwich fell on the floor.

That
got my attention, and now I was pissed at his foul mood. I quickly started to clean up the mess Mason made all over the marble floor.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. My face burned with embarrassment.

“Why are you apologizing for Mason?” he asked taking the food out of my hands. He opened up a door on the cupboard and tossed the sandwich in the trash. It didn’t seem to bother him at all.

“I think he’s mad at me,” I said, trying to find the words to explain what was going on, even though I wasn’t really sure myself.

“You did nothing wrong. And you’re a guest in my home. So take my food, eat, nap, do whatever you want. Don’t worry about Mason.” He touched my hand trying to comfort me after Mason’s tantrum.

“I don’t feel so hungry anymore,” I said pushing the plate away. I knew I needed to find Mason and smooth things over.

“Bull, you look hungry to me. Don’t bullshit me…eat! Mason will be over this in no time. Mark my words,” he said giving me a wink.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I told Jay. Mason knew I was attracted to Jay. So, unless things didn’t turn around, it could get ugly fast.

“Guys are jealous of just about anything. He’ll be okay.” He squeezed my shoulders and didn’t let go until I agreed with him. I finally nodded and smiled.

“Okay, I’ll let you be right this time. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know him a lot better then you,” I insisted, taking the sandwich. He was right, I was starved.

It had been days since I had anything close to food.