Page 69 of Afflicted

“Fancy going for a drive?” I hold up the truck keys.

She stares at me blankly. “A what?”

“A drive. I need to go to Savannah, they didn’t send us enough needles with the last shipment, forgot about 20 boxes. Thought you might like to come with me.”

She scoffs, shaking her head. “Yeah sure, they’ll let me walk right out of here, huh?”

“Sure are. I’ve got boss approval and everything.” My heart drops a little as I consider that maybe she doesn’t want to be in a car with me after I backed her into a tree and pinned her there. Self-hatred seeps into my veins as my cock twitches at the memory.

She looks at me, her mouth quirking as she considers. “OK.” She bends to pick up the basket, scooping it up and resting it on her hip. “I just gotta take these to the kitchen.”

“Here, let me.” I take the basket, and we walk to the kitchen together. I check the driveway before we walk out, and jerk my head. “Come on this is something of an incognito mission.”

“So you are sneaking me out?” She shakes her head, smiling. But she climbs into the truck, keeping her head down.

I climb in, and gun the engine. I swing the truck towards the gate, waving to the guards. They already know I’m going, so there’s no need to run any checks. The metal gate slides back slowly, and I drive out onto the road with a wave. We pass the guard compound, and turn left out onto the road.

I put my foot down, and the truck shoots forward on the smooth dirt.

“You can get up now.” I look down at Juliet. “We’re out of dodge, baby.”

She laughs, sitting up and gazing out the window. “God this feels weird.”

“I bet.”

She winds down the window, leaning back against the leather seat as she takes a deep breath. Her hair flies about in the breeze, and I realize I’m not keeping my eyes ahead of me. I nearly miss the turn onto the sealed road, the old interstate, and Juliet’s head jerks over as the tires squeal.

“Out of practice, Speed Racer?” She asks with a laugh.

“Just distracted.”

“By?”

I can’t look at her right now or we will crash. Because she’s sitting there, one foot up on the dash, her hair blowing in the breeze.

“I think you know very well what by.”

She scoffs. “By my skinny ass? I don’t think so.”

“Talking about your ass isn’t helping.”

“Arse.” She mimicks my accent. “The way you say that.Arse.”

“Making fun of my accent now?” I shake my head as she giggles. “You bloody Americans, I tell you what.”

“I happen to think your accent is very sexy.” She pulls her feet up onto the seat, hugging her long legs to her chest.

“Oh, is that right?” I say with a laugh. “Yeah, you American girls did always love a British accent.”

“Wait wait, can you say something for me?”

“I am not saying Bond, James Bond.”

She laughs out loud, and fuck it’s a beautiful sound. “How did you know I was going to ask you to say that?”

“Because that’s what American girls always want you to say.”

“It was worth a try.” She chuckles to herself as she gazes back out the window. “And technically you did say it for me. Ha ha.”

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