Page 11 of Forgiving Fate

“There will be two separate rooms. I would like them to be on the same floor for safety reasons, but if they aren’t, that’s fine.”

She goes to protest, but I cut her off. “Sorry, not trying to be a controlling asshole, but I can’t let you sleep in the car. I know things are weird as hell right now. And I know you don’t trust me, but I promise I will not even step foot into your room unless it’s a life or death situation. Plus, you will need a good night's sleep if you are going to be my navigator. Can’t have us getting lost or my brother will really kick my ass.” I try to add some humor into the tense situation, but Allie’s hesitancy doesn’t waver.

My shoulders slump in defeat and I rack my brain, trying to think of another way to convince her to stay in a hotel room.

My chest constricts, and the fire races through my veins at the lack of ideas that I am begging to come to me.

Not now,I beg.

The fire grows stronger and I know any moment, I will be forced to placate it or we will have an entirely new problem to deal with.

Just as I am about to walk around the side of the car to quiet the voices and smother the fire racing through my veins, Allie breaks the silence.

“Fine. But I would prefer you not know my room number.”

Relief fills my body, and I nod.

Grabbing the bag of food, I walk around to the driver's side, Allie doing the same to her side, and we both slide into the car.

Just before I drive away, I hand her my phone with the list of hotels and watch as she meticulously looks through the choices.

This is going to be the longest road trip of my goddamn life. And I just hope I can keep my shit together long enough, but at this rate, I highly doubt I will be that lucky.

Chapter Five

Allie

“Here is your roomkey, ma’am. I’ve written your room number at the top, inside the card. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

The check-in clerk eyes me up and down and I want to run and hide.

Why are men so fucking gross?

I was incredibly nervous when Landon first told me I couldn’t sleep in the car. I wanted nothing to do with being in a hotel with a man I barely know. But he kept his promise of not knowing my room number and even went as far as making sure they were on completely opposite floors.

When we got there and the clerk was making a very obvious pass at me, Landon asked me to go ahead of him and get settled. As I walked away, I heard him whisper something to the creep and the next morning when I met him in the lobby, the clerk was nowhere to be found and his replacement was a nice woman.

Here I was, hoping the past few days were indicative of what the rest of the trip was going to be. Other than the awkward encounter at the front desk of the first hotel, it has beenuneventful. I barely slept the first night, but that’s not out of the usual.

Sleep and I have a very difficult relationship. Some nights I am so exhausted my body just shuts down and forces me to sleep almost like the dead. Some nights I can barely have my eyes shut for a minute and the nightmares immediately start, causing me to wake up, because the awake nightmare is much less scary than the one behind my closed eyelids.

I appreciate Landon giving me my space as much as he can. He doesn’t force me to talk in the car and I don’t speak to him unless I need to. Somehow, we have fallen into this silence that isn’t awkward or uncomfortable. Which is strange since I can imagine how awkward this must be for him.

The clerk leans forward, breaking me out of my thoughts, and says, “You have gorgeous eyes, madam. Like pools of sexy, elegant crystals.”

Before I can stop myself, I blurt out, “Sexy rocks. That’s a new one.” It’s laced with sarcasm and judging by the look on the clerk’s face as he leans away from me, I can already tell he isn’t used to being turned down.

He glares at me, then I follow his shifting eyes over my shoulder to Landon. He is standing a few feet away from me, having a very hushed, yet animated conversation. His phone started ringing obsessively as we pulled into the parking lot with calls from one of his brothers. And right now, he looks more than pissed off. I have no idea what kind of business they do, but with the amount of times we have to stop for the private phone calls he has to take, it makes me think it’s something I’d rather not know.

Landon turns, his eyes locking with mine. He glances between me and the clerk, then back at me. He raises his eyebrow and subtly nods towards the clerk.

Shifting my body so I can look at the clerk and not be obvious, I see he is typing on his computer.

Good. He got over his temper tantrum after my obvious disgust with his pickup attempt. I return my gaze back to Landon, who is waiting for me, and give him a reassuring nod. He returns the gesture and points to the chairs in the lobby.

Grabbing both our keys off the counter, I don’t bother looking at the clerk and head to the chairs to wait for Landon.

A few moments later, Landon finishes up and walks over while popping a piece of gum into his mouth. “Sorry. There was a problem back home. Any problems checking in?”

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