Page 27 of King of Pain

“I can look,” Luke tosses over his shoulder as he goes to get the water. “Or we can all load into the truck and I can drive to you to the next town, get a tow truck.”

The dad pauses for a second. “Can you just take a quick look?”

With a nod, Luke hands out more water and then gives the kid to his mother before he pops the hood. He winces. “You’re out of coolant. But with these kinds of cars, you can’t just dump water in them, and we’re short anyway. Let me give you a ride.”

Somehow, we all squish into the cab of the truck.

I’m pressed to Luke’s side, the kids in the laps of their parents. Reaching down, I pass out power bars. They’ve sweat enough that I’m worried about replacing their body salt.

“I heard your stomach rumble,” Luke says close to my ear. “I want you to eat one too.”

There is only one left. I break it in half and pop half into my mouth. Then, I hold the second half up an inch from his lips. “We share.”

One brow quirks before he takes the bite, sucking my fingers into his mouth too. I feel myself blush to my roots, especially since we have an audience, as I quickly withdraw my fingers.

But I’m hot and flushed, and it has nothing to do with the desert heat.

A half hour later, we roll up into a small town just as the sun starts to set. “Garage first, then the motel?” Luke asks the dad, whose name, we learn, is Carl.

Carl nods. “I can’t thank you enough, man. You saved our lives.”

“No trouble,” Luke winks.

“Will we keep going after we drop them?” I softly ask.

Luke grimaces, cocking his head like he’s thinking. Carl raises his hand. “Let me get you two a room for the night. It’s the least I can do.”

Luke thinks for a second and then gives a quick nod. “That’s kind of you, Carl. I hope you don’t mind me taking you up on the offer.”

“Don’t mind at all. Glad to give something back after what you did for us.”

I look down at the four-year-old, Benji, who currently has chocolate all over his hands and face from the power bar. I smile at him, and he grins back. It’s adorable.

He reaches a hand out to me, likely smearing some chocolate on my face. I laugh as I wrinkle my nose. Looking back, I catch Luke looking at me and I glance down at my lap.

Carl hires a tow truck and then we make our way to the smallest six-room motel I’ve ever seen.

Hungry as I am, I’m more tired, having only slept for a few hours the night before.

There’s at least a McDonalds and Luke gets a burger while I munch on a few fries.

It’s quiet between us, both of us tired, but it’s a nice quiet. Not awkward at all, which is funny because we’ve only known each other for a few days now.

I’d like to lean on his shoulder and close my eyes, but I was the one trying to insert distance, so I keep myself upright, even as my stomach turns from exhaustion. He touches my knee under the table, and I smile at him as I take a bite of another fry. I can’t help myself. But his look is one of concern. “You gonna eat more than that?” he asks, looking skeptically at my fries.

“Worried about me?” I tease.

He leans forward, not smiling. “Yes.”

“I promise, the french fries are enough. I’m just tired.”

He gives a nod. “Big breakfast tomorrow then.”

My head cocks. I’m not used to people being worried about how much I eat. Not even my mom does that. Never did. But we leave and go back to the motel. The décor is sparse and old, but the place is clean, I’ll give it that.

I brush my teeth and pull out a clean pair of underwear and a T-shirt. It’s the best I’m going to do tonight.

Luke’s eyes are on me as I start to climb into the bed.

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