Page 88 of Castle

A tall man was standing outside of Castle’s room. He wore a long black trench-coat, and a hat concealed his face. I passed him as I walked inside Castle’s room.

That was strange. Who was this man?

Castle was eating his meal slowly, the same thing that I’d eaten, or rather, forced down my throat. There was chicken noodle soup, some potato salad, and pudding for dessert. His thick, long lashes were casting a shadow over his defined cheekbones. He gave up on soup and picked up the dessert. He didn’t look happy for whatever reason.

I smiled at the familiarity in his behavior.

“Castle.”

He looked up at me.

“I was so worried about you,” I said, going to sit beside him. “How are you feeling?”

“Millie…I didn’t know where you were…I kept asking them how you were doing.”

“I’m here now.” I kissed the top of his head. “Get well soon, so we can leave this place.”

“Where are we going?” Castle asked like we were going on another adventure.

That was the million-dollar question.

THIRTY-FOUR

Timeat the hospital felt like a vacation.

I kind of liked it, that is, lying in bed, having the nurses bring the food (even though it was crappy), getting fussed over, and talking to the old granny, the one with Alzheimer’s who thought her son was still in preschool, and not constantly worrying about how I was going to be tortured to death.

It was a good feeling.

But as they say, all good things come to an end and my fun little six day vacation in the hospital was over too. Time was running out and as much as I would have loved to sleep on this depressing but nice bed and sip on my non-existent Piña colada, we needed to move our asses out of here. Besides; we were okay. There was no need for medical attention anymore.

I had bought a few burner phones from a nearby departmental store, which I’d been using to contact Theo. Our cellphones had already turned to dust in the crash, and if I wanted to play dead, it was convenient to not use our cellphones.

I told Theo where I wanted the cash to be delivered because getting a wire transfer was out of the question. I also didn’t need his cards to be traced, which would only cause more problems and give away our location.

Devin was smart, and I would be stupid to underestimate him. He’d done a good job ensuring we wouldn’t survive, and if we hadn’t jumped from a speeding car, Devin would have gotten exactly what he wanted.

I made sure the nurse was nowhere in view and passed Castle some clothes that I had bought from the store. It wasn’t his usual expensive designer stuff. This was a cheap t-shirt and jeans, the type you would get in a bargain sale. He needed to make do with this for now. We didn’t have the luxury to playRichie Rich, definitely not when I needed the money if we planned to drag the days with the five thousand dollars that I had.

I should say, though. Castle looked devastatingly handsome even in a hospital gown. It was a loose fit, yet I could see outlines of the hard ridges and the defined abs underneath. He was the type of man who would look good wearing just about anything.

I shook away from the cloud of lust that was trying to blind me as I watched him undress and then put on the clothes in front of me. I changed into a dress. It wasn’t flattering, to say the least, but I wasn’t exactly trying to impress anybody.

I placed a baseball cap on Castle’s head and pulled it low. Looking up into his sexy golden eyes, I told him, “We have to be discreet about this as much as possible. We can’t get caught, okay?”

Suddenly, I wanted that vacation to France to be real. How nice it would have been to sit in some cafe in Paris and stuff my face with éclairs. I didn’t even have a passport until a few days ago, and I was about to die without having a stamp on it. It’s hilarious how far Devin had gone to make this vacation ruse seem believable.

Castle nodded, and I loved that about him. He trusted me completely. I went up on my tiptoes and placed a quick kiss on his lips, giving him a heads-up about what we needed to do.

He listened to me intently and trusted me to make the decisions.

“Why are they calling us Mr....” he pondered for a moment, “Mr. and Mrs. Johnson?” He asked.

“Honestly, I have no idea. When I woke up, that’s what they were calling us, Mike and Shelly Johnson, and I didn’t correct them because I thought it was best we take an alias. If we go by...” I looked outside, making sure no one was under earshot, and lowered my voice, “If we go by Montgomery, we’ll easily get traced and we can’t let that happen.”

The name held power and it would get messy if someone put two and two together.

“Where are we going, Millie?”

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