Page 58 of Play With Me

Brook

What the hell did I say wrong?

Women were confusing. Or was it just Lola? Sometimes I wondered whether it would be easier to remain single, but as frustrating as Lola had been yesterday, Sophie seemed to have taken to her. I didn’t want Lola to leave upset, but maybe some distance and a good sleep before our trip was a good idea.

I mean, I got what Lola was saying, but the last topic I wanted to revisit in Sophie’s presence was Evie. It was enough that my brothers always teased her, and I was the only one who knew why they shouldn’t. She’d had it rough when we met. It was how we found that connection. Now, it was easier if some things were done the way Evie wanted, and I didn’t see any harm in reducing the amount of sugar in a child’s diet.

Lola slept through most of our drive up to Michigan. We only stopped to pee and eat, and then she’d sleep again. Maybe that was for the better because when we drove by the accident site, I didn’t want to have to explain being lost in thought. The last hour, though, after Lola woke up, her eyes were glued to the terrain map my father had given me last night. He said he’d prepared two, but lost the second one in between all the work papers he was forced to carry in his briefcase. The discussion went into Mother offering an office for him to work from and them trying out the new furniture. I left after that.

“Did you not sleep well last night?” I asked, a few minutes before our stop.

“I slept okay.”

“Why are you sleeping so much now?”

“Oh, I’m like a solar panel.”

“A what?”

“I take the energy when I can get it, and I store it. It won’t be easy to find Xavier, and with wolves around, we’ll need to take turns sleeping at night.”

“I already told you, Lola, we won’t sleep much when we’re together.” Though she was right, I knew I’d take advantage when we were together anytime I could.

“Yeah, okay. Seriously, Brook. You need to save all that testosterone for later because there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to enjoy you the way I’d like to with bears and wild animals watching us. Besides, we have a job to do.”

Right.

She was just kidding, wasn’t she? This was Lola we were talking about. She thrived on adrenaline. What had happened to her? Yesterday she’d beenen pointewith my plans to get into her panties, and today she’d turned into a cold stone? I watched her peek at me from the side, and knew that there was no way she’d be able to keep her legs closed when we were together up in those woods. There was nothing that could stop me from pounding between her legs every night, whether it was in our tent or up against a tree, and I sure as fuck didn’t care which animals watched us.

I’d worked too hard to lose this time to reconnect, and what better way to do it than in the wild? The idea totally screamedLola.

“That’s why we have guns,” I explained. She wasn’t getting out of it that easily. Being a father and a bounty hunter, I could multitask better than Mary Poppins.

“For wolves?” She mocked me with a laugh, as if her bare hands could do a better job. I knew she wasn’t afraid. “You need to save your bullets for when we really need them.”

“You’re talking like we’re going out to strangle the wolves with your hands and then battle an army.”

“If Xavier’s been gone for ten years, then I’m pretty sure he’s not gone because of his free will.”

“You think someone’s got him?”

“It’s just a theory. It’s why we have the maps marked with the moonshiner’s hiding spots.” She winked.

She was reading my mind and reminding me why it was so easy to work with her. We spent the next half-hour in silence; Lola was lost in thought and so was I. The closer we came to our destination, the more quickly my memories consumed me. I didn’t take the same road we’d taken to the cabin that day. I couldn’t. But I knew that we were close. It had been almost eight years since that fateful day. Marissa had been gone for eight years.

Thirty minutes later, just as the sun set below the forest’s horizon, I pulled up to a motel parking lot. The fluorescent sign above flashed on and off. Beige paint was peeling in spots, and the windows looked like they hadn’t been cleaned from the inside since the motel opened decades ago. Still, this was the last motel on the road. We’d spend the night here and then take our backpacks as soon as the sun rose and head out in the morning. Hopefully by then, my sack would be much emptier than it was now.

“This looks like hell,” I said.

Lola nudged me with her elbow as I turned off the ignition. “What happened to your sense of adventure, Mr. Madman?”

What the hell happened to her pity party and somber mood? I swear, the more time I spent with Lola, the more I was convinced that women just didn’t make sense. It was that mystery that drew me in, though, and no one got more mysterious than Lola. Heck, maybe there was hope for me yet.

“I thought you knew that you were my adventure.”

“All right, let’s not waste time on your cute one-liners.” She grabbed the door handle and pulled it open before I had a chance to blink, let alone open her door, the way I’d planned in my head.

I removed my own backpack from behind the seat, along with the grocery bag full of food, and went around the truck to where Lola was leaning against the hood, popping her gum. She was wearing a hoodie, opened to reveal a tank top that perfectly fit around her breasts. She had similar cargo pants to the ones she’d worn in Arizona, except with a camouflage pattern appropriate for the season. Her bag was swung over her shoulder, and the smug look of satisfaction on her face made me hard. God, she looked gorgeous.

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