Page 101 of Jessica, Not Her Real Name
“Christ on a bike,”Ryan muttered as he climbed out of the van. “If it’s not one damn thing, it’s another.”
Several huge pine branches lay across the road, blocking their path. The grass shoulders and medians had turned to swamps, making it impossible to drive around it without sinking two feet deep.
He could feel the heat radiating up from the ground like warmth from a body. He went to the nearest branch and wrapped his hands around the thickest part. It was so heavy he could drag it only a few yards before having to stop.
Suddenly, it grew lighter, and he saw Jessica had grabbed hold of the thinner section and was hauling it up.
“I got it,” he said. “I don’t want you to do yourself an injury.”
“I’m stronger than I look,” she said. “Core muscles.”
He didn’t want to think about her core muscles right now, so he focused on lifting the branch. Together, they got it out of the path. He returned to do the same with the second one, only to find that she was no longer helping him. She was just standing in the road. Staring at that last branch like was the only thing between her and a fate worse than death.
He straightened. “What is it?”
She shook her head and swallowed hard. “I don’t want to go to Baton Rouge.”
He put both hands on his hips. “What?”
She looked at him and her face was stricken. “I don’t want to go to the safe house. I don’t want to keep running anymore.” She looked back the way they had come, then crossed her arms across her chest. “I’m tired of being a burden. Of being someone’s job.Yourjob. To get me from A to B, until I become someone else’s problem.”
“You’re not anyone’s burden,” he said, even though he’d been thinking something very similar only two days ago.
“I’m tired of it,” she said again. “I just want it all to be over.”
He shook his head. “Jessica, there’s a reason witness protection is for life. You crossed some very dangerous people back in Chicago. And these guys, they don’t quit. They’ll happily spend the rest of their lives hunting you down. It’s like a blood sport to them.”
She took a step towards him. “You could keep me safe.”
‘What?’ he said again, but this time it was a whisper.
She scraped her hair back with both hands and gave a shaky laugh. “I know, it’s crazy. I can’t even believe I’m saying this. I’ve only known you for like,” she glanced down at her watch, “forty-three hours or something.”
The action of her looking at her watch triggered a memory, but he ignored the feeling. He was too busy trying to process what she was suggesting. What hethoughtshe was suggesting.
“But,” she went on, shaking her head, “even though it’s only been that long, I already feel like I know you. Better than anyone else in my life.” She gave him an almost apologetic smile. “Which, admittedly, is a pretty sad reflection of my life.”
He tore his eyes away from hers. “You don’t really know me.” He didn’t want to say those words. He didn’t want to make her think he was pushing her away, but it was the truth.
Her smile faded. “But what I do know about you,” she said with a soft sincerity, “I really like.”
His heart felt like it had stopped beating.
“You’re a good guy, Ryan,” she said. “And I know that because my life has been a parade of really shitty ones. But you’re decent. And you’re kind. And smart. And for some reason, I find all your over-thinking weirdly soothing. Then there’s the way you look at me, like…” She swallowed, and he was amazed to see her cheeks had gone pink.
Like I’d charge hell with a glass of ice water for you?he finished for her in his mind.Because I would. With bare feet.
“Like you might have feelings for me,” she mumbled.
He wanted to tell her he did have feelings for her. A whole damn lot of them. And that while she was wrong about the good man thing, he wanted nothing more than to be one for her.
But when he opened his mouth, he didn’t end up saying anything like that. Because the thing that had been trying to get his attention, the thing waving at him from the back of his mind, finally broke through into his consciousness.
So, the words that came out were, “Jessica, your watch.”
She blinked at him in surprise. Probably wondering why, when she was standing there baring her soul, he was more interested in what she was wearing on her wrist.
He strode forward and lifted her arm, looking at the watch. She’d had it on this whole time, but he’d never paid it any attention. Maybe because he’d been too busy paying all his attention to various other parts of her.
