Page 80 of Wanted
“Well then fucking tell me, Knox. I’m not a mind reader,” Liv pushed out through gritted teeth, but his gaze settled on the cop watching them through the window. “We’ll get arrested.”
“I need you to…” Knox mumbled, but turned back to glance at the policewoman. Another cop was already leaving the diner and headed their way with a stern expression.
“Shit,” Liv mumbled and blindly unlocked their vehicle. “Get in the car,” he said, trying not to look toward the cop. Civilians might not recognize their faces all the way here, but what if they got ID'd? It was a risk they could not afford.
“Hey! You two!” the cop yelled out, but at least Knox wasn’t fighting Liv over this.
He circled the car in express mode and by the time Liv was behind the wheel, Knox’s seatbelt clicked. In the corner of his eye, Liv saw the two figures move, with the policewoman dashing out of the diner, but by the time her partner reached their parking space, Liv had already backed out into the street and dashed away with a squeak of wheels.
“Lower your head,” he growled, stomping onto the gas pedal. Because fuck knew what would happen.
When the cops had come to arrest Knox’s dad, they ended up having to shoot him in the leg to keep him from running off, and Liv was not risking Knox, who could not do anything to aid their escape in the passenger seat anyway.
This car wasn’t made for racing, and it sped up with a wheeze, but it needed to do, and Liv squeezed the steering wheel harder as they dashed along the small-town street.
Knox yelped when Liv knocked a few flower pots off someone’s fence during a sudden turn. “I obscured the plates with mud,” he said, bracing himself against the dashboard.
As fucking terrible as their situation was, at least behind the wheel Liv felt confident. Knew what he was doing. In comparison, the confusing argument with Knox had been like trying to find his way in a desert. In a boat and without paddles. This race only had one goal. To lose the cops. And he hadn’t succeeded yet, because he heard the siren and saw the blue-red light in the rearview mirror.
The thought of Knox in prison made Liv go faster through the sleepy street. He’d wreck this car but get them out of reach. Hell,he’d wreck anyone and anything to get Knox to safety. And if all failed then, well, he would take all the blame, because Knox didn’t deserve to face the dangers waiting behind bars.
The siren got louder, the blue lights more blinding, but Liv focused on the road, relaxing into the strange meditative state that always overcame him when he raced.
His breath slowed and the road became a line he needed to follow, regardless of what color light showed at the big intersection ahead. He blew his horn as its shade told him to stop, making the two vehicles about to cross his path stall just in time. Liv passed, dashing into the darkness ahead, but so did the cop car, roaring as it chased them. As if two little fish like Liv and Knox were worth that risk.
At this point, the cops were probably pissed off and it was more about their pride than what Liv and Knox had done.
“Watch out!” Knox yelled and pointed to a cyclist with no lights on him, dressed in all black. Because, of course he was.
Liv twisted the steering wheel at the last moment, swiveling into a bunch of trash cans. One rolled over the hood, the roof, and then fell right in front of the cops, who managed to come uncomfortably close.
It slowed them down for at least a moment, but Liv and Knox weren’t out of the woods yet.
And speaking of the woods, Liv had no idea how to lose their tail, because he literally only knew the easiest way to get from the junkyard into town. But as he left the town limits behind and sped downhill, with the cops still on their tail, his gaze caught a moving light ahead. It took a split second for him to realize that a railway track cut across the road on the way to town. And while sluggish when compared to the car, it was closer to the intersection. As Liv sped toward the approximate meeting point, cold sweat dampened his back.
“Oh fuck. Oh fuck,” Knox whispered, but Liv wouldn’t dare look at him, and Knox wasn’t trying to give Liv advice on what to do.
Just like always when Knox sat in the passenger seat during a race, he trusted Liv with his life. Whether that was a smart move, only time would tell, but it allowed Liv to focus on the road ahead, the upcoming train and the desperate wheeze of the engine.
Liv’s brain fried calculating their distance from the train, but he had to trust his instincts, and those saidgo!If he changed his mind in the last seconds, he could try making a turn into a ditch, but that would come with its own risks.
Time slowed as the car accelerated. The train’s horn drowned their screams, the vehicle shook as its wheels rolled over the track as if fueled by Liv’s adrenaline.
They emerged on the other side a split second before the train would have hit them.
Knox yelled, slamming his palms on the dashboard as Liv laughed out loud, slowing down ever so slightly. Because they were safe, and he looked Knox’s way, raising his hand to grab him and pull him in for a kiss, but... but then the events from just minutes before crawled back into his mind, and their survival no longer felt as triumphant.
He took a deep breath fighting the tightness blocking his throat.
With the cops off their back, he could ease down the breakneck speed, but it felt like crashing into a reality he wasn’t ready for.
Knox was holding on to his chest, panting, and scrambling to grab one of his pills. “Fuck, that was close,” he mumbled, but while Liv itched to help him, his touch no longer felt wanted.
Everything sunk under an invisible weight that rested on Liv’s chest and shoulders like a boulder he couldn’t get rid of. Nowthat he knew what it was like to touch Knox, how was he supposed to live without it?
“I’m sorry.”
“Nah, I got them on our asses,” Knox mumbled, swallowing one of his pills, but wouldn’t look at Liv. He wasn’t fighting him, back in avoidance mode. He knew what the apology was really for but wouldn’t acknowledge it. As if Liv’s transgression wasn’t worth his time.
