Page 32 of A Love So Wrong
Putting her phone down on the dashboard in front of her, she stood up from her seat and leaned towards Gideon’s chair to get a look out his window's rear-view mirror. The image displayed back to her in the mirror, froze her to her core.
Standing with his hands part ways up, in a sign of surrender, Gideon stared angrily down at a shorter man holding a knife.
Silently, Jade backed away from the window, making sure not to rock the truck even an inch. Standing straight, she breathed in and out of her nose, feeling the air burn as her lungs filled and emptied. She made a step to reach for her phone and paused. They were in the middle of nowhere. How long would it be for the police to get there? Would the man panic if he heard sirens? What exit were they even at? Glancing out the window, she bit her lip in growing panic, the sign to the gas station wasn't facing in her direction. With every second that went by, her stomach felt bottomless, and her nerves began to fray. Looking at Gideon's bed, she stopped and stared at it for a long second.
That last day at their house back in Stardust Cove, she and Gideon had been in an out the front door all morning, passing each other as one carried things to the truck while the other walked back to the house to get something else. Jade had been walking back in the house when she spotted Gideon carrying one of his shotguns towards the truck. Having boxed up and sent the rest of his and Dad's guns to Gavin's house along with the rest of her things she couldn't take with her, she was surprised to see the weapon in his hand. Wordlessly, she gave him a questioning look.
With a smirk, he had replied. "You can take the man out of Texas, sweetheart, but you'll never get Texas out of the man."
Lifting up Gideon's mattress, she grabbed the heavy pump shotgun sitting between the frame and three shells out of the tiny cardboard box of ammo sitting next to it.
With a calmness she could only thank God for, Jade quietly slipped out of her side of the truck. Barely feeling the cold whip through her thin pajama pants, Jade didn’t risk closing the door. Silently, her sneakers trodded across the gravel as she rounded the truck. Popping all three shells into the chamber, she moved to the edge of the truck's grill.
"Give me your wallet," she heard the man's voice rasp. Peering around the edge of the truck, she could see the glint of the long silver blade pointed at Gideon's chest.
Crouching, Jade felt her fear begin to mutate in anger as she watched Gideon's bright eyes burn with fury. She knew, just as she knew the sun was bright and the sky was blue, that Gideon was going to make a grab for the man. She forced herself to move.
Quickly and quietly, she stepped forward, coming to her full height just as Gideon's eyes widened.
Jade leveled the heavy shotgun at the back of the man's head and racked it in warning before she spoke. "I'm only going to ask once, Mister, please step away," she expected her voice to waiver with the adrenaline that ran through her—it didn’t. Calm and filled with promise, her voice was as steady as her finger hovering near the trigger.
She would shoot him, she realized. If he even tried to move that knife towards Gideon, she would lower her aim to the man's back and shoot him.
Jerkily the man's head inched to his right, and Jade knew he was looking at their reflection in the gas pump's screen. Gideon dropped his hands and stepped back, his face a mask of fury while the man quickly lifted both hands. The knife fell from his hand and hit the ground with a clatter.
"Get the fuck out of here," Gideon whispered. Without the need to be told twice, the man, whose face she never saw, darted off across the road and disappeared into the night.
Lowering the gun to her side, Jade let out a strangled little sound, something like relief and something like pure exhaustion. Carefully, Gideon reached for the shotgun as Jade sagged against the side of the truck. She jumped at the sound of the gas pump stopping suddenly, signaling the tank was full, and jumped once more as Gideon popped out the unused shells. Without saying a word, Gideon snatched the gas pump from the truck and closed the gas cap before grabbing ahold of her elbow and directing her back into the truck on his side.
He didn’t speak for nearly two hours. With furtive glances, she snuck peeks at him as he drove through the night towards Rockford. There was no need asking if he was angry, it was evident by his granite face and stone stiff posture. Keeping her mouth shut, Jade resigned herself to staring out into the night, trying to let the last of the tremulous fear work itself out of her system.
Pulling up to a brightly lit truck stop, Gideon parked the truck and got up from his seat, and began pulling clothes into his backpack.
Ok, so she guessed they were showering here and parking for the night. Getting up, she followed suit. Pulling her own clean clothes into her toiletry bag, the silence was killing her. Dropping her things on her bunk, Jade whirled in place to face Gideon, who was standing at the tiny closet.
"Gideon, please, let's just talk about-"
Taking only two steps to close the miniscule distance between them, Gideon backed her into their bunks. The edge of hers pressed into her shoulder blades while his bunk pressed into the back of her calves. Gripping the bunk's frame on either side, Gideon caged her in neatly. A dark, savage flame of fury burned in his eyes, and the lines of his face hardened into a mask of barely restrained control.
Jade jumped as he leaned forward, and her heart stopped when she felt the press of his lips not on her forehead as he had always done but against her cheek only centimeters from her lips.
Pulling back, Gideon angled his head to one side and looked at her. His amber eyes traced every inch of her face until they paused on her lips. Jade had to use every cell in her body to keep from licking her lips. The pressure of his gaze made them tingle in awareness, and her breath simply stopped.
Gideon's lips began to move, and Jade forced herself to pull her complete focus from them and the memory of how they felt against her and actually listen to his words.
"I can't right now, Jade. Give me some time. Let's shower and eat first. Then and maybe then I'll be able to stop thinking about that moment you put your fucking life in danger," the snarl to his words was so whisper-soft, it took Jade nearly a minute to realize just how deep his seething anger went.
Jerking back, she began to argue that what she did was for his safety, he was the one in danger, not her. But the words never came. Leaning down again, Gideon's eyes glittered with anger, but his lips pressed softly against hers, and her whole world stopped. Brief and chaste, the tiny kiss should not have incapacitated her like that, but it did. Dear God, it did. Like a bumbling fool, Jade nodded mutely as he calmly told her to finish getting ready, and like a shell-shocked doll being led by the hand, Gideon led her into the truck stop.
Dinner that night was quiet between them. Making pulled pork barbecue sandwiches, they sat in their seats, both turned inwards as they ate and watched TV. It was only when she was ready to climb into her bunk fully prepared to stare into the darkness and dissect every detail of that kiss did Gideon break his silence.
"No," the deeply spoken word stilled her foot braced at the built-in step's ledge.
Turning, she gave him a questioning look.
With the privacy curtains drawn tight around the truck's front windows, Gideon stepped closer in the muted overhead light and pointed to his bunk.
The silent command nearly stole the strength in her legs. Looking to his neatly made bunk, Jade shook her head. No, she couldn't sleep with him tonight, not after that kiss. She felt like she was going to explode. She needed the privacy of her own bunk to obsess over every detail of it, to delve deeper into her own reaction to it, and more importantly, examine why she wanted so much more.
