“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I could have sworn that I covered my tracks.”
“You said you’ve been on the run for four years. That’s a long time. Did you ever think about finding someone that could help you?”
“Let’s just say that he has a long reach and it’s not likely anyone would be willing to help me.”
I rolled my eyes. This woman was so evasive. I doubted I would ever truly know who we were running from. I just needed a solid plan. By the morning, everyone would be wondering where I was. My brothers would be searching for me, and when they told my parents I was missing, my ma would be in a panic. I just had to stay calm and figure this out one step at a time. As soon as we were far enough away from home, we could take a breather and I could figure out some sort of plan.
Hannah
If he was here for me, he was doing a great job of acting. However, he did bring his phone along with him. Anyone knows that when you run, you don’t have anything on you that can be tracked. He could have done that on purpose, in the hopes that those men would find me. And then the men showed up when he went off to ‘take a piss’. That could have been him leaving so he didn’t get caught in the crossfire. And stupidly, I had gone off to warn him that we had company, because I was concerned that he would get himself killed. Because as much as I didn’t trust him, I also couldn’t have another person’s death on my conscience. Until I knew for sure which side he was on, I had to play this smart. He couldn’t know who I really was, and I couldn’t afford to let my guard down around him. If he did lure me into a trap, I had to be prepared for it. Better to have him close and be in control than to cut him loose and have him follow me and set a trap.
“We should pull over at this motel,” I nodded up ahead. “We can find a pharmacy and change our appearances.”
“You seem to know a lot about this,” he said, pulling into the lot.
“Well, like I said, I’ve been on the run for a long time. Wait here,” I said as he parked. “I’ll get us a room.”
“Do you need cash?”
“No, I’ve got this.”
I shut the door to the car and pulled my hood up over my head. Most of the time, motels didn’t have cameras, but it was better to be safe than sorry. I quickly got us a room and motioned for him to pull down to the end of the lot. I always got an end room if possible. When I opened the door, I immediately checked my exits, which weren’t looking too great at the moment. I knew that I could make it out the bathroom window if I needed to, but Josh was bigger than me.
I walked back out into the room to see Josh standing there, looking really uncomfortable. It didn’t matter what he was thinking though. We needed to get to work. “Alright, give me the keys and I’ll go grab us some supplies.”
“So, you can ditch me?” he asked. “I don’t think so. I’ll go grab the supplies.”
“You don’t know what we need.”
“You know, I think if you wrote down what you needed, I would be able to manage.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t trust you to not get caught.”
“Well, if I do, you won’t have to drag me around with you anymore.” He sighed. “Look, why don’t we both go?”
“Because they’re looking for two people. If only one of us goes, it’ll be less conspicuous.”
“Sorry, but there is no way I’m staying in the motel by myself while you leave. I’ve seen the movie Vacancy.”
“I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a motel. It’s probably safest here right now. We’re registered under fake names and no one knows about the car yet.”
“Fine, then you won’t have any problem staying here,” he said with a smirk.
Deciding that this really wasn’t worth arguing about, I wrote down a quick list of what I needed and handed it over to him. “Remember to avoid the cameras.”
“I know.”
“And don’t make any calls. Even from pay phones, they can track us.”
“Does anybody even use pay phones anymore?” he asked drolly.
“I swear to God, if you fuck this up, I’ll leave you behind.”
“Relax,” he snapped. “I can handle this.”
He walked out the door, leaving me behind. I had a really bad feeling about this. I always relied on myself, but now I was putting my trust in someone else. And not just anybody else, a person that didn’t know jack shit about hiding. He was a good ‘ol boy, and I was the complete opposite of him.
I paced around the motel room for the better part of an hour. The longer he was gone, the more nervous I got. I kept one eye out the window, sure that those guys were going to show up at any moment. What the hell was taking him so long? This was a simple pick up, and he was taking too damn long. I was just about to grab my bag and walk out the door when I saw his headlights pull up.
I flung the door open and marched out to the truck, ready to slap the shit out of him. “What the hell took you so long?”
He held up a bag of take out, quirking an eyebrow at me. “Neither of us has eaten. I figured you might be hungry.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and tried my best not to be pissed off. It was actually very thoughtful of him. “Oh, that’s…” He waved his hand at me, motioning for me to continue. I rolled my eyes at him. “That was very thoughtful of you.”
“You’re welcome,” he grinned. “That’s usually what someone says after the first person, that would be you, says thank you. I figured that it was implied.”
“Whatever,” I said, snatching the bag out of his hands and marching inside. I heard the door shut behind me as I dug into the bag and started pulling out Chinese food.
“I got you men’s hair dye. I figured it would look odd if I was buying women’s hair dye.”
“Perfect,” I grumbled, grabbing the box from the bed.
“So, what exactly do I need to do to change how I look?”
“Well, we’re going to have to cut your hair. You can’t walk around with chin length hair. It’s too obvious. And we’ll get you a hat you can wear to help hide your eyes.”
“I can do that.”
“And you’ll need to start working out.”
“Excuse me?”
I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him. “Well, the most obvious way to change how you look is to bulk you up. If you start weight-lifting, you can bulk up and it’ll be harder to spot you. It won’t happen over night, but eventually, it’ll change your appearance enough to hide you.”
“Huh. So, does that mean you’re going to eat a bunch of shit and put on fifty pounds?”
I glared at him. “Now, how would that be helpful?”
He held up his hands and smirked. “Hey, I thought we were exchanging ideas.”
“I’m going to cut my hair and I’ll dye it.”
“How short?”
“Chin length. I haven’t worn it that short for a long time.”
“So, I have to cut off all my hair and start weight-lifting, and all you have to do is cut your hair?”