Valid point. “Then what do we do?” I ask. I really hope her response is not stay and fight.
Brielle smiles sadly. “We wait until they come and I’ll create a diversion that will give us time to get away.”
It dawns on me what that means for her. “And you leave pretty much everything you have behind.”
Brielle snorts. “Do you see anything around here worth keeping?” She’s trying for a brave front but I can see through it. I bet everything in this apartment means something to her.
“I will help you pack up whatever you want to take,” Roman says, rising from the crate he’s sitting on. I’d offer to help, but considering my mobility issues at the moment, I’m more help if I just stay out of their way.
“Eat your pizza. We have time,” Brielle tells him. She picks up her plate and takes a big bite of pizza loaded with pineapple. She closes her eyes as if it’s the best thing she ever tasted but I can see a tear slide down her cheek. Just one though. I’m surprised she let that one slip out.
“How did you know they found us?” I ask.
Her mouth is full so she points her thumb towards her computer then holds a finger up in a ‘just a minute’ gesture. I appreciate her not responding verbally while her mouth is full again. After a big swallow, she says, “Infrared surveillance cameras. The djinn emit less heat than a human does. My cameras are programmed to alert me if they sense anyone near the building with a body temperature less than ninety-eight degrees.”
Roman scowls. “Just because the average human temp is ninety-eight doesn’t mean everyone runs that way. There are many people who naturally run a little cooler. That doesn’t necessarily make them djinn.”
Brielle glowers at him. “Which is why I haven’t put up semiautomatics that would open fire at the first sign of a low body temp.” Roman sits back and does his own glowering. When she’s sure he’s not going to interrupt her anymore, she continues. “If the cameras pick up a low body temp, it activates an increase in the sine wave intensity. The djinn are pretty obvious to recognize once that happens.” Yeah, the blood leaking from their ears and eyes thing would be a dead giveaway.
She takes another bite of pizza and then says with her mouth full, “And I recognized them from the hospital.”
I shake my head and laugh. “Very high tech of you.” Brielle shrugs and smiles around her food. A new thought strikes me. “No offense to your fiscal resourcefulness, but how did you afford all this stuff?” All the electronics and weapons in here would have cost a fortune. Unless she stole them. Great, she could be a wanted felon. Maybe I don’t really want to know after all.
She can tell what I’m thinking. “I bought it.” Her eyes are daring us to say something different.
That is as much information as she’s willing to give at the moment. She pops the last bite of pizza into her mouth and stands up. Wiping her greasy hands on her jeans, she says, “C’mon muscles, let’s get this party started.”
I’m not sure how long I’ve been asleep when I feel Roman’s hand on my arm. He’s sitting next to me on the bed. My first instinct is to recoil, but when I open my eyes to his blue ones, I want to pull him closer and feel for myself how muscular he is. A small furrow in his brow tells me that he’s picked up on my conflicted emotions.
Taking his hand off my arm, he stands and places a small pile of clothes on the bed next to me. “Brielle was nice enough to find some clothes for you. You’re about the same size.”
Thank god. It hasn’t slipped my mind that I’m still wearing a hospital gown, though I’m nervous about how real clothes are going to feel against my injured skin. Guess I’ll find out soon, but how am I going to get dressed? I don’t quite have the range of motion that I used to have before leaving half my skin on a dark road.
Roman raises a brow as he looks down on me. A blush skates across my face. I know what he’s waiting for me to ask. It’s him or Brielle. I suspect Roman will be gentler. “Will you please help me get dressed?”
I have to give him credit. Only the tiniest smirk dances on his lips. I think he’s going to enjoy this way too much. This being helpless crap sucks.
Roman helps me sit up and then reaches behind me to untie the string around my neck. The only one holding my hospital gown in place. The gown begins to slide down over my breasts, but I catch it before I’m exposed. This earns me another eyebrow raise. “Are you planning to wear your shirt over that?” he asks.
Maybe. If that means I don’t have to show him my breasts. Dammit. There’s no getting around this. I let the gown fall to my waist, exposing my breasts for him to see. I feel even more blood rush to my cheeks. It dawns on me that this probably isn’t the first time for him. I’m sure my clothes were cut off the night I was brought to the hospital.
I avoid eye contact, but I can feel Roman’s eyes taking in every inch of my naked skin. He’s also taking an extraordinarily long time to unfold the shirt in his hands and slip it over my head. When he finally does, he helps me get my arms inside and I get goose bumps down them when his fingers graze the sides of my naked breasts. I meet his eyes now and his are like blue fire. I quickly look away.
I guess I’m going commando because Brielle didn’t give me any underwear. That’s okay. I don’t like the idea of sharing underwear with her any more than she does. Roman slips off the little hospital booties I have on and slides the pants up my legs. I have to lift my hips up as he slides them to my waist and I try hard not to focus on the sexuality of our movements. His fingers gently tug the pants in place and he runs his fingers around the waistband until they find the snap and zipper, leaving a trail of goose bumps. Then every iota of sexual tension is stomped into oblivion when he catches several of my pubic hairs in the zipper.
“Son of a bitch, that hurt!” I push his hands away and yank the zipper back down, taking several more hairs with it. My god, this is worse than waxing! If I’m going to be going commando then maybe it’s time for a Brazilian waxing or shaving. I wonder if Brielle would loan me her razor. Probably not.
“Smooth move, Doc,” Brielle says from behind him. “That little flirty thing you had going on kinda bit the dust, huh?”
Roman turns toward her. “I was simply helping her get dressed.”
Brielle smirks. “Looked more like shaving her pubes to me. Here, put this in the jeep.” She hands him a box that looks like it would take up the whole back of the jeep.
“I don’t think anything else will fit. The cargo area is already jam packed,” he says.
“Then put it in the front seat since you get to play doctor with the sickie in the back seat.”
“I’m not sick,” I snap. “I’m injured. There’s a difference.”
Brielle rolls her eyes. “Either way, you’re still an invalid.”
“She’s not fully dressed yet,” Roman says, indicating the socks and shoes he had placed on the bed.
“Go,” Brielle says, shooing him with her hands. “I’ll put her majesty’s shoes on.”
Roman shoots her a doubtful look, but then turns to take the box to the jeep. Brielle kneels down next to me and starts tugging a sock over my foot. “So the doc has it bad for you. Was there some hanky-panky going on in the hospital? Seems like that would be against hospital policy.”
“No, there wasn’t any hanky-panky going on. I’ve been in a coma until today.”
Brielle chuckles. “That you know of then.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“So, what’s your deal with him? He’s like man candy and testosterone all wrapped up in a pretty bow for you and you act like you don’t even like him half the time.”
I give her a dirty look when she looks up at me, waiting for an answer. “I’ve been awake for a matter of hours. Excuse me if I don’t want to crawl into your bed and fuck him quite yet.”
“Quite yet, huh. Sounds like you’re waiting for the right minute to jump him. And I already told you, my bed’s off limits.”
The point’s moot now. She’s leaving her bed, and it looks like three quarters of her stuff behind. I take a breath and put myself in her shoes. She’s risking everything to save me and I’m snapping at her like an ungrateful crone. She probably had to work hard to afford the few nice items she has and because of me, it’ll be gone soon.
I open my mouth to apologize for being bitchy but what comes out is, “Did you make little nooses out of my shoe laces?” I hold a foot up and sure enough, the laces of the black converse she’s loaned me are tied into thick black nooses. “Are you going to put little voodoo figures of me and Roman in them?”
She laughs. “Tempting, but no. My dad showed me how to do that when I was young and I’ve been tying my shoes like that ever since.”
“Your dad sounds a little twisted. What an odd family life you must have had.” Her face falls and I immediately regret my words. “I didn’t mean that. I’m sure he was a great guy.”
Standing up, she says, “No, he was a little twisted. That’s what made him such a cool dad.” Looking over to the door leading to the garage where Roman is leaning against the frame, she says, “You can get her in the jeep.” She grabs her backpack and keys from the computer desk that is now empty and stomps out the door.
My eyes close as my face flushes with heat that is not caused by a fever. I wonder how much of our conversation Roman heard. I’m hoping it wasn’t the part about him and me screwing. And my comment about Brielle’s family. I’m not usually so disrespectful and mean. For some reason, it’s important to me that he knows that.
He strides to the bed and holds his hand out. When I place mine in it, he pulls me up and positions himself on my right side with his arm around me so he can help me walk.
“I think I can make it to the garage by myself,” I tell him.
He shrugs. “Why take the risk of you falling and hurting yourself.” We start walking the short distance to the door. A lot of the piles of stuff have been cleared out so it’s an easier walk than earlier. The stuff Brielle isn’t taking with us is strewn along the walls.
I have to know. “What parts of the conversation Brielle and I were having did you hear?”
“Not much,” he says, helping me down the one step leading into the garage. Brielle is already in the driver’s seat of the jeep.
“How much is not much?”
He opens the door and I slide in, surprised I’m not nearly as sore as I was earlier. When I’m situated, he leans into the car and whispers in my ear, “Brielle’s bed is definitely out of the question, but I can think of a lot of other places that wouldn’t be.”
He stands up and closes my door. I can’t even look at him when he slides in from the other side. That makes him chuckle.
“So what’s the plan?” I ask Brielle, trying to break the sexual tension between me and Roman. If they came up with one, I was asleep while they talked about it.
“Now I blow up the building making it look like we’re all dead,” Brielle says.
That seems a bit extreme. “Really?”
She shakes her head. “No, you moron, I’m not going to blow up the building. You shouldn’t watch so many Bruce Willis movies.”
Okay, this tension isn’t any more fun than the sexual tension is. “Thanks for the tip.” I’ve never even seen a Bruce Willis movie. “Now will you please tell me what we’re going to do?”
I can see in her eyes in the rear view mirror that Brielle wants to make another smart ass comment. But she doesn’t. “I’m going to crank the sine wave signal loud enough to make djinn eyeballs bleed if they’re within a mile of the building and we’re going to get the hell out of here.”
Simplicity at its finest. “What’s going to keep them from coming after us?”
She gives me an incredulous look in the rear view mirror. “Have you ever driven with your eyes bleeding? It’s harder than it sounds.”
My arm is feeling better. I could easily reach around the headrest and strangle her. “What if they contact djinn that aren’t within a mile radius and tell them to come after us.”
“In about five minutes, we’re going to be hard to find,” Roman says.
I finally look at him. “Have you noticed the outside of the jeep? It’s painted in camouflage for god’s sake! Not exactly incognito.”
“Better buckle up back there, we’re heading out,” Brielle says as she’s putting the car in reverse and pressing the button to open the garage door.
Apparently she still doesn’t understand how cutting through traffic without looking can terrify someone who has recently been in a horrific crash. I close my eyes and wait for the side of the car to buckle in towards me when we get t-boned. When I don’t feel an immediate impact, I open one eye a crack. A couple of cars honk at us, but everyone has come to a screeching halt. I’m not sure if it’s all for us, though. I suppose it’s not a common sight to see a couple of bikers on their knees with blood spurting out of their eyes. Huh. I thought she was being facetious about that.
Brielle weaves in and out of the stopped cars and I don’t think the djinn even noticed us. I wouldn’t bet my life on it, though. I hope whatever she and Roman came up with will make us less conspicuous. Maybe she has a spare car stashed somewhere. I know that’s wishful thinking on my part. Considering the quality of the items in her apartment, I seriously doubt she can afford another car.
I expect her to fly through the streets ignoring red lights and stop signs but she’s not. She is obeying every traffic law on the books. It’s making me so tense that I have to keep looking behind us. I’m itching to climb over her seat and take over driving. We’re kind of in a hurry here.
I’m even more frustrated when she pulls into a dead end alley. She pulls to the end and parks the jeep behind a dumpster. Like that’s going to hide us. This doesn’t even work in the movies.
“What the hell are you doing?” I practically scream.
Brielle just grins and gets out of the car. “What is she doing?” I ask Roman. He winks at me and gets out of the car as well.
They’ve both gone mad. Or they’re leaving me behind for the djinn to find. They are not going to get away with that. I fumble with the door handle trying to get out, but the door doesn’t open. Now I’m really starting to panic. I pound on the window.
“Sorry, child lock is on,” Brielle says through the glass. “Just stay in there.”
Child lock? Really? Like I couldn’t slide over the seat and get out Roman’s door. I’m about to bitch her out when she scrapes her nail under my window and peels back the camouflage paint on the jeep. No way. Underneath is glossy black paint. The camouflage is a sticker? I thought things like this only happened in cartoons.
Brielle and Roman continue around the car peeling off the giant stickers. Where do you find stickers like that? When they’re done, Roman balls them up and throws them in a box in the back of the jeep. My mind is still reeling when Brielle reaches into her hair and pulls out some bobby pins. Then she pulls the red hair off her head. Shoulder length brown hair tumbles down. She adds the red wig to the same box Roman put the stickers in.
Brielle is now using an electric screwdriver to change the license plate. Roman opens the other back door and he has a blanket in his hands. “We need to cover up in this,” he says, climbing back into the jeep next to me.
“Are you serious?” I ask. Yes, the Jeep Cherokee is fairly roomy, but Roman’s a pretty big guy. I barely have enough room to lie down myself. Both of us are not going to fit.
Reading my mind, he says, “We’ll make it work.”
“Today? Could you make it work today?” Brielle snaps from the front seat, slamming her door closed. Sure, now she’s in a hurry. I glower at her but she doesn’t care.
After a few minutes of jostling each other around, Roman and I are spooning under the blanket on the seat. I am lying on the edge and he has wrapped his arm around me to keep me from falling to the floor. His mouth is close to my ear and his hot breath is causing some uncomfortable, but not all bad, reactions within me. The raging erection he now has as he pulls me closer isn’t helping. The name Malik jumps into my mind and a wave of guilt washes over me for reacting to Roman’s touch. I strain to pull away from him but he has a firm grip. “You’re going to fall if you keep that up,” he whispers in my ear. I can hear the humor in his voice. He knows I can feel his erection. You’d think he’d be insulted that I don’t want to be this close to him. Nothing wrong with his self-esteem I guess.
“Hang on,” Brielle says. I hate it when she says that. I brace myself for the worst. She puts the jeep in reverse and we back out of the alley. I’m kind of glad I can’t see what she’s doing. The honking of horns confirms that I don’t want to. At least her bad driving is keeping my claustrophobia under control for the moment.
“You’re shaking,” Roman whispers against my ear.
“Because I’m terrified Brielle’s going to kill us instead of saving us,” I whisper back. “I’m sure you’ve noticed she drives a little recklessly sometimes.”
“Bite me,” Brielle says from the front.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“There’s this safe house up state I’ve heard about. Thought we’d check it out.”
“Safe from what?” Can we really find a house that’s as safe as Brielle’s intense anti-djinn apartment?
“The normal stuff – ghosts, lost cats, and oh yeah, genies.” She makes a tight right turn and Roman holds me tighter so I don’t fall off the seat. Maybe I should shut up and let Brielle focus on driving.
We ride in silence for a while. I give up trying to separate my body from Roman’s and lean back into him. As time goes by, I become more and more impressed by the duration of his hard on. I wonder how long he can last when actually having sex.
That thought sends another rush of guilt through me when Malik’s name pops back into my head. Who is he? And why do I feel so attached to him. Did I know him before my near drowning incident? If that’s the case, why didn’t he try to see me after that. Unless my parents didn’t approve of him. They were pretty good about voicing their opinions regarding the boys I dated. Basically, they hated all of them.
Roman shifts and his hand grazes the underside of my breast causing my breath to catch. Waves of heat careen through my blood and my breathing quickens. Misinterpreting the reason, he whispers, “Ssh, we won’t be under the blanket much longer. Just until we’re out of the city.”
His lips linger close to my ear. Before I even realize I’ve done it, I turn my head slightly and tilt it up so I can feel his lips against my skin. He doesn’t misinterpret my reason this time. His lips oblige my desire instantly. His tongue is silk as he uses it to drive me crazy. A low moan escapes me when he nips my earlobe. Fire shoots down my body to my core and I turn my head to kiss him.
“If you’re fucking under that blanket I’m going to pull the jeep over and dump you on the side of the road.”
I’m mortified, but Roman is amused. “None of that going on back here. We’re as chaste as brother and sister.” He nips my earlobe again and I swat him away.
“Uh huh. If I had a bucket of ice water, I’d be using it about now,” Brielle says. “I’m not deaf, you know.”
I wish there was an underside to this seat big enough to crawl into it. Guilt has come rushing back into my mind and I want to be away from Roman so I can think clearly again. I can’t do anything with him until I find out more about Malik. Plus, I don’t even know if I want to do anything with him. I hardly know the guy.
A different kind of warmth spreads through me when I think of Malik. A strong, protective warmth that makes me forget my physical reaction to Roman’s touches. I wish I could envision his face. I know in my heart that he’s beautiful – inside and out. I realize Roman’s arms are not the arms I want to be wrapped in. Malik’s are. That realization is so strong that I push away from Roman hard enough to break free from his arms. Of course, I land on the floor of the jeep, but I feel better as soon as he isn’t touching me.
“That had to hurt,” Brielle chuckles. “I think you’re losing your mojo, Doc. Anytime a woman wants away from you so badly that she throws her injured body on the floor, you have been seriously rejected.”
I can just make out the storm clouds gathering on Roman’s face and the lightening in his eyes. He looks seriously frightening. “Will you please get off the floor?”
I want to less now than I did a minute ago. “I’m good down here.” I’m not. The sudden movement and the impact of my wounds against the back of the seats has caused waves of pain to roll through me, strong enough to make me nauseous.
A bump in the road causes me to wince in pain. “You’re being an idiot. Just come back up here, dammit.”
“Oooohhh, name calling. I can’t wait to see where this leads,” Brielle says. I can’t see the smile on her face, but I can hear it.
Ignoring her, I say to Roman, “You’re being an ass. You can’t order me around.” I know I sound like a petulant child but I’m not going to let him talk to me like that. My dignity has suffered enough today.
Our eyes clash; mine shooting out lightening sparks just like his. Roman’s face softens before mine. “You’re right, I am. I’m worried about you. You and your wounds would feel much better up here.”
I’m not so sure about that. There are many types of danger. Unfortunately, I hurt too much to keep arguing. “Fine.” I struggle back up to the seat and lay down. I make sure that there’s some space between our bodies and he doesn’t try to move me closer. Regardless, I’m still close enough to notice he still has a hard on. I love it when uncomfortable situations become unbearable situations.