Burning Bright (Peter Ash #2)(79)

He was too memorable now. He grabbed his clothes and his phone and climbed back into his seat.

“We need to get out of here.”

June’s face was pale. She had a container of noodles open on her lap, but she wasn’t eating. She stared out the windshield, clutching her plastic fork like a weapon. She’d held herself together long enough to get them to this moment, but no farther. Now she was shaky and jagged around the edges, riding the downhill slope of her own adrenaline crash.

He put his hand on her arm. “Are you okay?”

She looked at him. “No, fuck no.”

“You will be,” he said. “Have a few bites, get your blood sugar back up.”

“They would have killed us,” she said, her voice thick. “Or worse, I don’t know. But you saved us. You saved me.”

He put his arm around her and leaned into her. It was awkward in the bucket seats, but he held her close while she pulled in one deep, shuddering breath after another.

Suddenly he wanted her badly. Wanted her more than anything, to feel her hot bare skin pressed against his. In the back of the van if they had to, he didn’t care. But the thinking part of him knew it was a bad idea.

“Come on,” he said. “Have a few bites.”

“Jesus.” She looked at the container of Thai food in her lap as if she’d never seen it before. “I’ve never been so fucking hungry in my life.”

? ? ?

TEN MINUTES LATER, she set the shattered remnants of her pad thai on the center console. “What now?”

“I think we should stay away from your place,” said Peter. “And we need to get rid of this car. There are gate parts stuck in the grille.”

“But I like this car,” she said. Then began to get angry. “And I like my fucking place, goddamn it.”

Peter shrugged. “Don’t get too attached,” he said. “It’s only stuff.”

“I am attached,” she said, aggravation clear in her tone. “People get attached. To cars, to homes, to things. We can’t all be mysterious Buddhist fucking nomads, you know. We get attached to people.”

Oh, thought Peter. We’re doing this now.

“You want to get mad, that’s okay. You have a lot to be mad about.” He turned sideways in his seat to face her and reached for her hand. “But you don’t need to be mad at me. Because I’m definitely attached to you. In fact, you’re going to have a hard time getting rid of me. I’m like bedbugs.”

That made her smile, a little.

“I thought you were like a Boy Scout with muscles.”

He smiled back. “I’m a complicated man. No one understands me but my woman.”

She eyeballed him. “Is that a line from Shaft?”

He put an innocent look on his face. “What, the movie? Or the song?”

She smacked him hard in the arm, and turned to face the windshield again. Then looked sideways at him again. “How are you okay again after what happened back there?”

“I’m not,” said Peter. “I’m just more used to dealing with it.”

“But I saw your face when you climbed into the car, right after. You looked, I don’t know. Not happy, that’s not the right word. But full of some kind of ecstasy.”

“That sounds about right,” he said. “It’s horrible and thrilling at the same time. I killed some guys who were trying to kill us. I’m alive, and so are you, and here we are eating Thai food. It’s a fucking miracle. Later, I’m planning to slowly remove your clothes and kiss every inch of your naked body.”

She blushed slightly, but didn’t take the easy out. He was impressed. She wanted to understand, not be distracted from the topic at hand.

“But they’re dead,” she said. “How can you think about anything else? How can I?”

“I had a lot of practice overseas,” said Peter. “You and I, we didn’t start this. We didn’t go after them. They came after us, for their own reasons. There is no moral failure here. Our survival and their deaths aren’t on you, or me. It’s on them. On whoever sent them. And the reward for our victory, for being alive, right now, is Thai food and conversation and if I’m lucky, your naked body on top of mine. Because it’s not over. It’s going to take everything we have to survive the next few days.”

Her eyes were luminous. “How is it that you’re not like them?”

“I am like them,” he said softly. “But I’m trying to make up for it.”

His phone surprised him by ringing.

Only two people had the number, and one was sitting next to him. He pulled it out of his pocket. “Hey, Lewis.”

“You okay, Jarhead?” Had Lewis heard something in Peter’s voice?

“Had a little dust-up a few minutes ago,” said Peter. “I’m fine.”

Lewis snorted. “Up in the North End? Little dust-up my ass. I’m looking at the footage on Channel 5 right now. Somebody got lit up but good.”

“Wait. You’re in town?”

“Flew into Sacramento last night. Picked up your truck, left it in storage outside of Portland, and found something with a little more style. Just checked into the Four Seasons, but I’m bored, brother. I need something to do. Any ideas?”