See How She Runs (The Chronicles of Izzy #1)(9)

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I awakened slowly to the feeling that I was not standing still anymore. Realization slowly started to sink in. I looked around me and noticed that I was in the back of an old SUV of some sort. My mouth felt like it has been stuffed with cotton and my hands and feet were tied down to something. I started to panic, and as soon as the scream bellowed up in my throat, I saw a hand reach out from the front seat with the towel of doom. This time, there was no apology.





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I came to again, and before the towel could descend upon me with its nocturnal powers, I screamed. I saw Kennan jerk with surprise from the driver’s seat. He glanced over his shoulder at me. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Instead, I started in on calling his mother some rather unsavory and unladylike names. Then I told him where he could go, and what kind of monster I really thought he was. I think I also suggested he perform some anatomically impossible tasks.

He listened with that eerie calm he got sometimes. He waited until I had gotten it all out of my system before saying anything.

“Are you finished? If so, I will pull over at the next truck stop and untie you so that you can use the restroom. Before you get any ideas, I am going in there with you. There is no escaping me now. Trust me when I say this, I will find you Izzy and I will drag you back. Always. However, if you behave and act normally, I won’t tie you up when we get back in the car.”

So these were my choices. Be an amiable hostage to my suddenly psychopathic roommate or have him hunt me down like a dog when I slipped the leash. Neither one seemed like a great choice. I could fight, but I knew I would lose to him. I could run, but I was pretty sure he would still catch me. Plus, my arms were really starting to hurt from being tied in this position. If he was going to murder me, he would have already done it by now.

“Fine, but you are so not coming in the stall with me,” I said as he started to exit whatever road we had been traveling down.

I thought I saw a glimmer of old humor in his eyes, but I was too mad to really give a damn. As we pulled into the truck stop, I noticed that the area looked nothing like home. The sun looked like it is about to set, which did not make much sense. I refused to ask him any questions though, and in all honesty, my bladder was about to burst.

He parked us in a remote part of the lot, and climbed over the front seats to the back where I was tied down. As he reached for the ropes with a knife, I automatically flinched. His face fell a little, but he quickly put on a blank expression, and cut me free while mumbling something about not hurting me. He opened the door and helped me out of the vehicle. He reached down to ensnare my hand with an iron grip, thwarting any brilliant escape plans I might have been hatching. He headed directly back towards the bathrooms and walked in with me like it is no big deal. No one seemed to notice either.

“I was serious about you not coming into the stall with me. There aren’t any windows for me to scurry out of. So you can release my hand."

Reluctantly, he let me go. I took my time going until he piped up about coming in after me. It was not like I was used to having to go with an audience. I came out, and hurried to wash my hands before he grabbed them again. As soon as I was done, he pulled me into the handicapped stall with him.

“What are you doing?” I demanded as he locked the door behind me.

“Well, I have to go. And since I don’t want you running off, I want you right where I can see you,” he said in that same accent. I was beginning to think the Kennan I knew was some kind of imaginary person.

“NO WAY am I staying in here while you use the bathroom! NO WAY! I will go willingly with you back to the car, I will play nice. But I refuse to watch you pee!”

“Then turn around. No one said you had to watch me. But if you want to peak Lass, go right ahead,” he said as he unzipped his pants and I quickly turned away.

Did he seriously just call me "Lass?" I was still trying to get my mind to catch back up to everything that had happened in the last however many days it had been that I didn’t really know how to react to anything. As strange as it seemed, I didn’t feel like I was in danger with Kennan. I didn’t know if I had developed Stockholm syndrome from living with him for so long, or if my instincts were broken. Either way, I was just going to go with it and see where it led me. He flushed the toilet and reached past me to unlock the stall.

“It’s all put away, Iz. No need to fear now,” he snickered as he headed to the sinks to wash his hands. I followed like a deranged lap dog. Where else was I going to go, seriously?

“Hey, are you hungry?” he asked as we headed out into the truck stop. Still, no one noticed us walking out of the women’s bathroom together.

“Kind of,” I replied, deciding to be sullen and keep all of my answers as short as possible.

That just caused him to drag me throughout the store, loading up my arms like we were two besties on a road trip. We headed to the check out counter, and the cashier finally noticed us.

“Oh, I did not notice you guys come in at all,” she said as if she had just snapped out of a daze. She rang us up and told us to have a nice night then we headed back out to the vehicle.

We were riding in an old Jeep Cherokee, I realized. Not for the first time I was trying to figure out where in the world Kennan came by a vehicle. I climbed in and decided to keep my trap shut for a while. Suddenly, I started to feel queasy and my head began to throb, as if someone was reaching in and pulling the thoughts from my head.