Page 53 of The Wolf and the Monarch

That was the biggest difference between what Milo and his thugs did versus what his family did. They were a legitimate business. They were trusted by the military to do these things. They had their backs and would do what they could to keep them protected, he was sure of it. “I guess so,” he mumbled. “It still just…felt easy.”

Sawyer reached his hand out and rubbed it along Benji’s upper arm. “Maybe we deserve easy.”

He turned his gaze towards the man beside him and nodded. “Yeah, maybe we do.”

Pulling up to a gas pump, Benji turned the car off and released a breath. They had made it. No one had stopped them. No one had noticed them. The rest was really up to him to get them to where they needed to go so they could actually fucking relax. Sawyer was gazing out the window towards the rest stop. Sawyer said it himself that he didn’t leave the bunker much. He could only imagine how he was feeling. “You good?”

Sawyer nodded. “Yeah, I’m good,” he answered quickly and looked at Benji, “So we need a phone, right?”

“Yeah. One of those cheap burner ones where you can buy minutes. Grab one of those and maybe…100 minutes? To be safe? And if there’s a map, maybe snag that too.” Benji knew they were still in New Jersey, on the way to somewhere called East Brunswick, but having a map would help tremendously. His contact had safehouses everywhere. He was sure they’d have one in their area.

“Yep, okay. I can do that. I’ll get us some water too and something to eat.” Sawyer pulled out some cash.

“Make sure you have enough for the gas too. Probably forty bucks should be good.”

“Right, okay.”

“Just say you want forty on five, they’ll take care of the rest.”

“Forty on five,” Sawyer repeated and smiled, “Got it. Never done that before.”

Benji chuckled. “It’s so exciting, isn’t it?”

“Kinda is,” he smiled and shrugged. “I’ll be back soon.” Sawyer hopped out of the car and walked towards the building.

Benji kept his eyes on Sawyer the entire time until he disappeared inside. A wave of anxiety suddenly hit him and he had no idea why. Maybe it was because he felt like a sitting duck in the car. Or because they had a dead body in the backseat and someone might see it. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because Sawyer had left him. The guy had been by his side for days now and the only time he wasn’t was when he was getting his ass beat. He released a heavy breath. He’s fine. He told himself. He’s just getting us some supplies. Nothing bad can possibly go wrong when he’s doing that. It’s not like Milo is here.

But once that thought crossed his mind, he immediately looked around at the other gas pumps, looking for the bastard. There was no way he was there. Even if Milo left shortly after they did, they still had a headstart. And if they wanted to catch up, he would have to be speeding, which would attract unwanted attention to him and Milo didn’t seem like the type of person who would want that. Still, Benji looked anyway, simply for peace of mind. And, just like he figured, there was no sign of him, Tank or that creepy guy Clay. He relaxed in his seat and looked back at the rest stop, just waiting for Sawyer to emerge.

Time seemed to drag by as he waited for the man but after a few minutes, he was walking out the doors with a couple bags. Benji released a breath he didn’t even realize that he had been holding and smiled when Sawyer opened the door and hopped back in. “All good?”

“Yep,” Sawyer nodded. “Gas is loaded too.”

Benji looked towards the gas pump. It sure was and the gas attendant came over. Of course, they were in the state where he couldn't pump his own gas. He watched the attendant with eyes like a hawk, making sure they never looked into the back of the vehicle. Luckily, he didn't and a few minutes later, they were back on the road. “What’d you get?”

“Well, I got us some hotdogs, water, chips. The phone, of course, with the hundred minutes. A map.” Sawyer perused inside the bag some more and Benji thought that there was more in there that he caught from the corner of his eye, but he didn’t mention it so perhaps there wasn’t. “I got ketchup and mustard. Hope that’s good for the hotdog.”

“Perfect.” He smiled then a turned to look at Sawyer. “Can you set up the phone?”

Sawyer nodded. “I was going to. Just getting your hotdog prepped.” Benji couldn’t help but snort and laugh softly at that comment. He could see the others cheeks flush a bit pink and he shook his head, “Listen, it was the only warm food they had.”

“Not saying anything.”

“You laughed.”

“I saw something on the side of the road.”

“Yeah, uh huh. I’m sure you did.” Sawyer passed Benji the hotdog, which he happily took, and then opened up his bottle of water so he could have easy access to it.

That rest stop hotdog was probably the best hotdog he had ever had in his life. It took everything in his body to not groan like a crazy person as he shoveled it into his mouth. It just tasted so fucking good. It was the first real food he had in days. He didn’t realize how hungry he was until he snarfed it down in just a few bites.

Setting up the phone didn’t take too long, luckily. Once it was done, Sawyer passed it over to Benji and he took the time to find a rest area that they could sit at while he made the call. He stared down at the phone for a few moments while he recalled the phone number for his contact. It was one of the few numbers he remembered. It was an important one. Once dialed, he put the phone on speaker phone, simply for Sawyer’s benefit, and leaned back into his seat.

A few rings later, a voice came through. “What’s the end of everything?”

Benji huffed. He knew the guy always answered the phone with a riddle to make sure it was someone he actually worked with. If it wasn’t, they would likely ask a question and that his sign to hang up. He took a second to think about the answer, blinking a few times. Sawyer tapped him on the arm and mouthed ‘G’ and then took a bite of his hotdog, which only had mustard on it. Benji found that bizarre but endearing.

“G,” he finally answered.