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“Go wait in the car,” he told me with a look that warned me not to argue.
I gave a frantic nod before hurrying back to the safety of the Hellcat. My heart stopped as I watched Rowdy disappear inside the dark motel room, and I felt my skin crawl at the thought of him walking into an ambush. I chewed on my nails for a few minutes before I forced myself to stop fretting.
Fuck this.
Keeping my ears open, I searched the interior of his car until I found a spare gun in his glove compartment. I had no idea how to use it, but I didn’t give myself time to worry over it as I grabbed his piece, hopped out of the car, and rushed across the parking lot.
I paused at the door, but when I didn’t hear signs of a struggle, I pushed inside in time to see Rowdy walking out of the bathroom. It was scary how quickly he had his gun pointed at my head until I gave an embarrassing squeal that had him shaking his head and dropping his hand.
“Is anyone here?”
His expression was cold and blank as he stared at me. “I told you to wait in the car.”
“I found this,” I confessed, showing him the gun. “I thought you might need backup.”
His brows shot up. The first real emotion he’d shown since I—well, I guess I’d hurt his feelings? It was trippy to think about. “Yeah?” He inched closer as he tucked his gun back into his waistband. “And what was you planning to do with that, Atlas? Shoot them in their kneecaps?”
I lifted my chin. “If I had to.”
I could see the beginnings of a smile on his lips. “Oh, so you’re hard now, huh?” he teased. “You think you gangsta?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I just don’t want to lose any more people.”
He stood in front of me now, so he took the gun from my hands and secured it in the holster strapped to his ankle before rising to his full height again and taking my hips in his hands. “You won’t lose me. I’m hard to kill.”
I sighed and laid my head against his chest, taking comfort in his steady heartbeat. “Because you’re crazy?”
“Something like that.”
I closed my eyes as he rocked us back and forth. We stayed like that for a minute or two before I finally found the courage to ask, “Did they take anything?”
“I don’t think so.” He kissed my forehead before pulling away. “Come on. Grab your stuff so we can go.”
Understanding it would be safer to stay in another room, I quickly did as he said, and luckily, I hadn’t brought much with me from my old life, so I was done packing in under ten minutes. Rowdy grabbed all my bags, shaking his head when I offered to help, so I quietly followed him out the door.
My heart skipped a beat when he started toward his car with all my shit in tow instead of the front office.
“The office is this way.” I pointed over my shoulder as I called out to him.
“Bring your ass on, Atlas,” he commanded without looking back at me. Rowdy popped the trunk and threw all my shit inside like an asshole before locking it with his key.
“I can’t leave, Owen. I already paid them for the week,” I lied.
He sent me an impatient look. “Nice try. They only take payment by the hour since you’re the only guest herenotselling ass. Now get in.”
“But what about my car?” A flimsy excuse, but the only play I had left to make.
“I’ll have someone pick it up and bring it to you. Let’s go, Atlas.”
“Fine!” I stormed to the Hellcat, got in, and slammed the door. I realized my behavior was a little childish, but I was not sure many people could relate to being ordered around by a sexy psychopath to judge me.
Rowdy chose not to remark on it as he dropped into the driver’s seat, started the car, and drove away. I watched the motel through the side-view mirror, and my belly flipped when it disappeared—like it knew I wouldn’t be back.
“Where are we going?” I started to panic after he turned a couple of corners before hopping on the interstate. “There’s another motel a couple of blocks from here.”
“And?”
“I can’t afford anything else, Owen.”
