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He sat for a moment as he contemplated his options. An idea formed that was too good to resist. Starting the ignition, he put the truck in drive.
“To the gas station, it is, then.”
Chapter Fifteen
Was it really only twenty minutes ago that she was up on a stage with women she barely knew signing a song she usually belted out while in the shower or in the car alone?
That moment felt like a lifetime ago as Gennessey stared up at the inky sky dotted with spots of light and a thin sliver of the moon. The pond in front of them rippled from the movement of the fish beneath the surface. Crickets and cicadas harmonized in an oddly calming concert which left her relaxed and…content.
Stretched out in the bed of BB’s truck, she shifted her head just enough to see BB lying beside her without giving away the fact she watched him. Her eyes had become adjusted to the darkness enough that she could faintly make out his shape, and her memory filled in the rest of the details. The remnants of their gas station run had been packed away and pushed behind them to be disposed of in the first trash can they came to.
When BB drove away from the bar, Gennessey had been filled with a sense of adventure. They were like two teenagers sneaking around past their curfews, free to do what they wanted and to go wherever they pleased. But once they made it to the station, he had pulled up to one of the pumps, telling her to scope out the fast-food options inside while he “topped off” his gas tank.
The feeling of being a carefree teenager morphed into the image of a married couple returning late from an evening out and taking the time to do responsible things, like filling up their bodies with food and their truck with gasoline. The fast-food side of the convenience store was closed, and she almost felt like crying when she told the news to BB when he came inside.
He led her through the store, grabbing anything prepackaged that appealed to them — sodas, beef jerky, potato chips, powdered doughnuts, trail mix, and candy. He’d suggested taking their stash back to the hotel, but driving to the pond had been her idea.
She wasn’t ready to go back to the life she was pretending to lead under the watchful eyes of her family. She wanted to be somewhere where she could hide. No one would know where she was. No one would know what she was doing.
Just peace, quiet, and freedom.
Her eyes focused on the slow rise and fall of BB’s massive chest. His arms folded behind his head like a pillow. She thought he might be asleep until one arm unfolded toward her, his fingers wiggling at her.
He didn’t speak or look her way, but she knew an invitation when she saw one. The urge to shut him down had become second nature to her but was now hiding. Scooting her body over like a caterpillar moving on a leaf, she nestled against him, her head resting in the crook of his arm.
“Thank you.” She hadn’t wanted to shatter the peaceful moment with conversation, but she could feel something shifting within her when it came to Brennan Beckett. And the shift scared her. She needed something to ground her, even if it was meaningless conversation.
“You’ve already thanked me for coming this weekend. No need to do it again.”
She turned to her side so she could gaze at his profile. “That’s not what I meant. Thank you for this. For getting me out of the bar, for bringing me here, for letting me binge on junk food without giving me grief for unhealthy eating. It’s…nice. I needed this.”
“So did I,” he returned gently, and she felt a tingle start at the roots of her hair and spread to the tips of her toes.
“Can I ask you a question?”
He turned his head, and though his eyes weren’t distinguishable in the darkness, she felt their intensity like a shock to her system. “You can ask me anything at any time.”
“Why aren’t you married?” she blurted before she had a chance to change her mind.
She held her breath, waiting for the snarky remark which would remind her this was not a man to take seriously. This was not a man who knew how to have anything meaningful with a woman.
Oh, God, how she needed the reminder now, when she was feeling safe and at ease lying next to him, having a false sense that they were the only two people in the universe.
“I never found what my parents have.”
She blinked, his answer throwing her off kilter. “What do they have that you want?”
“Love, I suppose. I don’t know exactly. I mean I’ve seen people in love, or who said they were, and I wondered if I was in love a time or two, but I’ve rarely seen couples have what my parents have. It’s hard to describe, but I know it when I see it. It’s the kind of thing you always want to be around, but you almost feel like you’re intruding into something private. It sounds stupid, I know. I told you I couldn’t describe it.”
“I think I know. Like Jordan and Stella,” she said, thinking of the KSI security guard and his wife who had become like family to her. “It’s like their hearts beat only for each other. They can be apart, but that bond always draws them back together. It’s like they were only existing before they met, but once they met, they started living.”
“Yeah, something like that. You know how when you’re on a mission with a team you’ve worked well with before? You anticipate each other’s moves and thoughts without any direction. You just know what you’re supposed to do and where you’re supposed to be, so when the shit hits the fan, you’re ready. You have each other’s sixes. You’re one team and not a bunch of individual men working a case. That’s my folks. It’s like they have a sixth sense of how each other is feeling or what each other needs even before they know themselves. I asked Mom about it once, after I got my heart broken by my high school girlfriend. She called it their love magic.”
She smiled. “Love magic. I like it. What did she say it was?”
“She said when two people are meant to be together, they have a connection with each other they won’t have with anyone else. It’s an invisible thread which binds them together and isn’t easily broken. And the more they respect the love magic, the stronger it gets until it’s unbreakable, no matter what life throws their way.”
“Wow,” she whispered.
