Chapter 2

”Stick your thumb out, Mais. Someone will always stop for a pretty girl.”

I chuckled as we stood on the side of the road, our destination—the Smoky Mountains—waited for us somewhere out there. It’s where he told me we’d best be able to prepare for going back home.

He said there were sometimes cabins in some of the parks that were left unattended, and it would be easy to move back and forth between them without being detected.

I was always more cautious than Elijah, though. Because while I believed he could do anything in this world and I wanted nothing more than to see him flourish, we still had a long, hard road ahead of us.

A tap on the shoulder broke me from my thoughts. When I glanced up into his brown eyes, I saw the confidence already shining brightly in them. A nod in the direction of the road, and my eyes shifted from Elijah to the pick-up truck that was waiting patiently for us.

“Where ya headed?” the slightly older man inside asked as he tipped the brim of his cap at us.

“Wears Valley,” Elijah replied as he leaned on the windowpane and grinned at him.

“That’s in the other direction, but I’ll be glad to take you there. Hop on in,” the man offered with a smile.

Elijah opened the passenger side door and climbed in first. I shifted the tattered, oblong bag that I held in my arms and placed it carefully on the floor of the truck, before I took his hand and let him help me in.

His golden rule when we hitched rides was that he always wanted me by the door.

“If anyone tries to get funny with you, I’ll kill them. It’s better for everyone if they can’t get to you.”

It was a combination of jealousy and wanting to be the man he blamed himself for not being while I went through my torments.

But it never was his place to protect me, and no matter how many times I had tried to remind him of that, he continued to dismiss it in a haze of anger and sadness.

“I’m Mike,” the man said as soon I closed the door. Elijah wrapped an arm protectively around me, then extended his free hand toward our new ride. “I’m Elijah and this is Maisie. Thanks for giving us a lift.”

I leaned over slightly to smile at Mr. Mike and extended my hand to him as well, then settled back against the seat.

I knew that no matter how much he tried to make more than just our acquaintance with small talk, the conversation was over.

At least it was for me.

---

Mr. Mike eventually stopped for gas somewhere outside of Russellville. We still hadn’t left Kentucky, but he said that if he filled up now, he’d be able to make it the rest of the way without any unnecessary stops.

When we got to Knoxville, he pulled into the parking lot of a small diner and cut the engine to his truck.

“We’re a little under an hour away from Wears Valley, but I’m feeling a bit peckish,” he admitted with a sheepish grin.

“We’ll wait here,” Elijah said. Even though everyone in the truck could hear his stomach growl, I knew it was because we only had enough money left for another cheap motel stay before we found a cabin.

“It’s on me,” Mr. Mike offered in a soft, kind voice.

I turned my eyes up toward Elijah. I wouldn’t go against what he said, but the thought of eating a satisfying meal made my stomach creak and groan even louder than his.

With a chuckle, he glanced at Mr. Mike, then nodded, “Thanks.”

I pushed open the door and stepped out before I turned around and held a hand out to him. He swatted it away as he slid across the seat and climbed out.

I knew he didn’t like little offers of help like this, but I couldn’t help that I still wanted to.

After Elijah closed the passenger side door, he held a hand out to me, and we fell into step beside Mr. Mike. I cringed slightly when I saw the kind older man glance down curiously at Elijah’s slight limp.

The prosthetic he often wore wasn’t the best, but it was all he was able to afford after Mama and Papa threw him out with a measly thousand dollars. If anything, I was sure that he’d spent most of it on the damn thing, even though I could almost swear he was simply fine when he was excommunicated from the family home.

He had yet to tell me the story of how he acquired the piece to make him whole again, and I refused to ask. I felt like it was an invasion of his privacy, and I was too consumed with trying to be the best person I could for him.

Mr. Mike held the door open for us as soon as he reached the entrance of the diner, and I realized that I had lost another moment of time. It was starting to become more frequent, and I would have to find a way to stay in the present instead of trapped in my glimpses of the past and hopes for the future.

I couldn’t tell Elijah either, since he had his own turmoil to overcome.

A pretty, young woman who seemed to be around the same age as Elijah greeted us brightly. I clung closer to him, and he squeezed my hand as he leaned down and kissed the top of my head. When that wasn’t enough to satiate the jealousy I felt building at how she was looking at him, he let go of my hand and stepped behind me. Resting his chin on the top of my head, he wrapped his arms around my waist and let Mr. Mike do the talking.

“Just the three of you?” the girl asked, her eyes still on my Elijah. He chuckled and I ribbed him, completely unamused by her blatant lust for him.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mr. Mike replied, tipping his cap at her while I rolled my eyes.

“Follow me!” she said brightly as she reached for three menus from a sticky rack behind her.

Mr. Mike led the way and I followed with Elijah damn near glued to my back. When she sat us down at a booth against the wall, I reached up for Elijah’s hand and pulled him around me. With a laugh, he slid into the seat first then reached for me and gently guided me in next to him.

As I snatched the menu from her and handed one to Elijah before grabbing another for myself, Mr. Mike cleared his throat. It was obvious to him that I wasn’t oblivious to her wanton desire, nor would I be willing to act like it didn’t bother me.

“Mais?”

“Yes?” I asked softly as I turned briefly to glance at him.

He leaned down quickly and pressed his lips against mine. My heart fluttered slightly because I could feel eyes on us.

And when he took my face in his hands and deepened his kiss, when I felt his tongue gently caress mine, I felt the butterflies of my sin starting to flutter within me. Always in a vain attempt to make their way around the scar tissue that had never properly healed.

When he finally pulled away, he winked at me before he flipped his menu over and started to look at the options.

That was the first time he had good and honestly kissed me.

Up until now, I wasn’t sure he even knew how. He fumbled a little bit like I expected, yet it only made him even more endearing to me.

Sure, we’d lain in bed together and held each other while barely clothed, but he’d never given me more than a peck on the cheek here and there.

I guess Elijah felt the same way about me that I did about him.

“I think we need a few minutes. You can send our server over in a bit,” Mr. Mike told the young woman with an uncomfortable chuckle.

I glared up at her one more time as she tucked her damn tail and ran at a master’s command, then rested my head against Elijah’s shoulder.

“What’s the budget, man?” he asked Mr. Mike distractedly.

“There isn’t one today,” our new friend replied cheerfully. “I was just on my way back home after picking up some money, so you two youngins’ get whatever you want.”

“Cool, thanks,” Elijah answered quietly as he squeezed my thigh under the table.

I did my best not to react.

I knew what that meant.

Mr. Mike had money on him, and no matter what the sum he was carrying happened to be—little or large—Elijah was going to take it from him.