6. Quentin

6

QUENTIN

M y lower back aches from too long in the driver’s seat. I’m used to the freedom of a bike, and sitting up here is torture. If it wasn’t for Charlie beside me, I’d probably give it up and drive home.

She offered to drive, but after an hour of her breaking every speed limit, I took the wheel back.

She put her headphones in sometime after dinner. We couldn’t agree on music we both liked. And sometime past the Oklahoma state line, she fell asleep.

Her pink socked foot found its way onto the dashboard again, and she sleeps with her leg propped up and her head back.

The radio plays softy in the background, a local station pumping out hits from the nineties, which Charlie calls old man music. How anyone can think Foo Fighters and Green Day are old man music is beyond me. It’s the music I grew up with, and I sing along quietly to a Blink-182 classic while Charlie dozes.

We stopped a few hours ago for dinner, but I wanted to put some more miles behind us before turning in for the night.

There’s no hotel booked on the itinerary for tonight. Marcus and Hazel figured they’d find a place along the highway wherever they wanted to stop. We’re just out of Amarillo when I pull into a brightly lit motel.

The neon lights flash in the darkness as I bring the truck to a stop.

Charlie doesn’t stir. Her lips are parted slightly, and a strand of hair falls over her cheeks. With her eyes closed she seems softer, vulnerable.

Her hair falls over her face, shielding her eyes, and I hook a pink strand behind my finger and tuck it behind her ear.

Charlie stirs, and her eyes flicker open. Her breath catches when she finds me leaning over her. Up this close, I notice the dappled green of her eyes in the neon flash of the hotel lights. They look like a stormy ocean.

She smiles softly at me. “Are we there?”

Her breath grazes my lips, and a jolt of heat races through my body. I jerk back to my side of the truck and push the door open.

“Not even close But I need a few hours sleep.”

My heart races as I slam the door shut behind me. My thoughts are in turmoil over the pretty woman in the cab of the truck. She was so close I could have kissed her. I almost did. And that would be madness.

For one mad moment, I got caught up in her beauty, in her youthful skin and sleepy face. She must have been terrified to wake up and find an old man like me ogling her.

I shake my head at my folly. To think a young woman with all her life ahead of her, a woman with an independent spirit, would want to kiss an old army sergeant like me.

As I walk to the reception desk, the cool air of the night calms my racing heart and brings me to my senses.

I secure two rooms next to each other, and by the time I head back to the truck my heart is beating normally, and all thoughts of kissing Charlie are out of my head.

Until I see her striding over to the Coke machine. She’s pulled her boots back on, and in her tight leathers every curve of her body sways as she walks, from her full hips to her round butt and the confident set of her shoulders.

My mouth goes dry, and my heart rate leaps up again. I stop in my tracks just to watch her strut across the parking lot.

I’m not the only one watching.

A low wolf whistle pierces the night. My head snaps around to the rusty pickup parked across from our truck. Two men sit in the front seat smoking. Judging from the sweet aroma floating across the parking lot, it’s not a cigarette they’re passing to each other.

Charlie ignores the whistle and keeps striding to the Coke machine. But her shoulders sag a little, like they’ve snatched a bit of her confidence away.

My fists clench, and I stride over to the pickup. They don’t see me, too intent on watching Charlie. One of the men whistles again and calls out to her.

This time Charlie flicks them the bird without looking around.

“Fuck off,” she calls over her shoulder.

The men laugh, and that irritates me even more. The one in the passenger seat cups his hands around his mouth and cat calls.

He’s so focused on Charlie, or so stoned, that he doesn’t see me approaching. I wait until I’m standing right by his window before leaning in.

“Boo!”

The man screams. He jumps in his seat, and the joint falls out of his fingers and lands on his lap.

“What the fuck!”

His legs jerk, and smokes rises from his crotch as he pats at it frantically.

I remain staring at him, enjoying watching the damage he’s doing to himself.

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to disrespect a woman?”

I stride around the front of the car, and the man in the driver’s seat stares at me through the windshield. His eyes are bloodshot and wide with fear.

“S-Sorry. We didn’t know she was with you, man.”

He fumbles with the ignition and drops his keys. They fall between the seat and the door and he reaches for them with one hand, not wanting to take his eyes off me.

“I’m not with him.” Charlie strides across the parking lot with a look of thunder on her face.

The guy lets out a terrified squeak when he sees Charlie stalking towards him. Pride surges in me at her confident stride.

“What the fuck is the matter with you? Just because a woman walks across a parking lot you think you have the right to harass her?”

Sweat beads on the man’s forehead as he searches for his keys. His buddy has retrieved the joint, and he pats his smoldering crotch.

“Go man, just go!” he screams.

“I’m trying,” whimpers the driver.

He finds his keys, but he’s shaking so much he can’t get the key in the ignition. Now it’s not me he’s staring at but Charlie, stalking across the parking lot like an avenging angel.

“Learn some respect, dipshit.”

She reaches him just as he finally gets the key in the ignition and the truck roars to life. But he’s too late. Charlie reaches through the window and pours Coke all over his crotch.

The man jerks the pickup forward, and Charlie pulls her arm out of the way just in time. The tires spin as the men take off.

They pull out with a screech and weave onto the road.

“I told you there were assholes around,” I mutter.

“And I told you I can look after myself.”

Charlie watches them go with her arm outstretched, the can dripping soda onto the tarmac. Her breathing is heavy, and when she turns to me her eyes sparkle with mirth.

“You think we scared them good enough?” She laughs a deep throaty laugh. Her entire face lights up, and the heaviness of the situation dissipates.

“You should have seen their faces,” I chuckle. “They were more terrified of you than me.”

The absurdity of the situation hits me. I’m an ex-military first class sergeant wearing an MC patch. But Charlie striding across the tarmac scared them more.

Laughter rolls through me. “Your face…I thought you were going to hit him.”

She doubles up in laughter and grabs my shoulder. “You should have seen his face when he saw you standing at the window.”

She does a mock terrified high-pitched screech, and we both crack up.

I’m still chuckling as I take the bags up the concrete stairs. I hand Charlie the key to her room, and as she takes it her fingers brush mine. A shock of energy races up my fingers and surges through my body.

My gaze darts to hers and she’s looking at me intently, the laugher gone from her eyes. She must have felt the spark too.

“Thank you for sticking up for me.” Her breath caresses my cheeks, and I catch a scent of the apple pie she had at dinner.

“I’ll always stick up for you.”

Her hand drops with the key, but she doesn’t go into her room. If I was going to kiss her, now would be the moment. When we’re so close and sore from laughing and my heart’s battering against my ribcage like machine gun fire.

I lean forward and she parts her lips, ready for me.

Then reality crashes into my brain. She’s the Pres’s daughter. She’s fifteen years younger than me. We’re soaring from the adrenaline of the encounter, that’s all this is.

“Goodnight, Charlotte.” I kiss her on the cheek and step away before I do something that will end badly for both of us.

Disappointment flickers across her face, and she glances down.

“Goodnight, Quentin.”

I wait until she’s in her room with the door locked behind her before going into mine. I shut the door behind me and lean against it, breathing hard.

Knowing there’s only a wall separating us, I sleep fretfully. Tossing and turning and wondering what would have happened if I’d followed my instincts and kissed her apple pie lips.

A whole lot of trouble is what would have happened.

Charlie is wild, she’s Raiden’s daughter, and I have no right thinking indecent thoughts about her.

But it’s indecent thoughts that invade my dreams all night.