Page 51 of Live for Me

“Nothing. I didn’t open anything.”

I absolutely had opened it.

And I had zero regrets about that.

What I had were questions, but this was most certainly not the time for that. I wasn’t going to make a habit out of lying to her. I’d come clean eventually. This just wasn’t the time to ask about her sex toys. I wanted real answers and there was no chance she’d give me those yet.

Indy had been around long enough to know he wouldn’t get anything out of me, so he turned his attention to Memphis.

“What’d he open?”

“My…box.”

And more coffee went flying across the countertop while Indy laughed.

“Well, you’re both consenting adults. I guess as long as you’re using protection, I don’t see why he can’t play with your box.”

“Indy,” she snapped, while I choked to death.

“Indy!?” he repeated in a high-pitched screech. “I didn’t go near your…box.”

“I hate it here,” she said and slumped down into the chair next to Indy to lie her forehead down on the countertop.

“One of you is coming with me to go after Tennessee,” I said to try to get us back on track. “I’m not getting caught in the middle of your disagreements again.”

“So, Memphis then?” Indy asked. “More box time?”

She raised her head just long enough to glare at him before she stood up and went for the hallway.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To get ready to go find Tennessee. Anywhere is better than here right now.”

“I thought you weren’t leaving until tomorrow?” Indy asked.

“That was the plan,” I laughed. “Apparently, it’s happening now.”

“I will start looking for him then,” Indy added and opened his computer another time. “Really though, what box are we talking about? What’s in it?”

“Sorry, man. Not with this one.”

He looked up from his computer another time. “Boy, you do have it bad for her, huh?”

“I’m going to get ready myself. Let me know when you find him, Indy.”

We were on our way to Ohio a couple hours later.

From one corn-filled state to the next.

It usually took quite a bit to make me uncomfortable in any situation. I spent too many of my early years in constant chaos, fear, and heartbreak. I’d made a very conscious decision not to spend the rest of my life that way once I realized I was truly the only one responsible for the choices I made and the actions that I took.

But the ride in the truck this time around came with nothing but tension. Memphis hadn’t said a word to me since the conversation in the kitchen with Indy. She had her computer open in her lap and she was very much immersed in whatever she was doing on it.

“They’re not Executioners,” she whispered and slammed her computer closed a second later. She laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.

“Problem?”

She jolted back upright like I’d scared her, like she’d managed to forget that I was the one driving the vehicle she was riding in. She shook her head before she started chewing on her thumbnail.

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