Page 25 of Taken for Granite
“But I appreciate it, honey. I’ll water your plants until you come home.”
The call disconnected. She returned the phone to the clerk, unsure if she could ever return home.
“Your boyfriend, huh?” the clerk asked, suspicion on her face.
Juniper shrugged. “He knows my car is crap.”
Back in the van, Juniper counted out the cash in her wallet, disheartened by the meager amount. They weren’t coming back to Philadelphia, she knew that much, but where, exactly, was up in the air. Maybe she’d just keep driving until the van ran out of gas.
Which wouldn’t be far, she recounted, just to confirm. What would she do if they ran into trouble?
She slumped over the wheel, closing her eyes for a moment. Money wasn’t the solution to everything, but stuff went a whole lot easier with it. She remembered Mickey coaching her on greasing the wheels if she ever ran into a problem on a catering job. Tossing stacks of cash at a problem had been his fix for everything.
An idea jolted her upright.
She reached under the driver’s seat and felt around blindly.
There.
Her fingers brushed against a plastic bag taped to the underside of the seat.Mickey’s solution.
She never had to use it before and had no idea how much money the bundle contained. Counting it out now in a gas station parking lot seemed foolishly reckless. It would wait. Just knowing the bundle was there helped eased some worry.
Juniper went over the list again and again, making sure she covered the basic supplies. She had a first aid kit, a bottle of pain reliever, soap, shampoo, deodorant, even that super girly one Chloe liked, toothbrushes, and toilet paper because not having that would be a disaster. She had ice for the cooler and drinks. She spent a small fortune that morning in less than an hour, but that was a problem for after. Future Juniper could worry about the credit card bill.
Running over the list kept her mind occupied, made her feel as if she had some control over the nightmare situation she found herself in. Lord knows, once she got behind the wheel to drive for hours, she’d have nothing to keep her from worrying about worst case scenarios.
“You up? I have breakfast,” she announced, unlocking the motel room’s door.
Tas exited the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. His wet torso glistened under the lights. She licked her upper lip, wanting lick up the droplets of water clinging on his pecs.
What was wrong with her?
Her sister was kidnapped. Now was not the time to freak on a gargoyle. Khargal. Tas.
He sniffed the air, growling with approval.
For the bagel. Had to be the bagels he smelled and not her soaked panties.
“Black coffee. Garlic bagel with plain cream cheese,” she said, shoving the bag in his hand. “Sugar and cream are in the bag.”
Tas sat at the comically small, round table and arranged the sugar packets.
“Do you want me to do that?”
“I am capable,” he said, tearing the packets open and dumping the contents into the coffee. He used all the packets and still frowned when he sipped the brew. Her prickly gargoyle had a sweet tooth. “When will we depart?”
“Soon.” Juniper glanced at the new phone. Check out was at ten o’clock, but it was only eight-thirty now. Morning rush hour wasn’t the best time to hit the road, but she gained nothing sitting around, watching a gargoyle drink coffee. “I don’t like the idea of handing you over like this.”
“Like what? Blind? Broken? Do not concern yourself with my welfare. You have your Chloe to consider.” Frosty disdain laced his words.
Wow. She almost bought his put-upon, superior tone. “Well, yeah. Obviously. I know you need to get,” she waved her hand, searching for the words he used last night but found nothing, “your thing, but you’re still doing me a solid. I don’t like letting you go back to those Rose people when you’re weak as a kitten.”
“I am not a kitten.”
“You’re a Khargal, I know.”
“And I freed myself once from them. I will do so again.”
