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Elijah glanced at her. “I’ll always come for you. You know that.”

“I do now,” she said.

***

“You hungry?” Elijah asked, after they’d been driving for a little while.

Caelyn yawned and stretched her arms. “Yeah.” She sat up straighter in her seat.

“But I don’t think we should risk stopping to eat at a real restaurant.”

“I didn’t say we would.” He pointed up ahead at a gas station attached to a convenience store. “But I figured you could at least grab a couple of snacks while I gas up.”

“Oh.” She nodded. “Sure, that sounds good.”

“Good.” Elijah pulled into the gas station. He stopped and then took two twenties out of the glove compartment. “Here, take this.”

“Where’d you get the money?” she asked him.

He looked at her. “You really want to know the answer to that?”

“I guess not.”

He handed her the bills. “Caelyn,” he said, his face close to hers now.

“Yes?”

He leaned forward and kissed her. His lips were hot and his tongue slid into her mouth.

Suddenly, a force within her body was unleashed, as if he’d awakened it with his kiss. All Caelyn could think about was how badly she wanted him. She would do anything Elijah asked, anything.

Nobody will ever make me feel the way he does.

She knew it was true. And it wasn’t just lust. She loved Elijah with all of her heart. She loved the fact that he was far from perfect, despite his gorgeous looks and devastating charm. He had his demons, but they’d never stopped him from taking care of her and doing everything in his power to fight for her.

As his lips slightly moved away from hers, she opened her eyes and gazed into his.

“You amaze me,” she told him softly.

“I amaze myself,” he responded, his mouth twisting into that familiar grin.

She slapped at his shoulder, and he grabbed her wrist, kissing her again. His other hand cupped her cheek. His mouth slid over to her cheek and then her ear. “I want you, Caelyn. I want you so bad.”

“I want you too.” She looked around, her eyes scanning the lot. Then she had an idea. “Drive around back,” she told him. “Behind the store.”

He gave her a look as if she’d just grown a second head. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Hurry up before I change my mind.” She was out of breath from excitement.

Elijah put the car in gear and headed behind the store. There was a fence, a dumpster, and the fence was surrounded by an empty field and scattered trees. It was dark back there. One lone, empty car sat parked beside the back entrance. Caelyn figured it belonged to one of the store employees.

“Drive around the other side of the dumpster,” she said. “We’ll be hidden there.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Elijah maneuvered the car into a spot next to the dumpster. There was a dead-end to the other side of them, created by the fence adjoining with the store.

“I guess this is kind of private,” Elijah said, turning off the car and looking at her.

His eyes told her that he was as anxious as she was to be close again.

“I don’t even care if someone sees us,” she said, grabbing his jacket.

He grabbed her wrists, not hard, but firmly. “And you know I don’t give a fuck.”

He grinned wickedly and then kissed her again.

Elijah ignited a fire inside of her that she’d never known before. She moaned as his hands touched her hips and then ran up along her body as he pulled her closer.

He kissed down her neck, his lips like a combination of fire and ice against her skin. She cried out, desperate for him to be even closer to her.

Soon, they were tearing at one another’s clothes.

Caelyn pushed her hand beneath his shirt and grasped at the skin of his washboard stomach. Then she felt his chest, which was flexed. “I want to feel you inside of me,”

she told him.

“That can be arranged,” he told her, his voice husky. His hair was in slight disarray, and he had the shadow of a beard on his jaw. But he was as handsome and sexy as he’d ever been, she decided.

And what made him sexiest of all was the way he loved her.

The way he protected her.

“Elijah,” she whispered, as his hands explored her more fully.

“I need you,” he told her. His eyes grew more intense and darker.

“Now. Please. Make it now.”

And then they came together, in that front seat of the car behind the convenience store, and Caelyn didn’t care one bit. For all she knew, they might as well have been in a king-sized bed at The Four Seasons. It felt every bit as right and real and good as a honeymoon suite.

As long as I have him I’m whole.

And he made her whole again and again.

She cried out, and he whispered love in her ear, and then they separated from one another, a little reluctantly. Caelyn wished it could have lasted longer, and that they could have lain together, tangled up in bed sheets, sweat cooling in the air as they caught their breath.

But they weren’t really in a hotel room, they were in that car, running from the police and their pasts.

Elijah was fixing his clothing, his cheeks flushed. “You want to run in and grab some snacks and then I’ll come around and top off the gas tank?”

“Sure,” Caelyn said, making sure she didn’t look a mess either. She ran a hand through her hair and tried to smooth it down. Sweat beaded her forehead. “Do you want anything in particular?”

He shrugged. “Anything. Maybe an energy drink or something. I’ve been up for like twenty-four hours straight.”

“Okay.” She got out of the car a minute later and walked around to the front of the store, going inside.

The bright florescent lighting caught her off guard, and the scrutinizing stare from the cashier as she entered only enhanced the feeling of being guilty.

Caelyn gathered some snacks quickly, not being too particular. She got herself some Diet Iced Tea and grabbed a Red bull for Elijah. She also scooped up some BBQ

potato chips, popcorn, and a few candy bars.

Her stomach was still filled with butterflies as she thought about what they’d just done in that car, parked behind the store. She rolled her eyes and murmured to herself.

“You’ve gone totally off the deep end, Caelyn.”

The store cashier was still watching her. “Can I help you with something?”

“I’m just buying a few things.”

He stared at her disapprovingly, his thick, dark eyebrows like two giant spiders above his eyes. “Your shirt is ripped,” he told her.

“What?”

“Your shirt. It’s torn—I can see…” he gestured to his ribcage.

Caelyn craned her neck and lifted her arm, and sure enough, there was a tear right along the seam of her shirt. Her skin and bra was actually visible through the rip. How had she not noticed? It must have happened when they were in such a rush to take each other’s clothes off.

“Oh, thanks for telling me,” she smiled.

He didn’t return her smile.

She put the items on the counter and he rang them up slowly, occasionally looking up from the cash register and ogling her chest area.

Caelyn was growing more and more uncomfortable.

“That will be twenty-one dollars,” he said.

She handed him the cash and he slowly counted out her change, then packed the snacks into the bag, continuing to steal glances at her chest whenever he could.

By the time she got out of the store, she was feeling distinctly less optimistic about what she’d just done with Elijah. It was almost as if the store employee had smelled the sex on her—like he’d known she was the kind of girl to do it in a car.

She’d expected to see Elijah pumping gas in front, but neither he nor his car were anywhere to be found. That was odd.

Caelyn hugged her arms across her chest as the bag swayed in the cold breeze that had kicked up. She rounded the corner and went around back, and that’s when she came across Elijah taking the license plate off the other lone car that had been parked behind the convenience store.

He was just pulling the plate off when she caught him. He stood up and walked towards her. “Don’t say anything,” he said. “I know you don’t like this.”

“Elijah—“

“I have to do it, Caelyn. I have to.”

She shook her head. “This is wrong.”

“Get in the car. Come on.” He walked ahead of her and knelt down beside his own car. Not that it was his car, anyway.

What’s another crime at this point?
Caelyn thought.

She got into the passenger seat.

He’d already removed his plates and now he was just screwing the stolen plates on. It didn’t take long, and he was working fast and efficiently. When he was done, he grabbed the old plates and jogged to the fence.

Caelyn watched as he threw them over the fence and into the woods.

A moment later, he was back in the car and driving out of the lot.

“What about gas?” Caelyn said.

Elijah was breathing a little heavily after running back to the car. “Oh, I forgot.”

He pulled into the main road and kept going.

“You didn’t forget,” she said. “You didn’t need gas. You wanted to get new plates to put on.”

He glanced at her. “So what if I did?”

“This car is stolen, Elijah.”

“And?”

“And, that’s a heck of a lot worse than stealing a credit card.”

“Except I didn’t steal a credit card.”

“But even if you had, this would be worse. You know that.”

His jaw muscle flexed. “I hope you’re not getting ready to lecture me.”

Caelyn’s stomach tightened. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

“Then don’t start a fight.”

She rolled her eyes. “I can’t just let you run around committing crimes and not say a word.”

Elijah adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. “Look, it’s really simple, Caelyn.

I’m running for my fucking life, here. For our lives. And if I have to steal a car to do it, then that’s just the way it’s going to be.”

“But you’re just making it worse and worse. You have to see that,” she said. Her voice shook with emotion. “They’re going to catch you—catch us. Eventually.”

“Not necessarily.”

“Yes, they will.”

She could see his biceps flex as he grabbed the wheel harder. “You don’t know that, and I don’t really want to hear that kind of prediction right now. I need to stay focused, I need to stay upbeat. My only chance is to keep calm and be smart, and hope that I can fly under the radar until the heat dies down.”

Caelyn nodded as if she understood, even though she didn’t. Her hands were still clutching the plastic bag with snacks in it, and she slowly let it drop to the floor of the car. Then she looked at Elijah. “How did you escape from the courthouse, anyway?”

“It was no big deal. I told them I wanted to represent myself—“

“What do you mean, represent yourself? You mean, you were being your own lawyer?”

Elijah glanced at her innocently. “Sure. It’s my right.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Maybe so, but I figured it might give me a chance to have a few more freedoms.

And I was right. Since I was representing myself, they let me use the courthouse library for fifteen minutes before my arraignment. Anyway, the guard who was supposed to be watching me ended up getting caught up in a conversation with some cute little librarian lady. I took the opportunity to open a window and jump out.”

“You jumped out of the courthouse window?” Caelyn said, impressed and horrified all at once.

“Yup. And then I cut through some back roads and hid for a few hours, until it got darker outside. Eventually, I walked to a supermarket and waited for someone to leave their car unattended for a few seconds. And the rest is history.”

“Elijah, that’s horrible.”

“Yeah, it is.” He licked his lips. “Don’t think I enjoy this shit, Caelyn.”

“Are you sure you don’t?”

He looked at her briefly, and his expression was stony. “Yeah, I’m sure. And if you don’t believe me, then maybe we shouldn’t be doing this together.”

Caelyn put a hand on his leg again, and the muscle flinched against her palm.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean that.”

He exhaled slowly. “I know that you deserve better than me.” His voice was pained and husky with emotion.

“I love you, Elijah. And I don’t want anyone but you.”

“I’ll change for you,” he said. He looked at her again, his eyes white in the darkness. “I swear I’ll change.”

“I don’t need you to be anyone but you.” She thought for a moment. “But I also don’t want to lose you again. And I’m scared that I will.”

“No. You’re never going to lose me—and I’m never going to lose you, either.

Never.”

She wished she believed him.

Instead, Caelyn just nodded and pressed her lips tightly together. And then she turned toward the road, and watched it passing behind them in her side mirror, hoping and praying not to see the flashing lights that would spell the end for both of them.

***

But the flashing lights never came, and soon they were entering New York State, and Elijah began smiling again.

“You’re going to love my buddy Trey,” he said, as they drove by a beautiful pasture and a large barn, and the entire scene was covered in moonlight. It was something that could have been a painting and in a way it was romantic, even if they were running from the police.

The road was totally empty now but for them.

“Does he even know you’re coming?”

“Well…not exactly.” Elijah scratched his chin. “I mean, I don’t have an up-to-date number for him.”

“How did you even call me?” Caelyn said. “You didn’t use that poor person’s cell phone from this car you stole, did you?”

Elijah shook his head. “Of course not. I bought a burner on my way to your folks’ house.”

“A burner?”

He chuckled. “It’s a prepaid phone. Pretty much untraceable by the cops. When the minutes are up, I’ll toss it.”

“But how did you have the money to buy it?”

“The money was in the car,” Elijah admitted.

“So we’re driving a stolen car with newly stolen license plates, and you used stolen money to buy a cell phone that can be thrown away just in case the cops are trying to trace your calls.”