Lost in Distraction (Lost #1)(25)
Author: B.J. Harvey

I tighten my legs around him and dig my heels into his ass to push him deeper inside me, marveling at the way he makes me feel. I love it when we’re making love like this, it’s so raw and uninhibited. As our hips continue to rock together, I feel my climax building and with one last thrust I’m screaming out his name as I fall apart around him. He follows me over the edge with a growl, murmuring loving endearments as we come back down to earth.

“Definitely a morning to remember now, babe,” he says as he turns around, grabbing the soap and wash cloth and proceeding to wash every inch of my body. After I return the favor, he leans over to turn the water off then carries me out of the shower, all with a huge smile on his face.

A good morning to remember indeed.

For days I’ve been thinking about how I can get Elle out of town for a while without making her suspicious. She’s noticed that I’ve been distracted because I haven’t been able to hide it. Being so close to her and knowing that she is in danger is consuming me. She’s tried everything to snap me out of it, but knowing that Evans is poking his nose around because of me is too much to bear.

Shay ran a trace on the black car I saw on Christmas Day and as expected, it was another stolen plate. Two black cars seen hanging around, our apartment, both with stolen number plates is no longer a coincidence.

It’s keeping me awake at night, too. I’ve even been getting up in the night to watch out the front window, looking for this stranger in the black car, or anything else out of place or anybody suspicious, but he hasn’t been back. I’m starting to wonder if he’s been called off. In my sleepless haze I’ve even started wondering if he is even here for Elle? What if he’s here for me? For all we know, he could be on Evans’ payroll. It would kill me if anything happened to her because of me. It would break me. I know I wouldn’t be able to come back from that.

This morning in bed I came up with a brilliant plan to surprise Elle and get her out of town at the same time—a road trip to Atlanta. This means I’ll be able to tie up any loose ends down there and show her where I was born and raised at the same time. Just as I hoped, she is so excited and she can’t get out of bed quick enough. Never one to let an opportunity go by, I follow her into the bathroom and proceed to show her exactly how happy she had made me. Watching her walk into the bathroom, naked as the day she was born and with a huge smile on her face, makes her damn near irresistible.

I still can’t get over the change I’ve seen in her since we first met. She’s so much more alive now. It’s like being with me was the fire she needed to be set alight, and God does she make me happy. Even the little things she does without thinking make me smile. She has completely opened herself up to me, despite her painful past. She has given herself to me completely and, irrespective of the reasons that brought us together, I feel like I was meant to be here with Elle.

While Elle is busy in the bedroom packing her bags, I call Shay and give him a rundown of our plans.

“Do you think that’s a smart move, bro? Going back home?” he asks, sounding worried.

“It’ll be fine, dude. I’ll be with her the whole time and while I’m down there, I’ll find a way to see the boss man to sort things out with him, too. I need to find out exactly what is going on here because I think the danger is not just coming from Brimstone and Evans, and that scares the shit out of me” I say quietly, hoping Elle doesn’t overhear.

“Me too, B. I know something is not adding up, but I don’t want you to put yourself in any danger, either. You sure you don’t want to go to Canada instead?” he adds, laughing at his own suggestion.

“Hell no, I want to show her my home town and the house where I grew up. I want to show her what molded me, you know what I mean? She’s given me so much of herself, now I want to try and give her something back.”

He’s silent for a moment. “Yeah, I know. And I like you being with her, you’ve never been so relaxed and happy. The circumstances suck, but we’ll sort it out, we always do”

“Yeah, bro. Okay, well I want to do this right, so just to be safe can you jimmy the GPS on my car? I don’t want Gibbons tracking me this time,” I ask, knowing that Shay will have my back.

“Not a problem, I’ll pop over now. Give me half an hour” he says. “And B? Stay on your game.”

“Will do. I won’t let anything happen to her, you know that. I’ll keep in touch. Keep your ear to the ground and maybe find out a bit more about what’s going on. Just a hunch, but quietly look into how the boss man and Brimstone know each other. There may be a connection we don’t know about,” I suggest before saying goodbye and hanging up. Shay is the only one I can trust with my suspicions.

Elle walks in with a duffle bag of clothes, all packed and ready to go just as I end the call. She looks relaxed and happy, the sparkle in her eye shining as bright as the sun. I just hope that nothing I do will put it out.

“Hey, gorgeous. Let’s grab some breakfast before we head off,” I suggest, knowing that we’ve got at least half an hour to kill while Shay knocks out my car’s GPS.

“Good idea,” she agrees, putting her bags down and turning towards the kitchen.

I follow her, hoping like hell I’m doing the right thing with this road trip.

An hour later the car is packed and we’re heading south. Elle squealed when she saw my car. I’ve had it garaged since I’ve been in town, borrowing Shay’s Toyota if I needed to drive anywhere, but there’s nothing like a road trip to bring a car out of its temporary retirement. I’ve had it for four years now, since my adoptive father Roger died and left it to me. It was his pride and joy. He sanded her right back to steel and fixed her up from scratch. It took him five years by the time he had finished but he was damn proud of her. ‘Blue Beauty’ is what he used to call her, and now she is all mine.

We head down the interstate towards Pennsylvania, taking our time to enjoy the sights on the way since Elle has never been on this side of the country before. The scenery is beautiful. Every now and then I glance over, seeing her eyes wide open and taking everything in. She looks so carefree and relaxed. I’m so glad I suggested this trip now, it seems like it is exactly what we needed.

Knowing that it will soon be dark and that we still need to find a place to stay overnight, we stop at a rest stop for a bathroom break and I use the internet on my phone to find a nice hotel. I make a reservation at one in Harrisburg, right along the river. I’ve worked out that if we drive to Virginia tomorrow then we should make Atlanta the day after, all going well.