Spotting a small clearing in a wooded area, she pointed to the glade.
He went a bit off road. After turning into the area he didn’t just tuck the truck behind a few trees, he kept going a few hundred feet and like some enchanted fairytale another clearing that led to a pond emerged. He followed the path showing someone at some time had come down this way enough to show life was near. It wasn’t far until he reached the water. Putting the truck into park, he glanced at her and she leaned over to disconnect the wires. “We can stay here tonight and figure out where we can get to in the morning.”
“Sounds like a solid plan. We would be like sitting ducks on the highway.”
“That’s my thoughts exactly.” Onyx laid his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. A light moan escaped his lips.
“What are we going to do Onyx? We have no phone, no GPS, we’re almost out of gas and we’re in the middle of the woods with nothing to even keep us warm tonight.”
“It’s warm outside, so I think we’ll be okay inside the truck for the night. You have me to keep you warm anyways. Come here.” He put his arm around her and pulled her toward him.
She scooted over and landed next to him.
He snagged her jeans from the vent and laid them on the lower half of her body. They had mostly dried, and were warm on her bare legs. He then opened his coat enough for her snuggle in close to his body. “Which slots are C and D?” he joked as she laid her head on his lap, his eyes drooping from exhaustion as his fingers gently brushed her short hair.
The haircut had been a rash decision she now appreciated. Her hair wasn’t a clump of tangles from the day or two or three however many they’d just been through. Long hair had been a weapon in a way, men and women using it as a leverage point in a fight. Though, she knew working a pole and having hair draping down so men could imagine it in a nice nest over their cock as her head moved up and down. The toss over the shoulder followed by a come hither stare. She didn’t want to be that kind of girl anymore. Instead, the hard ass, leather clad slap she did to keep the men’s hands away had become her latest incarnation when she stripped. The only reason the boy comment had hit a nerve was because when she trimmed her hair, she hadn’t thought it fully through.
Ass, she had for days, hips, a feminine face for sure, and the pixie cut had only accentuated those features. Still, an air of pre-teen boy showed up once in a while when she walked by the mirror. Only now, there was no doubt Onyx saw her as a delicate woman. She felt scared, upset, as he tucked the short hair behind her ear.
Then he returned to petting and smoothing her blonde hair with its touch of blue dye in the front. “What’s your name?” he asked with a yawn.
“Um, what?”
“Your name? Topaz is all I’ve ever heard.”
“Sarah,” she said. “Sarah Cardwell.”
“Topaz come from your eyes?” he asked. “Or your hair?”
“A little of both,” she said as she reached for his hand resting on her hip and pulled it close like a teddy bear. “I wanted a name when I stepped on stage, guess my parents weren’t full on white trash. I wasn’t blessed with a stripper name at birth, so I got to pick my own.”
“Why Topaz?”
“The other gem stones were taken, you know the usual diamond, sapphire, and the generic crystal,” she joked then let out a sigh. “My Nanna’s a good old Southern woman who quoted superstitions with the best of them all the time. She gave me a Topaz pendant when I left Arkansas. It was to protect travelers,” she said then absently placed her hand on her neck where it had once lay.
“Where is it now?” he asked.
“In a box in my room,” she replied.
“Good, I was afraid old Glen and Stimpy took it and then I’d have to figure out where that cabin was.”
“Glen and Stimpy?” She giggled.
“I needed to give him a name,” he replied with a loud yawn. “Why aren’t you wearing it anymore?”
“I took it off a few months after coming to Montana.”
“Because you didn’t need to travel anymore?” he questioned, his words softer.
She could tell he was fighting sleep to learn more about her. “I’d found my home,” she said absently, her own mind drifting in a hazy space of half consciousness.
“Yeah, I get that,” he said. The arm she was using as a teddy bear tightened to her body holding her close. “Never thought Montana could feel like home until…”
His words drifted and he passed out, leaving Topaz to dream that she was the until he was speaking about.
Onyx stayed as still as he could to not wake Topaz. Though, he passed out for a bit, her nightmares woke him. The sleep she got had been restless and full of pain if the noises and faces she made were any indication. Looking down, he wondered if he could fall in love with a woman like her? He never really considered the idea until now. Something about her made him want more in his life. The stripper part, much like Hollywood with Free, was less of an issue to him.
The way she looked at him when she spoke of children, a home and future had him searching his own wants. All he’d wanted when he brought her out to the alley was to get an understanding. He wasn’t leaving. The LA chapter of the Steels wasn’t the same and the tat on his back proved he’d joined a brotherhood, one with charters all over the US he could transfer to, but
