When he finished his cigarette, he dropped it in the dirt and crushed it beneath his heel.
I pulled the curtain shut, but just wide enough for me to peek through.
The man didn’t notice me standing there and headed back over to his room.
My shoulders were tense and the muscles were beginning to ache.
I relaxed them before a small car passed into view, shifted gears noisily, and then struggled up the shallow incline to join the motorway.
I eased back and peered over at Clint lying on the bed, perfectly calm and at peace.
I smiled.
Despite everything that’d happened, everything that’d taken place, I was still happier than I had been in a long time.
A very long time.
In fact, even with this maniac on our trail and trying to hunt me down, I was more content now than I had ever been.
All thanks to that lump on the bed.
And when he woke up, I would drop to my knees and pleasure him the way he deserved.
He won’t know what hit him.
I’d suck every drop from his quivering member the way I wanted.
Or he could ride me until the cows came home.
And being so far from home, I supposed that would be quite some time…
I couldn’t wait for that.
He had the body of an athlete and I was sure he was capable of some incredible feats of stamina.
I’d make sure he put it to good use.
I giggled and immediately covered my mouth, stifling it.
I couldn’t believe I was thinking about a man this way.
I never thought I would think of any man that way again…
Not since my friend disappeared.
The history of it played through my mind again but I tried to block it out, block it without insulting her memory.
I’d been right at the farm.
We needed to leave my hometown and start again.
We needed to leave Liam far behind and get to a place he would never find us.
I just wished it didn’t have to end up this way…
The connection I shared with Clint was special.
The bond was a powerful, almost physical thing I could touch…
And that’s when I realized the “bond” we spoke about wasn’t really a spiritual thing.
It was something I could almost feel with my fingertips.
It was there now in the center of my chest, pulsing a steady rhythm beside my heart.
It began with me and ended with him lying on the bed.
A link that would never die.
I would carry him with me, always.
My smile began to fade.
There was another soft thumping beat in my chest beside the first.
It came out my back and passed through the curtains and the window, to something distant…
But not that far…
What was it?
It faced in the rough direction of my hometown…
But that was fifty miles away and that deep throbbing in my chest was much closer than that.
I couldn’t explain how I knew that, only that it was.
I pulled the curtain aside and peered in the direction of that beat that upped the pace and began to thud faster and harder.
I scanned the small country road, both left and right.
Its origin was closeby, that much I could tell, but from here, I couldn’t ascertain if it was from the left or the right…
Then I spotted movement.
Right there, coming from the right, passing around the grassy verge and pulling to a stop two dozen yards out.
A police cruiser.
But not just any cruiser.
Liam’s cruiser.
It should have been impossible for me to tell them apart but I knew it had to be him because that throbbing in my chest pointed directly at that vehicle.
I shared a bond with that fake-Liam thing?
Why?
I didn’t want to be linked with it.
I only wanted to be joined with Clint.
And still, I didn’t move.
I stopped breathing and my eyes bulged to the size of saucers, praying, hoping I was wrong, and the cruiser didn’t belong to who I thought it did.
The door clicked and swung open.
A boot stepped out, followed by a second.
Then the figure emerged.
Wearing his shades—at night!—he curled his hand around the door and slammed it shut.
And fake-Liam marched directly toward me.
I flew back as if he had psychokinetic powers.
I spun around and found Clint right where I’d left him.
He was still unconscious, drifting away in his little dream world.
“Clint!” I said, falling to the mattress beside him. “Wake up! Please! Wake up! Liam’s coming!”
When he didn’t move, I grabbed him by the arm and shook it.
“Clint! Get up!”
He didn’t stir a muscle.
I checked the motel door.
It was thin and flimsy.
No way it could withstand an assault for long.
When Liam got in here, there was no doubt in my mind what he would do with Clint.
Draw his weapon and open fire.
And just like that, tiny shards of metal would make the memories I’d forged with Clint obsolete.
“Clint!” I screamed in his ear. “Liam’s coming! He’s coming here right now! If you can hear me, you have to get up! Get up!”
Nothing.
No movement.
Nothing.
I didn’t even bother trying to tug him from the bed.
Even if I could, there was no way I could get him into the bathroom and through the window.
Only Clint was strong enough to do that.
My eyes alighted with an idea.
So maybe Clint could do it!
I dived for the amnesia book and scooped it up off the mattress.
I’d laid it facing down so the hypnotism chapter was right where I’d left it.
I scanned the paragraphs until I found what I was looking for.
I read the passage:
“W-When I c-click my f-fingers, I w-want you to g-get up and c-climb through the b-bathroom w-window.”
I could barely get the words out of my terrified mouth.
“T-Three. T-Two. One.”
I clicked my fingers and, as if by magic, Clint sat up.
His eyes were shut, his movements slow and deliberate, but he was moving.
He swung his legs off the bed and slowly marched toward the bathroom.
“Hurry!” I said. “Quick!”
I chastised myself for not telling him to set a new world record.
I snatched up my bag and glanced back at the door.
Thud!
Thud thud thud!
I pressed my hands to Clint’s heavily-muscled back and tried to shove him forward, but it was no use.
I might as well try to force
