Demons Undone: The Sons of Gulielmus Series by Holley Trent Read Free Book Online Page B

driving, passing cars and adjusting her mirrors as if it was a normal thing to be discussing sex with a person she’d only known a day.
    “I usually like to reciprocate, you know,” she said.
    “Ah.” He’d always had to be so careful, sneaking around with the girls, hiding here and there for a few minutes. There was never full-bore intercourse because as horny as the girls were, they figured half a sin was better than a whole sin. They’d pet and kiss and usually one or the other got off, but usually not both. Reciprocation? Rarely.
    He reached into the paper sack and pulled out the two plastic-covered sandwiches. “Do you want turkey or ham?” he asked.
    “Your choice. I’m not picky, and I didn’t know what you wanted.”
    “I’m not picky either. Choice was a luxury at the compound.”
    “Forgot about that.”
    He peeled back the film on the ham and cheese, and handed it to her.
    They ate in silence for a while, and John handed her chips and napkins without her even having to ask.
    The quiet in the car wasn’t uncomfortable. It was the sort of quiet that reminded John of the night. The stillness, then, was expected and necessary. Cleansing, in a way. It helped chase away all the busyness and over-thinking from the day and gave its denizens a chance to start anew. So that silence in the car with Ariel was like something that was part of their cycle — their ebb and flow.
    He’d never felt like that with any other woman. He’d always felt like someone should say something.
    He stole a glance at her and his heart melted at the sight of her wide-eyed wonderment at the scenery they flew past. When her eyes weren’t on the road, she stared out her window at cattle fields and oil derricks as if they were magical things that didn’t exist where she was from.
    Hell, maybe they didn’t. He didn’t know
anything
about North Carolina or the East Coast other than the fact it was probably humid and that the people there liked basketball.
    “Well?” she asked, squeezing his left knee.
    He let his forehead furrow and jaw slacken. “I’m sorry, did you ask me something?” How long had he been staring at her? Who was hypnotizing
whom
?
    “I asked if you knew how to work a cell phone at all. I’m trying to figure out how far we’ll get today and kind of want to know where we’re sleeping tonight.”
    We’re?
Certainly she’d misspoken.
    “Uh … ” He wrapped his fingers around the device she held out and drew it close. “I could probably figure it out. I’ve never owned one myself, but there were a few in the compound I got a chance to fiddle with.”
    “I’m hoping we can make it as far as Arkansas tonight … ”
    He scanned his memory banks for the bit of geography he’d learned as a kid.
Arkansas … Isn’t that all the way past Texas and Oklahoma? If she makes it to Arkansas tonight, she’ll be home in no time.
    She’d be home in two days at that pace.
    Two days wasn’t enough. He needed more time to … Hell, he didn’t know. He kept forgetting that he had one specific task to carry out, but it was so easy to push thoughts of that assignment aside. All he had to do was look at her — think about how perfect she was.
    Why did we have to meet like this?
    He grimaced.
    If it hadn’t been like that, he would never have met her at all.
    • • •
    Ariel covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes as she yawned at the stoplight. “God, I can’t believe how tired I am, even after all that sugar.”
    There’d been at least two large coffees, two Cherry Cokes, a king-sized Snickers bar, half a family-sized bag of Skittles, and a roll of Oreos since lunch. She thought she’d be able to get a couple more hours of driving in.
    She and Hitch had stopped in Oklahoma to study some roadside oddities and she’d ended up napping in the car for an hour afterward. There was still some daylight left and she was eager to make up the time, but she could hardly keep her eyes open.
    “Yeah,