Manhunt by Lillie Spencer Read Free Book Online Page B

injustices of his youth.
     
    When he returned to Sophie’s room, she was asleep and a nurse was checking her IV. With a sigh of relief, Christian allowed his thoughts to drift to Michael and Nikki. He wondered where they were, if they were okay. He worried how Nikki was healing, and if she’d regained her memories yet. But mostly, he worried about when they got caught. And they would eventually be caught, it was inevitable. He was almost glad the investigators had turned their sights on him. Maybe it would keep them off the trail, at least for a little while.
     
    Still, he and Wes, his attorney, needed to have a serious conversation in the very near future, one he wasn’t looking forward to.
     

Chapter 7
     
    Michael drove all through the night while Nikki slept. He pulled over around 7:30 AM to stop at a fast food restaurant for a coffee and restroom break. He pushed Nikki’s hair back from her face and nudged her shoulder gently to wake her up. She winced in pain as she tried to stretch.
     
    “Come on, Sunshine. We’ll splurge for egg sandwiches.”
     
    Nikki opened one eye skeptically. “With sausage?”
     
    Michael laughed, glad she was starting to remember what foods she liked.
     
    “Of course!”
     
    He got out and went around to help her out of the car. They were either going to have to find a place to stay, or perhaps he would see if Nikki felt up to driving while he slept. Either way, they both needed to stretch out their legs for a little while. When Nikki got out of the restroom after freshening up a bit, Michael was already sitting at a table nearby with sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches, coffee and juice.
     
    “How are you feeling?” Michael asked, concern marring his features.
     
    “Well, I’d like to say I’ve felt worse, but I honestly don’t know if that’s true.”
     
    Michael chuckled in spite of himself. At least she was able to joke about it. She sat down gingerly and stretched her legs out under the table before unwrapping her sandwich and taking a bite, humming with pleasure. Michael smiled and went back to eating his sandwich. They shared a comfortable silence for a few minutes.
     
    “How did you sleep?” Michael asked.
     
    “More nightmares, flashes of things that don’t seem to piece together or make sense,” Nikki replied with a noncommittal shrug.
     
    “Why don’t you tell me about them? Perhaps they were more memories coming to the surface.”
     
    Nikki shook her head vehemently. “No, thank you.” Michael’s brow furrowed as he tried to read between the lines. “Like I said, nightmare,” was her only reply. Nikki took a long drink of her juice before deftly changing the subject. “Are you going to tell me why we are on this little road trip?”
     
    “You’ve always wanted to go to Disney World?” It came out more like a question, one begging her to let it drop at that, but she didn’t fall for it.
     
    “At least answer me this—are we running towards something, or away from something?” She took another bite out of her sandwich, seeming much calmer than he would have expected with a question like that.
     
    He gave her the only honest answer he could. “Both, I suppose.”
     
    “Are you in some kind of trouble or something?”
     
    “Or something.” Michael’s irritation was starting to show through, he was sure. He wished she would just trust him and leave it at that. No such luck.
     
    Nikki tossed the rest of her sandwich on the table angrily. “All right, then, answer me this. If I decide I want to hop on the next bus back to Hershey, are you going to stop me?”
     
    “Yes,” he replied through clenched teeth. “Now leave it alone and eat your breakfast.”
     
    “Are you nuts?! Are you sure you aren’t the one with the messed up brain? It was one thing to ask me to follow you at the hospital. But now you’ve—” Nikki lowered her voice to a hissing whisper, “—forced me to change my appearance, refused to answer any of