Charlaine Harris awesome.
She owns the characters and what-not.
Please don't sue.
Snoogans.
I woke up the next morning just after dawn, alone. I went into my former room, now the guest room, and checked the closet. Sure enough, the items that normally rested on the floor of the closet had been moved, and I was sure Eric was sleeping down there. I put the things back into the closet, to hide the fact that he was there, just like I had always done for him, and for Bill when he used to stay down there.
I got about my day. I brushed my teeth, and fixed my hair. I threw on some jeans and a t-shirt that I had gotten from Fangtasia. It had the logo of one of their alcohol distributors on it. I used that as my house cleaning shirt. I didn't have to go to work until this afternoon, and since I was up, I decided to make myself busy instead of lounging around all day thinking about what had happened last night. I started in the kitchen, cleaned every nook and cranny, and then worked my way into the living room. I straightened the couch back up, and vacuumed. I was just starting to dust, when my phone rang. The caller ID told me it was Sam. I picked up the phone.
"Morning Sam."
"Morning Sook. Listen, sorry to call you so early, but I got a message from Eric last night. He said you wouldn't be in to work today, and that you could explain why, but he set up to have one of the girls from Fangtasia to come over and cover for you. What's going on, are you okay?"
Oh just lovely. Back to running my life, and we aren't even officially back together. Just like Eric, has to be in control.
"Oh Sam, that's not necessary, really. I can still work my shift. Did he tell you who was coming in? Can you call her and tell her it's alright?"
"Not until you tell me what's going on, then we'll see. If you're in some kind of danger Sook, enough that Eric would put himself a woman down from his own business, then I think I should be the one to decide if you should come in or not."
"Well, basically, Eric and I, well, I guess you could say we broke up the other night. And I don't know how, but Victor Madden found out. He ran me off the road last night, and told me he would be in touch with me again. I was able to get a hold of Eric and tell him what happened, and he came and stayed the night at my place. Sam, I think Victor wants to take me back to Nevada as a gift to the King there, Felipe. Victor told me that since Eric and I were no longer together, I was basically free game for him." and that was basically my situation in a nutshell. The phone was silent for a moment before Sam responded.
"Sook, stay at home. Don't leave the house. Does Victor have a day man like Eric?"
"I have no clue. So does this mean you aren't letting me come in to work?"
"Your damn right it does. Does Eric have someone coming over to stay with you today?"
"I don't know, he didn't say." and if that hadn't been perfect timing, my doorbell rang. I took the phone receiver with me to the door, took a look through the peephole, and about dropped the phone. "Sam, listen, I'm going to be fine. Eric did arrange for someone to watch me." Geeze, I sounded like a 5 year old who needed to be babysat. "It's Alcide. I will talk to you later okay, and give you an update."
We said our goodbyes, and hung up.
"I take it you got a message from Eric last night?" I said as I opened the door. Alcide's and my last encounter had not been a happy one, but I still considered him a friend, and I was happy to not be spending the day cooped up in the house alone.
"Well, good morning to you too Sookie. What kind of trouble did you get yourself in to this time?" and he smiled back at me.
I had him come in, and we went into the kitchen. I made him a cup of coffee, and myself some tea, and we sat at the table while I explained what had happened. He seemed as worried as Eric was, and Sam sounded, which just made me worry even more. Was this really that bad? I mean, I've had people after me before, and darn it, I was still at least able to live some kind of a life. But this seemed to have everyone who knew about it on edge. I wasn't going to fight anyone on this, and just keep myself as safe as possible this time.
We spent about an hour in the kitchen talking about what was going on with me, and then what was going on with him, and his pack. Alcide seemed to be pretty happy with things, and I was happy for him. We may have had our differences, but he had saved my life, and I did consider him a friend. After our conversation was finished., I suggested going out to get some lunch, and after some seriously heavy thinking on Alicde's part as to whether that was a good idea or not, he finally decided that we should be alright. He made a call before we headed out. He didn't want to head far, so we ended up at McDonalds just outside of Bon Temps. After that, I decided that I needed a little retail therapy, which I almost never did, unless it was a dire situation, which I considered this to be, (well, not dire, but I just really wanted to get myself something new, and this seemed the perfect excuse, Alcide couldn't say no.) so we headed over to Tara's Togs.
Alcide behaved like the perfect boyfriend, if he had actually been my boyfriend, and waited outside the dressing room while I tried on and modeled all the cute things I had found on the clearance rack. (Hey, I'm not made of money.) I decided on a cute little pink blouse that pulled over my head, was tight around the stomach, but loose in the bust. It kind of reminded me of the shape of a corset, but without all the binding and tightness. Alcide said the pink really brought out my tan, which made me laugh. I chatted with Tara for a while at the register before we left, and she gave me a little more off of the clearance price which was not necessary, but very nice of her. After that, we headed back to my place. Alcide hung out in the living room and watched some sports game that was on, while I finished up my cleaning.
At around 5 in the afternoon, I was finished. Alcide's game must have finished, and he had on the local news. I offered to make him dinner before he left, (I figured he wasn't going to stick around once Eric woke up.) but he declined. It was almost sunset when he left, and he said that I should be okay by myself until Eric woke. I had a feeling that him leaving before Eric woke was an order Eric had given him, so I didn't fight him on staying. I walked him out to his truck, thanked him for spending the day with me, and gave him a hug goodbye. He waited until I was back in the house, and the door locked, which he knew by the signal I was supposed to give him out the window, before he drove off.
By six, the sun had pretty much set, so I went into the spare room to take the stuff back out of the closet so that Eric didn't have a hard time getting out of the hidey hole. I decided to wait for him in the kitchen, and got a bottle of True Blood ready for him in case he was hungry.
Within a few minutes, Eric was up, and in my kitchen. He was already on his cell phone when he walked in. I could tell he was talking to Pam, and it seemed like he was arranging for his absence at Fangtasia. When he finished with his phone call, he sat down at the table with me.
"Sookie, when you realized you were being followed last night, where was that at?"
"Um, I think it was shortly after I had left your house. I know for sure by the time I was getting onto the highway to head back here, I was for sure being followed." I had to seriously think about this, as I really didn't start paying attention to the car behind me until I was already half way home.
He took his phone back out, and called Pam again. "Pam, he knows where I live. It's not safe at my house." pause "Yes. Meet us there in two hours." and he hung up his phone.
"Where are you meeting Pam in two hours?" I asked
"We are meeting Pam in two hours, and I would rather not talk about where we are going. It's not safe. Sookie, I'm going to need you to pack a bag. It's no longer safe for you here, whether someone is watching you or not. But I'm going to take you somewhere that is safe." I started to open my mouth in protest, but he stopped me, "Sookie, you can either pack your own bag and come with me of your own free will, or I will pack a bag for you, and take you there. Either way, you are going." and with that he slammed his fist down on my kitchen table, and I jumped. Well, if Eric was this scared, which I don't think I had really ever seen from him before, I better get packing. Plus, if I did protest, who knows what he would end up packing for me.
I got up from the table, silent, and just so that he didn't think he had won that easily, I flipped my hair back, huffed in his direction, and stomped out of the room. I went into my old room, now the spare room, and grabbed the only piece of luggage I owned. It was a little bigger than it sounded like I needed, but who knows how long I could actually end up staying, right? I went through each drawer and grabbed what I thought I would need. I could hear Eric in the kitchen, making more phone calls. It sounded like he was arranging our transportation to wherever it was we were going. I went through my closet next, and decided since I had no clue where we would end up, grabbed a little bit of everything. Next stop, bathroom. I packed everything. I had some travel sized items, but I didn't want to run out if we were there, wherever there was, for more than a few days.
It took me a total of about thirty minutes to pack, and when I was done, I rolled my luggage out to the living room. I left it there, and joined Eric in the kitchen.
"Bill will be here shortly to pick us up. He will be taking us to meet up with Pam." Another sign that he was desperate, asking Bill for help, again. I sat back down at the table where I had been, "I'm packed." was all I said.
Bill showed up shortly after that, and I started to do a round of the house before we left, to make sure everything was locked up. Eric took my bag out to Bill's car, and came back in just as I was headed up stairs.
He called out to me from the doorway, "Sookie." and I stopped at the base of the stairs. He came over to where I was standing, grabbed my chin with one hand, and kissed me for all he was worth. I found myself responding, and leaning in to him. He took his other hand, and placed it at the small of my back, and pulled me in to him the rest of the way. God he was such a good kisser. I could never get tired of his kisses, not in a million years. I wrapped my arms around his back and slowly worked my hand up to his shoulders. At that moment, all my fears, worries, troubles, cares, just drifted away, and it was just Eric and I, the way it should be.
Then I heard Bill clear his throat. Eric slowly ended our kiss, and we let each other go.
"Eric, we are ready." Bill said, looking away from us.
Ugh, Bill, you jerk, I hope he saw all of that, and I hope he hated every second of it.
Eric said he would check the upstairs windows, and I headed out to the porch with Bill.
"Am I to assume you are back together now?" Bill asked once we were outside.
"Bill, like I said before, I don't see how any of this is your business." and I crossed my arms across my chest. Eric emerged from my house a moment later, and I locked my front door.
"Can I call Jason and ask him to look over the house while I'm gone?" I asked Eric once we were in the car.
"I will have someone take care of that for you. The less contact we have with anyone right now, the better. We don't know who we can trust."
"Are you telling me I can't trust Jason?" I asked, but then realized that that was a stupid question. Of course I could trust Jason. I could trust him to spill to someone that Eric and I were gone, in hiding, and he was looking after my place while I was gone. I know he wouldn't do it maliciously, or to someone other than maybe his best friend Hoyt, but then, who knows who could be watching or listening, trying to get clues to my whereabouts once they realized I was gone. "Nevermind."
I sat back in my seat, and prepared for our ride to who knows where. Turns out, it wasn't much of a trip at all. We drove into Shreveport, and turned off into a busy Wal-Mart parking lot. We drove around a bit before we found Pam, standing outside a car that, if you could believe it, looked to be in worse shape than mine. We got out of the car, and Eric went over to speak with Pam. Bill stayed with me at his car, and got my bag out of his trunk.
"Sookie," Bill started to say, but then seemed to rethink what he was going to say to me in Eric's presence. It was probably best anyways, and right now, I really didn't care what he had to say.
We waited by the back of Bill's car for Eric and Pam to finish their conversation. It looked like he was giving her last minute instructions. Bill started to speak again.
"Sookie, be safe. Please, don't try to contact anyone. I will make sure your home is taken care of while you are gone. You don't need to worry. If you need help at all, you know how to reach me."
I nodded my head at him, and whispered "Thanks Bill." and gave him a quick smile.
Eric waived us over, and Bill brought my bag for me. I let him know I could carry it myself, but he insisted. Pam popped the trunk on our jalopy, and Bill loaded it in. Eric gave me a quick peck on the forehead, and walked me to passenger side of the car, opened my door, and then shut it for me once I was in and buckled up. I watched him head back around to the drivers side, and get in the car with me. I spotted Bill in my side mirror, and waved goodbye as Eric started up the car. Before we backed out, he reached into the glove compartment, and took out a blindfold.
"Here, put this on." he said, as he tossed it in my lap, and closed the glove compartment back up, and after a few tries, it finally stayed shut. I chuckled to myself over that one.
I picked the solid black blindfold up off my lap. "You're kidding right?"
"I am not. It's for your own safety Sookie. The less you know about where we are going the better. This way, I will be the only one who knows where you are, and I would rather be staked than give up your location."
"Wait, am I going to be staying at, wherever it is we are going, by myself?" I don't know if I actually looked as shocked at this as my face was portraying.
"No, I will be staying with you. But I still don't want anyone, including you, to know where you are. I will be the only one." he paused and turned to face me in his seat. "Sookie, trust me."
"Isn't is safer if I know where I am? What if something happens? What if I need help? How am I supposed to let anyone know where I am?"
"It will not come to that Sookie, I wont let it." Eric tapped his finger on the blindfold.
"But what if it does?" I asked as I lowered my head. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
He took my chin in his hand and raised my face to look at him. "Sookie, it wont. If it does, I will tell you then, but not before. Only if it is a last resort, and completely necessary."
I sighed. I guess I could live with that. It was better than not living at all right? I nodded my head, and put the blindfold on.
