Hours later, and Rey was in serious need of a rest stop.
She bounced her free leg to distract herself from her discomfort. Kylo hadn't moved the whole trip, but she was slightly afraid to wake him. She'd seen the way he'd responded that morning to sudden noise.
Although she didn't know much about Kylo yet, she had already come to the conclusion that he was deadly.
Her bouncing leg gained momentum while she looked for a place to pull over and use the facilities. When she came up on a small service station, she turned off the road. She parked the AT and glanced at Kylo, but decided to leave him alone while she went in and did what she needed to do.
Finally relieved, she opened the door to the restroom and jolted backward in fright. Kylo was right there in her face, big, unapologetic, and dark like always.
Her hackles were immediately raised.
"Is that really necessary?" she squawked.
"Maybe," he responded in a low, grating tone.
"What? I can't leave your side for one second?" She scowled darkly up at him.
He only released a nostril-flaring breath and stepped out of her way so she could leave the room. He picked up a couple bottled waters from a cooler and some snacks and paid for them on the way out of the service station.
Kylo took back the driver's side, and she tossed him the keys, still miffed at his behavior.
"You told me you didn't have any family," he said, seemingly at random. He handed her one of the bottles of water and her jaw eased, touched by his kindness.
His eyes were on her. She shrugged, gripping the bottle.
"I grew up in an orphanage."
"So you have no ties to a family name?"
She frowned and shook her head, remembering the bag she'd had to leave behind at the garage with all her documents in it. "Patine is the name I was given."
Kylo's brow furrowed in suspicion. "What did you say?"
"Patine. Rey Patine." She waved a hand in the air. "Weird name, yes. Believe me, I know." She laughed off the years of teasing she'd received from it, but Kylo eased closer to her.
"Spell it."
She gave him a questioning look as she did so.
Kylo slumped back in his seat and brought a hand up to squeeze his bottom lip as he looked out the window, deep in thought.
"Who gave you that name?" he asked quietly, still puzzling over unspoken thoughts in his own head.
"It was engraved on something that I had with me when I was brought to the orphanage. A medallion of some fashion."
Kylo shot to attention and then went completely still.
He was about to ask her more when she countered with, "Why didn't you leave me behind?"
His fists clenched and unclenched on his lap. It took him a while to answer.
"Because I thought you were innocent. That you got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. You…" he swallowed. "You would have died there."
"And that mattered to you?" She blinked, but she sensed the gravity of his stare pulling her into his orbit. It was powerful and it was shocking.
"Yes."
Such a simple word, but its meaning held all the complexities of a universe.
"Why?" she whispered. She didn't know what was being built between them, but she was eager for more of the parts so that she could begin to piece them together into something that would actually work.
He shook his head, eyes gleaming, either unwilling or unable to speak. A large hand raised, hesitant, slow, and the tip of his finger almost touched her face, but he stopped short.
Kylo's eyes whipped to the front windshield, his attention caught by sudden movement.
Rey blinked and followed his intense focus.
A slim man stood at the front of the AT, sour-faced, with orange-tinged hair, and he smirked back at them. His beady eyes landed on her and he wriggled his fingers in a mocking wave. His attention then shifted to Kylo, and the wave turned into a different gesture. Two fingers pointed. Thumb up. The man's face twisted into a smug expression as he mimed shooting Kylo with his hand. Twice.
The stream of curses that Kylo let fly out of his mouth caused Rey to simultaneously redden, start to sweat, instantly go cold and begin to shiver.
Kylo slammed the AT into reverse, tires squalling. The orange-haired man continued to point his fingers at them as they sped back onto the highway. His figure got smaller the farther away they went, but the threat she'd seen in the stranger's eyes still lingered.
Her heart continued to pound and she almost asked who the man was. But the way Kylo was driving, and still cursing, caused her to hesitate. She held tight to the edge of her seat, dangerously aware of how tenuous a hold she actually had on this entire set of circumstances.
"Shit." Then louder, "Shit." Yet louder, "Shit!" Kylo pounded the steering wheel with his fist.
"I've messed up, Rey. I've just messed it all up."
She cringed at his volume, staring helplessly at him. "I don't understand."
"You were supposed to die.
"Back at Plutt's garage, you were the target and I didn't even know it. You were the reason I was sent there. I took out who I thought was the intended target. I thought you were there by accident."
Kylo cursed again. Everything in him clenched, tensed, and on the verge of further eruption.
"And I missed it. That hit. Hell, I knew there was something off about it. Someone dangerous is tracking you."
Everything in Rey stilled. Fear, cold, clammy, wasting and choking, gripped her tight. Is this the reason Kylo had been so overbearing anytime he wasn't sleeping?
"Someone actually wants me dead? That doesn't make any sense."
"Yes. And damn it all , now. He knows. He knows you're not dead. He knows I kriffed up the mission. And he'll be coming for us."
"Who? That man at the service station? Why didn't you just shoot him?" Rey shocked herself as the question left her mouth. But she wasn't thinking clearly, too worried about the high rate of speed the AT now traveled.
Kylo scowled her way, upper curled back to reveal his clenched, uneven teeth. "What? You think I just go around killing people indiscriminately?" His voice was still loud.
Her head moved his way with an exaggerated swing. "Uh, how many guns are in this vehicle, and how many people did you kill the other day?"
"Just because I fulfilled a contract doesn't mean I kill without cause or at whim. I have integrity," he growled, disgruntled.
Even in the heat of this crazy moment, the surprising aspects of Kylo Ren's psyche kept coming at her.
"Then why are we arguing about this? Why are you driving so fast?"
"I need to get you to a safe place."
Rey considered that, and could not wrap her mind around it. Someone wanted her dead. She had no idea why. Maybe she needed to fight back. Maybe she needed to know how to defend herself.
"Teach me how to shoot."
Kylo's foot faltered for a second on the accelerator. "Teach you?"
"Yes. But more than that. Teach me how to defend myself. I'm tired of feeling helpless."
His eyes flashed at her. She thought she glimpsed a bit of pride in that glance. For her?
"We've got to find some high ground. There's a place where we can hide out for a few days. But the Order will be out for my blood. Yours, too."
She gulped, not feeling as brave as she had a few moments before. "What is the Order?"
Kylo sighed, nostrils flaring. "It's the organization that I serve."
"They organize the contracts for killing?"
He shook his head slightly. "Something like that."
They both fell silent while the landscape blurred past. So much green. A lot more green than Rey was used to. She had never been away from the scorching wastes of the Jakku desert.
Kylo had to slow the AT as they came up on rolling green mountains. The road began to wind higher, swerving from one side of a hill to another. The constant back-and-forth motion, combined with the speed of the AT, drove her to the point of nausea.
She covered her eyes with her hands and tried to zone out the queasy feeling.
"You want me to teach you about defending yourself? Lesson one: Keep your eyes open. You've got to know your surroundings because danger is everywhere."
Rey shot him an irritated look, but couldn't deny the reason in this lesson. She tended to be oblivious at times unless curiosity was driving her. She swallowed back the nausea and forced herself to pay attention.
"Any bush, tree, rock, side-road, or hill could be a hiding place for someone who intends to do you harm. Don't ignorantly walk into a trap."
Her gaze sharpened on the very things Kylo listed, imagining any number of terrifying ghouls lying in wait for her.
"You also have to pay attention to the people around you. Someone's intent is a bit harder to read, but you've got intuition. If something doesn't feel right, trust that feeling. If someone seems suspicious, or acts like they're trying not to draw your attention, be on guard against that."
Rey catalogued all the points of his lesson. "Something doesn't feel right about you. Should I trust that feeling?" she smarted.
"Yes," was all he said as he fished out a cell phone from the back seat and dialed.
She snorted quietly.
"Han Solo," Kylo said to someone on the line. "One week. Ren." He snapped the cell closed and tossed it back in his duffle.
"What's a Han Solo?" she asked, still distracted by the new scenery.
"Code."
"Of course it is."
Kylo checked the mirrors constantly. It made Rey antsy, so she started checking as well.
"Are we being followed?"
"No. But that doesn't mean anything."
"Just when I think I can begin to relax, you say something like that to set me on edge again."
"It's a talent."
Rey smiled despite her worry. Kylo was funny. He was an intense, scary badass, but he was a delight when his carefully hidden personality cracked through that tough exterior.
They drove for several more hours, stopped for fuel once, and finally stopped for food and a roadside motel when it got late. Kylo remained on high alert through the drive and anytime they stepped out of the AT. He checked them into a room in the back lot of a motel that was as ancient and rundown as her old house used to be. There was nothing remotely fancy about this hotel.
He made her wait in the locked AT while he swept the room for hidden dangers. Once he was satisfied it was clear, he bungled her inside with all their luggage. Kylo laid out several guns and a cache of ammo from his large case and set up a tense vigil by the window with a loaded shotgun by his side.
"Do you think someone is coming for us tonight?" she asked him as she sat atop the faded comforter on the only bed in the shabby room.
His eyes stayed focused on the sliver of window between the wall and the drapes.
"I'm preparing for all possibilities. Seeing Hux could have been a coincidence," his eyes narrowed and his voice lowered. "But more than likely it wasn't a coincidence at all."
"Hux was the man we saw?"
"Yes. He is in service to the Order. I have my suspicions that he's out to eliminate me."
"Do you know why?"
He shrugged and ran a hand over his head. "Someone high up in the order may have put out a private contract on me."
"To kill you?" she asked softly.
He nodded.
"Doesn't that worry you or scare you?"
He seemed to relax, a deep exhale leaving him. "What does it gain me to worry or to be afraid? When it's my time to go, I'll go, and not a minute sooner."
Rey marveled at his answer. He really didn't seem to be afraid of anything.
The hour was growing late and she fought off a yawn.
"How confident are you?"
His glinting eyes found hers. "What are you asking me?"
"How good are you at what you do?"
Kylo only smiled. She could see the gleam of his teeth in the low light. His demeanor conveyed every ounce of his self-assured confidence. It didn't matter what or who came at them, he was prepared to deal with it. She admired his strength.
"That good, huh?"
A low chuckle was his answer.
She smiled to herself. Despite everything, she was glad that Kylo was with her.
"Why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll keep watch tonight."
Rey stared at Kylo in the dark for a long time before she fell asleep. Once her eyes closed, she dreamed of a dark knight who breathed fire and slayed old beasts that were foolish enough to approach him.