AN: Thank you for all your incredibly kind lovely reviews, I do a happy dance every time I receive one. I'm so glad to be writing this story again.
A part of me wants to reread the story in its entirety to make sure there are no inconsistencies but the bigger part of me can't be bothered, so I apologise if I'm doubling up on things or parts don't make sense as I haven't written this in nearly a year..
In the meantime, I promise there will be tears at some point and conversation but first, some good old fashioned anger and denial.
"I'm driving you to the city tonight," his voice permeates through the car.
Her eyes slip open from the micro sleep she was having, unsure if she had heard him correctly. She slowly lifts her head off the window to look over at him, noticing he's no longer sporting the sunglasses that he so defiantly wouldn't share with her earlier. He must have taken them off when the sun had started to set.
She glances at the car's digital clock.
6:46pm
"Elliot.. we're still over nine hours away from the city," she says tiredly before returning her head against the window. "You're in no condition to drive right through."
He doesn't respond in words, just continues along the quiet expansive highway as the remnants of the sun slowly dissipates behind the horizon.
"You're going to need to change that bandage and I-"
"This isn't negotiable Olivia." He cuts her off firmly.
She looks over at him, surprised by his defiant attitude and he finally meets her stare, giving her that long deprived eye contact he'd withheld all day. She doesn't know what to make of the look he is giving her, but she can tell there is a lot more to the story.
They still had one more night together. She was promised one more sleep. One more stop off until this shit storm came to it's inevitable end and she had been counting down the hours until she could finally stretch her limbs and rest her shoulder.
"What's going on?" She whispers back at his absent expression, done with the silence, done with the games. "What happened at the gas station?"
The silence continues and the look he is giving her burns like a shot.
She shakes her head and looks away because she can tell he isn't going to talk, he's just going to leave her in this grey area of confusion and uncertainty. He's already checked out she surmises, already focused on moving on and that's why he's hell bent on getting her to the city.
Maybe Jackie had sent him a text and he'd read it at the gas station - she was probably waiting in some roadside motel somewhere for him.
She was so done.
With the silence.
With the secrets.
With the mood swings.
Like hell this was ending tonight.
She sits up in her seat, stretching out her muscles, moving her neck from side to side, overplaying the niggle in her shoulder and letting out a purposeful noise of discomfort.
"Can we at least pull over for a break?" She tries. "I've needed to pee since lunch and I need to stretch this shoulder out for a bit."
He doesn't answer in words but a few miles down the road he puts the blinkers on with a sigh and takes the next exit.
She watches as they pull up outside a roadside Taco Bell that's connected to a low budget motel and she glances up at the beckoning neon 'vacancy'sign.
She looks over at him in question.
"We're not staying." He puts the car into park. "You've got five minutes."
She rolls her eyes before clicking off her seatbelt and it's seconds before she is grasping the envelope from the console and slamming the door shut behind her.
"Hey." He calls through the car window and she turns around to his call. "What do you need that for?"
"In case I need to buy something to pee," she explains.
And then she is gone.
It had been eleven minutes.
Eleven fucking minutes and Olivia still hadn't emerged from Taco Bell.
Christ almighty.
He was already on tender hooks, a quiet desperation brimming from the content of that newspaper article. It was practically burning a hole in his pocket but for some reason he couldn't for the life of him reach for it and read it in it's entirety. Maybe if he pretended this wasn't real he could ride this wave of denial long enough to get her back to the city.
Besides if he doesn't read it, is it even real?
If they don't talk about it, did it even happen?
Four days..
Held at gunpoint..
Serial rapist..
Christ.
A plethora of imagery begins to pummel into him at full force, her lack of presence making his heart rate catapult with irrational concern.
Where the hell is she?
He is moments from reaching for the car door when he sees a flash of brown hair and he lets out the breath he is holding, only she is coming out of the motel lobby, not Taco Bell and she is heading towards the trunk of the car, not the passenger seat.
He watches in the rearview mirror as she pulls out their overnight bag and stalks towards his open car window.
"Room 212." She drops the second motel key onto his lap and leans on the door frame, giving him a look.
"Non-refundable," she tells him. "And non-negotiable."
He is furious.
Beyond furious.
She pushes herself off the frame and he is out of the car in seconds.
She had just used his money to purchase a non-refundable motel room.
She is a substantial distance ahead of him and he tries to catch up to her but their motel room door slams to a close before he gets to it.
He sighs, wasting no time inserting his key and moving through the threshold.
He finds her inside unzipping their luggage.
"Are you kidding me?" He rasps loudly. "You're just going to make up your own rules now?"
"That's right," she looks up at him head on. "Because this isn't ending with us wrapped around a telegraph pole Elliot."
She locates the shower amenities but he swipes them clean from her hands.
"You've got five seconds to get back into that car Olivia or I swear to God-"
"You swear to God what?" She steps towards him, snatching the amenities back out of his hand with an unexpected bout of fury he wasn't prepared for. "Because I will make a scene. I will scream to the high heavens if you so much as touch me Elliot. So if you want this to end at a roadside Taco Bell then do it, drag me out of here kicking and screaming." She spits. "And see how far you get."
The room stills and his eyes move between hers, taken aback by the seriousness.
He tries to keep a level head, tries to factor in the newspaper article - the trauma, their history, the trailer, but the way she is threatening him, undermining him, going off all half-cocked and rogue when they are so damn close to the end of this.
She's going to get them killed without even trying.
"You do realize this stop-over could be the difference between us living and dying."
"I think I'll take my chances," she dismisses turning around and it's her lack of concern that makes his fingers curl over.
She starts to move away from him and his instinct is to grab her arm but it's words that fall in lieu of physical force.
"You do realize I have a gun."
She turns back to him, the threat echoing between them and he immediately realizes what he's done.
Four days..
Held at gunpoint..
Serial rapist..
The silence extends between them as she stares up at him with a look of pure detest.
He feels sick to the stomach, catching a wave of emotion moving through her but it's the fury that's taking over.
"Are we really back here Elliot?" she rasps, her voice painfully low.
His chest pounds with apology and it's a few painstakingly long seconds before she steps forward.
"Go get the gun Elliot... try me.." she whispers. "I dare you."
Her eyes move between his and when it's clear he isn't going to back up his threat she moves towards the bathroom door, slamming it shut behind her and turning the lock.
It's a line in the sand, a marker in time and he loathes himself.
In a moment where she had needed his safety and protection he'd just reinforced how little she had.
TBC
AN: I will be back to fix this but it may take a little longer.
