For the Love of Super Soldiers

Things of Consequence

Chapter 19: Things of Consequence

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"What do you mean I can't drive?!"

I refused to respond as Victorian yelled at me from the other side of the car.

"I'm a fantastic driver! The streets of London aren't so different from those here in the U.S., you know. Or what's left of it..." He finished with a mumble.

I hefted the duffel bag in my hands into the back of the Jeep. This happened every time Victorian and I were preparing for road trips. He whined and whined about how his talents behind the wheel were unparalleled and his reflexes were better than a cat's.

But cats didn't drive.

"I mean, really, you're gonna let your boy-toy drive? You just met him! You don't know him all that well, Love. He could kill us!"

Oh, now the amount of time I had known Aaron was an issue. Not when I was worried about affection and matters of the heart, but when determining who would refuse to ask the rest of us for directions and pretend to be a self-contained GPS. Perfect.

My lips had nearly molded together in attempts to ignore his pestering. If my mouth wasn't open, I couldn't respond, and if I couldn't respond, I wouldn't respond, and if I wouldn't respond, I would instantly lessen my own stress. The Brit's eyes flashed as if to say, Good luck with that, Lieutenant.

"Victorian, that's enough. The only pair of hands to touch the steering wheel will be mine...not yours and not Aaron's." I shut the back door harder than required to emphasize my point.

"You say that now, but as soon as he catches your eye and asks you what I'm asking, your sexual instincts will kick in, cloud your judgement, take over the decision-making center of your brain, and you'll hand the keys right on over!" Victorian's hands hung in the air while I waited for him to finish. I couldn't stop the side of my mouth from quirking up, giving away my–slight–amusement.

"See!" He stood with his finger pointed at my mouth. "Before you know it, you'll forget all about what a gearshift even is if you keep hanging around the bloke. You'll be driven by desire! I can't even begin to handle it!"

I nearly mashed his fingers in the front doors as we moved back inside the motel, trying to distance myself from his nagging. We still hadn't garnered any information about who it was built for, and whatever nooks and crannies the place contained—not that I knew of any of them—Victorian remained convinced it was Abraham's doing.

"Can't handle what, Alex?"

Stephanie was standing in the middle of the lobby with what looked like old ethernet cables wrapped from shoulder to elbow like an unused lasso. Her hair was in a messy bun and she balanced three laptops against one another in the crook of her armpit while a couple of notepads were pushed between her fingers. The girl was ready to go. It wasn't hard to see the smile that was playing behind her lips, mostly because she wasn't hiding it.

"Just to trying to get my dearest, oldest friend Scarlett here to let me drive us back to the Jeep graveyard. She insists that I'm not driving but we all know that's a terrible decision, so I'm allowing her time and space to reconsider."

"Is that what this is?" I questioned while gesturing to his position. "Time and space?" While his eyes were on Stephanie, Victorian hadn't moved more than three feet away from me since he had closed the doors behind him. I stepped away and held my hands up as he made a move to follow.

"Why don't you leave your dearest, oldest friend Scarlett alone?"

"I can't both not drive and not pester you, Love. I'm not good at everything, you know."