GUN IN MY HAND

CHAPTER 77: AT LEAST TWO HOURS

Once more, if I had just opened my eyes and faced everything sooner, everything would have been easier, and his tender chocolate eyes wouldn't have been puffy and broken for the moment when they had to stay wide open and on the lookout for any danger.

Yes, that was what I really regretted as Spencer pulled away, and before another regret could anchor itself down my chest forever, I tugged on his hand and asked in a whisper,

"Promise me that in case... you'll say you were forced."

At least, his pale and tired face could support this argument, and that was the only thing that allowed my grip on his hand to loosen and let him go, along with his two words.

"I promise..." He kissed my forehead and finally got in the car, not sparing me another glance until the ignition was on, and his gaze dived into mine through the open window. "... That everything will be alright."

With that, he pushed on the accelerator, and the car disappeared before I could protest. Well, it was Spencer, so he was still driving carefully, but that was how thick the fog was, and not only in the air around, apparently.

"Did he... trick me?" I blinked, my large eyes traveling between the faint lights growing farther and dimmer on the horizon and Blade's lifted eyebrow.

"Looks like it," he replied, his lips dipping down for a shrug and too quickly coming back in his taunting smirk. "I guess our outlaw lessons are paying off. We're slowly corrupting him."

"That's not funny!"

Indeed, there was nothing funny in this situation, though a grin was still tickling my lips, and I swatted him before he could add another sly remark.

"You're an idiot."

"An idiot that loves you."

Dorothea... you should really be more careful about the words you choose.

I couldn't even count how many times Blade had repeated this already in the past 24 hours. He had taken my words literally again, and he was making sure I could hear his 'I love you' every day, several times a day, in fact.

Though I would never get tired of the smooth rolling syllables, contrasting with the usual sharp curses escaping his sinful lips, neither of the way his touches always followed to prove it. Like in this instant, where his arms wrapped around my chest, pulling my back against his strong and warm torso while his lips sneaked to the small slit of skin my scarf wasn't covering.

He was a man of action, after all.

"Let's get inside. It's cold here," he rasped, making me shudder, but oh, it wasn't from cold as his voice vibrated like a fuse on my skin, and his hands glided down to my belly, outlining its roundness through my coat and engulfing it in even more heat.

All these sparks... the sparks I hadn't felt in Spencer's embrace...

"We have at least two hours ahead of us."

Another shiver ran through my body, but it was for another reason as I stared in the direction where I'd got the last glimpse of the black car, where now, there was only a white nothingness engulfing the dirt road and even the tall trees around.

Everything was too still, including us, and I didn't like it. Yet I could do nothing to change it, only wait until...

"At least two hours?" I tilted my head back, my gaze searching for a glimmer of light, not in the sky though, as the same white thickness was swallowing the stars.

But I still found twinkles to dazzle me in Blade's blue eyes.

"Yes, at least two hours 'cause it's a one-hour drive to Subrose from here, and I don't think Mr. Goodie-two-shoes will ever be outlaw enough to break the driver's manual, will he?"