“It’s only been a few weeks.”
“Six,” Chelsea piped up. Now that they were away from all the people trying to kill her, she’d perked up considerably.
And good for her since Simon’s mood had taken a nosedive. Perhaps he was seeing things that weren’t really there. The man from The Collective had inferred his uncle was a part of the organization.
He couldn’t believe it. The very thought of David Malone doing anything shady made him sick at his stomach. Ten years before he wouldn’t have had a shadow of a doubt, but he’d seen too much.
God, was he actually even entertaining the idea that his uncle was involved? If his uncle was involved, then JT was, too. JT knew Malone Oil like the back of his hand. Simon and Michael had worked rigs during the summers, but they’d always grumbled and complained about it. JT had loved it. Malone Oil was his birthright.
He couldn’t be part of The Collective. It had just been a way to get Simon to come with him. That had to be it.
“Hey, you asleep back there?” Jesse’s voice broke through his churning brain. “I need to know where to go.”
“Head toward Fort Worth. I have a couple of motels in mind. No credit cards. Cash only.”
Jesse’s eyes widened in the rearview. “Uhm, there aren’t a whole lot of those and they tend to charge by the hour, if you know what I mean.”
“We’re going to one. I have several addresses.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Chelsea said with a shake of her head. “Why would they charge by the hour…oh, seriously? Ewww. Simon, come on. You have to have like a safehouse or something. You own whole buildings. Don’t you have just one little tiny house where I won’t catch a venereal disease from prostitutes?”
“You’re planning on hiring them then? I wouldn’t advise it. If you’re looking for a hooker, I can certainly find you a more palatable one than we’re likely to come across at a motel. Jesse, do you still have your prostitute’s number?”
“Dude,” Jesse shot back. “We’re not supposed to talk about that around the chicks. And no. I have not been seeing my very nice and well-paid escort for a while. Not since I started dating Phoebe. God, Chelsea. Please don’t tell Phoebe. She doesn’t need to know.”
“But you know I deal in information, Murdoch. I’m going to have to think about it.”
He hated it when she joked like that. “You don’t deal in information anymore.”
“Don’t get your panties in a wad, Weston.”
He also bloody well hated it when she distanced. When they’d been running, she nestled easily in his arms and clung to him. She’d trusted him with her life and been a damn fine partner, and now she was sitting so close to him but they were a million miles away. “That’s ten.”
She rolled her eyes. “You can’t hold me to that contract.”
“Jesse, please turn the car around. We need to go to Ian’s place.”
“You bastard.” Sometimes she pouted like a child.
There were times when he had no idea at all what he saw in her. She was a brat and not always the sexy kind. She was childish and selfish and he should do exactly what he threatened. He should have Jesse turn the bloody car around and wash his hands of her. She was Ian’s problem after all. She’d made it perfectly clear that she wanted nothing from him beyond to satisfy her curiosity. He should have taken her up on it and then sent her on her way.
“Just find whatever murder motel is the closest, Jesse,” she was saying quietly. “No. We’re not bringing Ian into it.”
Jesse sighed. “Good because he can yell really loud. Sit back and I’ll have us in a rat-infested hellhole in no time at all.”
Chelsea sat back. A long moment passed, and Simon decided to give it a night. Just one night and he would absolutely turn her over in the morning. He wouldn’t waste another second on a woman who couldn’t care about him. He wasn’t a masochist.
A warm hand stole over his. “He was lying, Simon. He was trying to throw you off. Malone Oil has been hit more than any other company.”
“How do you know that?”
The hand tightened slightly, obviously offering him comfort. “Because when I found out you were involved with them, I checked.”
A bitter laugh huffed from his chest. “You wanted to make sure I wasn’t a Collective plant?”
Even in the dim light of the car he could see the confusion on her face. “No. I did it because they were involved in the Nelson case and I was curious. But Simon, they were one of Nelson’s targets while he was working for The Collective. I think they’re clean. If I had to bet on it, I would say that man back there would have loved to have taken both of us in. You would obviously make good collateral against your uncle.”
And there it was. A little squeeze of her hand. An encouraging smile on her normally serious face. She gave that smile to so few people. That was why he wouldn’t turn her over—because every now and then he saw the woman she could be and he knew he couldn’t stop.
She took a deep breath and moved away again, her forehead resting against the side of the Jeep, and they fell into silence.
But just for a moment she’d seen through him and reached out. She’d been the one offering comfort. She’d been the one trying to protect him.
Simon sat back as the miles rolled past and vowed to find a way to reach her.
* * * *
Chelsea looked at the bed that dominated the room. The only bed. Somehow Jesse had managed to find the shitty motel that didn’t have two queens. No. It was way worse. It was a single queen and there was no couch. And she was pretty sure the floor was covered in disease. “I think I should sleep somewhere else. We need to find another room.”
Blue eyes stared a hole through her. Somehow his eyes managed to be both cold and hot given his mood. The color shifted, lighter, icier when he was angry. As warm as the Caribbean when he was happy.
They often seemed so cold when he looked at her. “You know why we’re spending the night here. I explained this to you. This is the only place where I can be sure there are no security cameras and no way for The Collective to trace us. We’re staying here.”
“I’m sure they have another room, Weston. You don’t have to sit up all night.” Because there was no way they could share that bed. It was too small. He would take up all the space. He would be on top of her, and they both knew how that had ended the first time.