The Mermaid And the Sea Snake

Chapter 3

     We slowly pulled into a service station to fill up with petrol. I yawned as I instinctively reached into my bag to check my phone, 6 missed calls, all from my boss, well my ex boss now I guess. I noticed a small notification that I hadn't seen before, curious I clicked on it. 'Your phone has recently been tracked' my heart sank, Google tracking, why hadn't I thought of that?! I jumped out of the car throwing my phone in the closest bin. Jet looked at me in confusion. 'where's your phone?' I asked, he pointed to his pants pocket. I quickly ripped it out, checking his notifications, 'fuck!' I cried out in complete frustration.
      'What's the matter?' he questioned as he finished filling the car.
      'They've tracked both our phones, we need to get rid of them.' I answered as I threw his in the bin as well.
       He clicked the fuel nuzzle back in and turned to me, 'it'll be okay, I'll go pay and we'll head off, our phones will stop here.' I nodded, my only hope was that they weren't too close behind us.
       I waited anxiously in the car for Jet, seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, my eyes scanning every entrance and exit hoping that I wouldn't catch sight of their car. Finally I spotted Jet walking towards the car, my anxiety eased slightly but we weren't in the clear yet, not until we were out of this place and on the road again. Jet slid into the car, turning it on and shifting it into gear, he must have sensed my anxiety because he pulled out as fast as he could. I swear I caught sight of Vivian's car driving into the station just as we were getting onto the highway but it didn't matter Jet was flooring it. We sped down the highway, overtaking cars, only slowing down when we were sure we were far enough away. I let myself breath a sigh of relief, 'This was not how I pictured my day going.'
    Jet let out a small chuckle 'surprisingly me neither.'
    'I was meant to go to work, come home, eat, sleep, repeat. For the next month.' I sat there thinking about it all, realisation finally kicking in. 'That's all I had left one dam month. Now I have pulled you into God knows what as well!' I breathed in and out, closing my eyes, the weight of everything hitting me hard. Thought after thought running through my head, what had I done? Why had I done it? Why did I pull Jet into this as well? What had he ever done to deserve this? This could possibly ruin his life and mine. Vivian would stop at nothing to find us. My breathing quickened as I started to panic, I grabbed my chest breathing hard and fast, my vision was blurring. I felt Jet gently take my hand and softly rub his thumb across my skin.
    'Hey hey Ava it's okay. Try to slow down your breathing.' Jet soothed, 'I'm going to take the next exit and pull over. Just try to calm down.'
      I knew he was talking but his voice was faded and all I could hear was the thumping in my ears. I squeezed his hand harder as I tried to focus on his voice. Although I couldn't make out what he was saying, his voice was soothing and it slowly began to calm me. Before I realised what was happening we were on the side of the road and I was getting out of the car. I started pacing back and forth, 'what have I done?' I shook my head angrily, 'how am I going to fix this?' my pacing quickened, 'and how could I do this to you? You don't need this.' I spewed out all the thoughts that entered my head. It was too much for me, I needed to get it out, I needed him to know that this wasn't my intention. That I hadn't meant to tear his life apart as well as mine. 'I've ruined everything for you.'
   Jet stepped in front of me, stopping me in my tracks, I tried to push him away but he pulled me back, he held both my arms with his hands but I refused to look at him, 'Stop' he said with such conviction that I lifted my head in bewilderment before quickly dropping it again. 'I needed this. I needed the chance to do this.' I shook my head as he spoke, tears pouring over. 'for such a long time I told myself that I was a good person, that I was better than Sam and Vivian.'
      'You are,' I managed to croak between tears.
      'No' he said gently, 'please let me speak.' I nodded my head slightly, letting him finish, 'As time went by, I started questioning myself, questioning whether I really was better than them', he looked down at his feet, taking my hands in his, 'letting them treat you like that, day after day, year after year. Only stepping in to make sure you were okay when I knew the coast was clear.' his voice started to break, I could see the tears forming in his eyes, 'how does that make me a good person? It makes me a coward, I wasn't looking out for you, I was looking out for myself.'
     He dropped my hands and a look of absolute defeat covered his face, I stepped toward him, wrapping my arms around him. I had no idea that he had been feeling that way, that he thought he was in anyway like them was shocking. How could he even compare himself to them, 'you were my light, when my world was complete darkness' I whispered into his ear. I needed this, we both needed this. Maybe me blowing up this morning was exactly what needed to happen. Maybe I hadn't completely ruined both our lives, maybe we did have a chance, as long as we stuck together we could do this.
      Jet hugged me tight resting his chin on my shoulder, 'thank you', he said into my neck, 'thank you for trusting me, thank you for believing that I am more than I think I am.'
      We stood hugging each other in silence for a long moment, each caught in our own thoughts, neither of us wanting to let go. As we stood there I felt a sense of renewal on my life, like something was waiting for me and I just had to find out what.
      We finally pulled apart, Jet held my hand, 'let's go start our new lives,' he smiled, 'together', I smiled back, that sounded like a great idea.
      As we got back on the road again, Jet looked over at me, 'To the beach!!' he said enthusiastically. We both smiled. I felt like we were on the same page now and that nothing could get in our way.
       We drove in the direction of the beach with no real rhyme or reason, just the hope of finding a nice small beach town, one where we could go unnoticed and be left to our own devices.
        After driving for another hour or so I spotted a sign, 'Sunset Cove', I read as I pointed at the sign, 'that sounds like a nice place to start'.
      Jet nodded his head in agreement, 'no harm in checking it out, see if we like the feel of it'.
     'I think we will,' I said with confidence. I don't know why but I already felt like Sunset Cove was the place for us. Just saying the name out loud had made me feel instantly at home, like everything in my life had been leading me there. Of course that could just be because I had always wanted to be by the ocean and the thought of been so close was making me giddy.
       'Only one way to find out,' Jet said as he headed in the direction of Sunset Cove. Only time would tell but I was sure that what I was feeling was right and that Sunset Cove was going to be an amazing new start for us.
       There was one thing I did know for sure and that was with Jet by my side and me by his we could accomplish absolutely anything. And I could not wait to find out what lay ahead for us.

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