Witness Protection ✔

Truck Stop

Darius POV

When he'd gotten the phone call his blood had run cold. The break-in at the courthouse had happened hours before the call, which meant the men looking for Nathalia were well on their way.

They were lucky their house was far away from any city or airport, which gave them enough time to escape before they got there.

He'd decided to wake her at the last possible moment, so she wouldn't have to worry for too long.

His heart ached for her. He knew how attached she'd become to the plants in the backyard. To him, they were just that. Plants. But they meant so much more to her. He saw the twinkle in her eyes whenever she got the chance to talk about them and despite the fact he didn't care about them, he loved hearing her talk about it. Her movements would become more animated and she'd speak faster and faster, as though she couldn't get the words out quick enough.

He looked away from the road and over to her sleeping form and cringed at the position her neck was in. He hesitated for a moment before pulling on her arm in an attempt to reposition her. For a moment, he thought that he might've woken her. But by now he should know better. Not even a car crash could wake her from her deep slumber.

Even though she slept at a somewhat awkward angle, she looked positively angelic to him. Her dark hair spilled out from under the hoodie and covered most of her face. He knew that if he were to take a strand of her hair and put it to his face it'd smell like vanilla and strawberries.

The scents had puzzled him before, how could someone smell like both vanilla and strawberry? And why? But then he got to take a look in her bathroom one day and he got his answers.

Strawberry shampoo and vanilla body wash. They suited her sweet personality.

His brain now associated these smells with her so strongly that he thought of her every time he ate something strawberry flavored. And every time he longed to kiss her instantly, which he sometimes did, surprising Nathalia with his sudden affection.

There was something about her he just couldn't resist. Didn't want to resist. He wanted her all the time and it wasn't a feeling he was familiar with.

Nathalia POV

The first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was the sun shining right into them. She tried to squint to block most of it out but it was useless. The harsh glare made white spots appear in her vision which caused her to try and blink them away.

After a few seconds, she remembered she could just use her hand to block it out, and for a moment she felt victorious. Until her hand started to cramp up and she had to switch.

In the end, she sat with one hand holding the other one up and she decided it was the best she could do. Suddenly, she heard a chuckle to her left just before a large arm reached over and pulled down the sun visor.

Oh.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and saw he was already looking at her with an amused look on his face. Embarrassed, she turned away and hoped he wouldn't say anything about it.

"Glad to see you're still alive," he spoke up.

"Huh?"

"You slept for so long, I was beginning to think you went comatose or something."

The clock read 11:35 so even though he was right and she slept for a long time, she felt like it was completely justified. He was the one who woke her up in the middle of the night after all.

"Can we stop somewhere? I need to use the bathroom," she complained. It felt a little childish, but she didn't know how else to put it and she needed to go real bad. Besides, she didn't want to dwell on the fact her lazy ass had slept for so long.