Chapter 224 Chapter 224
Jesse glanced in the mirror, he seemed to be looking at it more than the road for the last hour. Adjusting it, he checked to see if Leah was still curled up sleeping. Moving it back, he caught the look Thera was giving him. “We can’t stop yet. Can you hold out for another hour? I want to get us past the city.” Thera’s expression didn’t change. A low chuff sounded right behind his head. Before he could figure out what she was doing, her head pushed between his shoulder and the window.
She was lifting her face and sniffing the air that was coming through the open window. She nudged his shoulder, “okay, but if I open it, you have to behave I can’t have you hanging your head out the window, that’s the last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves.” She bumped his shoulder again. “Fine, three more inches is all you’re getting.”
Her fur rubbed against his cheek as she shoved closer to the window. He could hear her inhaling and tasting the air. With a huff, that sounded close to a spit, she turned her head and bumped her nose against his jaw.
“Yeah, I smell it. Pollution, cars, waste, I want away from here as much as you do.”
Without further drama, she backed up. He thought maybe she was going to lay down with Leah again, but instead, her head appeared between the seats. Jesse glanced at her, “you are co-piloting now?” She didn’t look away from the window. “Okay then, I guess that earns you a snack.” Opening the console between the seats, he reached in and pulled out a piece of jerky. Holding it up, he waited while she sniffed it. “I know it’s not running from you, but it is tasty.”
Thera pulled it out of his hand and then moved backward. Jesse straightened and watched as she lay down, careful not to disturb Leah, and chewed the jerky slowly. Looking back to the road, he nodded to himself. A case of jerky it is. What else would work for cat treats? He smirked, or leopard treats as it were.
They’d made good time today. A good six hours of driving behind them. It was starting to worry him that Leah had been asleep since their run. He glanced at the animal. “How’s she doing?”
Thera bumped her head against his arm and then turned back around. Adjusting the mirror, he watched as she lay down and rubbed her face against Leah’s shoulder. Leah moaned softly.
The sound hit him, right to his core. Wide-eyed, Jesse looked back at the road. Scowling at it, he noted where they were and then focused on trying to remember the route and where he’d planned on stopping.
“What is it, girl?”
Her soft raspy voice had him glancing in the mirror again, “I think she wants to tell you the city smells.” Dragging his eyes back to the road, he blew out a quick breath. Her looking sleepy and comfortable was not helping his concentration.
“Have I been sleeping long?” She sat up and stretched.
Jesse groaned in his head, he needed to get out of the van. “A few hours.” He cleared his throat, “I thought once we pass the city, we could stop in one of the smaller towns and get some gas and grab something to eat.” He’d considered passing through the city and getting a few burgers, but with her sleeping, he didn’t want her to wake up to him in a busy drive thru.
She knelt and leaned up between the seats and looked out the window.
Her scent filled his head causing his cat to go still.
“So many buildings.” She said softly.
He frowned and wondered if she remembered going through Chicago at all. “Thera’s not happy with the smell.”
“I will just take her word for it then.” She picked up her half drank bottle of water and opened it. “Smells can sometimes set Minn off and we don’t want that.”
Jesse shook his head, “no we don’t.” He looked over his shoulder to see her taking a drink and groaned in his head with her throat exposed like that. Snapping his head around to glare at the road, he blew out a short breath. He needed to get out of this vehicle and put some space between them. His cat did something inside him that Jesse could only interpret as bumping his head against the inside of his ribs, hard. “I’m not sure what will be available in the next town, but most will have either a sub shop or pizza place.”
“I don’t know what either of those is, but I’m quite hungry.” She gave a soft chuckle, “the raw potatoes even have an appeal right now.”
Jesse grinned, “we can do better than raw potatoes, that I do know.”
“Okay.” Her head was beside his shoulder, “Evanna doesn’t want me to look at the city, so is it all right if I stay back here until I can’t see it?”
That reined in all rouge thoughts immediately. “You do whatever you need to feel comfortable,” he remembered what Shaelan had said, “and safe.”
She touched his arm softly, “thank you.”
Nodding, Jesse looked at the speedometer and accelerated slightly. If Evanna was that close and sending Leah suggestions, then he needed to pay attention and get them away from the city. He gnawed on the inside of his lip, bringing up the route in his head. When they stopped, he was going to have to go over the map and see if he could adjust it, so they weren’t close to any cities. “After we eat, I’m going to have to grab a quick nap, do you think we can set Thera in guard mode while I do that?”
Leah laughed quietly, “Thera only has two modes, watching and playing. I’m sure if you’re napping, she will keep watch.”
Jesse nodded, he hoped so, because if he didn’t get a short nap, this trip was going to be slow going with him having to stop and pace around the van trying to stay alert. Thera pushed her head between his shoulder and the window again, startling him. He leaned away from the door giving her space as she checked the air again. With a low rumble, she pulled her head back. “Another half-hour, girl, and the air will be cleaner.” His phone lit up with a message. Leaning forward, he tapped it and glanced at it while keeping his eye on the road. It was Devin telling him the guard they knew, one of their own was on duty at the border check in two hours. Sitting back, he did the calculations. Quick stop, some food, and then get across the border before stopping for rest. There was something about being on this side, the side that Aiden Tomas was on that made his skin crawl the whole time.
“After we stop to eat, we’re going to drive for another hour or so and cross the border, then we’ll rest.”
“Is it hard to cross the border?”
He didn’t like the worried tone in her voice. “Sometimes, but one of our kind works at the one crossing, so that’s where we’re heading.”
“Oh good. I didn’t know how getting Thera across was going to work.”
Neither had Jesse which is why he had Devin working on finding which location they could do it at. He grinned as he switched lanes, the chaos it would have caused if they’d pulled up to any checkpoint with any guard when they looked in and were greeted by Thera staring them down. “It’s all taken care of,” he assured her.
Reaching, he tapped the screen of the phone and hit Devin’s number.
“Jesse.”
“Let him know we’ll be there in roughly an hour or so.”
“All right. Everything going okay?”
Jesse glanced to see Thera giving the back of his head a look. “So far we’re good.”
“Call me when you stop for the night.”
“It will be shortly after we cross.”
“You made good time so far.”
“Let’s hope it continues.” Jesse glanced over his shoulder to see Leah looking at his phone. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Sounds good.”
The call disconnected.
“I still can’t believe you can talk to people anytime you want. “
“It’s great most of the time, except when you don’t want to talk.” He grinned at her in the mirror.
“I still think it’s wonderful.”
He realized how different her life would have been if she’d been able to talk to someone in the time she’d been alone. “Are you good for a little longer before we stop?” He suddenly wanted to get her back to Blair faster.
She nodded, “we’re fine.” She leaned into the animal beside her and rested her head on Thera’s shoulder.
It was hard for him to focus on the road, he just wanted to look at her. Clearing his throat, he nodded abruptly, “okay, time to put some space between us and the city.”