Chapter 3
James drove a truck down a road in Pennsylvania after they had landed from Lagos. Misty sat next to him silently looking out the window. “I know you didn’t want to follow me.” He admitted as he looked over at her out of the corner of his hazel eyes. He took a deep breath of her scent which was calmer than it was when they were in Lagos.
Misty tore her eyes away from the scenery that was going by the window. “You’re right I didn’t. But what they were doing… to innocent people…” She took a breath letting it out slowly as her scent spiked for a moment before settling down. “It’s something that I swore I never would do. It wasn’t a war scene…”
“You sound like you talk from experience,” James said as he gripped the wheel of the truck keeping it on the winding path that was before them.
“I do…” She let out a breath as she looked out the window. “I was part of special ops in World War II. No one knew that I was a woman on their team. I kept it close to the belt until the end of the war when they found out I was a woman. They didn’t like it too much to know a woman went to war.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Stryker found me wandering the streets and offered me a place to go so I didn’t keep running. I guess I saw it as a chance of having a place to belong, but I suppose I was wrong.”
“We both were.” James admitted softly.
“I suppose we were. James, where are we going to go? There is a chance that Stryker is going to look for us…”
“Yeah I suppose he would, sweetheart.”
Misty cleared her throat softly. “Is it safe for us to be around one another?” She asked as she looked over at him, her brows pinching together in worry.
“You think it isn’t safe for us to be around one another?”
“I do. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you got me out of there James, but if Stryker does come… and he probably will… seeing the two of us together would make it too easy for him.”
“You want to split up?”
“You don’t want to?”
“Can’t say that I thought about that.” James said rather gruffly. He didn’t want to exactly leave her on his own. He wanted to learn more about her. Her scent was intoxicating to him and he wasn’t about to give that up. He would miss it if they had to split up.
“I have.” She admitted softly. “Less likely to be found by Stryker, at least that is the hope anyways.” She took a soft breath. “Honestly I don’t want to leave your side, but you could go anywhere that you wanted to… where would you go?”
“Canada.” He admitted softly.
“Off the grid, it sounds like you have a plan.”
James nodded his head. “Do you really want to split up?”
“James, what would you have to offer me? I mean we hardly know one another other than we were both in wars, both have healing factors that aren’t normal, and you have bone claws and I have nails that can grow out. And your from Canada originally and I am from New Orleans.”
“We could learn more about each other. Share a home until we can figure out what to do. I’ll get a job…”
“And what am I to do?” She questioned softly gripping the jeans that she wore. Her teeth worry her lower lip softly. Her scent spiked a bit in distress. She was worried about what would happen if Stryker caught them together. She was afraid that she would be a weakness for James and James a weakness for her. It was something that she didn’t want.
“You can find a job to do. We don’t have to split up.”
“What if you find someone?” She asked softly. It was the one thing that she didn’t want to ask, but had to. What if James had found someone to love and love him back. It was something that she couldn’t handle. She needed to go out on her own if that happened.
“I don’t think I’ll find someone.” James said as he reached for a cigar.
Misty looked out the window again watching the trees pass by the window. She nibbled her lower lip softly wondering what they were going to do.
James lit his cigar and kept his eyes on the road. “Are you certain you want to split up?”
“We’ll be less likely to be found.” She admitted softly. “Do I want to? No, but it is the best bet.” She hated that she was right about it being the best bet. But James had made sure during this time and their time of being on the road that she was well taken care of. Which she thought was rather sweet of him doing that. She would never repay him for doing that. “James…”
“Hm? What is it sweetheart?”
Misty cleared her throat. “I want to thank you.”
“What for?”
“For making sure that I had a roof over my head and being taken care of after we left Team X.” She admitted softly. “Never thought that I would be this comfortable after leaving.”
James let out a soft chuckle. “I’m just glad you were able to come with me. And I wouldn’t let you remain out in the cold.”
“And I thank you for that.”
IWYIWY
James came over to the truck with a set of keys belonging to a car that he had bought. “Misty.”
Misty got out of the truck taking a soft breath.
“I got the keys for you sweetheart.”
Her lips quirked slightly into a small smile. “James, I want to thank you for this.” She admitted softly. “You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to, Misty. You’re a special girl.” James said carefully, putting the keys into her hand. He felt the heat coming from her hand. He held her hand a little longer than what he had meant to do so.
“James… you’ve always been kind to me.” She said softly looking up into his hazel eyes. “I’ll never be able to repay you for everything that you’ve done for me.”
“And you’ll never have a sweetheart.” He slowly removed his hand from hers. “Where will you go?” He questioned softly as she got her bags from the back of the truck.
She took a soft breath. “I think I’ll go south.”
“South?”
“Back to my roots.”
“Where to?”
“Louisiana.” She admitted softly gripping the keys in her hand softly. “Stryker won’t think I’ll go there.”
James cleared his throat softly. “Be careful out there, sweetheart.”
“Have to. No one will be looking after me as well as you have James.” She said looking up at him. “I suppose this will be the last time that we see one another.”
James took a deep breath taking her scent in. Something that he didn’t want to forget ever. He wanted to remember everything about her at that moment. “Yeah, I suppose it is sweetheart.”
Misty leaned up and kissed him softly on the cheek, her lips brushing up against his mutton chops. She slowly pulled back her cheeks flushed slightly. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart. Just take good care of yourself.”
“I will. And you take care as well James.” She said softly as she moved towards the car that James had gotten her.
James watched her load her things into the car and he took a deep breath. This was perhaps the hardest thing that he had to do. Leaving Misty was not going to be the same for him. He wanted to remain with her, but to keep them both out of the eyes of Stryker there was no way that he would be able to stay with her.
Misty got into the car as tears filled her eyes. She gripped the wheel softly in her hands before tightening her grip as a few tears slid down her cheeks. She was going to miss James and his way of always making sure that she was alright. She could only hope that she would be alright and hope that James would be alright.