I reached out and touched his shoulder. “It’s okay. I think... I think we’re going to be okay.”
* * *
We had to leave the hotel, because there was blood everywhere, and Griffin thought it was suspicious. Knox hadn’t woken up yet, so Griffin bundled him up in sheets and took him down the stairs to the bottom floor. Then he found a different car to steal, because apparently, it was good to change it up.
We drove. I was quiet. I didn’t know what to say or do.
Griffin pulled into a Wal-Mart and told me to go in and buy clothes. I shopped fast, picking up three pairs of pants and three shirts in my size. I grabbed some underwear and bras too. I didn’t try them on. I just bought them.
When I got back to the car, Griffin was standing outside, leaning against it. He looked anxious. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” I walked over to the passenger side. The window was open. I threw the bag of new clothes in.
He followed me over to my side of the car and put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “I fucked up.”
“We both did.” I started to open the car door.
“No, wait.”
I turned to look at him.
“I really fucked up,” he said. “You didn’t. This was all me.”
I shrugged. “I guess I should have respected myself a little more than working at a strip club. You were right. I’m kind of slutty.”
“You are not. I didn’t mean that. When I said that...” He became very interested in his shoes. “I think I just switched off.”
I tucked my hair behind my ears. “Like they taught you at Op Wraith?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Like I turned off all my emotions. And I might never have come out of it if I hadn’t seen you.” He touched me. “You woke me up.”
I pulled away. “I... I don’t know if I can be that for you, Griffin. I can’t be pulling you back from the edge all the time.”
He ran a hand over his head. He laughed. “Oh. Nicely done. You threw that right back in my face.”
“Because you’re right,” I said. “I can’t depend on you to make me a better person, and you can’t depend on me—”
“Why not?” he said. “What if what I said back there wasn’t right? What if it was bullshit? What if people can’t be better if they don’t have someone to be better for?”
I wasn’t sure what to say.
He fidgeted for a second, and then he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me close. His gaze searched mine. “Is it so awful to think that you make me better? That I make you better?”
I shook my head. “No. It’s not awful at all.” I wrapped my arms around him.
And our lips came together.
“You two going to stop sucking face long enough to tell me what the hell’s going on?” said a voice from inside the car.
Oh. Knox was awake.
* * *
Griffin was in the bathroom, shaving his head. We were in a new hotel now. I could hear the whirr of the electric shaver from the bathroom. Knox was standing in the doorway to the adjoining room where he was going to sleep.
“I don’t get it,” I said to Knox. “Why are you still here with Griffin?”
“Why are you?” said Knox.
“I’m in love with him,” I said. “You can’t be in love with him too, not after he tortured you for weeks.”
Knox laughed. “Yeah, not so much.” He shrugged. “I wanted out of Op Wraith. I’m out now. And, um, I want to take them down. I think Griffin’s the guy to do it.”
The whirring noise shut off. Griffin came back into the bedroom. He looked like himself again. His hair was cropped close against his head. His beard had been shaved off. “Take down Op Wraith? Like the whole thing? We can do that?”
“I think so,” said Knox. “You, uh, you kept my pack, right? I saw it in the other hotel room.”
Griffin sat down on the bed in the room, right next to me. “Yeah, it’s in the car.”
Knox nodded. He disappeared for a few minutes, and then came back in, a pack nearly identical to the one that Griffin carried slung over his shoulder. He grabbed a chair from the room’s desk and dragged it over to the bed. Opening his pack, he took out folded-up paper and handed it to Griffin. “Check this out.”