Chapter 45

"Please explain to me why that is a necessity?"

Luke's question earned himself a glare. "How isn't this a necessity? I'm not going to be able to function without it," I said, gesturing to the white box containing heaven.  However, Mr. Moneybags piloting the cart allowed only 'necessities,' especially when it came to kitchen appliances.  

"Not going to be able to function? Really?" He glanced down to the box I tossed in our overflowing cart.

"If this isn't a necessity, then I suppose the coffee maker you grabbed isn't a necessity either."

He chuckled, crossing his arms. "Owning a coffee maker is justified. A waffle maker... that's silly."

"I see," I said in a low voice. I noticed a few other people wandering the short rows of appliances. They had their own shopping agendas in mind, but I could easily draw their attention. Smirking, I found Luke's eyes. "Do I need to speak a little louder? Have our first official fight as a couple public?"

Laughing under his breath, he gripped the long handle of the shopping cart. "Fine, we'll get it. But that means I can get a radio for the kitchen," he said smugly. "And you can't touch it if I'm the one cooking."

Damn. While I shamefully didn't mind country music as much as I did three years ago, it wasn't something I needed to hear. But if it means getting the waffle maker, then I could live with it.  It's not like it was that upsetting anyway. When we moved along and found a radio, Luke's happiness was worth it.

"Now, it's going to be a true spaghetti dinner tonight," he smiled, placing the box containing the radio in the cart. Turning to me, his eyes were sweet and playful. "Look at it this way. With your cook in high spirits from the music, the food will also taste better. It's a win win."

The reminder of the big spaghetti dinner he planned on making tonight made me smile. Weeks spent without permanent housing, living off mainly fast-food or gas station snacks, there was reason to be excited. It was more than just having a home cooked meal though. It was like a celebration. Finally living in a house was a milestone in this journey. Plus, a break from bloodshed was something to look forward to.

Being in this massive grocery store felt like a celebration already. Each thing we added to the cart offered a sense of stability. Of being grounded and safe. The groceries, accessories, appliances, all of it... they were elements of a home life. It was something I took comfort in.

The glory of shopping wasn't just going to last today either. We were only getting necessities today (yes, that means the fucking waffle maker). That didn't include décor, wall art, blankets, all the cozy gay shit that would make our new place more personal. We also were putting off buying a laptop and more clothes for ourselves. We didn't need any of those things immediately.

So, today, our main goal included more boring shit. Mainly groceries. It took up most of our shopping cart. Grabbing a few appliances and toiletries consumed the remaining cart space. We still needed specific cookware the house wasn't supplied with. Kitchen utensils, new phones, trash bags, fabric softener, lightbulbs, dish rags.... All these and more were things we still planned on getting today.

We would have grabbed a second cart and continued if our cold groceries didn't require refrigeration. I know, dumbass thinking on our part. Realizing we needed a few more hours in the store, we decided to check out. Luke and I hauled our things back to the house, unloaded, then headed back to the store. Yeah. Talk about a freaking shopping spree.

Yet, I didn't mind. Neither did Luke. In fact, we were still in a great mood and were having fun with this massive chore. Doing ordinary things, living a normal life, had the power to do that.

"Alright, this is too important," I said. Numerous brands of toilet paper stared at us from the large shelf. "A happy ass will mean soft and durable paper. We need to choose carefully."

While I didn't drag out choosing every single item, spicing up the shopping experience was natural. For how many hours we have been at this, he was on the same page as me. 

Tapping his chin in deep thought, he glanced over our options with critical eyes. "Well there is only one way we can know for sure what the right choice is."

"What's that?" I ran a hand back through my hair. Catching an escaped strand, I wound it back around my bun.

"Since this is a life or death situation, we need to take this very seriously.  First, we head towards the pharmacy and buy some laxatives," he said. Leaning his arms on the cart handle, his teasing eyes were close and level with mine. "We take the pills. It usually takes around eight hours to kick in. Within the next eight hours, we finish all our shopping. By the time the laxatives take effect, there will be one last thing to buy: the toilet paper. We grab every brand, run into the store bathrooms, and try every single one."

Now he was talking! Hopefully, a fellow shopper in range caught what Luke said. Not that I could look around and know for sure. Though his words had us both stifling amused smiles, his close and caressing eyes charmed me.

Crossing my arms, I tongued the top row of my teeth. "Is that so?"

"Definitely," he said playfully, revealing a bright white grin.

Sweet air mixing between us, I smiled and cocked an eyebrow. "And what happens when we leave the bathrooms with different results? Maybe I prefer Scott and you like Charmin."

Laughing, he shook his head. "Then I suppose we will just have to get both."

Though we didn't go with his plan, we did end up adding both brands to our cart. We jokingly agreed we would decide which is better at the house. The spaghetti dinner tonight would kick's our ass enough without the help of a laxative.

Moving across the main aisle, we walked through the more vacant and narrow rows until we located the kitchen supplies and utensils. While Luke likes to analyze everything about the product, I didn't. I snagged the best-looking set of spatulas. But he didn't protest when I threw them in the cart. More important things were on his mind.

"What do you think about us looking for work?" he asked. Standing at the end of the cart, I turned away from the cooking instruments, looking to Luke.  He strummed his fingers against the cart's handle, eyebrows dipped in thought.

His question brought back the conversation we had this morning with our new neighbor, Grace. I didn't consider looking for a job, but from what Luke said earlier, it sounded like he planned on it. Honestly, I don't think I would mind either way. Work was a brand of normal life, but my lazy ass wouldn't mind taking advantage of a break either.

"Well, Kyle, us not looking for jobs might look weird. Then again, your mom is sick and work isn't exactly a priority," I said.

Luke's eyes dropped, a depressed sigh leaving his lips. Moving closer to stand beside me, he wrapped an arm around my back. Facing the display of products, his hand on my hip burned. "The more I think about it, the more okay I am with not working."

I understood that keeping our act up was big. Even when nobody was around, and even when in public where we knew nobody, it was still crucial. That didn't mean my surprised heart didn't jump. For a moment, I allowed my mind to drift into fantasy land and imagine his sweet gesture was genuine.

Like this morning though, I knew I could not allow my emotions over Luke fool me. Pushing aside my stupid-ass feelings, I pressed against his warm side. Instead of taking pleasure in thinking Luke was showing his feelings for Albany, I shifted my focus and took pleasure in something else. Instead, I took pleasure in escaping into Peggy, a completely different person.

"What do you mean the more you are okay with not working?" I asked. "Because you want to focus on your mom, right?"

"Well, we don't know how long we will be here, how long mom will be sick, so why get a job if it won't last?  More importantly," he mumbled, voice turning into a whisper. "I don't think I would be comfortable with a job. I don't want to focus on anything besides our objective. I don't want to be distracted in case something happens. We still need to be careful. Do you know what I mean?"

After he said that, not working sounded like the obvious choice. Getting jobs would look normal, but it wouldn't do more than that. Even then, having a sick mother justified not getting a job. Beyond that, what he said about being cautious was something I could relate to.

Walking around like a normal person, I surprisingly felt okay. I didn't feel exposed or threatened like I thought we would out in public. The sensation was freeing. The man had a point though. We couldn't let our guard down. There were people still after us, actively looking for us. With Carter's face all over the news, that added to needing to be careful. Finding work would distract us, possibly fool us into feeling too comfortable.

Nodding, I added. "Plus, we will have enough of a job when it comes to searching."

"That's true," he agreed.

Being caught up with settling into our new house, we had yet to focus on our real purpose for being in Washington. And that reason was scary. Looking for Reid's headquarters would be a daunting task, something that deserved our full effort and attention. Jobs didn't sound worth it when we had enough work to do.

Carter had a more interesting view regarding our search when it came up later.

We told Carter that we would walk down to the trailer park and visit him later in the day. However, the guy didn't want to wait. After we finished shopping and headed back to the house, Luke and I got busy. We were finding a place for everything we purchased when Carter rang the doorbell.

Apparently, he couldn't wait to see our beautiful faces because he was a needy man. Yesterday, when we dropped him off at his trailer, we left him with a few quick corner store groceries that would last him a few days. Nothing was ever enough for the guy.

"I ate most of it already. The little left, I don't want," he said simply.

Snorting, I mumbled under my breath, "And you think I'm an overeating pig."

Though the 'starving' bastard sat at the small kitchen table consuming potato chips, his biggest issue was even more pathetic. "I was mostly bored. When you have such an exciting life, your expectations rise," he said, sighing dramatically.

Luke and I were kneeling on the tile, organizing the bottom cupboards. Not seeing Carter's face didn't stop me from imagining his smirk. Stacking the new frying pan we bought in a bigger one, I shook my head.

"Sounds like such a burden," I said, sitting back in the surrounding sea of new cookware we were trying to integrate. A few feet to my right, Luke was leaning forward, making a new space for the old glass baking dishes.

Carter didn't like my quip. Through his loud chip-chewing, he exclaimed, "It is a burden! I don't see your face on national news. You at least can leave your house, go places, see people. What the fuck do I get to do? Sit and watch TV in a shithole."

Glancing to my left and behind my shoulder, I caught his alive contact-eyes from where he was perched at the wood round table in the corner. "You said you weren't spending another night in that 'shithole' anyway."

Slumped back into his chair he angled towards us, he scoffed and rolled his eyes. Along with flat stern lips, Carter's non-amused expression was a sweet relief. "Yeah, I'm not. I've already called around and found a place. I'll be able to move in within a few days." Carter sat forward and rested his elbows on his thighs. "But wherever I go won't be an upgrade. An apartment will be worse. And how will that make things better? What, will moving magically allow me to go out into the world? Little lady, you have it fucking made," he said, humorlessly chuckling.

"Shut up!" I shook my head. "You aren't in prison. You know you can go out sometimes; your disguise is enough to fool people. You just can't make being in public constant."

"But you sure can. And look at you," he sneered, waving a hand over me in my direction. "The only thing you changed about yourself is your hair. Still in a bun, make-up is the same, no contacts. My younger brother Kyle isn't any better," he said, shooting him a glare. "What the fuck is different about you? Nothing. Haircut? You don't even have contacts. You might as well be Luke's twin brother. You both are more recognizable to Reid's men than I am to the great American news viewers. Now that is fucked up."

My eyes fell to the off-white tile in embarrassment. There was nothing I could say to defend ourselves. Carter was right. There really was nothing physically disguising Luke or me. This whole time, we were so focused on our new identities, keeping up an act. Yet, that was no excuse. We should have done more than just dying my hair. Jesus, why didn't we do more? Were we just too caught up in everything else? While that was no excuse either, I did believe that being at least two hours away from the base had something to do with that false sense of safety.

Luke's words from earlier echoed in my head. We couldn't fool ourselves into thinking we are entirely safe. Meaning we needed to do more to our physical appearances.

Our silence validated to Carter he was right. With a soft chuckle, he continued less harshly. "So, dumbasses. Not only do I have to put in more effort when you don't, and can't be in public like you, my living arrangement is absolute shit. I will be living in a dumpy apartment." He laughed. "By the way, do you know how rich I use to be? Being on the road with you pussies was not hard; it was like a job. But actual living arrangements? I used to be as rich as Lucas here. But instead of being a humble dork, I used my earnings and owned a massive house."

Carter was filing one too many complaints. And it was starting to piss me off more. Who did he think he was? Coming into our house, eating the groceries, and bitching. Bitching about how we have it made. God, I would love for him to be in our shoes. It's not like we were living in paradise. While short-term we may be well off and fine, we don't know what the hell our future holds. Carter did. And he sure didn't have a conscious like us that was weighted with tons of guilt, anger, sadness, confusion, and all the traumatic issues we've been through.

Before I could snap and tell him to get the fuck out of the house, Luke jumped in. He clearly didn't want to get involved – or care. But Carter's bullshit was going too far. The man echoed my thoughts and more.

"Unlike you, we are going through with our entire objective. What the hell do you have to complain about? Once you tell us or show us what we need, I am helping you leave the country. Unlike you, we need to finish this life-threatening task. You aren't here for long! And this humble dork, last I checked, is paying for absolutely everything including your fucking housing and food!"

Turning my gaze to Luke, his jaw was locked in place. Scowling with piercing eyes on the man across the room, I couldn't help but nod in agreement with him.  Luke at least respected our roles and the trouble we would have to face.

Luke's threatening eyes intimidated him. You could hear it when Carter started chuckling. "Calm your tits," he laughed. My eyes drawing back to him, Carter raised his hands in defense. "I'm just a wild little puppy. I take a lot of attention, sympathy, play, and money to survive."

Hell no, he doesn't get to just back down. It was our first full day here and he's visited us twice already. Carter was the last thing we needed. We did not want to deal with him, we didn't deserve his attitude, and he is wasting Luke's money. We wanted him out of our hair as much as he wanted to be done with this. So, why not make it happen as soon as possible?

"You calm your tits," I said. Getting to my feet, I stepped around Luke and our mess of cookware. Reaching the drawer next to the stove, I dug out a pen and notepad. "Well, so your royal ass doesn't have to 'suffer' much longer, I think it's a good time to go over what we need to do. The sooner we know, the sooner we won't need you," I said, nearing Carter. I dropped the pad and pen on the table, pulling a chair out for myself next to him.

Carter sighed, chuckling. "I'm voting for France."

Meeting his playful eyes, my lips turned into a menacing smirk. "I vote for stranding you in a desert in Egypt. Good luck finding anything to spend your absent money on there."

Luke was on board with my push. He joined us at the table, sitting beside me and across from Carter.  His eyes hardened on Carter. Taking a deep breath to deflate his irritation, his chest raised then lowered through the blue cotton of his muscle shirt. "What I don't understand is why you can't already be on your way. From what you said, I've come to assume all we need is information," he said in a neutral tone. The blankness on Luke's face was impressive.

Turning himself and the chair back towards the table, Carter responded. "Information isn't effective if you don't know what you are looking for. I told you the general area it must be in. What will help is uncovering signs."

"What kind of signs?" I asked.

"That's just it. Signs only I would be able to recognize as being branded to the organization. Vehicles and specific people too. To narrow down where you need to search, if you find something connected to the headquarters, it could lead you closer. For example, there are people I know from Ohio that were promoted and work at the main headquarters. They all live at the base, but these men and the entire base rely on resources from surrounding towns and villages. Scouting in these small towns might lead to seeing a base worker."

The fact that Carter knew people, knew names, gave me hope. Leaning my arms against the table, I caught his eyes. "That's great, that's huge. Names should lead us right to them."

"I know what they look like, I know their names, but what use would it be telling you? 'Look for someone who looks like blah blah blah.'" Carter leaned forward and swiped the pen and pad. Tilting his head down, his eyes and pen focused on a doodle he began.  "I would have to be there with you to be able to identify someone. Looking up names won't do anything either. You will find their last address, which would be useless. Since the FBI took down a big chunk of the organization, Reid and his workers all live at the complex and live under fake identities outside in the real world. But I will know them the second I see one."

"How? You will be able to recognize a few, not everyone," Luke said, running a hand back through his strands, flattening the brown waves.

Carter groaned, intensely focusing on whatever he was drawing. "Look. All I can say is that these people can give clear signs they are from the organization. Even if I don't know them, there are ways to tell them apart. The shitty part is that I don't know what to look for. That's why you need me with you when you look for these signs. I don't know what we are looking for, but I will know it when I see it."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I want to write some of this down," Luke said, reaching across the table to snag the doodle material.

Carter dragged the pen and paper out of Luke's reach. Looking between us, he chuckled. "Eager, aren't we? You don't need to write anything down." Throwing his unfinished drawing of what I could see was about to be a delicate flower with a stem, he went back to eating his chips. "We'll go more into it when we go searching."

"Searching for what first? Will we only be focusing on finding these clues first? Or should we cover the actual land and still search at the same time?" I asked.

"Both would be smart. When you search the land, you slowly narrow down where the complex isn't. Scouting – or maybe setting up cameras – in surrounding towns of the area is also extremely important though. In fact, let's call it a priority," he said lightly with a smirk. "I want out as soon as possible. Unless you are willing to fly me away now without my help, let's get that part done. You will have a hard time being successful if I'm not here to identify a clue for you first. After we find a sign, you should be fine. It will lead to other signs and narrow your search."

Looking for clues to help our search wasn't something I expected. Doing a mass search of the land was all I figured we would be doing. Carter never said anything about being able to identify people, signs, and symbols regarding the group. What was worse was that he didn't know what faces and signs to look for. If he sees it though, he will know.

Though the guy was crazy, I didn't doubt his extensive knowledge about the organization. I didn't doubt him at all. There was no reason he would have made this up. In fact, he could have made up information, fed it to us, and been on his way now. Thanks to the deal we made with him, he would help us and we would help him escape the country. Interesting how he was honoring that deal and didn't try to cheat us. Then again, he probably knew we would be able to sniff out any BS he tries to deliver us.

"Since we will be searching the land and scouting towns in the area, it would be a smart idea for Peggy and Kyle to not be together in that area. Not until both of you change your appearances more. Either of you go near there, looking like you do now, you will be snatched up." Holding eye contact with me, the corner of his lips twitched up. He attempted to hide it with his hand when he propped his chin in his palm. "So, until then and for the first day of searching, Albany and I will go search the range of land while—"

"Ha!" I obnoxiously interrupted – with freaking reason. Did you guys hear what this clown just said? "You and me? Alone in the woods miles away from people? I can proudly say I've never been raped in my life. That is a status I would like to fucking keep."

"Yeah, she's not going with you," Luke stated in an obvious manner.

Sitting back in his chair, Carter's raised eyebrows and slack jaw screamed he was offended. "Albany! Now, come on. I won't rape you." Pausing for a second, he let a smirk slip by. "You would enjoy it."

"What happened to the priorities?" Luke hissed sharply, shaking his head. "Scouting the towns, looking for signs?"

Carter laughed, eyes turning forward to Luke. "Don't worry. Before all else, I will end up going to the small towns. There are about four surrounding the land. I'll hack into any camera system there, wire up a few of our own. I'll probably do that in a few days," he said, nodding to himself. "That's going to be my job. And since I'll be shacked up and alone anyway," he murmured. "I will be monitoring the cameras in my apartment or actually two hours away and scouting for signs there."

"That's it? You won't be helping us search for other signs? You said there was more than just people," Luke said.

"Well, yeah. That's just going to be the most promising way to a clue," he said, scoffing. "We'll go over that more later. As for searching land, that's on both of you once you both properly disguise yourselves."

I rolled my eyes. "So you have no reason to search the woods with me?"

"Well yeah. I was hoping to seduce you," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"If  you say another disgusting comment to her, you are fucking leaving," Luke said as stable as he could.

"I didn't know I couldn't be honest here," he teased.

Groaning, I rested against the back of the chair. My god. The man didn't stop. His wisecracks and perverted comments were killing me. Thank god, he wouldn't be involved with searching the land. That was solely my and Luke's job (after we enhance our looks). What was even better was knowing we were in no rush.

Taking a sharp deep breath, after threatening the bastard again, Luke got back to the subject. "When should we start searching?" Luke said with venom.

He shrugged. "Whenever really. There's no rush. But it's not like I care. Once I accomplish my task, I'm out of here. Let me know when you want to start though. I'll show you where to go and the perimeter."

"Okay," Luke nodded, catching my eyes. He offered me a supportive smile. One I could wholeheartedly return.

Luke and I wouldn't slack, but it was nice hearing that we could still enjoy our break. Hell, it was nice having a course of action. Despite his creepiness, I was grateful that Carter was here and helping. Then again, there is only so much a girl can take. 

"Until then..." Carter said, smiling between us. "What's for dinner?"

***

Shutting the door behind him was a gust of relief. I mean, you guys don't even know! You thought his bitchiness, then his perverted comments were bad? After imposing himself on what was going to be a special dinner, he nonchalantly threw us for another loop. Like, I don't know... how he needed over 1,000 fucking dollars for computer equipment!

The man needed cameras and all these foreign gadgets to assist him in spying on the townsfolk near the base range. And if that wasn't enough, his smug stupid ass requested our help in moving him to his new apartment. That wasn't enough though! Hell no, Carter also wanted us to give him the truck we were renting. Because, as he put it, 'you both planned on buying a vehicle soon anyway.' Christ!

"Can you believe that piece of shit?" I asked as we returned to organizing our mess.

"No," Luke mumbled. "I can't. He'll be lucky if we let him back in this house."

"Pft, I'm just shocked he didn't he didn't say he wanted to stay here for the night. He isn't staying in his trailer anymore and it will be a few days until he moves into the apartment."

"Hopefully until then, he is sleeping on the fucking streets," he groaned.

Putting away the few remaining pots, I shifted my crossed legs in his direction. I had to bite my bottom lip from exposing a smile. "I see being trained to diffuse your emotions isn't always effective."

Closing the cabinet door, he sat back on his knees. He looked down to his lap with pursed lips. "It's hard to diffuse them, especially anger. We are trained to just hide it. But when I don't need to hide it, then I'll let it out," he shrugged.

Though I hoped to make him feel better, we were on the same page. Carter riled us up, and from the moment he left, we relentlessly went back and worth bitching his ass out. And unlike Carter, we had a right!

"I have a good way to let the anger out," I muttered, sitting up and stretching my sore back. "You could kill him."

"Don't even say that, trust me, I've thought about it."

I wasn't surprised. The upstanding police officer in him loathed Carter and everything he's led to. 

"The fact that he wants us to pay him over a grand for camera shit justifies killing him," I said.

Glancing my way, amusement flashed through his eyes and tilting lips. "Us?" The man shook with laughter. "Us to pay? Since when is my money yours?"

I couldn't help laughing either. "Since Peggy became your girl," I teased. "What's mine is yours and all that bullshit."

"I see," he smiled, rising to his feet with me following. "That being said, I think it's time for dinner," he said casually. The floor entirely clear of the cookware, he leaned up and opened the upper cabinet door. Sauce and a box of noodles were retrieved. After putting them on the counter, he reached back up to the top shelf. Grasping the snack I persisted in buying, he only rested his hand on it teasingly, dragging it closer to the edge of the shelf. "Since what's mine is yours, maybe along with spaghetti, we can share some of this wonderful and delicious... bag of marshmallows."

I fought him long and hard in the store for those marshmallows. There wasn't any way in hell I was sharing.

Stifling my chuckle, I approached him and his raised arm.  I nudged his shoulder to face me. Gazing into his sweet teasing eyes, I crossed my arms. "You think you can eat those?" I said, nodding up to where his hand grasped the bag.

Luke's smile grew wide. He leaned closer, gloating. "What is mine... is yours."

"Nope, sorry, I take it back. Keep your money. Sharing is for losers." I reached up where he was grasping the bag on the top shelf, straining. Bumping against him in the process, causing us both to laugh, I snagged the bag from him. "These are mine and mine alone."

"Then I guess we are just stuck with spaghetti and garlic bread," he chuckled, grabbing the sauce and noodles.

"Hey, I'm not complaining."

And there was no reason to in any context.

While these past two days were hectic, it was still us easing into our new lives. Into what would be a break for us. Even with an objective, that didn't mean we wouldn't relax or have fun. For me, that's the only thing I looked forward to. And I could tell Luke wanted the same. Luckily for us, this was only the start of a new kind of freedom.

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My dedicated and loyal readers, please read this author's note!

First, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was a little slow but I'm trying to introduce them and us into these new lives of Peggy and Kyle. There is a lot to go down that I am so excited to explore.

More than that, if you are reading this, I would like to ask for a favor. None of you should feel obligated to comment. But as the writer of this series, I am asking you to please let me know what you think. You don't owe that to me. But I really need you guys to know how much your input means to me. I spend more time than I ever have before trying to make this story perfect. It's the last of the series and I want to finish it as best as I can. I have been working so hard to do that. I've even avoiding finding a job just so I can spend all my free time writing. I put off my school work a lot too. It may not seem that way with how I am unable to always update each week. But it's because I am trying so much harder on this book. I've stopped editing my chapters so much, which helped, but it still takes a while. And it's because I love this story! I love it! And when I post it, I would love to know if you love it too. Or if you hate it. I want to know your opinion, what ideas you have, what you think, and what you would like to be different, anything about the book or characters. Because those comments make the dozens of hours I put into a chapter worth it (yeah it takes that long now). I am so grateful for those that comment on my chapters because they make posting a chapter exciting. That is the best thing about sharing my work on Wattpad. Reading your comments. It means everything to me. So, like I said, you aren't obligated haha. But I truly would appreciate it if you commented. And I sincerely am thankful for those of you that do.

And if you don't, I don't blame you :P It's work haha. Even still, I would like to thank you. This has taken way longer to write than I expected. This has been years. Thank you for staying with me and this story. Thank you for reading!

I hope you guys have a happy new year!