I found out the hard way how chilly Minnesota is in late spring, kicking myself for not packing accordingly. I was shivering when I stepped out of the car in the parking lot of a hotel in Thief River Falls.

We'd been driving for what felt like weeks, and I'd made up my mind that I never wanted to sleep in a car again. I had aches and cramps all over and my shoulders and neck were sore from the uncomfortable position I'd been trying to lay in.

Joey tiredly walked around to my side of the car. I was surprised when he shed his jacket and draped it around me. I wanted to tell him I was fine and that I didn't need it, but who was I kidding? I was freezing and my thin sweatpants had been a terrible fashion choice.

I tugged the jacket tighter around my body while I watched Joey retrieve our bags from the backseat.

"Why are we at a Hilton?" I frowned at the big letters on the side of the building.

"When you're wanted in a situation like this, people are going to expect to find you at a cheap roach motel," he said, rubbing his tired eyes. "While it is more expensive to stay at a nicer hotel, it's also less predictable. I like my odds."

He effortlessly tossed both our bags over one shoulder and I followed behind as he trekked across the parking lot to the hotel entrance.

"Can I help you?" a short redheaded woman with purple highlights asked us from behind the front desk.

I leaned against the wall beside the doors, feeling my eyelids droop while Joey spoke to the woman. I'd been going back and forth between catnapping and fighting sleep for an ungodly amount of hours, and my reflection in the lobby mirror appeared as I suspected: I closely resembled a raccoon in the eyes. I'd completely zoned out by the time Joey walked back to where I stood.

"Ready?" he nodded to the elevator.

I felt like I was sleepwalking as we entered the elevator. A ding sounded when we reached the sixth floor. Joey lead me down the hall in the direction of room 629.

I was anxious to get to sleep in a bed for a change. The car naps had given me a painfully stiff neck. I was also anxious to take a shower, but I could feel sleep trying to overtake me again, and decided that could wait until the next morning. All I could think about was the heavenly feeling of a pillow under my head and some cozy, warm blankets.

Joey flipped on the lights inside the room and my idea of a perfect night's sleep immediately went down the drain.

"Oh, no," I groaned.

There was only one bed in the room, and it wasn't a large one either.

Joey simply shrugged, setting our bags on the floor and going into the bathroom.

I noticed the curtains were wide open and quickly made my way over to the window to shut them. I was being paranoid. How could someone see us on the sixth floor? Still, I didn't want to allow anyone the slightest opportunity.

I sat down at the foot of the bed and surveyed my surroundings. We'd driven all the way from Boston to fucking Minnesota in under twenty-four hours. I flashed back to the last time I'd taken a drastic trip like this. Two years prior. I still remembered speeding my way through Virginia like my life depended on it. Because it did. But that couldn't happen again. I wouldn't let it. I wouldn't let myself buy into the idea that anyone might have followed us all the way to Minnesota. If it was the estate they wanted, they could have it. Three million, to me, wasn't worth being on the run. He hadn't been worth the sheer terror I'd felt then, and money wasn't worth it now.

I found myself double checking at the window that the man in the Cadillac wasn't standing in the parking lot, staring up at me.

"Everything alright?" Joey asked from behind me, making me jump a little.

I turned to face him, ready to ask if there was a non-life-threatening way I could go about signing over my inheritance to these goons. He would probably call me crazy, but he had no idea what I'd been through. I wasn't about to go explaining it, either. He wouldn't understand, but it was my decision, regardless of how insane it sounded.

"Oh, god!" I covered my face when I saw that he'd removed his shirt.

He didn't seem to care, chuckling at my reaction. How was he so calm about everything? How was he okay with me seeing him like this?

"There's one bed," I choked out, still shielding my eyes.

I was sure it was a mistake. Surely, Joey had asked for two beds and the woman downstairs had screwed up. I stared at the flat screen across the room but I could still see his half naked reflection in it.

"I see that," was all he said.

I put my hand down, scowling at him. Wasn't he going to do something about this?

"What?" he asked as if he had no idea what I was concerned about.

I pointed to the small bed. "There's one bed, Joey."

"That's all they had, Jessica," he mocked my tone, unbuckling his belt. "Do you want to get some sleep or not?"

I opened my mouth to argue but no words came out. I almost couldn't bring myself to look away from him. I felt an uninvited warmth wash over my body at the sight of him undoing the button of his jeans. This wasn't fair.

"You're staring," Joey pointed out.

I looked down, trying to hide the blush creeping across my face, and quickly headed into the bathroom with my bag. I decided a change of clothes would make me feel better.

The contents of my bag were all tossed together in a big mess where I couldn't find anything. I dug through to find a pair of panties and a clean shirt at the bottom of the pile. The bathroom looked like it could use a thorough disinfectant scrub, but it would have to do.

I looked in the mirror and frowned. I didn't look at all like myself. I looked like the poor, scared girl I'd been two years ago. The girl on the run. The girl who had made the mistake of trusting him. I'd promised myself I'd never be that girl again. But there I was, the same poor, scared girl on the run. Again.

Every inch of my body was exhausted. The whites of my eyes had turned a pinkish red shade. All I wanted was to sleep. Even if it was only a few hours, it was worth it to escape reality. I only hoped that my dreams wouldn't be plagued with nightmares.

I opened the bathroom door just a crack and peeked through. My eyes landed on that single bed that would have us squished up against each other all night. At least when we'd shared his bed back home, it had been big enough that we didn't have to touch. I mentally cursed at myself for not exactly hating being in his bed. I reminded myself that I wouldn't let it go too far. I didn't trust men easily. It was hard enough trying to put my faith in Joey. This was a professional relationship. He was a police officer and I was the victim he was assisting. It couldn't go any further than that.

"No," I said to myself, scrunching up my nose at the word. "I'm not a victim. I won't be a victim. Not this time."

I looked at the bed again and shut the door. I was anxious to get some rest, but not in the same bed with Joey again.

I tossed aside my original idea of waiting until morning to shower. Truth be told, I wanted an excuse to avoid Joey. Taking a shower would buy me the extra time I needed to get my wits about me and figure out what to do about the sleeping arrangements.

I could hear the TV on in the other room and a baby crying down the hall. I stepped into the shower, letting it drown out the background noise. I'd forgotten how wonderful it felt just to stand under the flow and let the warm water cascade down my body. My sore shoulders were already starting to feel better. I told myself to relax so that I could enjoy my shower. Still, I couldn't take my mind off of the possibility of someone catching up to us. I couldn't stop myself from wondering if someone had actually followed us this far across the country. I wanted to know who that man in the Cadillac was. Was he the hitman? Was he my aunt's boyfriend? What the fuck did he want?

Joey opened the bathroom door just as I was stepping out of the shower. I scrambled to hide my body with a towel that wasn't as large as I would've liked it to be.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I shrieked, trying to cover myself.

He was courteous enough to look in the opposite direction, but I could see him smirking in the mirror.

A twinge in my stomach brought a blush to my cheeks. Maybe I wasn't so uncomfortable with him after all. I quickly tried to brush off that crazy talk. I wasn't supposed to be thinking of Joey in a prurient way. He was a man whom I barely knew. A police officer, nonetheless. Besides, he could be in a relationship, for all I knew. He might be someone's fiancé. The butterflies in my stomach had no business getting excited over him.

"I just needed to pee," Joey mumbled.

I knew he was peeking in the mirror but I chose not to say anything. Things were awkward enough without me calling him out on being a typical male.

"I'll wait," he said with a slight squeak in his voice, walking back into the other room.

I took my time getting dressed in a baggy T-shirt and panties. I rifled through my bag again and it looked like I had no choice but to sleep in jeans since the only pair of sweatpants I'd brought were dirty. I wasn't about to not wear pants in bed with Joey. I groaned at the thought of all the things I should've packed but didn't. I'd been in such a hurry to leave my apartment in that short fifteen-minute limit that Joey had given me. I hadn't had time to pack accordingly.

Remembering our hasty exit from my apartment made me wonder what shape my apartment was in now. I wondered if the hitman had been there and destroyed all my belongings. Would I return home to find nothing left? I pictured the Cadillac heading into the complex as we were leaving. Was that the hitman going to my apartment to kill or kidnap me? I shuddered at the thought. I'd left just in time.

No. Joey had saved me just in time.

"Joey?"

I peeked through the door to see him lying on the bed with the TV remote on his stomach. He looked how I felt: like a zombie.

His eyes met mine in a sleepy gaze. "You alright, Jessica?"

I didn't like being called Jessica. I always told everyone to call me Jess. Rarely did they listen, however. I pushed away the thought surfacing of my ex calling me Jessie. That had always annoyed me.

"Please just call me Jess," I told him as I emerged from the bathroom.

I flopped down beside him on the bed with my back to him and forced myself to think of something other than the craving pushing me to cuddle up next to him for comfort. The pillows felt amazing under my head and I opted for cuddling with them, wrapping my arms around the fluffiest one and closing my eyes.

I felt the bed shift and Joey got up, turning off the TV and walking to the bathroom. He shut the door behind him and I rolled over onto my back, staring up at the popcorn ceiling.

I missed Heather, my coworker. She was the closest thing I had to a best friend. After what had happened, I'd made a tough decision to protect myself. I wasn't going to let anyone get close again. I couldn't. Once I let someone in, they could hurt me, just like he had. As a result, I had no one but my grandmother. Heather had tried so many times to be my friend. She'd invited me to hang out with her group of friends. She'd offered to help me study after finding out that we had some of the same classes. She'd even asked me to be her plus one at a few family gatherings. I'd always had some made up excuse. I had to go out of town. I had to study. I was picking up an extra shift at the coffee shop. Eventually, Heather stopped trying. She was still the sweetest person I knew, always so friendly and helpful at work and in school. I wanted so badly to have a best friend again, to let her be my friend. But that would open the door again.

I kept my eyes focused on the ceiling when Joey walked back in. I was busying myself with trying to find shapes in the ceiling like the thousands of little peaks were stars and I was connecting the dots while Joey got situated beside me. I could feel his eyes on me.

"Jess," he said in a soft, velvety voice that raised goosebumps all over my body.

I finally looked at the handsome man next to me. Big mistake.

I let myself begin to get lost in Joey's piercing sapphire eyes. He still hadn't shaved and his shadow of stubble was a shade darker, thicker. I stared at his face, mentally tracing his jawline. He looked so young and innocent, yet so capable of anything. For the first time since I'd been in his presence, I felt no intimidation or apprehension as we watched each other, eyes fixed in an intense stare. Instead, I felt safe, protected. I hadn't felt that way in a very long time.

"You're – we're – going to get through this," Joey said sincerely.

Oh, how badly I wanted to believe him.

Breaking our staring contest, I rolled onto my side, tapping my thumb on my thigh. "Who was that man in the Cadillac?"

The stretch of silence before his response told me he knew more than he was willing to say. That was going to make it harder to trust him.

"I don't know," he breathed, glancing to the window.

I wanted to demand a real answer from him but I didn't have the emotional strength to deal with that conversation right then. I blinked a time or two and I was out, lost in a dreamless sleep.

I didn't even notice when Joey got up to turn the lights off, or when he expertly lifted me up to pull the covers back and place them over me. I awakened just before dawn, rolling over to see Joey lying beside me, breathing softly, slowly. His arm had been draped over my hip and his hair was tousled from moving around in his sleep. For a second, I forgot where we were or that we were in danger until I noticed the shiny barrel of a pistol sticking out from beneath Joey's sweatshirt. I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, relaxing into Joey's warm embrace. I wanted to put the world on hold for just an hour more.

The phone suddenly rang, jolting us both awake. Joey reached for the phone across my body, unintentionally bringing his face a little too close to mine. I hoped he didn't notice when my breath hitched. He lifted the phone and dropped it right back down, groaning and retracting back to the spot where he'd been lying.

"It's too early for this bullshit." His words were muffled by the pillow.

I forced myself to get up, retrieving a hair tie from my bag. I threw my hair up in a messy bun and rifled through my bag to find fresh socks.

"What's the plan, Joey?" I asked while I put on my tennis shoes.

I still felt so drained. I'd slept the entire night, not stirring once, but it felt like I hadn't slept at all.

"Thief River Falls is one of the towns I spent some time in when I traveled for a semester," Joey mumbled, lazily sitting up in bed and slipping off his sweatshirt.

My eyes landed on his bare chest and I stared a second too long before clearing my throat and wandering to the window. I could feel Joey's eyes burning holes in my back. I could make out a faint reflection of him in the glass and shamelessly watched him climb out of bed shirtless.

"I wanted to get far enough away from these fuckers and I know this town, so it sounded like a good place to run to," he said.

I still didn't understand why he picked a spot on the map that was halfway across the country though. It seemed like he could've chosen somewhere closer to home.

"Why this far, though?"

There was a hint of frustration on his face, like he wasn't in the mood to explain things.

"One thing I learned about your aunt's boyfriend from having my investigator friend check him out, is that he has ties all up and down the east coast and in every major city from Boston to Milwaukee. That's why we're not closer to home," Joey grumbled. "Not to mention, my department is probably getting wise – and no doubt, pissed – right about now."

My aunt's boyfriend sounded like a mobster, having that many connections in that many places. Knowing this only made me feel worse. We were roughly ten hours from Milwaukee and that felt way too close for comfort.

I pretended to busy myself with arranging the contents of my bag while focusing my peripheral vision on Joey as he slipped on his jeans and a hoodie. I unintentionally looked up for a second too long and noticed an impressive bulge in his boxers while he was pulling his jeans up. I hoped he didn't see the redness in my complexion.

"There's a continental breakfast downstairs," Joey mentioned. "Why don't you get your stuff together and we'll go enjoy some shitty hotel food."

I did as told and gathered my things. Once we reached the lobby my stomach was growling rather loudly at the smell of food. There were eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, pancakes, and waffles. I was anxious to load up my flimsy styrofoam plate with a little bit of everything while Joey simply grabbed some bacon and two pancakes.

We sat down beside a large window that obviously hadn't been cleaned in quite a while. I stared at Joey while he ate. I found myself wanting to reach across the table and feel of his facial hair. I quickly turned my focus back to my food when he caught me watching him.

We ate in silence, my stomach feeling so relieved after I finished my waffle and eggs. I realized Joey still hadn't told me what we were going to do, but before I could ask him, something caught his attention.

I followed his gaze out the window to where an all too familiar vehicle sat in the parking lot.

"We've got company." Joey's voice hardened.

I felt my blood pressure escalate at the sight of the man with the buzz cut stepping out of the Cadillac.

"Oh my god, Joey," I swallowed, whispering frantically. "What are we going to do? That's him! That's the guy that was on your porch!"

Despite the eminent threat, Joey appeared fairly calm. It was going to take me a while to get used to being on the run with someone who didn't panic the way I did.

"We're going to act normal and walk to that door," he pointed to the fire exit opposite the main entrance. "Try to keep your head down and cover yourself with your bag so they don't see your face. Follow me."

My hands began to shake as we stood up from the tiny table. I struggled to grab ahold of my bag and lift it over my shoulder. Anxiety was kicking in hard and fast. Joey walked beside me, shielding me from anyone who might walk in the front doors. It felt like we walked a mile in slow motion to the exit, like the closer we got to it, the further away it was.

We reached the exit and Joey cringed when the opening of the door signaled the alarm.

"Run!" he yelled, sending us sprinting across the parking lot to the car.

I jumped in, throwing my bag over my shoulder into the backseat while Joey started the engine, speeding off and running over the curb to get on the street faster. We nearly sideswiped another vehicle as he weaved through traffic, running a red light. In the side mirror I could see the black Cadillac about a quarter mile behind us. The driver carelessly hit several cars in his attempts to get closer to us.

"Joey, they're following us! They're catching up to us!" I panicked. "How the fuck are you so calm?"

As fast as he was driving, I was surprised we weren't being trailed by multiple squad cars. A second black SUV sped past us.

"Shit!" Joey hit the steering wheel with his fist.

I looked back and forth between the vehicle following us and the one up ahead. "What's going on? Is there more than one?"

The SUV ahead suddenly hit their brakes hard, turning as they came to a screeching halt. The vehicle stopped horizontally in the road, blocking our path. The cement median pegged by trees prevented the option of crossing into oncoming traffic to get away. I was shocked when Joey hit the accelerator harder, picking up speed.

"What are you doing?" I screamed at him.

We were going to smash into the SUV. There was no way around it.

"Hold on," Joey said. "We're going to take out that guardrail."

I looked ahead to see a metal guardrail on the right side of the bridge we were coming up to. Below was a river.

"No!" I violently shook my head, grabbing his arm. "We can't do that!"

"As soon as we hit the water, open your window and get the hell out," he instructed. "Don't wait for me."