He walked to his own room a few doors down and closed the door behind him.
Great. So much for staying in control of the situation.
Her head hurt too much to worry about it more than she already did. Maybe she should have gone to the hospital after all.
She closed the door of her motel room slowly and then her eyes widened. She didn't need a hospital.
She had everything she needed right in her own purse. She hefted it onto the bed and dug down to the bottom of it, pulling out a small tube of healing balm which she'd completely forgotten she had on hand or she would have used it much earlier.
She squeezed out a dab of the ointment and reached around to apply it to her wound. Immediately her head began to feel better and she felt the familiar tingle as the balm worked its magic. After her last run-in with the vampire who nearly tore out her throat she'd forgotten that she'd replenished her supply and placed in her purse for just such an occasion.
Good for cuts and scrapes.
Or stabbings or bullet wounds.
Then Janie fished back into her purse, pulled out a vial of Tylenol, and took four of the pills with a few handfuls of water from the bathroom sink.
Getting the blood out of her hair was her next priority. She stripped, then took a quick shower. The
2-in-l motel-supplied shampoo did the trick.
She toweled off her hair and went to sit on the side of her bed and tried to pull her racing thoughts together now that her head didn't feel like it was about to split down the middle.
She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes and tried not to think of anything but healing thoughts for the five minutes it would take for the ointment to kick in.
When she opened her eyes, she was dismayed to see that she must have fallen asleep despite her tension—the half hour had long since passed, and Quinn hadn't come back to check on her as he said he would.
Damn liar. Why was she surprised by this?
She forced herself to get up and get dressed and went outside to look for Quinn. She spotted him immediately as he exited the main office. When he emerged, she cut him off.
"I thought you said you'd check on me. I could have been dead in there."
"I was asking for directions." He studied her for a moment. "You look better."
"Were you asking for directions to where Malcolm told you he'll be?"
He hesitated. "I'm going alone."
She took that as a yes. "Like hell you are."
"If Malcolm sees you, he'll know I didn't kill you."
"He won't see me. I'm not letting you get the map without me."
"You don't trust me?"
She snorted at that. "Not as far as I can throw you."
"You look strong enough. I have a strange feeling you could throw me pretty far."
"I'm coming."
He let out a long, exasperated sigh. "We can debate this all night, Janie. Just try to see reason. It's better if I go alone. I'll be back later."
The man was almost as stubborn as she was. She was used to people going along with what she wanted after she badgered them a bit. Quinn wasn't going to let her have her way. But there were ways around that.
"Fine."
"Fine?" He raised an eyebrow. "So you'll stay here? Just like that?"
She shrugged. "I'll stay here. If you say you'll be back with the map, then I believe you."
He nodded. "Well, good. I need to go. I'll be back in a couple of hours."
"Good luck."
He walked away and then looked back at her again as if he didn't believe she was going to let him go so easily. She smiled and waved, and he turned and went toward the truck.
As he was starting it up, she was busy hotwiring a cute little white Corvette parked nearby so she could follow him. She wasn't stealing it. She was borrowing. She limited herself to stealing one car a week.
After all, a girl's got to have boundaries.
The Electric Cactus, the place Malcolm had written on the piece of paper he'd given Quinn earlier, was a very crowded country-and-western bar, complete with sawdust on the floor and a mechanical bull. A
Garth Brooks tune permeated the air through the sound system. Thunder was definitely rolling by the volume of the music.
A couple of pretty girls with red lips, Daisy Dukes, platinum blond hair, and artificially enhanced cleavage approached him as he scanned the club for Malcolm.
"Hey there," one said. "Buy us a drink?"
"Both of you?"
They smiled at him. One approached close enough to run her acrylic fingernails down the front of his
T-shirt. "We'll make it worth your while to spend a little time with us, sweetie. Promise."
"Oh, I have no doubt about that." He couldn't help but smile inwardly. A year ago this would have been the beginning of a great night. Two hot girls who wanted him to…spend time with them? Bring it on.
He'd changed since then. He had, right? He frowned.
Yes. Yes, he had. Definitely. More important things to think about at the moment.
"Sorry, ladies. I'm meeting somebody here."
They didn't seem deterred. "If you change your mind, we'll be around."