"I see it." Justin nodded, relaxing a bit in his seat as he added, "An off ramp in one kilometer."
Dani squinted, trying to see what they claimed to, but all she saw was dark highway and taillights. She spent another moment straining before she could make out the green sign ahead, and it was a moment after that before she could read it in the intermittent lights of the cars preceding them and see that it was indeed an off ramp. Dani then sank back on her haunches, thinking that either the men had been lying to try to keep her from panicking, or she needed to get her eyes checked.
The moment they exited the off ramp, Dani rose up on her knees again, relieved when she spotted the gas station ahead.
"There's a restaurant right next to it," Justin pointed out as he steered them up the road. "If-"
"Jesus, Justin," Decker said with disgust.
"I was only going to say that if Dani wanted to use the washroom, I'd drop her there, get gas, and come back for her," Justin said dryly, "This might be her only chance until we need gas again."
"Oh," Decker said with a sigh and closed his eyes. Dani took that opportunity to take a good look at the man in the illumination cast over them by the parking lot lights. She hadn't been able to really look at him before this tonight. Not in good light and not even in bad. It seemed to her that every time her eyes had moved his way it was to find him staring back, so her gaze had continually slipped away, gaining just an impression of a handsome man before she looked elsewhere. Now, however, with his eyes closed, she was able to really look at the man Nicholas had assured her she was safe with. He was a very handsome man, she thought as her eyes traveled over his straight nose and firm jaw. He had an interesting mouth, with a thinner upper lip but a full, sensual lower lip. However, he was-at the moment-extremely pale, unhealthily so. It reminded her of the wound he'd taken and made her worry that he'd lost more blood than she'd thought, or that it was infected.
"However," Justin added, distracting her, "now that you've mentioned it, if she wanted to grab me a burger or something while she was in there, she probably has the time and-"
"Bricker," Decker barked, silencing him.
Dani bit her lip, amused despite herself by the exasperation in Decker's voice. It was like riding with the odd couple in this van. While Dani had been staring out the window for most of the ride, she hadn't been completely lost in thought. Half of her attention had been on the brief spurts of conversation the two men had held. She hadn't comprehended all of what they said, she suspected they spoke in code a lot to avoid her understanding, but what she had picked up on was that Justin and Decker were complete opposites.
Justin appeared to enjoy the sound of his own voice and chattered a lot, while Decker was more quiet, speaking only when he had something to say. Justin had claimed at one point to love city life, enjoying the variety and the nightclubs, while Decker had responded that he preferred the peace and quiet of cottage country where he apparently had a second home. Justin enjoyed action movies and sitcoms, while Decker had said he didn't watch much of such things, preferring a good book and cozy fire.
Dani too preferred reading to television, and a cozy fire in a cottage beat out city life for her any day of the week despite-or perhaps because of-the fact that she'd been born and raised in a city and that's where her practice was. She'd also found herself in sympathy with Decker when it came to his obvious exasperation with Justin. It seemed apparent to her that Justin-who seemed younger even though they looked the same age-was deliberately taunting Decker and intentionally exasperating him.
"Dani?"
She let these thoughts slip away and glanced to Decker in question.
"Do you want to stop to use the facilities?" he asked.
Dani hesitated. She didn't really have to go to the bathroom, but knew it might be a good idea anyway.
Besides, it would be an opportunity to call her parents and the police, so she murmured, "Yes, thank you."
Decker nodded. He glanced around as Justin pulled into the restaurant parking lot, but then turned back to look at her again. He was going to get a crick in his neck from constantly turning to look back at her if he didn't stop that, she thought absently, and said, "You look pale. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," he assured her, waving away her worry. "I just need to feed."
"Then maybe you should get something to eat while we're here," Dani pointed out. She was too worried about her sister to be hungry herself, but could understand if Decker and Justin didn't feel the same way and they would be in the restaurant anyway.
"I'm not hungry," he answered contrarily, his gaze shifting to peer out the windshield as Justin slowed to a stop.
She was about to ask which it was, that he needed to feed or that he wasn't hungry when Justin distracted her by saying, "We'll pick you up as soon as we're done getting gas."
Dani hesitated, but then nodded and shifted across the floor to the door, her gaze sliding to the tarp-covered bodies as she went. While dead bodies didn't normally bother her, these ones were really starting to creep her out. She'd be glad to get away from them, Dani decided as she reached for the door handle. Before she could touch it, it began to move and the door slid aside to reveal Decker. She'd been so distracted she hadn't noticed him getting out of the front seat to help her disembark.
"Thank you." Dani accepted the hand he offered and gripped it as she got to her feet in a bent position and jumped to the ground. A sharp crack and skittering sound made her glance around to see what she'd dropped, and her eyes widened with alarm when she saw her phone lying on the pavement, its back off and lying several feet away beside the battery. She must not have gotten it all the way in her pocket earlier, and the jolt as she'd landed had dislodged it.
"My phone!" she cried with alarm, and, afraid the battery and phone back would be run over, she rushed to grab them first and then turned around to find Decker straightening from collecting the actual phone itself.
"It doesn't look too bad. I'll put it back together while you use the ladies' room," he said, holding out his hand for the items she'd rescued.
"It's okay, I can do it." Dani moved back to him intending to take back the phone.
"Decker, we have to move," Justin called from the driver's seat.
Decker hesitated, and then turned to the van and said, "Go ahead. I'm going to throw some water on my face."
Much to her dismay, he pocketed her cell phone and closed the van door, then caught Dani's arm and urged her toward the restaurant entrance.