Page 39 of The Stranger
“Alright, then you’re with us ’til Chicago. This has to be the last stop for a while. That cool?”
“We just need to get out of here.” Walker takes my hand.
Tony steps out of the car, gesturing toward us. “Alright. First things first, though. If you’re riding with us that far, I wanna search you for weapons.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
WALKER
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” I stare at Tony in disbelief. “No. No. Absolutely not. You’re not going to touch us. What have we done that makes you suddenly suspicious of us? We’ve ridden all this way and not caused any issues.”
“Maybe so, and I’m sorry, but I gotta protect my lady.” His eyes trail the length of Tibby’s body, and I see red. “Gotta check and make sure we’re all safe. Your bags, too.”
“Like hell. We’ve ridden with you all this time, and you’ve been fine. If you don’t want us to ride any farther, just say that.”
“Chicago’s a lot farther than an hour up the road. Now, either let me check you and let’s get going, or say no, and we’ll leave. Either way, it’s up to you, but you have to decide now.”
“You aren’t touching her,” I tell him firmly, stepping in front of Tibby.
“I don’t have anything,” she says, lifting her shirt so we can see her bare stomach. “No weapons.” She pulls up her sleeves and pant legs, then flips out the waist of her pants. “I’m not a danger to you.”
He steps forward, reaching out a hand to feel in between her legs. I lunge forward, but she holds out a hand to stop me, her eyes blank as she shakes her head. “It’s okay. Just…just let him.”
It’s not. It’s not okay. It’s the furthest thing from okay. I want to rip him to pieces. Thankfully, though, he stops at a respectable place just above her knees and, seeming satisfied, steps back. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
Next, he turns to me, and I know what he’ll find as he pats my jeans. As soon as his fingers touch the outline of the knife, his eyes light up and he gives me a questioning look before sticking his hand into my pocket. I groan as he pulls out the knife and holds it up in the air.
His eyes zero in on it. “What’s this?”
“A pocketknife, clearly.”
Beside me, Tibby tenses. I reach for her arm, but she pulls it away. I know what she must think of me, what she must now think she knows and understands, and I want so desperately to explain it all, but not in front of him.
“Why do you have it?” Tony turns the knife over in his hands, running a finger across the metal.
I shrug one shoulder. “I don’t know. I always carry one. It’s just a dull blade. No big deal.”
He moves to tuck it into his pocket.
At once, I reach for it. “Hey! Give it back.”
He shakes his head. “You can have it back when we get you where you’re going.”
“And if you’re a danger to us?” I demand. “You’re leaving me with nothing to protect ourselves.”
“It’s your choice to ride with us.” Tony runs his tongue over his teeth. “Our car, our rules.” I want to tell him to forget it, to give me the knife back and leave us here, but it’s not an option. I can’t risk keeping Tibby out in this cold much longer.
He finishes patting me down, being extra thorough now, though there’s nothing else to find except my phone which he allows me to keep. When he’s done, he pulls my suitcase and the bag of gifts out of the car and searches them painstakingly, tossing my things all around and tearing open the gifts one by one.
I’m fuming as I watch him inspect the box of the veterinarian Barbie doll my niece has been begging for, then toss it aside. My body radiates with anger as he rips the wrapping paper off the last gift and examines it, his wrinkled lips set in a thin line underneath his gray mustache.
When he’s done with the searching and otherwise humiliating us, he stuffs my clothes back into the suitcase and the gifts back into their bag, then places both bags into the trunk of the car, out of my reach.
I gesture toward the trunk as he slams it closed. “If you were going to put them back there, why did you have to search them in the first place? It’s not like I can get to them from the back seat.”
“Can’t be too careful,” he says, wagging a finger at me with a wry grin.
I’m so angry my entire chest feels like a ball of fire, like I’ll be ready to explode at a moment’s notice. I want nothing more than to steal my knife back, grab Tibby, and make a run for it.